A thread for those wanting to lose less than a stone

[NewYearNewNickname]

Hi, I know there are lots of new 2017 threads but thought I'd see if there are others like me with a small amount of weight to lose who want support.
This day last year I weighed 10st 11lbs which is my heaviest ever (I am 165cm / 5ft 5in) My aim then was to be under 10 st which I managed but then spent most of the year bobbing around the 10 st mark, which was fine.
Today I weigh 10st 3lbs. It is TOTM so that always adds a pound or two but my target is to lose 7lbs initially and then perhaps aim for 9 1/2.
Aiming to count calories and exercise as this is what has worked best for me in the past

Update - after two weeks on the low carb high fat diet I've lost 9lbs! I'm now (just) under 10stone which was my goal weight, but I know if I start eating normally again it'll just go back on so it's the maintenance programme for me now... If I can just stay under 10stone this year I'll be happy.

Love this diet - so quick to get results.

If anyone is interested here is a link to the book
www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/High-Fat-Diet-How-lose-10-days/1785040057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484554436&sr=8-1&keywords=high+fat+diet

Unfortunately no weight lost this week, still 9 st 6 lbs. Although tbf I had a pretty bad week food wise due to going out for a work meal and eating chocolate cake for my DSD's birthday. Hopefully get back on it this week. I've got a salad for lunch and spaghetti bolognese packed with veg for dinner.

High good fats, medium protein and low carb seems to work (and be healthy) for most people actually. It works for me. I can;t weight myself as I'm abroad without scales although I was weighed at an airport on Saturday before getting the tiniest plane I've ever been in but they didn't tell me and it was with my hand luggage. I look slimmer so am happy to go with that for now.

Long walk is now about to happen now I've dealt with some work emails. Keep it up everyone. It's worth it.

I feel so ill doing low carb- my body seems to really need carbs. Most of the carbs I eat are good ones anyway- yoghurt, fruit, whole grain soda bread, plus occasional bit of chocolate. I have tried low carb diets several times over the years and whilst I haven't felt hungry I have always felt AWFUL with no energy at all and often got ill after a couple of days. I exercise a lot so maybe it just doesn't work well for my body and lifestyle. It's quite unfashionable but I actually find it easier to lose weight and not feel too starving by eating a relatively low fat, relatively low protein and lots healthy carb diet. Loads of fruit, veg, complex carbs and fibre, little bit of meat, fish, cheese, nuts etc. Does anyone else find the same thing? I would love to be able to do low carb and lose weight really quickly I just can't seem to do it and feel well!

I am so glad to be on this thread. Those losing inspire me; those staying the same make me feel like less of a failure.
A much better day today

• an hour in the gym

- yogurt for breakfast - lamb casserole with kale & carrot for lunch - carrot for snack - scrambled egg for supper

maggie what did you eat today as part of this low carb high fat routine? ANd are you also modifying portion sizes (which seems to be my issue).

Corn, we are all different. As I say to one of my vegan children we are on the same side- our ancestors ate a healthy diet which might have been 100% fat/meal (eskimoes) or rice and fish and veg (Japanese) or mostly just veg/roots - we can thrive on all those. It is the junk food etc which is bad for us although even with that many a person loses weight and stays thin on cigarettes coffee diet coke and the occasional chocolate (ugh would make me very ill indeed but the bottom line is fewer calories than you expend and you lose weight).

(In terms of what I ate today I just have cocoa powder (no milk or sugar) with gellatin (animal bones) for breakfast at present. Then a very late lunch which today was steak fried in olive oil with peppers and a leek and later a tin of sardines with a carrot and a parsnip. I haven't counted anything in that lot but it is the sort of food which makes me feel good and not put on weight.

Corn that's interesting, I think Enormous is right. I had to research something on genetics and diet and there's some evidence that people with a certain DNA make-up do better on a high-carb/low fat diet and others on a low carb/high fat.
My DH is like you and stays slim and well with lots of carbs, although he tends to have them at lunch and breakfast now and more of a protein/fat/veggie or salad meal in the evening ( although that's probably because that's what I cook !!!)

9stone 4 this morning! I'm really pleased only 1lb left to my target.

I ate a large piece of my sons leftover birthday cake yesterday too (so tempting as there is still loads left in the fridge) and also ate quite a bit of bread so thought the scales might have gone up. I have been doing at least 10,000 steps a day though and have been making myself run 3 times a week no matter what the weather is doing.

I just need to work out how to maintain now as I don't want to lose much more as I start looking haggard.

Does anyone have any good tips for maintaining when you have hit target weight?

Wow well done Dave that's fantastic getting out and losing 1 lb.

still I know what you mean about feeling less of a failure when there are others around here the same, it's very reassuring. Fwiw you're definitely not a failure, you're trying, I'm trying, we're all trying and that's all anyone can ask.

I find the low carb diet quite interesting but it doesn't agree with my gastrointestinal problems at all. A colleague of mine swears by it though

Thanks MynyddoeddEryri

Re the carbs thing, I've found just cutting them out of one of my meals a day makes a difference. So if I have toast for breakfast, I'll have soup or and omelette and salad for lunch. Or yogurt and fruit for breakfast, and then a wholemeal pitta for lunch and pasta/rice for dinner.

I think it's when you overload on the bread front it can tip the scales the wrong way. I used to have toast for breakfast, then a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner and although none were unhealthy in themselves, the whole lot in a day made me really bloated.

