Please can you tell me how your life improved once you finally got round to losing weight .

[spad]

Tia

Posting to placemark, I'm 5 stone overweight at the moment. The only time I've ever been slim was when I had an eating disorder which is why I've been scared of dieting.

Reflux is a good point - I always had terrible reflux and blamed all sorts of food/drink/hour. Lost 2 stone and it just disappeared. It's obvious really.

Blood pressure is another one, if yours is high.

To me it was combined with getting fit.
No more nasty rashes under my boobs or at top of thighs.
Can move about freely, go on the top deck of the bus, just generally feel lightfooted.
No more getting out of breath.
Can enjoy the summer.
More choice in clothes.
General improvement in self esteem.
I lost nearly 5 stones, unfortunately have gained a couple back but am still fit and healthy.

Another one who can testify to being treated better when I was slimmer. I lost 4 stone and went from an 18-20 to a 12-14 and got more attention from people. Maybe because my confidence skyrocketed and I felt more comfortable in myself, I got more attention from men (previously had zero male attention and had never had a boyfriend) and I found women were a lot more friendly to me. I'd worked at the same place for about 3 years and people who I'd never spoken to before (who had also worked there that long) all of a sudden wanted to ask me about my weight loss and were really friendly to me. Don't get me wrong I wasn't ever really bullied when I was bigger (after leaving school) but I noticed when I was slimmer how much nicer people seemed to be.

Now after gaining all of the weight (plus an extra stone) after having DD, I'm on the weight loss journey again. I've lost 30lbs so far, with another 30lbs to go to get to pre-baby weight.

Advantages are being able to get up off the settee without having to heave myself, having more energy, my knees don't hurt as much, I'm enjoying clothes shopping more, I'm so much more confident now, despite still being in a size 18.

I've lost 6stone in the last 5 months. I'm at goal now, this is my first maintaining week.
I'm happier, more confident. I can shop in normal clothes shops. I'm happy for my picture to be taken.
The pains in my chest and subsequent panic attacks about having a heart attack (I'm 26!) have stopped.
I've got loads more energy. My ds is now in year 2 and I've made more friends on the school yard in the last 2 months than the whole rest of the time he's been at school.
I've got more money because I'm not eating so much crap.
I feel like a whole new, more useful person!
I will never let myself get back to how I was.

It is difficult to loose weight... but you will have support from lots of people if you do.

good luck.

Please keep the stories coming. I'm finding today hard. I have a party to go to and no party clothes.

Which poster lost five stone in six months? How??? And well done.

Also, anyone else tell me their lightbulb moment that got them through it?

Enjoying clothes shopping and dressing up rather than having to dress to mitigate myself.
Want sex more often as more confident sexually and with different positions.
Feeling fit and strong. This is in combination with exercises classes, running and yoga but it's a fantastic feeling and has massively improved my mental health. I don't feel that weird disconnect with my body, I inhabit it now.
For me exercise is key. Not that one can lose weight by exercise alone unless you did hours every day, but it seems to have huge mood and appetite stabilising effects which make eating better so much easier and stops the binge eating.
Plus the toning and seeing muscles appear below the skin where one previously just had podge is great.

I lost mine doing 5:2 and my fitness pal and honestly logging every single thing i ate or drank. I'm not going to lie, there were some seriously shit days where I was hungry and wanted to give up but the end result is so worth it.

I stopped pissing myself every time i sneezed or coughed.

My light bulb moment was when I got on the scales and realised I was the same weight as I was when 9 months pregnant.
Got to goal and stayed there for a few years.
Unfortunately it's crept back on over the last year or so and I'm back on a mission today to get myself sorted out.

GREAT thread op, am psyching myself up for January!

BILL great list and yes people do treat you differently!!

Thing is - if I wait until January (which was my original plan) I know I'll be even bigger and I cannot get any bigger - no way!

definate amazing amazing well done, inspiration!

hells. I dont weigh myself, I know I will get bigger I was hoping to start this week but cant with toddler in tow.

life it too un predictable.

if you can start now, do!!!

I've lost a stone, not much but its made so much difference.

I still have to pinch myself realising I've gone down a dress size. My feet used to hurt a lot, they don't now. Im not toned but feel more inspired to tone up as Im "shrinking".

I did it by going low carb, which Id been doing on & off for years but this time I stuck to it, and found after a while I just didn't crave carbs anymore. So its normally fish meat & loads of veg. I struggled with the veg thing at 1st until a friend told me her trick - fry v. lightly in extra virgin olive oil and use a small amount of sweet & sour healthy eating sauce on the veg. Worked well for me, makes the veg more interesting and I experiment with different sauces.

