Fatty to fitty!

[Lj8893]

I'm fat, morbidly obese to be honest. I weigh 17st9, size 18. I have fluctuated weight my whole life but this is the biggest I've ever been (actually before xmas I was 18st but have lost a little). I'm doing slimming world which is working brilliantly for me and I have started exercising.

This is the thing, I want to loose weight (7-8st) but I also want to have a good, fit body. I don't want to be left with lots of excess skin so I want to be toned too.

I have been walking (3-7 miles depending on time) about 3-4 times a week. I am spinning 1-2 times a week and I am doing mini workouts (mainly found on Pinterest) in between at home.

Is this enough? What should I be doing? (I'm a poor student so can't afford the gym!)

Hey Lj8893,

I'm in no way an expert—not a dietitian/medic of any kind. However, I have been in your position and (finally) made the transition.

Possibly what helped me was taking the weight loss really slowly. So, in the first year, I lost around three stones (and three dress sizes). I then maintained for a year (well two really) and then picked up the pace and lost another stone and another dress size. Then I had another year's break and started on the next stone. My final stone (of six) took about two years to come off . I hit my target of just under 9 stones—and a dress size 8—on my 50th birthday last March.

I don't have any excess skin and I do think that the slow progress, together with a bit of strength training, helped with that. I'm not suggesting that you take it quite so steady but if you were to aim for a pound per week loss, you'd be all done in two years; believe me, it'll fly by.

I've posted my 'before' and 'after' shots—for interest (or not, as the case may be)

You can so do this. Wishing you all the very best. Do message me if there's anything further you need to know. Like I said, I'm not an expert—just an ordinary person who's been (and is still on) the journey. Oh, and ...... I feel absolutely amazing.

Wow you look amazing! Well done!

You mentioned strength training, what sort of thing did you do and how often?

Stevie you look amazing!!
Op, I think that you need to be prepared for the weight loss to take time. Track the changes that your new style brings, and make small, further adjustments as needed along the way.
Take some time to learn about nutrition and health - you could listen to podcasts as you walk. I listen to the Well-Fed Women podcast or the Low Carb Conversations podcast every time I walk and have learnt so much.

My core fundamentals are:

• deadlifting
• squats
• bench pressing
• lunges

I then add some seated rows, bicep curls, tricep dips and leg presses to shape my back, arms and legs.

However ..... I only really started doing all that (with any great regularity) around a year ago, ie just before I hit my target weight. During the long weight loss period, I was basically only walking for exercise.

So .... you could concentrate on the weight loss phase with the exercise you're currently doing—which is way more than I was doing —and then look at toning up by maybe getting a gym membership when you graduate and get a fab job (to go with the fab body)

Never, ever give up. I really didn't think I'd ever get here. But I did. And so will you.

Thanks all. Yes stevie I think that's what I will do. DH said once I graduate (8 months!!) and I have lost a significant amount of weight he will treat me to some sessions with a personal trainer to work on the toning etc.

will keep going as I am for now, even with the small amount of weight loss I can feel my clothes fitting me better which is so inspiring!

@Jaimx86

Thank you; that is so kind. I spent such a long time feeling very unhappy not wanting to look in the mirror. Your kind words really do mean a lot

stevie wow! Amazing! Well done!

@Lj8893,

Please bite DH's arm off at that offer. I have a personal trainer—didn't want to mention it unless you brought it up —and what he's done for me simply cannot be put into words. Without him, there is no me ....

I know opinions are mixed on whether you need one but, as I see it, he's a professional and I'm not (not in that field, anyway). I listen to him on fitness matters; he listens to me when we're doing his tax return Thank you, Chris: I'd be lost without you.

@danTDM

Thank you so much. I do have to work really hard at it, as I'm in my 50s, so .....four times a week in the gym plus an obsessively healthy diet. But ... there are no words to convey how amazing I feel at 50—and how low I felt at 40

It's worth every single sacrifice.

That's really good to hear Stevie!

Will continue to work as I currently am, and then once I'm earning a professional wage (1st interview this week eeeekkkk!!) in October I shall seek a personal trainer to help me get the body I yearn for!

I've gone from over 17 stone last May to just over 13 stone when I did a check-in weigh this morning; at almost 6 feet tall I'm now just slightly overweight in BMI terms. Couple more pounds and I may hit healthy BMI for the first time in my life! I also now go running for fun - I'm doing Run Everyday January and did 5 miles yesterday evening, after getting a personal best at parkrun on Saturday! Me from last January would find this all mind-boggling, but it can be done. I did join my local leisure centre gym and go every day, since my original aim was more fitness than strict weight loss, but diet certainly plays a big part. I don't follow any particular diet plan but I eat a lot fewer carbs than I did just since they're calorie dense and I can never stop at one slice of toast. I eat a lot of veg and fruit and things like hard boiled eggs, oatmeal, air-popped popcorn, but also mini funsize boxes of smarties and milky ways! Completely denying myself treats wouldn't work so I try to just make them small and savour them. And I am pretty darn active - I did a lot of walking at first, combined with building up stamina in the gym. When I felt able to I started Couch to 5k, it was horrible at first but once you get past the initial hurdles and get your pace/breathing and have that baseline fitness it's really satisfying to be able to run - even slowly - for 20 minutes without stopping. Then you can go out and exercise whenever and wherever, you just need some trainers and clothes you don't mind sweating in!

Everyone works differently so some may like the structure of a diet plan like slimming world, or the friendship and support of classes, or gets on better with workout videos they can do at home. But however you do it, if you're motivated and put the effort in, it can be achieved. Don't focus too much on week by week weigh ins btw, weight is just a number and it fluctuates so much I can have a "good" week and gain or a "bad" week and lose a couple of kilos! Look at it more across months, how your clothes fit, what you can achieve and how you feel. Good luck.