Losing 25lbs :( How?

[Jazz12]

Over the last 3/4 years, I slowly put on 25 lbs. :(
All due to Stress eating, sugar addiction and not doing any exercising. I’m 39, turning 40 in May. I realise weight gain and comfort eating is a slippery slope. I really need to gain control over this and get fit. its a nice thing to gift myself for my 40th - isn’t it?

My sister kindly lent me her Nordic track exercise bike. I have no idea how much of that I need to do every day and also where to start with weights? Earlier I used to just walK a lot, lived in central London and walked 2-3 miles twice every single day to work. We moved to Surrey now and I take the train to work if I’m not WFH. Zero exercise.

I wasted a lot of money on gyms and personal trainers in the past, not sticking to it and I don’t want to go that route until I’ve lost at least 10lbs first.

Most people will say it's about eating less calories, but it's not that simple, it's also about eating food that will also fill you up. Through personal experience I would recommend Slimming World but Weight Watchers also works for some ... Both carry a weekly charge to follow the groups (but some GPs with give a free 12 week referral, under the right circumstances) ... They both treat you how to plan and manage the right foods as well as providing group support without making you feel as though you are on a diet. But....your head also needs to be in the right place to be successful and it also helps to find the right group for you. Here are the links

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/
www.weightwatchers.com/uk/

Jillian Michaels 30 day shred as costs you nothing and I found it the ned me up really quickly and meant I got exercise into my day quite easily.

I snacked on oatcakes,almonds or oranges. Cut out bread unless having a sandwich because had to do a packed lunch. Aimed for 1600 cal a day. Lost a stone. Similar age to you.

Toned, not ned.

I highly recommend Noom. Deals for the psychological aspects of overeating. Nothing else has done that for me x

If you find cutting back on food difficult, start with increasing exercise and just tracking your food for a week. E.g. do a 10-15 minute yoga with Adriene (free on you tube) and a 10 minute HIIT youtube bodyweight workout every day (no equipment needed. Track your food on MFP.

Or vice versa. If you can be strict with food but hate exercise, do a very low carb diet with two 600-cal fast days per week, and track your exercise with a Fitbit or phone app.

After a week, either increase the exercise or decrease the calories.

I find it helps to make a list of all the food I love which is not calorie dence and build meals around it. So I always have a heap of berries in the morning with some Skyr which is naturally low fat, and just sprinkle a bit of low sugar granola or some walnuts or muesli on top. Lunch is home made soup with loads of veg in it, add a big salad to dinner and reduce portions of richer food.

It sounds like the weight gain is a result of stress and a change in your circumstances? Can you tackle these. Do things that make you happy, find 20mins to go for a walk. Find some joy in making nice meals instead of eating sugar. I don’t think calorie counting and thrashing yourself with exercise will make a difference that is sustainable. You need to treat yourself holistically.

I lost 24lbs during lockdown 1&2. Massively increased my steps, started doing home workout fitness videos daily and went on a calorie controlled diet. Once I started seeing results it encouraged me to keep going.

Try intermittent fasting.

Losing weight is 80% diet, I’d not bother with the bike and sort your diet out first and foremost

I piled a lot of weight on in late earluy 2921/ start of 2022.

I started eating Low carb at Easter and have lost 2 1/2 stone.
I have found it ridiculously easy, because I just don't get very hungry and I get to eat pretty normally. Essentially I have cut starchy carbs and sugar. I eat plenty of protein and fat.

The only other time I have seriously lost weight was on WW before kids, it worked but I was permanently ravenous and I found it hard.

Have a look at the Bootcamp threads on here. Lots of help and support.

Get an Apple Watch or Fitbit. Do your 10,000 steps a day even if it’s just matching around the house to make up the last few thousand.

eat 3 meals a day. Portion control
them. No snacks.

weigh yourself daily first thing in the morning. You’ll see when a day has resulted in weight loss and can replicate.

Lots of little changes have helped in our house... One slice of bread with lunch rather than two. Salad rather than chips. Don't drink calories. Minor things add up. Apart from that... Walking anywhere you can and always taking stairs if there's an option.

It won’t matter how much you exercise if you don’t sort out your nutrition first.

As others have said, it's all about diet. Until you are ready to identify and address the root cause of your comfort eating / sugar addiction, nothing will change. All you will do is try something and then fail because you haven't addressed the root cause behind your unhealthy behaviours. Rinse and repeat but with every repetition you will feel progressively worse about yourself.

Of course becoming more active is going to have benefits for you and I'd encourage you to try and find something you can do together with a friend or family member to give you that accountability. Just don't forget about that root cause or you won't see any reduction on the scale. You may even see an increase on the scale as some people fall into the trap of using food as a reward for exercise.

The book Atomic Habits is useful for mindset stuff. The gist is habits/behaviour comes down to who we are/perceive ourselves to be. Saying 'I need to lose weight I mustn't eat bad food/I'm so lazy' is creating the expectation you naturally eat 'bad' food and don't exercise. Whereas 'I'm a health conscious person, I make healthy choices for my mind and body' is more likely to direct you towards the healthy food choice, or a workout or long walk. Tackling that inner voice, telling yourself you make healthy choices, is more likely to guide you into it.

