Anyone looking to lose 100lbs plus... Thread 7

[HoneysuckIejasmine]

Hello, welcome to the seventh instalment (wow!) of the ‘Anyone looking to lose 100lbs plus …’ thread smile

If you want to read them (but by no means feel obliged!), the previous threads are here:

Part 1 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/2812619-anyone-looking-to-lose-100lbs-plus-in-2017

Part 2 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/2920520-Anyone-looking-to-lose-100lbs-in-2017-Part-2

Part 3 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3045244-Anyone-looking-to-lose-100lbs-plus-in-2017-18-Part-3

Part 4 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3193507-Anyone-looking-to-lose-100lbs-plus-Part-4

Part 5 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3271618-Anyone-looking-to-lose-100lbs-plus-Part-5

Part 6
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3347850-Anyone-looking-to-lose-100lbs-plus-Part-6

We’re a very friendly, supportive group, and all at different stages, but we’re all seeing some real changes in ourselves and our attitudes to food. It’s a long old road, but it helps to chat along the way

We tend to weigh in on Fridays or Saturdays, but feel free to join in at any time, with whatever weight loss method you think works best for you. Some of us have lost more than others, but we're all in this together, so if you're losing, gaining or staying the same, it's nice to have some inspiration to keep going.

We’re always welcoming to newcomers, but as with the previous thread(s), I’ll add one caveat - we’re all here because we are trying to lose a LOT of weight. If you’re looking to lose the last half stone, or even two or three stone, this might not be the thread for you. Good luck with your goals, but you may find more support with in threads with people who have similar goals to you.

Lost 1lb this week which is good.

Total loss: 39lb

Hi everyone! Great losses, well done!

95.25lbs lost, ideally 17.5lbs to go but feeling that may be unreasonable! Aiming for 98lbs initially as that's 7 stone, then a nice round 100!

Continuing to do couch to 5k. I've decided to set myself the challenge of not using the scales. I get a lot of fluid retention after running and as I go in the evening when kids are in bed, and weigh in the morning, it's getting frustrating! Instead I have two broad goals.

1. Finish the C25K programme

2a. Two slices of bread a day max. This is my biggest weakness in life, toast. It triggers bad habits and I just can't. 2b. Fruit as first choice for snack (not toast!)

Long time, no post! Don't know if any of you will remember me but I used to be a regular here and reached my target weight in December 2018 with 105lbs lost. Maintenance has been a lot harder than I thought and I was genuinely expecting it to be hard... This is one long moan so would highly recommend skipping.

I only actually ate at roughly maintenance calories for six weeks before I had a series of stressors that I found very difficult to deal with. Meaning I used food to some extent! I had a manic episode and a medication change (pretty much all mood stabilisers and antipsychotics increase appetite and cause weight gain), I got injured and had to stop running and am still not fully back three months later (running was my main way of controlling both my mood and my weight), my Mum got diagnosed with terminal cancer and died after a shortish but fucking horrendous illness and now have to deal with my Mum's estate which is particularly complicated for very boring reasons. So lots of 'good' reasons to be really desperate for comfort and refuge, as people keep trying to reassure me, but the thing is every single person who gains all the weight back (and that's 50-97% of us) has a series of really good, justifiable, rational reasons. Weight's still back though.

I am currently at 143.6lbs today and that's with some bloat from a day of binging on Wednesday (yes, I seem to have picked up some disordered eating with all my dieting/restriction) and I've been eating at roughly maintenance levels or maybe a small deficit since. So that's 97.4lbs lost in total but 11lbs up on my lowest weight. I have spent the last two and a half months trying to lose weight but falling into periods of binging and gaining instead only to go round the restrict-binge-restrict cycle again. In the time between my Mum's death and her funeral, I binged so much I put on 5-6 pounds - that's after the scales had settled and the 'bloat' had gone. I really have not learnt better coping mechanisms than turning to food which is obviously my undoing. I feel pretty hopeless about maintenance to be honest like it is stacked against me and these waves of stressors are just going to keep coming. My long period of dieting/restriction has destroyed my relationship with food which I can see is pretty common even just reading Mumsnet. My body image has always been pretty terrible and is particularly bad just now as I feel I can't possibly accept my body the way it is just now. I feel like I have to lose the weight I regained but I can't make it happen. I really don't know what to do for the best.

