If you have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off...

[Piccalilli2]

...can I ask a few cheeky questions please?

What do you eat for breakfast?
Do you drink lots of water?
Any top tips?

I need to lose a stone and would like to lose another half stone but need to make this a lifestyle change not a diet.

I lost in total about 5st within the last 6/7 years and have kept it off no problem even having a baby in that time and getting back down to 8-8.5st. I don't drink vast quantities of water particularly. For breakfast I usually have 2 weetabix or porridge with skimmed milk maybe some dried fruit/banana. Sometimes wholemeal toast with marmite/peanut butter.

Lunches are mostly baked potato/homemade vegetable soups/sandwich. For dinner I have whatever we are all having as a family, the usual things like roast, fish, spag bol, casseroles etc. I don't snack a great deal, but I never deny myself anything. I eat smaller portions than I used to and have take away a couple of times a month rather than a couple of times a week.

I exercise a fair amout, 5 days a week, doing DVDs at home, swimming and I walk much more.

What I would say is the weight loss was slow, over a couple of years, so no quick fix, but it has been easy to keep it off. You hit the nail on the head with making it a lifestyle change. I made it more about making sure I ate at least 5 portions of fruit/veg a day, cooking things from scratch and got more active rather than depriving myself of anything or faffing about with random diets. Small changes can make a real difference over time.