Also, the best way to lose weight/size/inches is to build muscle. Thinking of it as not weight is important! Muscle is smaller than the same weight of fat, so gaining muscle and losing fat means the scale may not change all that much, but your size and figure will. It takes more calories to fuel and maintain muscle, so if you have a bit more your body will burn calories all day just to keep that muscle. Building muscle is done through repeatedly working a muscle (not necessarily to fatigue but so that it is effort to do it), and eating a decent amount of protein, lots of nutrient dense foods. If you know a bit about weight training already and are willing to work to lifting heavy weights, but also happy to start at home with bodyweight and minimal equipment, check out Bret Contreras (known as the glute guy) on instagram. Also Google bret contreras macro split to find info about how many calories, protein, carb and fat may be useful. Almost everyone advises never going under 1800cal/day, and crash dieting/weight loss just doesnt work for almost everyone, instead leading to yoyoing up and down over the years. You'll want to 'recomp' your body (basically, burn off some fat and put on some muscle). You will not end up looking like a body builder! Don't be put off by the amazing looking women he coaches - he coaches them because they do figure and weight training competitions and need the best. He has a huge quantity of free content on insta and web which is useful for everyone.
If you have kids (or even if you don't!) Get Mom Strong (again on insta) is great for free clips of exercises for deep core, to strengthen core and pelvic floor, and loads of detail on how to breathe during loaded movements, to better brace and protect the core. She has a workout program which I think may currently have a free trial. She also has some stuff on nutrition.
Loads of other on YouTube etc, but those 2 really have the scientific knowledge behind working out for strength and hitting key muscle groups, doing it safely and focusing on understanding why.

Also glucose goddess on how to adjust eating slightly to reduce blood sugar peaks and troughs (so more energy and less likely to binge eat). Oh and if looking to build muscle, definitely forgo the fasting some people always seem to recommend 🙄

Agree with two PPs. Make sure you are always full. If not you will cheat. You just will. Plus Weight Watchers really works. If you properly stick to it there is no question you will lose the two stone well before your birthday.

Well done on getting a grip now before things get worse. You can do it.

I lost 30kg, the exercise stuff will be great for your health and mental health and you should definetly do it but you can't outrun the spoon and the majority of weightloss comes from what you eat or don't eat and not exercise.
I was religious at the beginning of tracking everything i ate in my fitness pal so I could get back to normal portion sizes and used recommended portion sizes on pasta etc instead of my eyeball pouring a huge portion.

I went from 11st to 9st with slimming world. I love it

I've lost more than 3 stone since July, honestly eat less. No more than 1200 calories a day and if you're hungry so be it. You'll start to make more sensible choices around things that are filling, protein rich, lower in fat and chocolate etc becomes a waste of calories. I did this before about 13/14 years ago and once I'd lost a lot got really into the gym and to maintain could be less careful, I kept it off for a decade. Working away followed by pregnancy and then lockdown where I had to work but had no childcare, made me gain nearly five stone. I ate too much, ate too much junk and have PCOS so have to be careful with carbs and sugar and I wasn't. Drink a lot, water, fruit tea, mint tea, no sugar, no milk. Helps to feel full.

I found success with team RH

You must find a diet that works for you and that you enjoy. For me that's been Keto. I am never hungry and from the very beginning always felt full and satisfied with my meals which meant I wasn't tempted to snack or binge on things that would derail me.

I cut out all sugar, seed oils, and carbs (I stuck to below 20g a day) and ate high fat and protein. I tracked everything in an app so I could make sure I stayed on track and could view my progress on a graph.

I've just gone and checked and I lost my first 25lbs in 4.5 months. With zero exercise as well. (I'm not advocating zero exercise btw. I just found it very hard to fit in). I kept going because I loved the way I was eating and feeling on it. I lost 50lbs within 11 months of starting a keto diet and have maintained the full loss for over a year.

I went from 11.6 stone to 8.2 stone and just sit comfortably at that now. I eat what I want as long as it sticks within my keto diet and I don't track calories or anything else anymore. I just know what I can eat now and how much. My body burns fat now and my own fat storage rather than carbs which would require me to refuel it with more carbs.

My every day diet consists of things like eggs, various meats like chicken, pork, beef, duck, fish, and full fat cheeses and milk, lots of nuts and seeds, salads and berries. I love it. I'll never go back to my old way of eating now and I never have cravings. Sugar and carbs are what fuel cravings and constantly made me feel hungry.

More protein (eggs/ chicken/ greek yog)
No sugary snacks/ drinks/ even cut down on fruit juice
Less refined carbs
Aim for 30 different veg/ fruit/ nuts/ seeds per week
Move more - even walking/ dancing around the house

6 stone since June with SW. Meeting can be a bit cult like but the plan certainly works and helps break ingrained habits

Trying to sort diet and exercise at the same time May exhaust your motivation once calorie deprivation kicks in.
Diet is key but honestly I'd break this down a bit.
Get on the bike, even if just for 5 mins initially but kick start a routine, build it into a habit (so get on as soon as you log off from WFH). Once you have that locked in, start to tackle your food intake.

Generally I'd say work out your BMR, match your caloric intake to that (don't eat any calories burnt in exercise!) and exercise for a minimum of 30 mins a few times a week. I'd suggest bike first as you have it to hand then as you get fitter look to change it up, get the peloton app (or les mills, or a.n. Other app) and build programmes from there. Increase from 3 to 5 times or up from 30 mins to 45 then 60.

But, the main thing is; just start. Do 5 mins, spin the pedals a bit and ask yourself if you could do another 5 mins. When motivation lacks we rely on habit so build that before anything else. Good luck!

Intermittent fasting. I lost over 15 pounds in 4.5 months without even trying.