Put on 3st in 3 years - how to lose it in a year and keep it off

[MyKingdomForACaramel]

I have lived the majority of my life as a size 10 -12, with my weight between 10 - 11 1/2 stone (I’m fairly tall and carry weight wel). However in the past 3 years have put on around 3 stone which has sort of crept up and now I feel huge.

Am wearing clothes between a size 16 - 18, feel lethargic and unhealthy.

So - I’m now committed to losing the weight but would love to hear some inspiring ideas and stories of others who have lost weight in this situation.

The body coach is fantastic if you love good, tasty food. Includes lots of good fats and the meals are really good. His workouts are really easy to follow and explained well too.

I feel like fasting has cured my food addiction. I was a constant grazer and now I just don't think about it. I've gone from 12st 7 to 11st 1 since the start of March and am still losing 2lbs a week. I have 9lbs to go to reach a healthy weight. When I get there I'm going to introduce lunch on one of the fast days and basically just play around with it until I find the level that sees me maintain. I'll have to weigh myself and throw in more fast days sometimes forever I think. I'm not someone who can take my eye off the ball as the weight will creep back up. I enjoy fasting though so it won't be an issue.

They say you lose grammes in the gym and kg in the kitchen so overhaul diet firstly by cutting out fatty/sugary snacks, then by using something such as MyFitnessPal to log what you eat.

OP I’m in the same boat after having DC 2 last year. She’s now 11 months and I still have 2 stone to lose (of the 3 I put on). The only way that I can successfully lose weight is logging calories. It sounds high-maintenance but I find it easier than a complicated regime of banning various food groups. It’s also quite eye-opening how many calories you might mindlessly have been consuming.

Previously an average day for me might look something like this

• Skip breakfast at home, cheese scone (350 cals) & flat white (150) at work
• 6 pieces of salmon sushi (300ish)
• mindless snacking on rice crackers and hummus pre dinner (400)
• healthyish dinner - meat/carbs/vegetables but big portions - 600-800 cals
• 3 chocolate biscuits with a cup of peppermint tea after dinner (300 ish)

Just with that I’m on 2300. Chuck in a few glasses of wine and/or a piece of cake at morning tea and you’re on track for 3000. If I need 1800 calories just to maintain my current weight you can see with my “average day” I’m on track to put in half a kg a week!

So now I have breakfast at home - (muesli or scrambled eggs = 300 cals), 1 x small flat white 2/3 filled with milk (80cals), lunch sushi or sashimi or I bring my own (circa 300), dinner same as before but I’m just a bit more conscious about portion size (600ish), plus always have something sweet afterward - chocolate usually (200ish). That totals about 1500 calories and I don’t feel massively deprived.

If I do some exercise (like a 45 min walk to work or a spin class) I earn a few more calories and can eat more. Tracking the calories is 90% of it though - the first time I joined a gym I put on weight as I was eating more & vastly over estimating how many cals I was burning.

I’ve cut out booze 6 days a week - on Friday I come home and drink as much as I like 😂 and eat pizza!

It worked to lose the weight after my first & so far have been losing a pound a week - hoping to have 2 stone off by the end of the year.

What a novel 😳😂

Lots of sensible ideas for your diet (which is the most important thing for weight loss) but if you already enjoy walking and the gym isn’t ideal maybe try the couch to 5k and get running? It’s free and you can take as long as you like, a good time of year to start too as it’s not dark and rainy!

MyKingdom here is the link the fast800/BSD thread on mumsnet with a good summary at the start.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3532374-blood-sugar-diet-and-fast800-thread-14

First 8-12 weeks is rapid weight loss by eating a high fat, protein, fibre and low carb diet. Remembering that not all carbs are created equal e.g berries are ok but pears less so. This switches your metabolism from carb-burning to fat burning and also helps you get over the carb cravings and your overall appetite reduces.
I have lost 10kg in 8 weeks.

Then it's the 5:2, which is for maintenance with 5 days of healthy Mediterranean style eating with wine and treats allowed plus 2 days (not necessarily consecutive) of calories restriction.
This doesn't mean you can binge on those 5 days but it allows for normal eating and, which is why it is more sustainable.
Fasting also has proven health benefits.

I loved swimming- full body exercise with far less pain than boot camp.

Great ideas thank you!

This thread is funny it is like a compilation of every diet around!

Can anyone on 5:2 share a 2 day diet ? I need to start .....
and if you get starving on a 2 day what do you have (answer - nothing )

I'm in the same boat too. I haven't lost any weight since within weeks of having DC3. I've joined SW but don't follow it. I fasted for one day. I'm really unhappy with my 5'10 14st9 shape but can't commit - I end up eating biscuits at 9pm

All diets work by making you Consume fewer calories calories than you expend. Doesn’t matter how complicated the regime, when you look behind it it’s all about the calories. Yes low carb/high protein appears to be successful, but only because protein keeps you fuller for longer so you get more bang for buck calorie-wise. So why not just track the calories and figure out a way of eating that is sustainable for you long term?

The change for me was when I actually started eating healthy food, rather than just restricting my diet. I do live exercise classes twice a week with Results with Lucy, and go swimming twice a week too.

I eat protein pancakes for breakfast (1 banana mashed up, then 1 scoop porridge oats, 1 scoop vanilla protein and egg cracked on top) and this has helped me so much. I put low fat natural yoghurt and strawberries on top with a drizzle of honey Protein is so great for recovering and building muscle and I am so full all morning until lunch time- stops me snacking. I pre make my lunch. I put a chicken breast, tea spoon full of green pesto, mix in garlic and put a sprinkling of cheese on top and put in a parchment of tin foil and roast in oven. I sometimes put spinach and cherry tomatoes in too, sometimes I choose pepper, but I always have a salad garnish. Again this keeps me full until tea time. For tea I have whatever I fancy, sometimes fish and homemade wedges, sometimes chicken wrap, sometimes I make a spaghetti bolognese etc, I just have a smaller portion that I would pre diet

Crash diets do not work, I lost a stone by doing meal replacement last Summer and as soon as I started eating normally it all piled on. This has been an ongoing lifestyle change on and weight loss has been slower but it has been sustained. I also found exercise made the biggest difference to my motivation- I felt refreshed after and it made me want to eat healthy to continue feeling good.

