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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Original poster

What made weight loss 'click' for you?

50 replies

TheGrallon · 11/02/2016 23:45

I've always been overweight but since I had my children 3 years ago my weight gain has accelerated from 14.7 stone to almost 17 stone. Every day I swear I'll stick to something and every day it's junk food and sweets whilst I'm at work and a healthy dinner at home with my husband. I've joined all the usual diet clubs, tried every diet under the sun. My weight is now affecting my health. I take no pride in my appearance, have zero self confidence and seem to have no regard as to the example I'm setting for my children. I know I'm repeatedly jabbing the self destruct button as well as spending a fortune on food and wasted subscriptions to ww/sw etc. Despite all of this I can't motivate myself to stick to something, anything that works.

What did it for you?

If not for my vanity, health, pocket, husband or children then what will it take for me to 'get it' and take the right steps????

OP posts:
GinBunny · 11/02/2016 23:58

For me it was a photo taken with other people that were normal weight, I looked HUGE compared to them.
It shocked me. I knew I had put weight on but seeing how I looked compared to others was the trigger I needed - I've lost 2 stone since then and I won't say it's been easy but then I revisit that photo.

Bluecarrot · 12/02/2016 00:05

Did you watch that "trust me I'm a doctor" show?
One experiment showed that people exercised more when motivated by competition and group encouraging (as opposed to just knowing what they should be doing)
Do you know anyone who would either do it with you ( one person or small group) and have a competition? ( prize could be 2 hours of babysitting, a home cooked healthy meal or small cash amount every fortnight?)
Wish I'd done it with someone- I have a ( mostly hidden) competitive streak!

PurpleDaisies · 12/02/2016 00:09

For me it was exercise too. I just decided I wanted to get fit and strong, and losing weight was a bit of a bonus when I started eating better to fuel the gym. I focussed on beating how much I could lift/how fast I could run rather than how thin my legs were and it really helped to feel good.

I also have a spreadsheet to make sure I'm going to the gym enough to justify the expense...

KanyesVest · 12/02/2016 00:31

One of the important things for me was deciding I wanted to do something about my health/fitness but not allowing myself for another 2 months to actually start. Being told I can't do something, even by myself, doesn't go down well for me Blush. It worked though, 2.5 years and nearly 4 stone later, I'm a completely new person.

msrisotto · 12/02/2016 06:34

I've always eaten 3 healthy(ish) meals a day, home cooked, balanced etc. But for me, I was a chocoholic and could easily have 3 bars one after another. And I comfort ate.

I think it was a tv programme where a pair of healthy twin (H.O.T.) doctors did a high fat and a high sugar diet to compare the effects and whilst neither fared particularly well, the high sugar guy ended up almost diabetic and in early stages of liver failure Shock.

I hate the idea that i'm addicted to something, or using something to manage my emotions and I was aware that it might be making my acne worse. When I realised this stuff, I quit added sugar. It took a few failures over a few years but i've been doing it for like, 9 months now (including breaks for Christmas!). I wasn't overweight before, but I lost a stone without changing anything else in my diet. Still have a takeaway on the weekend, didn't change portion sizes, snacked on nuts at first to help munchies where I would've eaten sweet things. It feels easy and I can't imagine going back to the way I was before. I watched a lot of programmes and educated myself a lot, come over to the I quit sugar thread if you're interested, there's loads of really good info.

ChubbyPolecat · 12/02/2016 06:56

Gillian riley has helped a few people I know. It talks about food addiction and how to overcome it. Think the book is called say goodbye to overeating

KittyOShea · 12/02/2016 07:03

For me it was having a moan to friends, one of whom was on slimming world. Me and another friend moaned we could never stick to that because (insert a million reasons here).

The next day I got a slimming world leaflet through the front door and took it as a sign. I'm now almost 3 and a half stone down. My other friend didn't join but cut out just chocolate and has lost 1 and a half stone. We text on a group chat every week to 'weigh in'. The encouragement really helps.

228agreenend · 12/02/2016 07:12

I put on 3 stone weight due to medication and couldn't shift it for love nor money. When the course of medicine ended, I knew it was time.

