Weight loss for those with a 40+ BMI

[TrinityWaves]

Anyone else at the start of their weight loss journey with a BMI over 40?

I thought starting this thread might make me more accountable.

I'm 5ft 5, weigh 265lbs, I'm in my early 30's.

I'd love to chat to others in a similar position, almost all my friends and extended family are slim! (My DH is also trying to loose weight, lower BMI than me though.)

Oh and make it a step change. Instead of restricting, just focus on getting rid of the processed foods, no limits on whole foods, eg:
Porridge with full fat milk and fruit for breakfast.
Hearty soup with some rye bread for lunch
Roast chicken with veg for dinner.
Homemade oat and dark chocolate cookies.

So, I lost 6lbs in my 1st week. I'm pretty happy with that.

donteatpurplebroccoli I hope your brother is on the mend soon.

Well done Harpydragon, that is a great first week.

Well done @Harpydragon - that’s a great start!

I’m going to weigh tomorrow - the pizza and gin on Saturday night was an unplanned excursion (but bloody lovely!) so who knows!

I managed to do day 1 of C25K today, even dragged my 11 year old out to do it with me.

At least I thought we were doing day 1, it was quite tough, so I checked after we finished and it turned out we'd done Week 3, day 1 which is where I left off about 9 months ago .

We did quite well, but didn't manage it all so definitely back to week 1 tomorrow.

I've finally been taken up on one of my offers to volunteer; tomorrow I am collecting 50 lunches from Dishoom and delivering them to Royal London Hospital. If you don't know it, Dishoom is a very yummy Indian restaurant, so I'm sure I'll be drooling from the smell as I am driving them to their destination.

Hi all
Is it too late to join the chat?

Well done @Thisseatisnotavailable, it's great that you got out and started it again! I recently made it to the end of week 3, which is further than I have managed to get before! Starting week 4 tomorrow.

Well done to all of you for making progress!

Not at all Kentishbear, jump right in.

Week 1 weigh in done and I’m very happy considering I only stuck to the plan strictly for 5 days and was more relaxed for two, including pizza and gin on Saturday night

SW 251lb/114.2kg BMI 43
Today. 246lb/111.9kg BMI 42.1

On the days that I’ve been strict I haven’t actually felt hungry, but I it’s hard to break habits like the afternoon biscuits and evening snacks I think eating less carb and more protein helps and I’m drinking a lot of water and mint tea. I’m doing fast 800 which is not dissimilar to the blood sugar diet. I’ve been having a couple of coffees with milk mid morning, something like omelette or soup for lunch, and chicken or salmon or something with veg at teatime - roasted Mediterranean veg or similar. I miss pasta but needs must haha

Another 7lbs lost this week, so 15 so far. Hasn't all been the diet though. My lovely DD kicked me in the face while doing her acro zoom class, and cracked a tooth. While waiting for my appointment to get it seen to, I've developed a lovely infection and been on soup and antibiotics for the last 4 days. I don't recommend it as a weight-loss method

Well done everyone! I need to start some sort of exercise regime soon, I think. I've read that if you're trying to lose over 100lbs you have a greater chance of loose skin, but exercise can help reduce it. I'm not hugely bothered about the prospect of being a bit flappy, but I'd like to have my nice legs back from when I was slim.

Can I join you? I currently have a BMI of 43 but this time last year it was 53. I'm losing around 1 kg a week now. I use weightwatchers menu cards and am able to stick to it now as I was diagnosed with severe sleep apea last year. I thought this was caused by my weight but it turns out to be the other way wrong. Sleep deprivation causes unsatiable hunger. Since I started treatment I've lost 25 kg.

• the other way round, not wrong.

@FatCatThinCat I’m trying to tackle sleep problems as well, I’ve had past thyroid problems and am perimenopausal and the insomnia has been shocking. I’m now forcing myself to be in bed by midnight with an aromatherapy diffuser thingy and rain sounds playing quietly, it’s still taking about an hour to get to sleep but it’s an improvement on 3am....

