Tell me your inspiring pandemic pounds weight loss stories

[Peppapigforlife]

Bonus points if you're a single mum with a toddler.

I need help losing the weight I gained over the past year. I've only twice gained weight and that was during A levels and during university (I went in my twenties). I'm finding it hard to carve out exercise time and part of me feels like it wont make a difference when I do have time, because it's so little. I want to look and feel great again.

At the moment she goes to nursery two and a half days so I could probably work out then. Every time I get up to do an indoor workout she jumps up and tries to crawl under me or push me over for fun. Cute, but not productive. Haha.

Would love to hear your stories to inspire me to get moving and losing!

Listen to the podcast feel better live more episode 191. Exercise doesn’t help you lose weight, it’s all about diet. Not that you shouldn’t exercise, but weight loss is about what goes in your mouth. Good luck.

That's not true in the past I've always eaten like a soldier and lost weight on exercise. Also know people who have lost weight on exercise alone. I eat very healthily as it is.

Well, metabolism changes as you get older, and it is much easier to combine some sort of portion controlling with exercise for best results.

When you say you eat healthily, what's a typical day like, and what size are your meals?

I’ve managed to loose 5 kg with diet and exercise… you can look at the Noom app which helps with both

Well if you’re more educated than a Harvard scientist then clearly you’re right and they’re wrong 🙄

Anyone got any inspirational stories to add?

I've lost 3 1/2 stone since June '20. My weight had ballooned during the first lockdown of staying home and eating too much crap / anxiety eating...
Have to agree with PP though, exercise does bugger all for weight loss. It's a nice addition but does not work on its own, unless you're doing strongman type lifting 8 hours a day!
Focus on diet and calories/ nutrition. Only way forward.

The only thing that's changed is that I sit on the sofa a lot more than I did pre pandemic. My diet the last 8 years or so has always been healthy, consistent and well researched. Hence the diet is not the root cause. I'm not going to list what I eat each day because I know that it will just give someone cause to say 'oh you should try eating a third of a carrot less with that meal', just to prove their point. I didn't gain a single bit of extra weight during pregnancy or afterwards on the exact same diet or whilst breastfeeding. All my weight gain came when I stopped being on the go all the time and I'm struggling to get back on the go. Please dont divert from the very specific thing I asked for support with by assuming I don't know any better.

I do Exante alongside a healthy evening meal with exercise, I lost 3st between March and August. Exercise doesn't do much for weight loss, it will just help with toning, I've been a regular gym goer for years but until I started the diet I lost no weight at all.

You're right in that you'll gain weight eating exactly the same if you're immobile rather than mobile. However, your body changes when you go from being active to inactive, so you need to adjust your calorie intake. Muscles use more energy than fat just to survive, so a muscular body will use more calories sitting in front of the telly for an hour than a non muscular body. You need to adjust your intake and get active before you up your calories again.

Seems like you have asked for advice been given it and still spitting the dummy out.
Seems like you just answered your own question.
Stop trying to exercise when your toddler is about seems the most sensible approach.
HTH

I have lost over 2 stone since June this year. I followed the SlimmingWorld plan and changed my diet. Not eating less as such but thinking about what I eat more. I did bump up my exercise but then I got Covid (and long Covid) and haven’t been able to keep it up at all. I’ve maintained the diet side of it and continue to lose weight at the same rate. Exercise can help but the vast majority of losing weight is about diet.

I’m not sure people are diverting from your posts as you asked us to share our own stories as inspiration. I lost about 3 1/2 stone since last June by changing my eating. Almost all diet related, mostly cutting out snacks and watching portion control. I now exercise too but that is mostly for fitness, hasn’t made much difference to my weight. Sounds like you find the opposite to be true but that is what worked for me

