To ask if you lost a lot of weight without surgery

[elephantmarchingin]

How did you do it!

I've always been overweight since I was small. We didn't have much money growing up so relied on what others gave us which was normally high fat processed foods.

I am now a whopping 19 1/2 stone and everything I try just doesn't work because I get fed up or I'm too busy etc.

So if you weighed around this and lost weight please tell me what you did!

@MrsJacksonAvery how long do you fast for, do you moderate calories/carbs or do you eat whatever?

I have been fasting but weight loss is slow.

Are you happy to eat the same thing every day? I eat porridge (made with water) for breakfast and soup (homemade with whatever veg in the fridge needs eating) for lunch every day. Then the only meal that needs thinking about and planning is dinner and I can manage that!

[quote Belindabelle]@MrsJacksonAvery how long do you fast for, do you moderate calories/carbs or do you eat whatever?

I have been fasting but weight loss is slow.[/quote]
During the week, I fast 22hrs and prob 18hrs at weekends. Clean fasting is key. Have you read either of the Gin Stephens books?

Binge eater. Struggled for 15 years yoyoing a stone or two around 17st.

Am 6bstone down and happy now... But sorry it was a gastric sleeve.

Nothing else could help me get control of myself, I tried everything from saxenda pens, hypnotherapy to the gym, keto and SW/WW. I can't think of a single thing I tried that worked passed a month or 2. I had no willpower at all and was miserable :(

I'm so happy now

I have lost 3 stone 7, I have put on a bit as I was probably too slim for me personally so more circa 3 stone which is more sustainable for me. I’m just trying to lose the rest of my christmas weight! I loosely follow slimming world, in that 1/3 my plate is fruit or vegetables, and I do tend to look at “syns” so in the evenings (my trigger too!) I only have low calorie snacks, pom bears, Tesco popcorn, little milk bar, kinder bars, dairylea dunkers etc, so nothing really more than 100 calories, and I allow myself 300 calories of “junk” a day. For me a mix of slimming world but also calories works. I also do 10k steps without fail a day, I have an office job, but will walk round the house on calls, and also have a lunch break and go for a 45 min walk, with 15 mins to eat. Good luck :)

@elephantmarchingin

See apart from MN I've heard bad things about SW and it seems as soon as you stop going you regain the weight

Any diet is going to be the same if you go back to eating what you did before. You need to adjust what normal eating looks like. The good thing with slimming world is you get a bank of healthy everyday recipes. It’s not just about eating Mulller lights.

I was 25st. Lost 12 stone in 2.5 years through weight watchers. I could get pretty obsessive and bordered on disordered eating sometimes though. And been left with a myriad of health issues through not taking in enough nutrition.

My neurologist says anyone losing a large amount of weight should take a good quality multivitamin and extra B vitamins.

I started noom on the 1st January and have lost 24lbs so far.

Noom is a calories controlled diet (1200 a day unless you choose a slower weight loss) but you get to log exercise and add 50% of the calories earned to your allowance. Noom is also a cognitive behavioural therapy course which you follow alongside the diet, this covers healthy eating, gaining insight into why you eat the way you do, changing habits, positive psychology and maintenance. What I have learned so far on the course has also got me reading even more around the subject.

If you choose this route, use a notebook or diary alongside the lessons from the start. I'm going restart the lessons (an option in the app) and take proper notes.

There are some really supportive unofficial noom Facebook groups, which I've found helpful too.

The downside is you have to pay upfront for the entire course.

@elephantmarchingin

See apart from MN I've heard bad things about SW and it seems as soon as you stop going you regain the weight

There's nothing wrong with slimming world.

Any method of eating that creates a calorie deficit will help you lose weight. Some of them suit some people better than others, in terms of 'remembering/planning' what to eat.

Whatever method you use has to be sustained for life, as if you revert to your previous eating habits you will put weight on again. So slimming world you follow a maintenance plan based on the SW system. Low carb you sustain indefinitely, but have days off or slightly increase your daily carb allowance. Intermittent fasting you increase your eating window until your weight stabilises.

