Losing 6 stone... is it possible?

[knowler]

hello. I'm starting SW tomorrow and am thinking about my target weight. I'm 5 foot 7 but weigh nearly 17 stone (aaaargh!!). Nearly all my adult life i've hovered around 13 stone and although I know this is still overweight, I look OK at this weight and feel healthy.

the question is, do I give 13 stone as my target (4 stone loss) or (gulp) go for a 6 stone loss which would take me to 11 stone and finally put me within the 'healthy' weight for my height?

Is 6 stone a feasible loss (it sounds impossible) and how long would it take? I'm thinking about 18 months.

TIA for any help.

I had 6st to lose I've lost 1.5 stone so far. It took ages to put the weight on, it's going to take time to lose it. It is doable, good luck

I had about 8 stone to lose, I am doing SW and have lost just over 4 stone since March. It is doable, and 18 months seems a reasonable timescale. Good luck.

Thanks Cranky and Happy and well done on your respective weight loss. I'm going to give it a go - so many reasons to do it :)

I lost 8 in 2 years, I know people who have done it in much less, so yes, absolutely it's possible.

Hi Tabulahrasa that's a fantastic loss and very motivational. I'm in it for the long haul but just wanted to know if weight loss of this amount was technically possible. It's up to me now :)

I've lost 3 stone in just over 4 months. 8 stone is definitely possible - have a read of the SW success stories. Seing how well others have done really keeps me motivated

You can always set an interim target and see how you get on. Smaller chunks will seem easier to aim for than a huge amount. Good luck

Yes, it's achievable. I lost 4 stone in about 18m. Them I was pregnant/had DS and the weight hasn't gone back on permanently. I'm going to attempt at losing another stone at least next year. Good luck!

I've just done two stone in 9 weeks, and I have so many more to go, as I still weigh over 22 stone. I think if you're determined you can do it, you just have to see it as a long game. Much luck.

Thanks all for your messages, it's very helpful. I went to my first meeting yesterday morning and did the plan for the rest of the day. Was fine and I certainly avoided my usual pitfalls of eating too much bread and butter and snacking on the kids' leftovers. However, for tea I had:

one whole chicken breast (no skin, no fat for cooking)
greek salad (feta as my HeB, all the other ingredients free)
massive pile of couscous (free)

It was enormous!! Is this right? I can't believe I will shift any weight eating like that.

Chicken, cous cous and salad sounds great. Just make sure a third of you plate is speed food. So that'd be the salad in this case.

It is achievable, a lady in my group has lost over 6 stone in a year.

Yes thats possible. I lost five stone in ten months eating like that on slimming world. I've got to 25BMI but keep stalling on getting to less. I still can't believe i'm eating more than i ever have in my adult life yet weigh less.

I'd like to be a stone less but lack determination to do more than maintain. The last six months have consisted of lots of meals out, events and holidays and being on plan in between times- yet I maintain.

You can set target at any point 7lb less than your starting weight and then attend classes for free whilst you're plus of minus 3lb from that point so long as you attend once every month. You can then change target and push on for a bigger loss when you feel ready.

At 5ft6" i set mine at 11 stone and thats the weight i maintain plus or minus a bit. My aim is to crack on again in the New year and shift that last stone.

Yes you can do it!

I have lost 3 stone since February and think I would like to loose another 3 but will see how I feel closer to the target because the main thing to remember is any targets can be changed. I do mine in smaller segments because I find it overwhelming when I think how much further I want to go.

My meals are huge and as long as it's all the right things you will be fine

Thanks, so many helpful stories. My chicken couscous and salad would have been better had I upped the speed foods a bit but it was delish :)

Still on plan, day 3 - longer tho I usually last trying to lose weight!!

I joined SW in August 2011 and by May 2013 had lost 8.5 stone, which I have managed to keep off (so far!). I started at 18st 12lb, and my original target was 11st 5lb so that I would be a pound under the upper end of a healthy BMI (I@m also 5ft 7in). In the end I lost a further stone and feel happy at this weight.

Swirly, that's amazing and very inspirational. Can I ask if you also did any exercise? Or was it purely sticking to plan?

I stuck to Green days the whole time (now sadly abandoned by SW) and decided just to walk more. I now walk to and from work every day - a total distance of 6 miles - and also walk at the weekends.

I recently joined SW and lost 9 1/2 pounds in 3 weeks, I have tried to loose weight before but find slimming world easier to stick to and like the support at groups. Still got loads to loose but feeling better already as i am making progress

gosh, this is really an eye opener
I went to a Slimming World meeting but felt like a lot of things like healthy fats etc wouldn't fit in. Well maybe not "healthy" but I would rather put butter on something than low fat spread. I was also cutting back on sugar and found it odd with the Syns - I've done really well cutting back on sugar though so maybe I could just try it and forget the Syns

I am now just counting cals myself and battling to lose more than about .5lb a week

I am on holiday in 8/9 weeks and wondering how to upgrade my efforts. Perhaps I should look at SW again, though I hated the meeting. If I could lose 2lb a week for 9 weeks, that feels worthwhile.

I might pick up a magazine today.

lorelei I definitely recommend online membership. I haven't ever been to a group because I don't think that environment is for me.

Lorelei, I think it's whatever you make it. I have probably more healthy fats so far cos I've been using one of my healthy extras for nuts which I wouldn't normally have thought of eating. And I'd rather have butter than spread but I slather it on and SW has prompted me to re examine portions.

Knowler, I don't know what you mean by "whatever you make it" - I mean, using the Healthy Extras does use up your allowance for things like that quickly, or I thought it did.

I must admit, I found it really confusing. but in those days, I was still fitting in the Syns, so now I don't want those, I wonder if I could fit in more olive oil and nuts, for example? I found making sauces etc quite hard.

I didn't keep it up long after dying of embarrassing while crying at a meeting (!) but lost weight at the same rate as i am now...so what I am thinking is perhaps if I try again and I'm not using any Syns for chocolate, it might work better.

But I wouldn't go to meetings again. I've looked at the online thing but I think the support I'd get here would probably be better.

Lorelei you could just use your syns for healthy fats? You don't have to use all the frylight and mullerlight stuff. I use olive oil spray to cook it's half a syn for seven sprays.

Sorry meant to add your healthy a and b allowance equal six syns each so you could have two extra a day as long as you are having no other syns.