has any successfully lost weight just by "eating less and exercisign more"? can it be that simple?... and if so HOW much?

[Dabbles]

well....

3 stone. But it takes a long time - think a year not a few months.

i lost 3 stone and it has stayed off. however, i was hungry a lot of the time! i now have a BIG appetite. i would have cereal and milk, rice cakes, cottage cheese, salad, and normal dinner - just less of it. i also ate lots of fruit and yogurt.i was bloody starving actually, thinking back! i must say that i now eat loads and it has stayed off because i walk so much with my wee boy. i wouldn't really recommend my weihgt loss eating as it was tough and probably not that healthy.

I found drinking a lot of water helped. But I gained it back during pregnancy. Will come on a healthkick with you if you like.

after having my daughter I exercised more and ate less and went from a size 20 to a size 12. i didnt have scales in those days so not sure how much it was

but then i got pregnant again

I have done this, cut out all the snacks and got a dog. I now walk 1 1/2 hours a day and look much better for it. I am about 1/2 stone lighter and much fitter. Dog is now 10 months

yes, pregnancy is a great excuse to eat loads! but wow well done on previous weight loss!

whokilledharrypotter - am definetly on a health kick! am so sick of 'dietign' so ahve decided to try this.. which bizarrely i have never tried before! lol, its as if if it wasnt a 'diet' it wouldnt be worth trying... but sinc enone of them worked for mroe than 3 weeks, gotta try soemthing!!

I found hypnotherapy really helpful in changing my ideas. Also learning a bit of NLP. Perhaps you could look into these.

ooooh... tell me about the hypnotherapy!

Yes. From February this year I've lost over a stone by doing exactly this. I was hungry quite a lot to start off with. I cut out alcohol Monday to Thursday, cut out snacks apart from fruit, drank a glass of water every time I went into the kitchen and had less pasta/rice/bread etc.

I started off going to the gym 3 times a week, but now I mostly manage twice. I have a bad back so can't run, but I cycle and try to make myself walk to places I would normally drive to eg the library or post office, which are about 15 minutes away. You need time for this though, as it so easy to be there and back in 10 minutes, rather than giving up 30 minutes to post a parcel.

Yes
At Christmas dh was 19 1/2 stone (42"waist)

very unhealthy lifestyle

1. Worked stupid hours
2. Ate crap and lots of it at odd times
3. NO exercise.
4. Stressed

Now 16 stone (36" waist)

1. Exercises 3-4 times a week
2. Can now run 1hr solidly and can cover 6 miles.
3. Eats regularly and sensibly though still has the odd treat but as exercising, not a problem.
4. Still works stupid hours but copes better due to increased energy levels and a new found recognition of the need to take time off.

He's much happier and has just said he's 'generally enjoying life more and has plenty of energy to play with ds'

It's not all about the weight either. His waist size has decreased leading him to feel better about himslef which has spilled over into other areas of life. He primps like a peacock much more (!) but it is great to see his self esteem, and worth, come back.

Hope this helps
Muppet and dh

Muppet - that is BLOODY MARVELLOUS - good for you! That sort of story is inspiration to us all - you keep at it!

yes, this is my standard way to lose weight. It works. Then I typically have a long period of maintaining the same weight, then I have a lot of stress and eat a lot and have to lose it all again.

Do tell re hypnotherapy - I'm wondering whether it would help with my snacking habit. I've just lost weight through a mix of low calorie eating (similar to nickytwotimes) and running 3x/wk but am finding maintaining the loss harder.

I have lost 63 pounds over 2 years. Down to 13 stone 12 lbs from 18 stone 5 lbs.(might have been heavier but I only weighed myself occasionally

Bearing in mind the following :-

: Lost a big chunk in the beginning over 6 months before wedding....loads of gym and healthy eating

: Lost a chunk in the middle....stressed out at work and pregnant, so healthy-ish eating but very little exercise.

: Lost a chunk recently (throwing up with gall stones and no exercise not to be recommended)

: Lost a few pounds between the above events, some exercise but some takeaways.

Strangely only the last stone or so (lost due to being ill) got positive comments off friends and family...wonder if the previous losses were too little too slowly too notice, I was very fat (happy but fat) ;)

But I still reckon healthy eating and exercise is the best way to lose weight.

HTH

Mamalil - hypnotherapy will help you make long term changes about how you use food (I'm guessing you, like most of us don't just use food for fuel but for emotional reasons). It can be very useful.

I have lost about 3 stone in the lst yr by cutting out the crap ,sugary stuff ,and bread,rice and pasta.

I found it very helpful when I started building my muscles.It apparently increases your resting metabolism and makes weight loss easier.

It is also important to not eat too LITTLE as your body will go into starvation mode,your metabolism will slow down and you burn muscle instead of fat for your energy.Not a good thing.

Eating the right food regularly is much more important and effective than just cutting down and starving your body.Fast weight loss never lasts ime.

Thanks BBBniks - very true I'm afraid. Any ideas on how to find a good hypnotherapist?

all very impressive!

Yes. Last year I lost 10 lb in six weeks and I did it by:

Cutting out all the crap, no sweets, no biscuits/crisps/chocolate/cakes? you get the picture. I also started calory counting. I then started swimming twice a week and going on the cross trainer 2/3 times a week. Have regained a bit of that weight now and back on the same routine. The one thing I did find with calory counting what I ate was that it helped me to look differently at food, for instance I once had the urge for a bar of chocolate, but when I checked the calories, a bar of chocolate contains the calories of a fairly substantial meal so imo would have been a waste of part of my daily calory quota iyswim.

It is possible, and I have done it, but ime you have to be in the right frame of mind too.