I cut out bread potatoes rice and pasta. I love bread tho that was always my downfall so I still have it sometimes but only WW or light Danish bread. I now find I can't eat normal sliced bread anymore, as I can taste sugar in it and dislike that taste, didn't used to notice it before

Aside from that, I have a mini trampoline at home which I try to use daily although sometimes I forget. Not long sessions, 10 mins or so at a time. & dumbells kept at side of settee so I can lift whilst I watch tv. I don't drive regularly anymore, joined a car club so I walk more than I did...not loads, maybe 20 mins or so a day to station and back but I do it briskly. I admit Im lazy about exercise so a rigid exercise regime wouldnt work for me, and Im not a gym person. Also find it hard to follow a set diet so, cutting out bad carbs worked with my "mindset" as I didnt really have to think about going out and buying new/different foods, just stuck to what I usually eat but took out the carbs..when I do feel like a carb "hit" (which is occasional) I have 2Yorkshire puddings on my plate as they're "light" and not big on calories

Losing weight isn't simple but if Id known I could manage it this way Id have started years earlier. I was pushing a size 18 now Im between a 12/14 in less than a year. Maybe now is your lightbulb moment OP, so you'l do it & good luck. I never thought I could lose weight, and I did.

Reflux is a good point - I always had terrible reflux and blamed all sorts of food/drink/hour

yep same here!

I went from a size 24/26 to a size 14/16 (16 after the dc) - it took a year - the first bit was quick but the last dress size was slow and painful.

It totally changed my life...
I suffered from a couple of debilitating "incurable" chronic conditions which went away.
I could shop for clothes (although I used to have to take a friend with me cause I'd automatically buy things several sizes too big which was weird).
I wasn't embarrassed using public transport and spilling into the next seat.
Interestingly, I didn't really become more attractive to men - which I had expected, but I valued myself more and stopped agreeing to dates with losers just because I was flattered that they asked.
I stopped being a bit embarrassed every time I walked into a room. I don't really think many people judged me for being fat but I always felt like they were.

good luck - it's totally worth it.

I have lost 25 pounds since March and I feel better for it, even sat here now is more comfortable than before. People are noticing now, even though it was very gradual. Slimming world.

I am loving shopping for new clothes, (when I should be buying Christmas gifts!).

Defo get treated better, I know it shouldn't make a difference but I noticed it in shops etc.

sweet & sour healthy eating sauce on the veg

where from please...what make?

I need to lose four stone. I will start in the new year, I'm just not in the right place to do it now.

I remember when I left school I lost a stone and saw an old 'friend' when out. He congratulated me on the loss as I was now 'fit' . I'd gone from a size 12 to a 10.

Winning loads of money on the lotto and losing loads of weight with no efforts are my two biggest wishes

I feel much better when I'm fitter which tends to go hand in hand with thinner for me (as I tend to do more exercise whilst losing weight). But otherwise no effect at all. I don't magic away any of my problems by being thinner, my self esteem isn't higher when I'm thinner (I started seeing my DH when I was fat not thin) and I've never waited until I'm thinner to achieve other stuff in life.

Also, anyone else tell me their lightbulb moment that got them through it?

I was weighed in hospital before a procedure. The nurse raised her eyebrows very slightly when she wrote down my weight and I sort of understood what that meant: you are far, far too fat. I couldn't fool myself any more. I remember her expression when I am tempted to backslide.

Well done all of you who have succeeded! I managed to put on a stone last week - by buying a new pair of scales So it turns out reality is even worse than I had thought

I have been getting rid of clothes that are too large, as it makes it harder to keep going if you know there's a fall back: but I've been on a 1000 calorie a day diet solidly since September, and have so far managed to lose 1lb. It's beyond demotivating - but I know that to lose weight successfully, I also need to exercise A LOT: and I am currently injured (weighting for an op) and it's hard to move without pain, so 1000 calories per day is probably still too many. I hate being fat - for all the reasons people have put out above that made them feel good for losing weight, but also because I hate everything about myself, and how it makes me feel like a total failure. People treat you totally different when you're fat - it's not just about your personal confidence, but the way people interact with you in the street etc

It won't improve everything for me to lose weight - which anyway is strongly connected for me with the state of my MH - but it will at least make me feel better in terms of being easier to move, not having horrible thigh chafe in the summer, not only being able to shop in certain shops and not being slimed on the bus home from work by the creepy fucker who tells me how much he like "big girls, even if they're not wearing sussies" [vomit emoticon] - hell, it's worth losing weight just to get rid of that last one