Sorry this is such a mememe post. And such a fucking moan! I still regularly read this thread and I can see you are all working hard and making progress even with the difficulties in your lives. It's laughable for me to be offering advice when I am such a mess but, if I can, think about a plan for maintenance as early as possible. Good luck with everything. Keep on keeping on

Oh lovely, I'm sorry to hear you're feeling so hopeless. I honestly think that getting back in to running when you recover will help you. I already feel a bit antsy if I've not got out for a walk or run that day, I can't imagine how frustrated you are as a regular runner.

I'm so sorry about your Mum. Cancer is an absolute bitch. You're right when you say that everyone who regains has a good reason, but please don't use that to beat yourself up. You've still lost 97lbs! When you joined this thread, did you think you'd do that? I understand the annoyance, I'm not at my lowest weight either and it makes me feel that I'm wasting my time. But actually I'm not and neither are you. We're learning how to deal with the normal fluctuations of life. I don't think anyone stays at the exact same weight all the time.

I don't think I'm ever going to be able to relax about food completely, but I am learning at the moment not to put my self worth in to numbers on a scale.

Big hugs to you my love

Hello everyone. I’ve joined this thread (or the previous ones) I think twice before and just keep giving up and weigh a colossal 19 st 2 lbs. I just feel overwhelmed with it at the moment. I can do brilliantly for a few weeks then it just goes to pot.

I thought if I joined again some of your fantastic willpower might rub off, you’re doing do well!

I’m going to start again in the morning. I just have to do this before I have a bloody heart attack or something. I actually can’t understand why I can’t stick to anything knowing how seriously this could affect my health.

Anybody recommend any good books to read to try sort out my head on this?

Hi Call I was 19st 2lb at new year and slowly but surely I've lost and I am now 16st13lbs. Not the fastest of losses but I dont deprive myself too much, still have 1/2 a takeaway at the weekends etc. Have some bad weeks where I dont lose at all.

My trigger to sort myself out happened after speaking to my work OHD. My optician sent me to drs as she noticed signs of high blood pressure in my eyes. After years of creaking knees, aching back and all the rest that goes with being morbidly obese but avoiding the Drs I suddenly felt dangerously unhealthy as I had to take HBP pills everyday. Surprisingly the dr never mentioned my colossal weight issue (must have thought I was a lost cause), just gave me pills..

I went to my works OHD because she could monitor my blood pressure weekly and save me going to drs appointments until it settled down. She never mentioned my weight directly either but asked me if I knew how my heart worked and told me to think about it as a central heating boiler which is sized to heat a certain number of radiators, but if you build an extension and add more and more radiators one day your boiler is going to pack it in.

Don't know why, but it struck a chord with me I couldnt ignore and I'm determined to get rid on my excess 6-7-8 whatever stone however long it takes.

Dont let a bad couple of days after weeks of doing well knock you back, if you get back on the horse each time as soon as you can and keep at it it will go down but accept it will be a long journey. I find even when I'm doing badly as long as I keep logging in MFP it means I can see I've done badly, but also see when Ive done well which motivatesvme to keep going.

Thank you Broken and well done on your loss so far. The analogy with the radiators is a good one and something to think about.

Going to give it a good go tomorrow.

Waving to Call and Wing - fellow former members of the 19 stone 2 club! My GP set me a goal to lose 4 stone in a year, which had a deadline of last summer. With support (mainly accountability and weight checks) from the practice nurse, I achieved that. I lost another stone by November...and since then have been all over the place!!

Ideally I'd like to lose 1 more stone. I'm tall, so health-wise that would get me where I need to be. But I am stuck, not making consistent good choices, and it's taking a huge amount of energy not to gain. It has been a very long time since I've had a wholly good day but today has been. Just need to go to bed now before I sabotage it

AnotherOtter it must be the very hardest thing not "just" to learn how to sustain that mythical balance, but to then also keep it going under intense stress, when not only are you battling all the learned behaviour / patterns of emotional comfort linked to food, biologically your stress hormone cortisol is making you crave sugar. I am in awe of how you're tackling it.

Just weighed myself and have a starting weight of 19 st 4. Not going to focus on how far there is to go, just going to put my head down and get on with each day.