I find setting small goals easier. I need events to work towards. Ie. Meeting friends on London in March, so I try to diet until then. I also do 5:2 in reverse. I try and eat healthily during the week, but will allow myself that glass of wine at the weekend.

Another tip is don't buy the sweets and cakes. If you don't have it in the house, you can't eat it!

228agreenend · 12/02/2016 07:12

I buy organic carrots to nibble. Works for me.

Original poster
TheGrallon · 12/02/2016 09:15

Thank you all, I feel so annoyed with myself as I've had the fat photos, the getting stuck, the breaking chairs, the being heckled in the street, I've been to club after club on my own and with friends, I've tried slimming with my mum....my last 'attempt', which I thought would work, was admitting my weight to my husband and asking him to weigh me in. I thought I'd feel sufficiently 'accountable' but I don't stick to anything. I've read countless texts on binge eating and giving up sugar. It's as if I'm fine with the theory but somehow can't apply it..... There's a spoilt toddler inside me putting her nose in the air and thinking she can do what she likes and knows best....she clearly bloody doesn't. There was a thread on chat last week where the OP was asking if she should just accept being fat. Lots of lovely advice and serious home truths flowed in but the OP seemed set on thumbing her nose and saying she couldn't change. I was so frustrated to read those posts but I'm doing the same thing and I so don't want to be in that position. I want the 'click', why can't I just tackle things in the manner you clearly have done so very well??

I think sugar has to go.....sugar, bread and macdonalds are just uncontrollable for me. I just need to get into a routine, I never have food prepared for breakfast and lunch at work and if I do I still seem to ignore it and buy crap.

Sorry for the rant, I am truly grateful to you for telling me your experiences

OP posts:
QuiteLikely5 · 12/02/2016 09:25

Like you I had moaned about my weight for years.

My motivating factor was a permanently bloated stomach and fatigue every single time I ate, afterwards I would crash and laze around and could barely be bothered with my dc. Or the housework!

I went low carb and haven't looked back since

Original poster
TheGrallon · 12/02/2016 09:51

Msrisotto and QuiteLikely5.... Do you do strict low carb? Do you eat fruit?

OP posts:
ooosaidooo · 12/02/2016 11:04

I had to actually start liking myself again TBH and to start feeling good about myself at the weight I was. I went out and got my hair done, refreshed my make up (stated wearing it again every day) and bought some clothes that I felt good in...then after a few weeks something changed and it seemed worth looking after myself. Only at that point did I have the will power to make the effort.

Obviously the clothes that I bought are long gone and you could argue that they were a waste of money, but I say otherwise. I kept on/keep on doing that every time my weigh levels out, if I start not feeling worth it then I stop making the effort.

At first I had to be all or nothing at all, I had to go cold turkey on the sugar/pizza and other weaknesses. I am amazed now that I am actually capable of eating just one biscuit. Organization is key, I used Ocado so that I can keep my food basics constantly topped up. Out of sight is also out of mind for me, there are couple of storage containers in the cupboards where only DH goes.

Perhaps you need to focus on you, you are more than your size...(without sounding to Gok) could you have a mission this weekend to make yourself feel gorgeous by Sunday night?

AYD2MITalkTalk · 12/02/2016 11:05

Diabetes.

Marzipants · 12/02/2016 11:14

Maybe you could focus on your spending rather than your weight? Leave your cards at home and take your lunch in. Then there'll be no way for you to buy sweets / McDonald's etc. I find II tend to lose weight when I'm on a strict budget totally skint.

Original poster
TheGrallon · 12/02/2016 13:26

Thank you, I think the idea about leaving cards at home is genius. So obvious but I didn't think of it. I don't feel like investing in myself at all at the minute, like there's no point til 'I'm sorted'.... Which I know is silly. I've so far eaten toast, two boiled eggs, a sausage sandwich, a curly early, a triple bounty and two mr kiplings individual cakes....all while feeling like crap....it's like I'm trapped inside a sleepwalking (sleep eating?!) person

OP posts:
ooosaidooo · 12/02/2016 14:11

You are worth investing in Flowers Flowers you could post on here for clothes and make up ideas...spend the afternoon browsing for ideas.

toffeeboffin · 13/02/2016 20:11

Lower carb. Less pasta and bread, more lentils, sweet potatoes, squash.

