To ask about weight loss

[keepcalmanddance]

I’m trying to lose weight. Last Friday I weighed 11s 4lb. I’ve totally cut out all chocs biscuits sweets etc and have been very healthy following the slimming world diet (loosely following), but generally just being very very healthy and walking

however I weighed myself in boots this morning and I’m now up by 1lb which I don’t understand apart from I drank a bottle of wine last night but surely that wouldn’t have made a massive difference? It was rose barefoot white Zinfandel

Oh and I have probably only had salad as a side with lunch 5 times in all this time. Evening meals are meat every day with half a plate of veg and rice/mash

Weight loss injections.

Kindly, you do seem to be a bit naive about weight loss. Slimming world is awful and their language around foods being sinful etc is just crap.

You need to be in a calorie deficit and its not just eating salads! There is a whole world of recipes that are wonderfully delicious, healthy and beneficial to weight loss.

Personally, id step away from slimming world and go for something like the blood sugar diet. Get some good kitchen scales and take the time to work out calories. Batch cook meals so you have something nutritional to have. Get a good selection of nutritional snacks too.

Take time to count calories and work them out. Ive found MyFitnessPal app good to use as you can scan barcodes on food which has all the nutritional/calorie values.

The blood sugar diet does promote 800 calories per day but I used to not worry if I got to 1000 on some days as long as overall, across the week, I was in a deficit.

Weight loss really isn't as simple as I ate less, therefore I should weigh less because of all the different factors involved even to how much and how well you sleep.

If you are serious about losing weight, it's best to give up alcohol entirely or cut it down to one glass of wine as a weekly treat.

And yet I’ve lost about 3 stone without doing that. It’s about more than just alcohol.

@cardibachhow did u do it

Have you worked out how many calories you need to stick to in order to be in a deficit, and then weighed out & measured everything you’ve eaten?

Also, a full bottle of wine is 650 ish calories, same as a 6 Nugget meal from McDonalds, it’s not “just” a bottle of wine.

Follow CICO (calories in, calories out).

You need to create a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than your body burns. There are calculators online where you enter your weight/height etc and it will calculate the deficit you need, which will give you a calorie range to follow in order to lose weight.

Also people massively underestimate the calories they eat or the calories in certain foods (and drinks!!). MyFitnessPal is a good app for tracking calories.

Variety of methids, but mostly calorie counting and walking for the first 2 stone. Later I joined Slimpod which got another stone off and somehow kicked me into more exercise - I now do weights (heavy) and circuits of various sorts as well as walking. I’ve been on a plateau for over a year now though, despite still having a significant amount to lose. I know I’m healthier now though.

Have you calculated your TDEE?

I've lost 30kg since July. I have been on WLI which have honestly been life changing. I know some find them controversial, but it's not "cheating" - for me, it just levelled the playing field so the hard work I have been putting in actually shows results.

Absolutely follow CICO (calories in, calories out) and use a TDEE calculator to work out exactly what your calorie allowance should be.

Half your plate should be high volume low calorie foods, fruit, veg, protein. I find very low carb effective.

Working out will help build muscle tone, and of course burn some calories: but as the saying goes, abs are made in the kitchen. Exercise will only help, not allow you to eat and drink anything you want.

Download an app like MyFitnessPal or Nutracheck (I use Nutracheck) and you need to weigh and log EVERYTHING: not just the foods, but any cooking oils, dressings, sauces, seasonings. Some are far more fattening than you'd believe. Weigh your foods to ensure you're not underestimating calories.

If you're serious about losing weight you'll need to ensure you're aware of everything: a bottle of wine is great at the time, but as a PP said, highly calorific and some contain an astonishing amount of sugar.

Good on you!
I even eat carbs when I lost significant amount 😁
No way would aI give up beer.
No wonder so many people fail tbh when they go tpo far in imho

Well done on your loss.
I don’t see WLI as cheating - it’s using medication to improve health. Totally uncontroversial. It’s just not for me, and I know lots of people feel like that.

Edit: re wine and sugar. Wine has a lot of sugar in it when it’s made, but much of it is used up in the chemical reaction that produces alcohol. The energy comes off in heat at that time. I used to work with someone who had been an industrial chemist and he was highly sceptical of the calories attributed to alcoholic drinks. My calorie counting experience backs this up. I seem to lose more for the same calories when some of them are from alcoholic drinks (drink responsibly though!).

