To ask what helped you lose weight and keep it off in the long term

[Sustainablelossofweight]

I have a fair bit of weight to lose, at least 4 stone or so.

I have tried and failed to get into new eating and fitness routines more times than I can count and it has become a cycle of doom which has gone on for far too long.

I know I am an emotional eater and also that my portions are too big so these are the things I need to work on however my motivation for losing weight now is that my weight keeps creeping up and I'm worried about the future, want to stay fit and healthy for my kids / husband etc.

If you have lost a lot of weight before and kept it off, can I ask how you have done this and what you do now to stay on track? Thanks in advance! x

Eating window 12- 8pm, nothing before but anything I fancy in the window. Lost my sweet tooth and find it easy now. If I am having a day out/ social event I eat as normal but now I don't fancy any processed food and see it as there to control the masses...4 stone gone

I see people carrying their food/ drink around with them on their bodies. Not easy to start with but easy long term

Last August I decided enough is enough.

This joined slimming world (I know it gets a bad name on MN - but it’s just a healthier way to eat as it’s all about cooking from scratch).

Stopped drinking alcohol.

I already went to the gym - but started doing body pump (weight resistance training) 3 x per week + spinning (cardio) 2 x per week.

I lost 31 lb in 18 weeks and completely changed my body shape through weight training.

I feel fantastic and have kept the weight off.

I do now drink alcohol (not like I did) and am more mindful of what I’m eating & the portion size.

To loose the weight you have to make some significant lifestyle changes.

Mentally I'm a larger person

Physically I'm slim

I don't want to be fat so therefore I don't eat what I want

It's very miserable tbh, I wish I was able to eat what I want but sadly I just have to think of being slim at all times

@rooroorooroooroo I know how you feel.

I am going to have to find my joy elsewhere as I absolutely love food.

But I really want to be slim again and am ready to change. I will adjust to the vegetarian diet and learn to love it again. It will be worth it I know.

@Sustainablelossofweight- you absolutely can continue to enjoy food!!

Your palate needs to relearn to appreciate the subtle but varied taste of vegetables.

The easiest way to start this off his to ween yourself off sugar and refined carbs.

Have a look at this:

@PaminaMozart I suppose I mean I am going to miss the have anything you fancy type relationship with food. I will check out the YouTube video! Thanks.

Quick question - am thinking of doing IF after reading some of your posts and reading a bit. I'm never very hungry in the morning anyhow. I work PT and have started a couch to 5km plan which I do straight after work at 12.30pm 3 days a week, its a 30 min workout. It's my window before collecting kids and then i get lazy in the evenings or too busy. Would it be silly and unhealthy to do all this on a fast? Am thinking I should be a few days into IF before I take this on. Any advice appreciated

Thanks Op for starting a really good thread . I have lots to lose and will lose a few pounds then start again . I'm at the age where my weight is really impacting my health / sleep .

I do think I am an emotional eater as will eat when I am stressed / bored etc and use food as a reward .

@LaMaG I have done C25K and now do 30 mins running 2-3 times a week. I always run towards the end of a 15 ish hour fast. Depends on what kind of IF you are doing I think and how easy you find it. Listen to your body. C25K starts really easy - you might find the fasting harder regardless (and you might not). The key is doing something that YOU can sustain and we are all different so try stuff out and see how you get on. Don’t punish yourself though. It’s about being kind to your body, not punishing it.

Buy some nice clothes for the weight you are now. Do what makes you feel good..nails, hair, makeup etc. Boost your self esteem in other ways. Once you feel a bit better about yourself and stop any self-loathing, you will feel stronger, happier and better able to focus on weight loss.

That worked for me anyway. Good luck.

On New Year’s Eve 2018 I was 1lb off 20 stone. Having done many diets over the years and yo yo’ed (always putting on more each time and getting progressively heavier) I vowed that from then on each New Year’s Eve I would weigh less than the previous year.
I suffered from PCOS and then hit menopause so loosing weight was very very very hard but instead of previous times when I had set myself unrealistic targets of a stone in a month or something similar I just kept plodding on.
4 years later I now weigh 13 st 6lbs so have lost 6.5 stone with another 3 stone to lose. It has been hard but what has helped me is the calming down in my head of constant intrusive thoughts about food.
Previously on diets if I broke the diet I would eat a biscuit or some chocolate and think oh well I’ve broken the diet so I might as well eat what I want all day and start again tomorrow and I would then go mad eating as much crap as I could. Somehow shifting the focus to long term has broken that behaviour and that is the biggest change for me.
I won’t deny it has been hard and sometimes disheartening but I have persevered.
good luck.

It’s useful to know that ‘it’s ok to be hungry’. So many diets tell you what to eat so you don’t feel hungry in between meals etc. But it’s important to allow yourself to be hungry.

Growing up in the seventies, yes we ate crap meals eg angel delight, smash etc but there was much less snacking. We got hungry and then had our three meals. Nowadays we can’t even take our kids round a museum without bags of emergency raisins (this was me as a parent, no judging). I think we need to get used to being hungry again.

Thanks OP for starting this and for everyone who has provided their advice. I have a huge amount to lose and thanks to all of you I'm ready to make some changes now.

One thing I am really worried about is loose skin, is there any way to really prevent / minimise it, or is it one of those things and it's better to have some loose skin than to be overweight?

Watching x

I didn’t have a lot of extra weight but the baby weight to get off and the simple answer is SUGAR. I cut out all sugar including fruits (unless when poorly or otherwise low energy) and the weight melted away

The only thing that works for me is fasting. I started with not eating breakfast, then after a while found I wasn't that bothered about lunch either. Cutting out bad sugar and white carbs (I still eat fruit) helps massively and the cravings disappear after a week or two. It's not for everyone but I'm an all or nothing person and the way my appetite has just largely disappeared has been a revelation to me. I now just have one good meal of an evening and a couple of snacks of fruit/yoghurt. I feel really good too and have loads of energy. Also drink lots of water to keep you hydrated.

And this. You have to learn to resist cravings. One thing that helps me is thinking about how far I've come and imagining how crap I'll feel after the takeaway and asking myself if it's worth it? Read a few books about NLP OP.

Yes this is why 16/8 works for me. I'm an all or nothing person too. Most diets seem to be about eating small, low calorie meals. Just doesn't work for me. I was hungry and miserable all the time! I like to feast. I'd rather not eat at all than eat a 300 calorie breakfast. With fasting, when I do eat I eat large amounts. I don't count calories, I don't reduce fat. I just have big meals that really satisfy me. Like you say, it reduces the appetite. I'm not hungry when I skip breakfast, my appetite has changed. However, when I used to eat a small breakfast I'd be starving for the rest of the day.