Have a good week all.

I was 19 stone 4.75lbs when I started. I'm 12 stone 7.5lbs now. It can be done! I had a few plateaus along the way but usually get over them and keep on heading downwards. ☺️

Thank you Honeysuckle and congratulations, fantastic achievement.

I have done it before and lost 102 lbs and am trying to get past how pissed off and upset I am about putting it back on. I know I can’t dwell on this any more though, just got to start again.

Hello again. I am 17 stone 13.5 lbs this morning so a loss of 10lbs in 2 weeks. Seeing that new number on the scales is such a buzz. I am very aware that at my weight a lot of this loss is "water" weight and now the battle begins!

For me cutting out bread, cakes and biscuits completely is key. I don't thInk I am gluten intolerant but I loose so much more weight quickly when I cut them out all together.

Reading your stories has also been so helpful for me. It's good to know I am not alone. Keep on keeping on people!

Thank you honey and MagicKeys for the kind words and reassurance. I find it so hard to take advice, or even just reassurance, from people in my real life who haven't experienced life as a so-called 'morbidly obese' person and I think genuinely just don't get how having to lose several stone is very different from the 10lbs put on over the December party season, etc. But you folk do know so your words settle in my stupid, stubborn brain better. Tl;dr: thanks

Thought I'd do another weigh in. Am down 2.4lbs to 141.2lbs which is the 'bloat' I mentioned last week clearing plus premenstrual shenanigans clearing too. So 99.8lbs off and only a cup of tea to getting my 100lbs badge back. I am aiming to roughly maintain or have a small deficit (250ish) but am very unsure of my numbers these days. I am pretty sure my metabolic rate has slowed disproportionately with my weight loss (AKA adaptive thermogenesis) but I don't know by how much. I definitely have had less awful, hungry, full of binge urges days eating 2100 calories a day than 1900 calories but it's not gone. If I am under ten stone by the end of May then I will count that as a win but will also count roughly maintaining as a win too because that will mean that my binging has been under control.

Callme, I remember you. I think things have been tough for you for a long time I wonder if the problem you're having with sticking to a new plan is that you are doing too much too fast and that doesn't work for your personality type? Some people genuinely can make a clean break of radical change but some people need to add changes gradually over weeks or longer. One way isn't better than the other. It takes mental energy (adds to the mental load) to change a habit. The other thing is having too large a calorie deficit can cause rebound overeating in a large proportion of people. Your physiological hunger drive is incredibly powerful. Your brain will do literally anything, play any trick, push any manipulation, if it decides you're under threat. You know you're simply dieting but your brain thinks you're starving in a famine. If your brain does think it is starving because you've got too large a calorie deficit then you're going have extreme trouble keeping to a new eating plan, especially combined with taking on too many new habits at once. This has turned into another essay (!!) so will just finish by saying: it's not a cop out to take things slow. Best of luck

Great advice from BrokenWing. Going to steal your central heating analogy!

Well done, four, you're doing great

Thank you anotherotter, I do appreciate your advice. I read a book mentioned on another thread (the one about secrets of fat people) which has really helped so far this week. I’m down 7 lbs since Monday and feel so much more in control. The book talks about the voice inside of you (they call it the pig) that wants you to binge. Sounds daft but I have envisaged it all week and am totally disinterested in stuffing my face.

You’ve done amazingly well, congratulations. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy but I bet you feel fab.

Well done fourquennels, 10 lb in 2 weeks is amazing.

Have a good weekend all.

Loads of success on here lately, well done everyone!

AnotherOtter love that you're a cup of tea away from 100lbs. Well done lovely.

Four well done on 10lbs! Great start, 10% of the way there!

Well done also to people winning mental battles too. As we all know, if you don't deal with the mental side it'll get you back where you started eventually.

I jumped on the scales this morning and my strategy of focusing on fitness instead has paid off - 2lbs down, and 97.25lbs lost in total. 0.75lbs from 7 stone. Then 100lbs shortly afterwards! Wooo! It's my birthday in a few weeks so hopefully it'll all coincide!

