If you've lost weight

[Whitegrapeandblackberry]

How much did you lose and how long did it take ?
I need to lose about 2.5 stone and I just can't get motivated and can't see that I'll ever be small again.

puds11

I literally just don't eat, anything, for an extended period of time every day.

I have a 'window' of eating, usually between about 6pm-10pm, during which I will have a normal evening meal, maybe a pudding, maybe some alcohol (I like a glass of wine whilst I cook too!) No rules at all, just whatever I feel like. On weekends I'm a bit more lax and my 'eating window' will be open for longer but I will always try and have at least a 16-hour fast every day.

So basically I skip breakfast and lunch every day. No snacks. Drink plenty of no-calorie drinks (water, black coffee, green or black tea). Eat what I want the rest of time. My appetite has naturally regulated so that my decent-sized evening meal (and a treat or a couple of glasses of wine) is enough.

Most important for me - no calorie counting. I tried 5:2 and I just found it boring and irritating, faffing about wondering what I could eat that was 500 calories. Much easier to just think 'during the working day, I don't eat'.

Managed to lose five and a half stone over 12 months , have kept it off for 2 years so far . Went for the good old healthy eating and exercise plan .

Five and a half stone over two years. I did my own slightly modified version of Slimming World to kick start me.

I was overweight because I was unhappy and comfort ate. Once I’d sorted out the source of the unhappiness losing the weight was a much easier battle.

Two stone and it only took a couple of months. Kept it off for 3 years until this Christmas.
Blood Sugar diet.All the diets like WW or even Atkins and intermittent fasting that say “unlimited” don’t work for me. I need one that says “stop eating fatty”.
It was good. It stops your life revolving around food and eating.

I've lost 5 stone, but that was over 20 years. Just very steady/gradual loss of a pound or so every few weeks. That was with pretty normal eating and moderate exercise. "Slow and steady wins the race".

Find a system of taking in fewer calories than you expend - whatever works long term will be different for different people! Intermittent fasting, Keto, slimming world, etc etc are all variations on the same theme. Losing weight is something like 90% diet, 10% exercise.

Generally, ridding yourself of the 'diet' mentality is crucial for keeping weight off long term (i.e. that certain types of food are 'bad' or 'forbidden'). I've lost that elusive 'last 10 lbs' this year by counting macros (it's a slightly more involved version of calorie counting). It's a bit tedious weighing your food out all the time, but it works... During that time I have eaten chocolate pretty much every day and haven't had to starve myself for half of the day/week or banish any foods from my diet.

I highly recommend following 'thefitnesschef' (Graeme Tomlinson) on Instagram. He speaks a lot of sense. He's also just published a book, if you're not on IG.

Whilst I absolutely agree that you need to find what works for you as an individual and that will be different for everyone....IF is not 'starving yourself'.

It is simply making the decision to not eat for a set period of time. Maybe every day, maybe a couple of times a week. Whatever works for you. But absolutely no one 'starves' by missing a couple of meals.

Sorry to be nitpicky, but it just really gets on my tits when people talk about 'starving' instead of fasting. They are two completely different things.

Anyway, as you were

I lost 2.5 stones in just over 3 months. I did the 5:2 diet (I actually did 4:3).
To be sustainable I think you need to find a ‘diet’ plan that fits in with your regular way of eating. Due to the hours I used to work, I often didn’t eat breakfast or lunch, so I was used to not eating for long periods of time, therefore, only having 500 calories on fasting days didn’t bother me at all.
I was quite strict with myself, going so far as to write down everything I ate and drank so that I could count the calories (and it doesn’t have to be 500 calories - it can be whatever suits the individual best). However, on non-fasting days I would occasionally have a takeaway if I fancied it - dieting is hard enough so I did not deny myself treats.
The great thing about the 5:2 diet though, is once you’ve reached your target weight, you easily maintain it by doing the odd fasting day.

I started following Weight Watchers No Count at home last March and have lost 8 stone in 13 months. I also walk briskly for 5ish miles each day.

I lost 4 stone in my early 20's after a spiral of comfort eating and shift patterns from hell and 4.5 stone after having dd at 28, the rest of my adult life I have maintained the same healthy weight (BMI 20-21). Both times I lost the weight calorie counting to around 1200 cals a day (I'm 5'9) using My Fitness Pal and taking a brisk walk around 3-4 miles a day. I didn't restrict any particular food types, just kept within my allotted calorie quota. On both occasions I lost the weight really quickly, in around 6 months and on both occasions once I had readjusted to eating a more balanced amount of food it didn't feel like a great hardship.

I got a dog.
That's it. I have a fairly active job in school but don't exercise for pleasure, but got my puppy last summer, and now I'm out at least twice a day in all weathers, and dropped a stone without changing anything at all ( I wasn't heavy to begin with but had started middle aged spreading a bit)
I feel fitter, and happier just from the regular walking!

