Success stories... How did you do it?

[annawoolfworries]

I read so many threads here where people drop in a casual 'after loosing three stone' or some other unimaginable (to me) amount of weight lost. I'm two stone overweight & can't stick to a diet or exercise regime for more then a week. Can anyone inspire me?

Slimming world

Watching with interest as I am in the exact same boat as you op

I recently lost 30lb but I don't have any sort of regime as I have no willpower oh dear god. I did make a series of strategic switches, though. What I did:

I stopped buying fruit juice, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and sugar. I still have them when I'm out etc, though I try to eat reheated rice instead of freshly cooked. I switched my chocolate from milk to dark (Prestat Raspberry yummm). I switched my boozing from beer and wine to gin and slimline tonic. I switched from milky coffee to black coffee or coffee and cream (double cream).

That's it. I lost the weight in 10 weeks. I don't eat low fat or diet food, and I didn't do any extra exercise. Oh except I did make two changes: I put a pullup bar in a doorway and got some bear grips. I dangle from it when I go through the doorway (I can't do a pullup hahah). I also swapped my chair for a saddle stool type thing for more active sitting.

I did 5:2 using MFP to calorie count.
2 weekdays days I stuck to 500-600.
3 days (mainly rest of weekdays) I stuck to my recommended calories to maintain weight (started at 1,850 and dropped to 1,600 as I list the weight).
2 days (usually weekend) I tried to stay under 2,200, reducing to about 2,000.

I lost steadily from April to December, then relaxed a bit, more like 6:1 (with the 1 being around 800, 4 at 1,600 and 2 at 1,800 - 2,000) to maintain.

Yes I was skinny even after having kids. I started putting on the wright four years ago when I was 45. It's so depressing but I just can't help myself. I know what I need to do but am so unmotivated. I know there are loads of diet threads on mumsnet all using my fitness pal but that's really not my thing. I am 11 stone 3 and am 5'4. People say to me who cares about the wright but it makes me so miserable, also a failure because I can't get it under control.

I threw everything I had at it and just kept going until just shy of 4 stone was gone.

I did (still do, it was a total life style change):

Low GI/GL

Cut out refined sugar

Cut our most processed foods and white carbs, potatoes and bread

Eat lower carb high protein

Trained my palate to like foods that I previously hate, I read somewhere that it only takes 20 tastes until you get used to it, so I just gave up sugar in milk in coffee (yuk for a bit now I can't drink milk in coffee at all)

Stopped being so polite and eating stuff that wouldn't choose to eat if I was buying it myself, it can be tricky if a freind has made cake but never mind! Same if you are sitting in a coffee shop and a freind 'feels bad' having cake on her own

I did weight watches to track my portion control and also for the pat on the back each week when you lose a pound or two, I also batch cooked meals from the WW cook book and froze then for times when I was short of time

Walked everywhere

Cooked 2 separate meals, one for me and anther for DH and the kids

Took my too big clothes to the charity shop as soon as they looked too big and always wore jeans that were on the snug side, always had the next size down jeans lined up in the wardrobe (often from the charity shop)

One of the hardest though was 'are you sure you don't just want some dominos?', so tempting and I would occasionally but mostly I'd get up and cook, especially at the beginning otherwise the people around you don't believe you are serious

I also like my inspirational (or just silly) quotes, one being 'nothing tastes and good as skinny feels' and 'one reason that people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up, rather than what they have to gain'

I

I'm watching this too. I've lost 2 stone 5lb ish but that's since November so v slowly-still about 5 stone to go. I've always been overweight, (just been downgraded from morbidly obese to plain obese-yay me!)

I'm doing slimming world. I love food so it's hard but I can have little treats every day which right now is important for me. Trying to low carb a couple of days helps. Exercise, by which I mean some walking helps if I have time-too lazy to do anything proper.

Started listening to tony Robbins fir motivation which .im hoping will help

Thanks for these. The chucking everything at it post from lifeofdino especially good, as I think I'm facing up to that being the solution. Hard when I'm so lazy when it comes to my weight & also having been a bean pole pre kids.

3 stone ish here.

Just mfp mostly. Made me realise how much excess I was eating. (A lot!)

I also eat more 'mindfully' after reading Paul McKennas book a few years ago. So I eat more slowly and try to be aware of feeling full and not just automatically clear my plate. Another of his rules is to eat what you want and not what you think you should.

There's nothing I 'can't' eat, so I don't feel hard done by. Just seem to have smaller portions and less snacking.

I still have half a stone at least to go, but I feel a lot healthier already.

I could do with some proper exercise as well but never find the time. I was quite fit until my early 20s but it went downhill after that. 🙈

Slimming world for me I've lost 4 1/2 stone so far. Actually doing SW ish as I don't fancy the classes and too mean to pay for online scheme, unlike the rumours you don't have to live on Muller yogurts, hi Fi bars and Mug Shots. I just downloaded the info from the Internet and the SW threads on MN are amazing , you can have a look at the SW website without being a member for sample menus and success stories to motivate you or you can go to a couple of classes to get the info then stop going if you want. You have to be prepared to cook from scratch and give up things like bread, butter and cheese but it really works. I combined this with walking a bit more and drinking more water.
I couldn't do low cal days as I would be chewing the furniture but I do intermittent fasting ( i.e i don't eat for twelve hours each day so one day I might eat breakfast at 8am then have last meal of day before 8pm or if I'm late home I would eat before 9pm and then have breakfast after 9am) I lost weight with WW years ago and that worked okay for me but turned me into a complete diet bore having to weigh and measure everything I ate unlike SW which I found more straight forward. Even if someone casually drops into conversation that they have lost weight believe me it did not just drop off them it is the result of a long hard slog day in day out, you need never feel hungry but you would have to change what and how you eat ( forever).