I know for myself I couldn't do hardcore low carb as I love bread and pasta too much. I think it's just moderating how much you eat in a day.

That's a good idea to cut carbs out of one meal a day. I could manage that! Might have just omlette or something for lunch this week and see how it goes. Thanks for the feedback on the carbs everyone. Having upped my exercise I have lost a couple of inches around my hips but only 1/2 lb on the scales, but determined to see a difference by the end of the week.

I think my issues are portion size & lack of exercise. I spent 4 hours driving today and have now spent the evening on the sofa catching up on admin.

Had a crap day.

I take breakfast into work (overnight oats) but was too busy to eat until 11 so the knock on effect was a duck wrap and crisps, plus the soup I made.

and also business meant I didn't go out for a walk at lunchtime

Meat don't beat yourself up, we've all been there, and a duck wrap is significantly better than a family size bag of maltesers and a curly wurly!
Today is another day, I'm crap at jumping back on the wagon, so if you can do that it's a win :)
I'm having a grim week from a life/fun point of view, DH is away, kids too (older and at uni etc)-just on my own tapping away on my computer for hours. But I've got very little food in, so it's easy to stick to plan. Many, many omelettes have been enjoyed. I'm actually loving getting to the gym to see other human beings.
The weight I gained last week is back off, hoping for another 1 or 2lbs down by Monday. Good luck all.

I need a bit of a rant this morning as I have just weighed myself. Monday I was 11st, yesterday, I was back down to 10st 11 and it isn't unusual for me to drop straight back down after a weekend blow out. What was unusual was for me to be back up to 10st 13 this morning. I weighed myself three times in case there was a mistake. I am so grumpy. Yesterday's diet was:
B - full fat yog 100 cals
L - Waitrose Caesar salad (essentially lettuce) 150 cals
S - Waitrose moussaka & green salad (450 cals)
Snacks - apple, banana & mango which can't have been more than about 300/350 cals
So I ate less than 1100 calories yesterday. So annoying. Any comments on the above diet? I think it might be that I am still eating high fat yog for breakfast from when I was doing the no sugar diet but am then eating sweet fruit which is sugar/carbs. It was all I had to hand yesterday though as I was in meetings.
Off to meet a new group of work people today & am wearing skinny jeans. My legs look like sausages.
Sorry for boring you all. Better to rant on the internet than bore my husband or friends.

Had a good day yesterday, but it was painful with the under 3s to avoid snacking at tea time and late afternoon. Had morning run then fruit & yoghurt. Porridge made with water mid morning. Omlette with veg made with low cal spray. Dinner, roasted veg and chicken breast with some feta. Result: finally below 9st 10 for the first time in 4 years!!

I gave in this morning and weighed (2 days early) and another 1lb off. Really pleased, slow and steady for me but hopefully this way it will stay off. For me it's not snacking or eating in the evening, and logging the calories. Saying that I am not being quite so strict at the weekend - we had fish & chips at the weekend and I'm having afternoon tea out this weekend, but that's my cheat day!!

Still - well the maths on your diet above means you will lose weight given the number of calories. Most people lose a pound a week if they eat 3500 calories fewer than they are expending whether you're on a low fat, high fat or whatever diet. However it tends to be best just to check once a week as things can fluctuate during a week.
I have to give up fruit to lose weight unfortunately but that's just me and I am not saying fruit is bad for anyone. It is just I would eat 6 bananas a day easily and was before Christmas for example one after the other.

stillwantrachelshair I'd stick to just weighing yourself same day, same time once per week. My weight fluctuates so much when I weigh day to day, I found it's best for my moods and sanity that I just stick to once per week. Your menu sounds really balanced, if you're eating like that every day then the weight loss will catch up.

I stayed the same this week, no loss. I did have to go out yesterday and buy two pairs of size 10 jeans, my 8s are really digging into me and I'm sick of living in leggings. It has gave me the little kick up the backside to start taking this more seriously, I can't afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe.

I've kind of fell into doing 16:8 diet, had a big brunch with my mum on Monday, it kept me full until dinner time so I just had a big bowl of porridge for dinner and that was me. Day 3 and I'm doing quite well, my eating window is 11-7 and because there isn't really any food restrictions as such I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I was ravenous around 10am this morning so tomorrow I'm going to use that hour before 11am to go for a brisk walk. So hopefully I'll have lost something come Monday.

Weigh day for me tomorrow but I can feel my clothes are fitting much better. Plus I've moved a couple of notches on my belt, so even if I've stayed the same weight I can feel the difference.

I don't even feel like I'm dieting, so I'm sure I can just keep going which is the most important thing for me. I did fall off the wagon and had some birthday cake but i can't be virtuous all the time. I'm now averaging 15k steps a day and taken up Zumba so a piece of cake once is a while isn't a deal breaker

Well done everyone! 15k steps is impressive Pinx - I can manage it during the weekend but harder on a working day. But sticking religiously to 10k steps - haven't missed one day since I started on 28th December. These small changes add up! Down to 9 st 12 so half a stone off since then. Really really pleased. Makes such a difference. I am a bit worried as have a work trip to US next week - harder to manage food. Thinking of low carbing while there to keep things in check. Hope everyone has a good day.

What number of calories approximately are you all doing, if you're measuring?