I've lost around 1 stone 3lbs since lockdown (scales keep changing its mind). Been trying to stick to 1500 cals a day (My BMI is 39 so I'm obese) and using my Fitbit to try and do 600/700 cals of exercise a day.

I lost 2.5 stone over about four months when I was in my early 20s. My starting weight was 11 stone 5 and my lowest weight was 8 stone 10. My BMI went from 25 to just under 20. I did it by making a conscious effort to eat less, and swimming most days.

I think the very lowest weight wasn't really sustainable. I wasn't underweight but I couldn't really relax and enjoy myself. My weight has crept up again. A few years ago my weight was consistently around 10 stone 3 and I found I could stay there without too much maintenance. For the last couple of years I've had a healthier diet, less alcohol and more exercise and my weight has pretty much stabilised at around 9 stone 10, except when I lost about half a stone just before my wedding and then put it back on again.

I think it's quite helpful to lose a lot of weight and doesn't necessarily matter if you put some of it back on again, if it enables you to find what is a comfortable weight for you, taking into account your lifestyle, how much you want to watch what you eat and drink and how much exercise you're prepared to do, versus how you want to look. That won't be the same for everyone (someone who really loves their food might be entirely comfortable with weighing a bit more than someone else of the same height and build who really loves clubbing in skimpy dresses, for example), but as long as you're in the healthy weight range and feel good about yourself, it's all fine.

But if you do an unsustainable crash diet and lose an enormous amount of weight by severely restricting what you eat, you'll only put it all back on again and fuck your metabolism up in the process. So, don't do that.

I've been dieting pretty consistently for a year. I let myself off the hook for holidays and special occasions, meals out etc because I think life is for living, and just carry on as usual when I'm home. I've lost 14.5 kilos in a year. Lockdown has helped as no outings/special occasions/drinks etc! At home I don't drink, do intermittent fasting (no eating between 8pm and midday the next day) and stick to 1350 calories. Feels sustainable for me. I'm aiming to lose another 4 kilos to hit my goal weight, but might carry on after that.

I have lost 2st 4lb on 9 months but I had December off and regained 6lb so had to redo that again.
Since Jan it has been 1st 4lb I am a healthy weigh doing it slowly.

Thank you @MaudBaileysGreenTurban. I think I will try it but maybe every other day.

I'm a slim lady anyway. But it's been my 'thing' to try and get super fit during lockdown. I do about 2 hrs of cardio a day. I started with joe wicks. He's such fun! Then Davina own your goals. Which is free for 6 weeks. The dance ones are my fave.

Now I've gotten into this guy in Chelsea. And oh
My
God

He kills me. It's REALLY advanced stuff. But I haven't particularly lost weight yet. But I'm toning up for sure.

It's hard some days. I'm not well at all. Trying to do this to keep alive as such. Keep me as fit as I can in my condition. I do enjoy it though now.

I did keto for years. I did love it. I also love IF too.

I do 18:6. It's incredibly easy to do. I stop at 6pm and don't eat till 12pm the next day. Works great for me.

I lost 30lbs over two years that hasn’t gone back on .

That might be dispiriting if you are looking for a fast fix but if you think of the way weight goes on in the first place - perhaps a few ounces every day - it’s the best way . I’d urge you not to think in terms of diet
as you are setting yourself up for failure but to just reduce the amount of very high empty calorie foods like alcohol biscuits and Don’t cut anything out you love . Just eat less of it .

And chocolate .

I lost 3 1/2 stone between August 2018 and April 2019 Also gallstones and a hernia. But have put it all back on and some extra now 😭👎

Good luck puds! Play around with it, see what works for you.

I've lost 21lbs now and I started 9 weeks ago. I had 4 stone to lose

I have ...

Increased my exercise. I walk 10-15000 steps a day briskly and I use peloton twice a week

I calorie count with an eye on carbs. I don't think a low carb diet is at all sustainable for me as I'm a vegetarian. I eat between 1200-1400 calories a day

I eat between about 11.30am and 6.30pm

And that's about it

2 stone in 3 months here - started off with Slimming World but also calorie counting, 1300 calories eaten a day and 2500 burned off according to Fitbit so I was always in a calorie deficit. Now working out in lockdown and more is coming off week by week but I'm toning up also, it has definitely slowed the weight loss down though.

I lost 10kg in about 4 months through mindfulness, yoga and walking. My biggest problem was that I have no will power, so would eat whenever I was bored. I have a disabled DD, so going to exercise classes wasn’t possible. Instead I started increasing the length of my walk to and from school drop off and pick ups. Doing Yoga with Adriene (on YouTube) every morning and started to use a mindfulness approach to eating, which basically means I ask myself every time I reach for the snacks whether I’m genuinely hungry. It takes a while to build the discipline, but a year on I’ve managed to maintain my weight. I still have bad days where I eat everything in sight, but they’re far fewer than before.