I used my fitness pal and bought a Fitbit to monitor calories burnt, heart rate etc. Lost 3 stone by calorie counting, allowed myself 1400 a day. Took about 4 months to lose all the weight. Have kept it off for a year. Am fitter, healthier and am now a size 8.

I also did c25k and still run for half an hour 3 times a week. So moving more, eating less worked for me.

Still love my Fitbit it keeps me on track.

Have to say I'm back to eating normally now, around 2000 calls a day and have kept the weight off for a year.

5:2 two days up to 500 calories, 5 days eating normally with some binging. Over two years later and maintaining but can't shift the last half a stone.

Weight crept down on the 5:2 but I blitzed quite a lot when I went on an eleven-day weight loss binge: basically ate as little as I could function on, subsisted on tiny portions of low-calorie food (hard boiled eggs, prawns, cups of leek broth and miso soup, herbal tea) and gallons of water, and walked at least 8-10K a day.

Am now aiming for 5:2 with two other very low-cal days in between, trying to have at least 12hrs fasting a day, keeping up the walking and then relaxing a bit over the weekends (with wine and carbs!).

I'm hoping once I'm at target I will be able to maintain with the 5:2.

LoloKazoloh you and I would get along splendidly!

I was just about to write about my experience but you've already summarized it!

I did not need to count calories or do more than 30 mins exercise / week. I just avoided foods that make people eat more / don't fill you up for long (bread, pasta, crisps, i.e. quick and dirty carbs!).

More on my experience here and here.

ridiculouspirate - One up the mindful eating! This is a very good piece of advice.

Did you know that it takes about 20 mins for your brain to even realise that you have eaten?

So if you've stuffed yourself in 5 -10 mins you are not giving your brain a fighting chance to give you the "Woah woah woah, I think that's enough right there, thank you" signal.

Food for thought anyone? =)

Yes and I could easily eat an entire pizza on well under 20 minutes. Before my poor brain knew what was happening. ..

I suspect it depends on your body type, Dolph. I'm quite tall and muscly for a woman, and I'd never dieted or been overweight before in my life, so it was easy for me. It seems like not everyone finds it so easy - my experience might be totally useless to others!

Marking...

I don't know about anyone else but as I have gone into each decade the weight has become harder and harder to shift. I had my last DC at 40 and I've had to work at every last lb of baby weight. I remember MIL saying the same thing, I was in my 30's at the time and didn't really quite believe her.

Place marking...

A few years ago I was very overweight and I did the Dukan diet and lost 4 stone. It was tough but manageable. I didn't do any exercise.

Recently I wanted to lose a further 2 stone. I tried Dukan again but didn't really lose any weight. I'm now over 40 and it just seems to be a struggle.

In the last month I have lost over a stone. This has been through exercise, I do 9 classes a week and hugely reducing my food intake. In fact I barely eat.

It's got to the stage where I am not hungry and I have a small meal each day (tiny) fruit and homemade smoothies.

I wouldn't recommend it but it's working and at present that's all that matters. I'm trying to eat like a skinny person.

I am a food addict, completely addicted to sugar. But I feel this has been a turning point and I'll carry on for now. I am hoping that I'm tricking my brain into seeing food differently so this is sustainable

I think you have to actually want to do it. That sounds really patronising, but I've had half hearted attempts since I was a teenager. Done WW, SW, Cambridge, shakes, fasting, 5:2, etc. None of them have worked.

I've gone back to slimming world and lost 7lbs in 2 weeks so far. But for me it's finding that will power that makes all the difference. I went to the supermarket after weigh in today thinking I'd treat myself as if done so well. I picked up my favourite cream cakes.

Walking to the till I thought, I'll be really disappointed next week if I've put weight on. Am I actually going to enjoy these enough to justify gaining weight next week? And I know that if I've put weight on, I'll go on a binge because I'm feeling down.

I'm severely overweight, I now have a dd. I don't want her to grow up with my unhealthy eating/bingeing habits. And I certainly don't want her being 'the girl with the fat mum' when she eventually goes to school.

The point of my essay is, find a reason you want to lose weight and focus on that. If you want it enough you'll do well.

I agree with that loveu - I made half-hearted attempts to lose the weight from when I realised it was going on, but I was secretly always waiting for the silver bullet, and thinking "I'll do it properly just after I've made this huge delicious pasta dish I've found on Pinterest..." I also thought a few tiny changes to my diet, or "being good on a Monday" would make the difference whereas in reality all they did was counteract my indulgence the rest of the time, and slowed the weight gain.

Now the switch has flicked and I'm really determined to get it off, and not just resenting it, it's much easier.