Thanks for all good advice. One further question is a few of u mentioned staying away from processed foods, but this week I have used about 3 of Iceland’s slimming world ready meals which although processed, should be safe (I think) as made by slimming world and say free food. So my question is, should I still stick with these ready meals ? I do cook but not a great cook so ready meals by slimming world seemed like a good option.

You need to count calories and weigh all your food if you’re serious about weight loss.

if you’ve cut out a few chocolate biscuits a day (say 150 calories) but then drank a full bottle of wine (600-700 calories) then the net effect is zero. No weight lost.

You need a weekly calorie deficient of 3,500 calories to lose a pound of weight.

I'd try to steer clear of those too, they are processed foods. Its ok a couple of times a week but I wouldnt rely on them.

Wine is at least 600 calories a bottle - some types are over 1000 calories. You need to look at lower calorie drinks, e.g. spirits with a diet mixer, or limit yourself to one glass of wine. Unfortunately if you a are a regular drinker you need to change your drinking habits as well as your eating habits if you want to lose weight.

This makes sense. I have lost a lot of weight and kept it off. I drink a lot of wine though and it never has made a difference to weight loss. I roughly count my food calories but never include alcohol.

Well that's up to you but I think Slimming World and all its bullshit just complicate things. You may need to think about this a bit more - as someone said if you're trying to lose weight but aren't even aware what (very heavily publicised) WLIs are then how much thought have you put into this?

I personally feel individual bodies are more complex than 'just eat fewer calories' but I would go back to basics. Plenty of fresh food. Wholegrains, fruit and veg, lean protein. Eat reasonable sized portions - don't kid yourself about the quantities you're putting away - and avoid the obvious villains like sugars, saturated fats, alcohol and anything over processed. Do regular exercise. See what happens. Many people rely on calorie counting but it's not for everyone. All the information is out there so do some research and don't just jump onto something that seems a quick fix. It's never that easy.

@FullLondonEye I personally feel individual bodies are more complex than 'just eat fewer calories' but I would go back to basics. Plenty of fresh food. Wholegrains, fruit and veg, lean protein. Eat reasonable sized portions - don't kid yourself about the quantities you're putting away - and avoid the obvious villains like sugars, saturated fats, alcohol and anything over processed. Do regular exercise is pretty much the Slimming World plan, so hardly 'complicated bullshit' to paraphrase your description.

It'll be different everyday, it is for me. You can also go up if you eat a salty meal, do an intense work out, are due on your period etc. it's not linear

You need to weigh at the same time of day wearing the same clothes and on the same scales to get an accurate reading. Lots of things can afftect you weight like water retention and inflammation. Things that can affect this include alcohol, water, ultra processed foods, salt foods and your menstrual cycle.

Weight fluctuations happen day to day which is why a lot of people weigh daily. You might have lost a pound on day 6 but nothing or show a gain on day 7 and have lost a pound and a half on day 9. It’s what happens over time that matters.

Counting calories is a good way to learn what foods are healthy. You need to eat in a calorie defect of 500 calories per day to loose a pound of fat a week. Having a bottle of wine won’t help you hit this target but that said, you need to overeat by 3500 to gain a pound of fat and you haven’t done that so don’t worry.

You definitely don’t need to just eat salad!

No I wouldn't touch those at all

I've lost 4st 4lbs since mid-February with Mounjaro, and I drink wine every single evening. I'm not for one minute advocating this though!

I was kind of tongue in cheek when I said I only eat salad, I kind of do, what I do advocate is whole foods and protein from natural sources, slimming world imo is a load of crap, upf slimming world meals are full of crap, you'd be better off with a chicken breast and a pack of veg roasted in air fryer takes 10 mins, alcohol is prioritised when you drink it so your liver deals with that rather than anything else, I'm 4.5 stone down and once you get into a different mindset it becomes a way of life and sustainable. IF, is brilliant, the body has to literally eat the fat cells while fasting( read about autophagy) it's easy once you get used to it.

I'd rather stay fat 😂