To share some weight loss tips?

[Jumell]

Losing weight is very hard and I want to give support to ANYONE who’s embarking on it - whether it’s by calorie deficit/exercise alone or by getting medical help.

Last year I lost 3 and a half stone between January and May by keeping my calorie intake each day at 1200 or less, doing cardio/weights at least 3 times a week and drinking more water (up to max of 2 litres a day).

I was very determined to do it. These are some tips :

1. its very important you keep your weighing day ‘sacred’ e.g it’s fine to overindulge as a treat on weight loss day and even eat 4000 Cals , for instance on that day - but you MUST make the calorie deficit up by the same day next week eg if Monday is weigh in day

2.its important to keep exercising if you don’t feel like it - youll feel better next day

1. have non food related treats to hand eg magazines (not THOSE ones) 🤣, new 2025 calendars. TV programmes etc
2. Diarise your weight weekly
3. if you feel a bit down one day and are finding it hard going - have something nice - I did this last January - nice latte in a coffee shop and it actually helped me stick to it

sorry my paragraphing is all over the place but you get the gist !!

For me, fewer calories and sack off the exercise. Exercise is the bit that I hate and causes me to fall off the wagon. I'll happily refuse that second kit kat if it spares me an hour of fucking running.

1. its very important you keep your weighing day ‘sacred’ e.g it’s fine to overindulge as a treat on weight loss day and even eat 4000 Cals , for instance on that day - but you MUST make the calorie deficit up by the same day next week eg if Monday is weigh in day

this is shockingly bad advice op. Binging and then starving is never a good idea. And 4k calories you cannot be serious.

I get where you're coming from, but everyone is different and what worked for you might not for others. None of those tips are essential for weight loss, there are many other ways to get there.

Also, I've followed a similar method than you, 3 times. It worked well, yet I'm stil there with the kilos 2 pregnancies later... Now with 2 kids, this would impossible for me to sustain.

Terrible advice. We are all very different. Your post is not helpful. I speak as someone who has lost 5 stone in the last 3 years. But I have battled with my weight for all my adult life and have managed to make it click. I am in my early 60s. I feel great but I wouldn't dream of telling people what to do. It's complicated.

I think what OP meant was to do the calorie counting over a week rather than trying to focus too much on a daily intake.
It means that it's ok to celebrate Christmas or a birthday or going to the pub for a Sunday roast once in a while, and re-equilibrate the calorie intake over the other days of the week.

Personally I also think 1200 is too little for most women, particularly when exercising 3 times a week.

Losing weight is very hard and I want to give support to ANYONE who’s embarking on it - whether it’s by calorie deficit/exercise alone or by getting medical help.

If this is the case, may I ask why you've chosen to post this in AIBU, rather than the weight loss topic?

Cutting carbs is the way I lose (gradually, it's not a fast process) and keep my weight down. I'm in my 60s so it's not easy to lose weight but cutting carbs also helps fend off type 2 diabetes. I get a lot of exercise (2 hours fast dog walks a day and 3-4 gym visits a week).

I have to disagree a bit here. I lost 9 and 1/2 stone over 12-13 months. It was very steady loss and I think that some advice you provide would have made the process very hard.

Namely, 1200 cals or less is very low for a lot of people. I used calorie counting myself, and I would encourage people to find the personalised number for their own body and to then update the number as they lose weight. Also, I would say that people need to take each day as it comes and put less pressure on weigh day. Otherwise, you end up saying "well I'll have a massive binge and just starve myself on Saturday". Then Saturday comes and you're so miserable/annoyed with yourself that you binge anyway and decide to have a better week next time.
If you are going out for a special meal then I say- great enjoy it! I never even bothered counting those calories because they were one-offs and didn't happen all the time. I just got back on track the next day, and as a result I never felt guilty or that I had to make up for anything so it kept me calm and steady.

Where I do agree is that exercise is important, it really helped keep my mood elevated and improved my self-esteem. I still hate the gym, so I just exercise in my living room using some YouTubers that I like, and try to get out for a nice walk where I can.

I also agree that having non-food related rewards is important. I found that I'd always viewed food as a reward and that I needed to have a bit of a shift in perspective, taking reward from nice activities (like a spa day).

