How did you lose a stone?

[Allatsea1980s]

Just that really. I don’t need to lose loads of weight, but am upper end of healthy bmi, just felt better when I was a bit slimmer. Early 40s, not going to have any more children.
I just feel a bit…bleurgh. Clothes don’t fit quite as well, stomach is a bit podgy, feel my face is a bit fatter.
I have looked at joining a gym but so expensive and to be honest with two small children not sure I really have the time. I quite like running and walking. Yoga and swimming are ok.
I do realise there are far more important and concerning things going on in the world. But in an effort to try and ignore them I’d just like a few tips to try and follow, for vanity’s sake!

BodySlims.

An all-fruit day sounds like a lot of sugar @Curlygirl06. Don't you get tired because of the lack of protein?
As I understand it, it is very difficult to burn fat when your blood glucose and subsequently insulin are high all day. But if it works for you that's okay I guess.

Started drinking more water, halved carbs as I had a ridiculously carb heavy diet, ate fruit or veg when I felt like having a sandwich/ bagel, didn’t eat after 8 at night. Breakfast had an egg and tiny cereal instead of what I used to. Lost over a stone in a few months (back on now due to comfort winter eating!!)

Whole-food plant-based. Moderately sized portions. No UPF.

Fast 800.
Despite all the “ you’ll get an eating disorder “ bollocks people can happily survive on very little ( as they do
in much of the world).
You can get all you need on 800 calories a day especially if you have healthy reserves of fat.
Good luck. Start now and you’ll be stunning them all in shorts come May

I make veggie soup for lunch - warming and filling but not high calorie. Just prep it in the morning and leave on a very low simmer while you work.
Or poached eggs on toasted bagel thins/ thin sliced wholemeal.
Or leftovers from the night before.
Or baked potato (10 mins or less in the microwave) with tuna, spring onion and a mix of very low fat mayo with Skyr or natural yoghurt.

Thank you the soup is a good idea.

That's just not true for everyone. I get very dizzy on very low calorie diets. DH and I tried that Mosley intermittent fasting where twice a week you just have 600 calories. DH - who is over 6ft and well built, managed absolutely fine on it. But my brain just shut down. I realised I was wasting two days a week wandering around in a daze, feeling weak and confused, unable to work, or do housework or anything at all. I'd way rather eat 2000k and burn off 400-600 of them several times a week with high intensity workouts and weight-lifting.

I started running I did the couch to 5k. I didn’t lose much so I joined slimming world too, I very slowly lost two and a half stones over around 18 months. I stopped following slimming world ten years ago and I still run regularly and I’ve kept the weight off. I don’t eat as much as I did when I was bigger.

Ha ha ha! I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s up there with ‘get the flu’ as a strategy!

Soup is good but only if you can resist bread and butter on the side.

I do meat ( those flavoured pork chops or chicken thighs ) and salad leaves: raw cabbage. Chuck grated cheese or olives for fun. Few pointless carbs.

This happened to me, both times! Sadly it’s gone on again. Three years ago I looked amazing. Hormones are wild.

It’s all about diet for me. I can do all the exercise in the world but if I’m not calorie counting I don’t lose any weight.

Second this. It's the best way to continue a balanced diet as you don't have to eliminate carbs or fat and you can eat what you like, when you like as long as it's counted in.

Logging absolutely everything on MyFitnessPal, weighing every ingredient of every meal, absolutely no biscuits, crackers or toast.

I like Slimfast, strawberry milkshake every day is fantastic, and it works well for me to lose weight quickly for a specific date, but it goes straight back on once I stop it, it hasn’t suited me to use it for maintenance.

Nuts are very high in calories...they're really nutritious though. You can have yoghurt for breakfast with a few walnuts, or chopped on salads. I think if you use them as a snack every day you will struggle to lose weight.

WeightWatchers app (no meetings to attend). 2st 11lbs lost, but still a lot to go! It's very easy to follow and you never feel deprived.

I used to swear by WW but their recent diet plans are so strict that I only last a few days before falling off the wagon?

Really? You surprise me. Their personalised plan from December 2020 was absolutely rubbish and they changed it a year later as there were so many complaints. Now there is only one plan for everyone, and it includes potatoes at zero points. You get 23 points a day and 23 weekly points for when you want to eat out or you want to grab a takeaway. My friend has kept her weight off since 2019, but she still has the app to support her if she goes off a bit when on holiday etc. She just finds it beneficial to log her food intake every day to keep her on track.

I now have fatty liver disease, so it's absolutely imperative for me to lose weight and keep it off!

I know someone who did this last year - had a lot more to lose than me (obviously I only thought that privately!) and now they look amazing and from what I can see are a bit less strict now, but have kept it off.

I just genuinely think I’d feel terrible on 800 calories!

I skipped breakfast then for lunch had a meal replacement shake, then I was allowed whatever I wanted for dinner but about 3/4 of the plate needed to be veg.

Exercising and eating about 1200 calories. Took 4 months aged 50.

I lose 24lbs in covid, all through calorie counting and increasing steps. I did exercise videos online then too.

It gets really hard after 40 to lose weight! I feel like I eat healthily and don’t eat much crap, don’t drink often etc yet the weight can go on so easily and it’s so hard to lose.

ive accepted that I tend to creep a stone on over the winter months and then find it easier to lose it by going on a hardcore diet in the spring. The diet detoxes me from
wanting sugar and carbs etc so it’s easier to keep it off then over the summer. I find it easier to do it that way than try and reduce calories a little bit each week.

last year I did the human being diet and lost a stone really quickly, think it was in around 4 weeks. It’s super hard at first but I kept thinking to myself if I had just started it a couple of weeks ago I’d be through the hard bit. I’m intending to do it again soon after Feb half term.

I am with exactly the same as you OP ! I tried the gym wasn’t for me, so now I’ve gone back to the calorie counting , just the post Christmas and January blues binges have caught up with me.

We can do this !!