To keep weight off you need to eat differently from the way you eat right now, whether that's gastric sleeve or a diet plan.

I was ready to go for bariatric surgery, but had to do slimming world first.

The downside of gastric sleeve surgery is that you are stuck with it. There's nowhere left to go.

@elephantmarchingin

See apart from MN I've heard bad things about SW and it seems as soon as you stop going you regain the weight

What I'd heard or read about SW is that people do lose weight, sometimes huge amounts, but then put the weight back on. I think what happens is that they reach target, and then stop going to group so they lose the accountability. They start to eat whatever they were eating when they were overweight, put the weight back on, and blame SW.

I didn't want to try SW because of the above, but I needed to do something or face being overweight forever.
I'm no longer overweight, I'm at the top end of normal BMI, and I'd like to lose another 6lb.

An average day for me on SW is a cooked breakfast, no weighing or measuring or counting calories because everything on the plate is "free".
Lunch is soup, either homemade or if I haven't got time then M&S tinned vegetable. I don't always have lunch because breakfast is so filling.
Snack is a cereal bar or fruit.
Evening meal is SW recipe from their books or website but always something substantial and filling.

Snacks on an evening are popcorn, fruit, low-cal ice cream, cereal bar, crisps, hot chocolate, obviously not all of them!

I haven't found it restrictive, it hasn't actually felt like a diet because I'm eating more than I did before.

I lost 8 stone about 15 years ago by switching to a mainly vegetarian diet which was much healthier than what I was eating before that, and taking up running. No calorie counting or cutting out carbs/fat, just sensible eating and portion sizes.

I maintained the loss pretty well but over time very slowly gained maybe 2 stone back, which I lost (with an extra stone for good measure to make me lighter than I was after my first weight loss) by calorie counting using myfitnesspal. I'm eating meat again now and it was more about portion control than changing my diet because it was still mainly healthy foods, just too much of them so calorie counting helped me get a grip on that.

I've maintained that loss for over a year now and am still logging my food on mfp to do that.

@TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo is that long term, once maintaining, or is that just while you lose? I'm at almost 6 stone off. I could lose another two, but am having a break. I do take vitamins, but wonder if I should take more!

@ChristinePerfect I'm the same- I plan my healthy a and b for an evening snack- cheese, 2 ryvita, four or five nuts, pickles, an apple.... that's after 'free' meals. I feel I'm eating like a king. Just a king that doesn't have chocolate or crisps very often

90% of it is what you eat, 10% of it is exercise. But doing one will psychologically help with the other.

My 'goal' is 14 stone. Yes still not good but vastly improved. The thing is if I was a millionaire I would just get someone to cook my meals and portion everything out for me if he absolutely fine it's the thinking and cooking and planning I hate

This was me. I signed up to a meal plan thing (diet chef if you’re interested). It doesn’t actually work out that expensive as it’s all your food for the month, and there’s usually a deal on- i think it cost me around £400 for 3 months, i’d normally spend around that on food. Plus the fact I spent money meant I stuck to it.

I lost just under 2 stone in the first 2 months. The third month i am not doing full time- i am eating normally and doing one or two days a week. I am steadily losing 2-4 lbs a month.

I found doing this got me out of the “just a few crackers”, skipping meals, fasting/binging, eating “low carb” cheese habits I’ve picked up over the years. It reset me back to breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack, and also completely reset my portion sizes. So now I’m back to “normal” foods i eat in the same pattern and better portions.

It’s worked for me after years of dieting yet my weight still creeping up.

SW is very basically as much meat, fish, eggs, fruit and vegetables, rice and pasta as you like. Dairy and bread or cereals in selected amounts. Everything else needs to be "synned" so you can have it but in limited amounts.
Personally I don't go mad on the unlimited rice and pasta because I know it would slow my weight loss down, but I do have potatoes in some form instead.
My DH isn't on SW but he's lost weight anyway through eating the same evening meals as me, he is enjoying having steak and chips but we don't have creamy peppercorn sauce we have a homemade pizzaiola tomato sauce instead.