Yeah everyone is definately different. Im 50, autistic and ADHD so that may or may not be relevant, but I simply cannot cope with calorie counting or weighing myself because I would become obsessive, and when i 'failed' i would just give it up. So I dont do any of that at all.

What I do (and it works as it keeps my BMI between 20-22) is this -

1. I dont drink
2. I walk 10,000 steps a day rain or shine unless Im sick (and I have to be bedridden sick not just sniffles because I will use any excuse not to go).
3. I eat between 12-6 whatever I want but it must be 'clean'. Low saturated fat, and from scratch. I dont fuss about fat or calorie content (dont even look at it).
4. If I have a blow out then it has to be when Im socialising not at home. This helps limit me because I only socialise once a fortnight at most.

If i ignore all this and do whatever I want then Im a size 14, if I do this then Im a 8-10. Im still super wobbly though, just how Im built ;) As I say, I NEVER weigh myself, calorie count or check fat content as it makes me think too much then about food and then i think id eat more. I try to make food a 'eat to live' thing so Im trying to drown out the noise. I check saturated fat content if its a packet, but I dont buy many processed food tbh as I eat almost completely clean/mediterrean from scratch.

Oh and I would only ever drink diet drinks or water.

1200 calories is a very small amount. I'm pretty sure that's the recommended amount for a toddler. I usually go for between 1600-1700 which feels far more sustainable.

1200 calories is fucking stupid advice for the majority of people yet it gets trotted out on Mumsnet so often
Go away with your disordered binging fasting protocol. It's not healthy and it's dangerous.

Yabu there is a whole weightless topic you could have posted in

Totally fair enough

tbh I think losing weight is so hard that you must do whatever works, psychologically for you

I'm nearly six feet tall and 1200 calories means I can't function. I'm losing weight at 1600. (2 stone since August.)

Fair enough

if you can achieve your goals on 1600-1700 - then it’s better

I honestly thought this was going to reference back to the minging 9 day old turkey or the chicken marinade threads.
There are weight loss boards, probably better suited there .

Cmon, she meant what she said not just twice a year on Xmas and birthday. Good lord.

I'm the same. I lost two stone last year and did no exercise...just changed my diet

Sorry just to clarify I honestly DON’T mean that 1200 is best for everyone

just putting in the context why I found it hard and these things helped me

What programme was it, was it Gavin ans Stacey, where she went to fat club, got her weekly weigh in then went home and binged on a takeaway or their body weight in chocolate. Thought that was a parody. Apparently not.

Water. You hear it all the time, but I didn't take it seriously until I properly started trying to lose weight in September. Drink lots of it, it makes a massive difference. Just don't weigh yourself at the end of the day.
Low-carb, but not no-carb. I started by being obsessive over it, but in the end found it was much better to have higher amount than the typical Keto recommendation. A couple of potatoes or small portion of rice actually helps weight loss, or so I've found.

1,200 is only suitable for short women. And even then, it depends on their height and weight. If you’re 6 ft, you’re right, you would be starving on 1,200!

I have lost 5 kg in 5 weeks. I also have 2 kids. I only walk when I can and its a tracked 5000 steps I aim to get. I'm constant on my feet at home so.no idea how many steps I rack up from that. I eat 1500 calories only. Still eating everything I like and having occasional treat meal too. I track calories on Samsung Health and weigh daily as it gives me an idea of my patterns.

My body responds well but not everyone is the same. I think this thread should be a "what worked for you" so other MNs can compare and maybe adopt ideas of others too.

@Jumell it's not that maintaining on 1600 is just 'better'. Have you looked at your RDA for nutrition and how you're meeting all of that on 1200 a day? Bearing in mind that RDA is enough to not get ill, rather than an optimum amount.

Sharing what works for you - have you considered that what you are sharing might be harmful for someone else? It's really bad advice. It might make you feel good but do you really think you're helping other people? There are so many people with disordered eating, so many who are screwing up their hormones with yo yo diet (and for most people, trying 1200 calories will mean yo yo dieting) and so many people who are just feeling down about their weight when they're actually perfectly healthy but feel pressured into always losing a few more lbs.

Ah but with the 4000 calls I mean if you happened to go out to celebrate a birthday in a restaurant- you could easily eat 4K a day

and binging is not ideal but I was saying it needn’t be the end of the world either if you go out to celebrate