High protein. Loads of veg.

Cut out processed sugar (within reason!)

Don't have your triggers in the house. If you fancy cake, go out for it and only have a slice, rather than baking and then eating an entire cake at home.

Remember that not every meal has to contain starch. Brits are obsessed : lasagne and chips?! WTAF? Just have lasagne and salad.

toffeeboffin · 13/02/2016 20:26

Think about this OP :

If you are constantly hungry then you are eating the wrong things. The food you are eating isn't doing what it's supposed to do.

Food should satiate and nourish you, not make you crave more.

I now eat very little sugar because I noticed a pattern. I drink orange juice, I can't just have one glass, I have the entire carton. I have one chocolate, I eat the whole box. I eat pasta, I crave brownies.

This is sugar. It's addictive and dangerous. I swear it's more addictive than cocaïne.

Reduce your sugar intake. McDonald's, bread, chocolate, it's all just sugar. You start the day on sugar, you end on sugar.

It's hard but worth it.

It's only now that I actually feel in control!

Mag314 · 13/02/2016 20:36

Some people talk about their relationship with food, for me, it was my relationship with hunger that changed. Before, any diet i started i aim to avoid hunger as though it were a severe migraine or something.
once i realused that it is ok to be hungry sometimes, that it is actually Shock not that bad.... and that i can worry less about calories if i just put off breakfast til nearly lunch time, that's when the weight dropped off and stayed off. I was 126 lbs this time last year, about 115 now. It has been easy really

RosaDiazepam · 13/02/2016 20:43

I'm exactly the same Flowers same weight & weight change since having dc
The not buying it thing doesn't work for me, I will strip search the cupboards if there's nothing in & will have a spoon of sugar if I can't find anything Blush
I lost weight a few years ago after seeing awful photos of me from behind but put it all back on and some.
I gave up smoking 3 years ago (which I'm pretty proud of myself for as I was very heavy/heavily addicted to the point where I couldn't go on an aeroplane because I knew I couldn't have a fag for a few hoursBlush) & I think if I went and bought a packet of cigarettes & put it on the table in front of me now don't think I could resist . So I thought I could apply the same principle with sweets/food & I think there's something in that but I'm too weak to have done if yet. I'm a lp & the thought of having s heart attack or getting diabetes scares the shit out of me (main motivating factor for quitting smoking) but that hasn't scared me enough yet. It's weird how I don't seem to care Confused
I've tried hypnotherapy tracks but not the real thing with a hypnotist ... maybe that would work clutching at straws

BigginsforPope · 13/02/2016 20:53

I was motivated by a few different things that set me off. Firstly a photograph of myself with a large group of people. I was by far the fattest person in the room (including my eight month pregnant friend). Secondly my dm who has been overweight/obese all her life and now in her seventies just cannot do so many things and I see the effects on her. The third thing was learning to be kind to myself bit by bit and in doing so choosing better foods and exercise so I felt better rather than having a very strict aim to lose weight.
During 2015 I have lost three stone and have two more to go before my bmi is considered healthy. I do feel so much better for losing weight, I feel in control of my eating and I understand more what my body wants and needs in order for me to feel good.

I spent years trying various diets and hating being fat and not able to control my eating.

Original poster
TheGrallon · 13/02/2016 23:33

Rosa, I do the same, spooned sugar out of a bag many a time ......

I think it has to be lower carb for me, it's just starting, being in control, I have all the good food waiting for me, I know I feel and look like crap but I still pick the bagel and Rice Krispies over the boiled egg for breakfast. I need to have strong word with myself.

Your comments and advice are so helpful Flowers

OP posts:
NickiFury · 13/02/2016 23:38

This thread is very inspiring so just signing in Smile

neonrainbow · 13/02/2016 23:49

Two things. I readthe book by Gillian riley above. Deals with addiction to food and overeating. Also joined the mumsnet loser group on Facebook and we are all doing so well... Its a wonderful supportive group that anyone can join regardless of. your chosen method of losing weight. If anyone wants the link pm me. Theres ladies of all shapes and sizes on there.

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