Good luck!!

I forgot to add, download my fitness pal! It takes some getting used to and can be a lot of effort at first, but its so useful to track how much your eating, it surprised me how much a bag of crisps here, a square of chocolate there would add on to my calories

If you have the spare cash, I have a fitbit too, I don;t think the calories burnt are too accurate, but its useful to see how many steps you walk- if I'm having a poor day I'll deliberately go for walk to get them up. Its useful to log weight on, see your heart health etc etc, this has definitely helped guide me through my weight loss

So why not just track the calories

Because not all calories are created equal. The body metabolises calories from fat, protein and carbs in very different ways.

I am skeptical about the 10 000 steps target. There's very little evidence behind it and 10 000 steps over 12 hours is going to have very little benefit for weightloss. Power walking, weights, HIIT training will have much more of an effect.
Obviously, walking has other benefits.

Plus the rapid rise in blood sugar from carbs leads to insulin release and fat deposition. Eventually insulin resistance occurs and type 2 diabetes develops.

yeah upping protein will sustain you for longer than a diet that is mainly starchy carbs. but ultimately if you ate 3000 calories a day of lean protein only when you only need 1800 to maintain your weight you would still get fat.

Also saying power walking or HIIT is more beneficial for weight loss than normal walking is rubbish.

Some days I do a 45 min RPM class & burn about 350 cals. Some days I walk home from work (about 4.5km, takes about 50 min) and burn about 280 cals. A calorie is a calorie. The RPM class is more beneficial for cardio fitness and burns calories faster, but for someone who is a bit daunted by fitness classes or doesn’t have the money to join a gym, the walk is almost as good.

HIIT is not great for people who don’t already have a base level of fitness as they won’t be able to hit the high intensity aspect for the required intervals.

Ultimately people put on weight because they consume too many calories. (Been there, got the T-shirt 😂) but once you realise this the process of losing becomes more straight-forward. You don’t need to lose 2lbs a week or even 1lbs. If you’ve been steadily putting on weight, as the OP has, just reversing that trend by maintaining your current weight is an achievement.

Over the years I’ve been to personal trainers, running coaches, nutritionists, physios, been a gym member, been a runner - all of the advice has ultimately been the same and it’s the only thing that has worked for long term sustainable weight loss.

I prefer calorie counting so that I can eat anything!

I just worked out my calorie allowance using my BMR, which you do by calculating [655.1 + (9.6 x weight [kg]) + (1.8 x size [cm]) − (4.7 x age [years])] AND then multiply the BMR by 1.2 (for no to little exercise) to work out calorie allowance to stay the same weight.

If you want to lose 1lb per week then you take the result and minus 500, for 2lbs minus 1000 and 3lbs minus 1500 etc.

I really rate weight watchers, following the plan taught me how to eat normal food responsibly and in a way that means if I stick to the principles I can just about keep it off, staying within 6lbs(ish) of my ideal weight.

People knock slimming clubs but they do educate you, and if you've piled on weight you obviously need a refresher on what is normal (no judgement I've been there).

It's all about eating 'unlimited' chicken, fish, salad, veg, fruit, pulses and beans. You moderate your dairy and carbs. Sensible really. Have a look at 'skinnykitchensecrets' a website by a WW follower. Her food is delicious.

They do sell cake bars etc at the meetings but ignore that.

Personally I don't like the sound of slimming world and I don't think it sounds sustainable. A fair bit of processed rubbish features heavily (muller lights, mug shots etc). I think slimming world probably works best with people who start off very obese. If you're eating normally but just not well from a weight loss/maintenance perspective (toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, spag bol for dinner) I can't see how slimming world would help tbh.

Muller lights and mug shots are synned now on SW. The basic plan is exactly what you described, 'free' lean meat, fish, potatoes, pasta, limited dairy and an emphasis on a third of the plate being veg to fill you up. There is no requirement to eat any 'processed crap'.

Thanks Olwina but eating unlimited pasta / rice just doesn't sound like a healthy eating plan to me. If you're eating bacon rolls, chippy for lunch and a takeaway for tea and are obese then i can see how switching to SW's lists of free food will benefit you but if you're carrying an extra stone or two and want to lose it and keep it off then i don't think SW will do it. But hey I haven't tried it.

No takeaways. I lost 3 sizes when I did home cooking more. I had a bf at the time that loved take away curries etc. he could afford it he was really overweight.
Home cooking is the way to go for me anyway

anyone on 5:2 share a 2 day diet ? I need to start .....

Coffee with a small amount of milk for breakfast, an enormous meal at lunchtime (either ready meal with giant pile of added veg, or stir fry with prawns), then usually only drinks after lunch. That’s how I do it - but others have three small meals, or two meals.

On fast days I just have water and black coffee until dinner then a normal meal.

Calorie counting. It's basic but consume less than you expend and you're in a defect which means weight loss.

I've tried everything keto, weight watchers, fast diet etc but I always fall off the wagon. I've been on calorie counting since Feb and it's coming off gradually but I don't feel deprived I just make smart choices and it feels more like a lifestyle change for me now I.e this weekend I've got a bbq and drinks so I've been sticking to my calorie target everyday and exercising a bit more. My fitness pal is great to log.

I work out every day at home using FIIT and there are loads of free workouts on YouTube you can do.