@picklemewalnuts long term as you are losing but then also doesn't harm to continue with vitamin D and a good multivitamin.

Unfortunately my health issues mean that I need to take quite a few a day now.

Just don't try to lose it too quickly. Take it nice and steady. My neurologist says he sees people like me who have lost large amounts of weight and leave your body sort of unprotected nutritionally. I definitely wasn't eating enough. Then diagnosed as diabetic and then lost the ability to walk or stand overnight. He thinks I had a virus that attacked my nerves but the lack of vitamins and minerals plus the high blood sugar levels helped it along!

I think it's a bit dangerous to diet by ruling out entire food groups (I went vegan) so I would advise to do as I say and not as I did!! Lots of healthy protein, fruit and vegetables and a good all round supplement.

I lost 3 stone in one go about 10 years ago. Low carbing.

Personally these days i can't do that any more. If i want to shed a bit of weight i have to step away from 'normal' food and use shakes (or anything you could replace a meal with).

I cannot stick to only having small portions of food i usually eat a lot of - so for me mentally it's best if i don't have it at all and just have THE shake, or THE bar or THE yogourt that i'm allowing myself for that time slot.

I lost 2 stone 2 summers ago eating slimfast or yogourt during the day and whatever everyone else was having for an evening meal but no bread and butter or evening nibbling.

Drink loads of water if you get hungry and accept you ARE going to feel hungry if you're burning more calories than you are eating. Apologise in a advance to everyone that you are likely to be a moody hungry cow for a week or 2. After that you stomach shrinks a bit and it gets a bit better.

I allowed myself a take away on a Sat night.

Lost over 38kg in 18mth a few years ago. Controlled my diet and took up weightlifting. Regained weight by letting diet slip and pregnancy so could do with losing 20kg now. I do intermittent fasting now and fasted training, weight coming off slowly and I'm not in a rush this time. I find I can be obsessive if I go on a strict diet, not a nice person being like that. I cook from scratch more these days, I was terrible for convenience foods and junky treats before (carb loader in early pregnancy which is when I gained most).

Oh yes and accept it's going to be SLOW. Resign yourself to ploughing on and seeing good results this time next year.

Anything quicker is a bonus then.

IME it takes losing 2 stone before people who don't know you're on a diet start noticing.

I still love lifting, I kept it up through most of pregnancy and was back in 10wk post c-section.

Gosh, how interesting- and scary- Dove.

I've had a nutrition check as part of my health condition and I passed with flying colours, doing slimming world. I need a bit of selenium, but not a supplement (thyroid problems) so an occasional Brazil nut or sushi does the job.

I occasionally fall down the supplement rabbit hole in the hope it will magically transform my menopause/fibromyalgia limitations. Obviously it doesn't! I'm currently prioritising collagen in the hope my nails and skin will improve, particularly the excess skin I now have.

I lost 4 stone through slimming world. Kept it off. Friend also lost 8 stone on slimming world.

Only thing I would say is your need to address the emotions behind this.

You don’t binge eat because you are busy or you get fed up, it’s a way of managing your emotions. Can you get some counselling from someone who specialises in this area, join OA (you can do it online) and read up on emotional eating.

Work on this first

Any sensible eating plan that suits you will be fine for the practical stuff, it’s the emotional stuff that’s giving you grief.

Sorry to say this, because it would be a whole bunch easier if it were just about a diet. But it can be done.

Go here:

tdeecalculator.net/

enter your details and eat 500 calories less per day than your maintenance calories.

This way you will lose a lb a week.

Losing weight is hard, but it's not complicated - it's very simple - eat less. You don't even have to move more. Just eat less.

Doesn't have to be expensive, organic healthy food either. Just eat less.

It is hard, but being very overweight is hard too.

So you need to choose your 'hard'.