Was reading this blog this morning about sustaining a 100lb loss. Have only dipped into it so I cannot speak to the whole thing, but it very much backs up our KOKO approach, and I found this article encouraging for when thing feel stuck: thingsiwouldsayifihadtime.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/dear-scale-its-not-me-its-you/

Just checking in and love seeing all the losses and positive attitudes.
I've lost another 4lbs since I last posted so a total loss so far of 54lbs!

@HoneysuckIejasmine new job is going great thankyou! I'm working for a well known gym chain and one of the perks is free top tier membership so I'm hoping to start using that tomorrow! I have a meeting with CAMHS to discuss DS developmental history on Tuesday to support ASD diagnosis so hopefully things are getting moving now. Just sat watching his U15s cricket match and he seems quite cheery and bright!

In other news we are booking a holiday today for end of July. The last time we went away (October) I was almost 4 stone heavier and needed a seatbelt extender :(
I'm really hoping that the new vegetarian/ almost vegan diet keeps kicking the weight loss and am going to book some PT sessions at the gym to really focus on fat and inch loss!!

Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday and bank holiday!

Quick weigh in and 8 1/2 lbs down in week 1. Have a good bank holiday all!

I've been dieting for 8 weeks now and I'm 19 pounds down. Another 81 pounds to go.

Callme, I have seen that book recommended several times and would buy it myself but my unread pile is ridiculous at the moment. Just saw that you were asking for book recommendations and the two I'd go for are Overcoming Binge Eating by Dr Christopher Fairburn and Brain Over Binge by Kathryn Hansen. The former is about the conventional model of treating binge eating that is used by the NHS where you learn healthier coping mechanisms to comfort and console yourself and replace the binging. The latter uses the addiction model and talks about how to disrupt the habit of binging. Fair warning: both approaches insist that you have to stop dieting/restricting calories to treat binge eating (it's the only point they have in common). I got a lot out of both books and have reread them both. There is also a Brain Over Binge podcast which is worth listening to from the start. Best of luck with it all and very well done for your first week result.

Well done, honey, on your SV! Those milestones are within touching distance now. Would be lovely to get there for your birthday. Do you have something special planned?

Very interesting blog, thank you MagicKeys. A subject that I definitely need to have a think about.

Great progress, cricket, well done. You sound like you have a solid plan in place which is very important and good on you. Good luck with CAHMS with your son. Sounds like an incredibly difficult time for you all

Well done, Tali, you are doing great!

Start 1st Jan 2019 - 268 lbs (19st 2lbs)
Current weight - 234 lbs (16st 10lbs)
Total loss - 34 lbs (lost -12.7% of original weight says MFP 😮)

Tuesday weigh in and it was a crap week with no loss 🙁. I can feel my snacking habit starting to sneak back in this week (the pinnacle of which was 3 packets of crisps and 2 Lindor choc when dh went out for 30 mins to pick up ds - nearly 500 cals!!!! 😳😔), I even stopped logging on MFP so not really a surprise there was no loss.

But hey, it is not a gain, I can see from you guys that it can be done so reset and restart anew today, log everything and keep in the green and next week will be better!!!

7 pounds away from a 2 stone weight loss. Still have no idea where I've actually lost the weight though.

Hi can I join you all for accountability? I lost over 100lbs kept off for 5 years then suffered a series of bereavements and also diagnosed with psychiatric problems...now I’ve gained most back. But, I know now is the right time to do this and focus on positives.
Avoiding snacks, processed carbs and alcohol. Also really trying to be sensible with portions. Not stepping on scales yet as I know I could get obsessed with them but there’s a pair of jeans I couldn’t get up past my knees a month ago that I can now get fully on just not quite able to do up...it’s a start!

cricket that's fab news! Well done you for preserving through it all. Booking a holiday sounds like a great idea, and we done on your loss so far.

Call me 8.5lbs?! Bloody hell, well done!

AnotherOtter no real plans. We're going to the sealife center but that's with ILs as it's half term, rather than because it's my birthday.

Great job Tali!

Broken it's ok to maintain, especially if you know why it happened. KOKO!

MrsT welcome. Well done on your loss in the past. I'm sorry you've found yourself here again, in such shitty circumstances. I'm glad you're feeling the time is right for starting again.

Welcome MrsT, join the club, I lost about the same too and find myself back here. Hopefully we have learned from our mistakes and can lose it again.

I still don’t know how to select user names, so a collective well done it is!