What I currently eat is a small bowl of sugar free granola and yoghurt for breakfast. Rice cakes and salad for lunch and then i eat a handful of roast new potatoes and greens for dinner, or quinoa or bulgar wheat or an egg noodle veggie stir fry. Sometimes İ might have some smoked salmon or fish with dinner and occasionally some mozzarella. Throughout the day İ might have half a banana and a satsuma or an apple and a handful of unsalted peanuts, depending on how hungry İ am. Occasionally have grapes strawberries or melon instead. İ take a multi vitamin. Sometimes i get veggie mousakka and salad for a take away as a treat. İ eat half and have half the next day for dinner. İf I'm out i grab a box of sushi or anything healthy from the supermarket, like a bulghar wheat salad. İf i ever find myself craving bread, i eat rye bread.
İ can't cut out any more. İ was eating plain porridge (no milk) instead of the granola but I've swapped that to see if it makes a difference. Sometimes i mix up lunch and have a sweet potato, a bean salad or some roasted aubergine, to make a bit of variety. İ don't eat any processed food or sugars and İ mostly cook in coconut oil. İ mostly just listen to my body and what it's asking for. İ eat my meal until I'm almost full and then wait to see if i need more. İ breastfeed once a day or once every other day.
İ did have some bad days during lockdown where i would get fish and chips twice in a week but that was ages ago now.

I'm mostly looking for stories of people with small children who have managed to squeeze the exercise in, to inspire me and help me feel better. İ used to walk everywhere but I can't do that now as i now live up a hill and in a hilly area and it's painful with the buggy. İ don't have a car or good public transport to travel somewhere flat.

I'm not saying anything against the stories of people who lost weight through diet alone, I'm really pleased for them. Just arguing the argument that someone said above that exercise does nothing for weight loss. That's not true, they're both important. I've already got a great diet that's always worked for me (and yes I did eat more when I was younger, skiing and playing tennis a lot, with a faster metabolism bigger portions and seconds etc and now I don't, I've already factored that in) and now I'm looking to balance that out with exercise and get back to my old self.

Exercise is key to weight loss, obviously a healthy diet and not over eating helps.

I've lost over 30kg in six months by going to the gym 3-4 days a week. I have a PT who encourages eating (particularly protein) as you can't exercise safely if you do not eat.

I have been controlling my diet more, but I'm still having a take away 1-2 times a month and not starving myself.

I wanted to get strong as I lost weight, so signed myself up with a PT and haven't looked back. The key is finding exercise you enjoy. I love getting strong so focus on that, with added cardio such as rowing or treadmill.

If you exercise you increase your metabolism, get fit and increase muscle mass. All key to weight loss.

I didn't gain a huge amount in lockdown, but did lose muscle and did gain fat.

I lost about 5 miles of incidental exercise a week and that gets hard to replicate by artificially adding in an extra 5 mile run.

Having finally had a decent run of my usual routines, I am back to my normal weight and muscle/ fat ratios and feel better for it. I have tweaked my diet, but not dramatically.

Building muscle is relevant. More muscle means a higher metabolic rate. You can look more toned and slimmer at the same weight than a person of similar statistics who is sedentary and has higher body fat.

As to exercising with a toddler, short bursts work best (loads of 10min workouts on youtube), and use those hills with the buggy to your advantage.

It might not solve the issue, but has its own benefits worth going for anyway.

I run half marathons so cover 20 miles a week on average.

The only way I can lose weight is to change what I eat.

Recently I've discovered that a very low carb high fat diet seems to suit me and when I first started it I lost 10lb. It wasn't my 'natural' weight though so I've gone back up a few ponds but am very happy with how I feel as well as how I look.

This wasn’t lockdown and not for weight loss, but still relevant as it relates to fitting exercise in under single parent conditions. When DS was a toddler DP was seriously injured and out of action for 18 months.

I’m a cyclist anyway and already had a trailer for DS (DP had towed him). I knew the only way I’d get exercise in was to bring him (DS obviously haha) along for the ride. Where I live is very hilly, so I had a different cassette fitted to my bike so I could cope towing. I took DS out several times a week. I’d pop a picnic in for summer (couldn’t afford cafes) and a flask for winter. I was already fit, but this made me even fitter!! I took him out in all conditions (apart from ice!). DS balance biked from 18 months. So by the time he was 2.5 he managed 4 miles (broken into 2 miles, rest, then 2 miles). I’d push him with a long stick when he got tired. But, it meant I was able to run while he balance biked.