I read something on the links between sleep and weight, there’s a particular hormone (grehlin) that you don’t make enough of without enough sleep, that plays a big part in appetite regulation, and another (leptin) that regulates all kinds of things (appetite, energy levels, sex drive) that severely declines if you’re not sleeping enough.

I keep wondering whether hrt might be helpful but our gp surgery keeps putting stuff out about ‘urgent issues only’ - but most things that weren’t urgent 10 months ago but you could do to see someone about kind of build up...

I won't join the thread properly, but just wanted to come and say well done and give you all some positive vibes and encouragement. You can do it!

My BMI was well over 40 in March 2020 (I got confused with my calculations and have been a bit muddled about its actual value but I reckon about 43.5 ish) and now it is around 27.5 ish, and still heading downwards. It is tough. But you can do it. Avoid the easy fixes, this is hard work and those companies who are trying to sell you an easier way are mostly just exploiting the natural desire to avoid hard work, but their solutions don't work without the hard graft.

I won't repeat myself but I have posted my tips on some other threads over recent months here and here and here

My consultant described it as part of the body's survival mechanism. The primal part of the brain that controls fight or flight. It interprets severely low energy as dying of starvation so drives us out of the cave to hunt or gather more. That's why eating doesn't satisfy the 'hunger' because lack of food isn't the issue. We're hungry for sleep!

Stressed at work ( home so I have the fridge here)

I'm already at over 900 calories. Stress eating is me all over.
I've literally stood in the kitchen eating - standing up.

I would also normally drink a load of Diet Coke now but I'm cutting back on that because of my high blood pressure.

I might have ratatouille for dinner as that is low calorie.

If you can crack fizzy drinks it will all be so much easier

Also try to reduce packet foods as you absorb so many more calories from them. Packet foods should be your enemy

@FlatEarthling

Stressed at work ( home so I have the fridge here)

I'm already at over 900 calories. Stress eating is me all over.
I've literally stood in the kitchen eating - standing up.

I would also normally drink a load of Diet Coke now but I'm cutting back on that because of my high blood pressure.

I might have ratatouille for dinner as that is low calorie.

I didn't realise diet coke was connected to high blood pressure. I've been drinking loads, 3 or 4 cans a day, since I started losing weight. Didn't drink it much before but now I crave it. And I've just started treatment for high blood pressure, which I presumed was down to my weight and sleep apnea, despite never having had a problem with it before.

That makes a lot of sense to me FatCatThinCat. I'm definitely an emotional eater, but I also know I snack way more when I'm tired. A good bedtime routine and consistent sleep times is something I really need to implement.

Well done everyone and thanks for the kind wishes about my brother fortunately he seems to be ok at the moment!

I’m really glad I joined this group as have had bad couple of days and normally I’d just give up (again) but your losses are helping me to remember tomorrow is another day and it is possible!!

@Gt345 I'm not a packet food person.

@FatCatThinCat - as I understand it, the caffeine in cola raise blood pressure and then even if you swap to caffeine free the phosphorus is bad for the kidneys. Kidneys are under more strain due to the high blood pressure.

I have bought Hibiscus Tea though, just in case it works. But it's not the same.

Well done on the fantastic losses HostessTrolley and JakeChambers, hope the tooth infection is better soon. You did make me laugh with thought of being a bit flappy

That's interesting about the sleep. I'm actually getting a lot more sleep than I normally do as I'm furloughed at the moment (maybe too much sleep some days )

Good to hear your brother is doing well Donteatpurplebrocolli, and you're staying strong.

I've been doing my volunteering today and delivering meals to the hospital, traffic was bad so I spent a few hours sitting in the car, and didn't get home to eat something until 3pm, luckily was strong and stuck to plan rather just stuffing my face when I got in. Will drag myself out soon for my C25K run.

I found this for the hibiscus tea
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6621350/

I am big fan if natural stuff as help alongside modern medicine (not a total hippie 😁). Just make sure it's not mixed with caffeine tea.

I"ll have to give that a go.. Hopefully it'll counterract my morning coffee. I'm going to stop the coke but I can't function without the coffee.