I’d cycle commute DS to nursery so I fitted a ride in on my work days. Alternatively if I needed the car, I’d pop my bike in the night before and get my kit and work clothes ready… then drop him off at nursery the second the doors opened. It then gave me 50 minutes to ride before work and 40 minutes after.

Is your toddler still napping? If so use that time for exercise. I’d have my bike setup on my rollers (like a treadmill for a bike), my kit on etc. Then as soon as DS went down, straight on my rollers for 90 minutes. I’d also get various friends to pop over for an hour or so of an evening once he was in bed whilst I went out for a run or ride. I neglected the housework as I knew I needed to be happy, that endorphin rush and feeling fit makes me happy! I basically prioritised exercise but fitted DS in.

I still involve DS in my exercise… amazing I can still tow him - he’s now 5 and still loves a trailer ride. But I have various other ‘gadgets’ to enable me to cycle with him. He’s also fit enough to ride with me independently, albeit very slowly. But it’s magic riding with him.

Yeah so, in my experience having a small child and being on your own isn’t a barrier to exercise. You just have to be creative, think outside the box a bit and prioritise it. I’d plan out what I was going to do the week before and kept it varied.

I’m also in the diet for weight loss camp! The one thing that makes a difference to me is cutting out the evening snacks. I have to eat the calories I burn exercising, or I’d never recover from the efforts and never be sufficiently fuelled for the next one. I also pick colds up easily when I’m not eating properly (enough). You don’t sound like you are eating very much in your description of your diet - could that be why you aren’t losing?

I gained during lockdown 1. At the start of lockdown 2 I knuckled down. Got up at 6 every morning and did some training and logged everything on MFP. From the looks of it you need to up your protien and monitor your carbs but overall it may be you're not eating enough calories If you use the app and set it to your goal and log everything religiously you'll probably get a loss.

I lost all lockdown weight and some more on top. Now I throw mini tantrums because nothing fits, so there is that. Wish I'd kept those clothes that were a bit too tight now.

@ComeAllYeFaithful don't be so dismissive, and also wrong.

If exercise burns calories then obviously it contributes to a calories deficit. It's just maths.

Like you OP I only tend to lose weight by upping my exercise significantly.

You need to be running 5k to outrun 5 Quality Street

Of course exercise is terrific for you in many ways, including motivation, but it's unlikely to be the key to weight loss

So if the aim is to fit in more exercise, then it needs to start with carving out the time and then deciding the best use for it.

Walking everywhere, and doing pelvic floor exercises and/or squats etc when otherwise standing or sitting still would be a start. But if you want to make a real difference then you need to find some time. Can you carve out 30mins 3 times a week? That is enough to do C25K and then continue running. Because gettting out into the open air, ideally somewhere that's green, has its own benefits

Also try to fit in an online HIIT or Pilates class twice a week (after offspring asleep?)

There are some brilliant home work out apps. Personally I use fiit and have done for a few years.
Doing a home work out literally means you can fit it in any time you can. Fiit uses a tracker that you wear so there's accountability, and you can compete online with others.

I often do it when the kids are in bed. It's all about motivation!
I also walk miles and rarely drive.

I've gone from a wobbly size 12 to a toned 10. But it's not just about that. I love the way being fit feels. And exercise is so good for your mental health.

I measure myself monthly. With exercise it's not just weight loss, but I can see myself getting toned and the feeling of being fit is a great motivator for continued weight loss.

Losing weight is great, but the added benefit of feeling strong and fit means I'm able to do extra activities.

I wouldn't so casually dismiss exercise as not helping weight loss. I don't starve myself, can eat takeaways 1-2 times a month and still lose weight. Increasing metabolism is essential for weight loss and you won't get that through diet alone.

If you want to keep the weight off, getting into regular exercise is much better than dieting.