Mutual support thread for those currently losing or working towards losing a lot of weight

[UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme]

This is a mutual support thread for anyone who wants (and needs) to lose a lot of weight, is mid way through losing a lot of weight, or is nearing the end of a big weight loss and wants to continue to support and be supported as maintenance approaches.

The previous thread has been massively helpful to regular posters, as we share both our losses and our plateau or gains, congratulate or console, and talk about what works for us while understanding that different things work for different people, and we are all different ages, all have different families/ households/ people to plan around, different commitments, different working lives and different health conditions which partly determine our approaches.

We are all on this journey together - this thread is for us to encourage one another, post updates, chat about what we're doing, how we're doing, share stories and thoughts and sometimes wander slightly off topic if we want, but everyone posting should be somewhere along the journey towards escaping high BMI obesity.

The previous thread was started by someone who no longer posts and initially asked how to lose 9 stone - it developed into a support thread for people with varying amounts left to lose but all of whom started out with at least 5 or 6 stone + / 30 or 35 kg + to lose, very roughly...

No links to selling sites or unsolicited "helpful" lectures please - mutual support from existing and new posters all actually living this big weight loss now, or just starting out, welcome!

Previous thread here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3894410-i-need-to-lose-9st-help

I've gone up 0.3 kg which is a bit disheartening as I've stuck to my diet all but one day. Trying to resist a cheering up icecream.

@BippityBoppity87 I think 1-2lbs a week is thought to be a healthy sustainable loss to aim for so 3lbs in 2 weeks puts you right in the middle of that range. From what I've seen with myself and others on this thread it's common to have a big kiss followed by a smaller or no loss. Hormones amongst other things have a great deal to do with it.
@FatCatThinCat - how frustrating for you. Keeping everything crossed your hard work will show on the scales after another few days.

@Rebuildingconfidence can I echo every single word @Zebracat has said (she's very wise, that one). Please don't give up. But maybe change your focus for a couple of weeks? I am doing a rehab programme for my long covid, and as part of that I've taken to filling in this thing every day. It was meant to be just for a week, but I've kept it up as I like it so much. Anyway, each day I write down something I've done that's god for my body, and achievement, a connection with another person, and something I've enjoyed. I wonder if doing something like this might help you?

@Readytostartagain I hope you're feeling better now? Resisting snacking is hard, especially in social situations.

@Sweetener12 emotional eating is such a big thing for me as well - it's so difficult. I hope the supermarket photography went well!

@BippityBoppity87 it's frustrating when you don't lose, but I do think 3lb a fortnight is a good, steady weightloss. Strange that it's happening like that for you though! There's no harm mentioning it to your GP if you think there might be something going on. But it could just be that all our bodies are strange things!

@FatCatThinCat sorry about the gain, but 0.3kg is tiny! If you've been following your plan it's probably just water or something similar. Remind me how often you weigh yourself?

I am actually very pleased today. After over a month of not losing anything, I've been following my plan pretty well this week - no snacking, limited puddings, and generally sensible meal choices, with a couple of treats in there. Today I was 1.3kg down from last week! So I'm delighted about that.

It's a big week for me this week. I am going back to work on Monday on a phased return after 3 months off sick with long covid. I'm feeling good about it, but also nervous. Hopefully it'll go well and I'll be able to keep up with eating well.

@alphaechokiwi how are you doing? You've posted supporting others a few times, but nothing about yourself!

Remind me how often you weigh yourself?

Officially every Saturday. Unofficially every time I go in the bathroom.

@FatCatThinCat . Me too with the weighing I’m putting my weight itoday because it definitely wont be any better tomorrow. So, I had a good week with lots of activity and sensible food and. Yesterday was back to 94.9 and so pleased, and the. It went pear shaped, scones for breakfast and lunch. Beer and Chinese takeaway for dinner. And chocolate. Today and tomorrow is social stuff so it won’t improve. My only defence is that I’ve started a new medication and side effects are brutal and I am feeling so grumpy. Today I am 95.8 and that’s probably better than itcould have been..
@ScottishBeth Well done on all the progress and Good luck for Monday

@ScottishBeth - well done on that loss! 1.3kg is brilliant! Very nice to hear you're doing well. Good luck with your return to work. I had 3 months off sick about 18 months ago and I felt very daunted returning. But it was all fine. Just do what you can....
I'm fine, thank you for asking! I've had a good week with food and exercise and I'm hoping for a loss when I weigh myself tomorrow. I went to the beach with my 6yr old this week and we flew kites, built sandcastles, ran around in the water and had a fabulous day. And it made me feel so happy to be able to do that easily and comfortably. Last year I was hot and uncomfortable, with very painful knees, unfit, very self conscious and just sat on a rug and watched my husband do it all. I thought to myself that watching the number on the scales go down is great but the real joy is in days like that.
Wishing everyone a great weekend x

@Zebracat , well done on your loss. I'm sorry to hear that you have medication side effects. Are they expected to settle down at all? Don't worry about yesterday... you you can get back on track over the next few days.

Yeah, it's a little bit discouraging, but I suppose I should look at the big picture and if it was on a graph, there would be a noticeable decline. Way tmi here haha but I haven't been able to go to the loo yet, so I might have lost? No idea if it makes a huge difference though! I also just weigh in whatever I'm wearing too, which is usually just leggings and a thin top. I know some prefer weighing in just their underwear but I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference either, unless I was wearing jeans and a belt or something

@ScottishBeth well done on your weight loss and best of luck for Monday. Thanks for asking after me I had a tough week but the last couple of days have been better. I don’t think I’ll weigh tomorrow as I think it will be bad and might send me off the rails. 3 weeks until we go on holiday and it would be great to lose 3/4 lbs by then.

Well done @Zebracat on your loss and & @alphaechokiwi on your lovely day.

Can I join? I was a size 8-10 until I had DD (she’s now 8), and then I put on a lot of weight while bf - went from around 8/9 stone to 13/14. Ideally I’d like to lose 4-5st; and I lost a fair bit before Christmas - more than a stone - but the second big lockdown put paid to that and I regained it and more. Agh.

Really need to shift it now because of health, and because it’s getting me down so much. What tends to work for me is 16:8 with a small lunch and low-carb dinner. My alcohol intake has crept up during lockdown (nothing else to do or look forward to but wine and dinner during lockdown!) and I tend to have 2 glasses of wine a night which doesn’t help.

I eat actually v healthily, but far too much - need to reduce portion sizes, decrease carbs, and decrease wine - I’m planning to go down to 1 glass a night initially and then cut it out more by the end of the summer. I’d love to lose 2-3st by the end of the calendar year. Would really appreciate joining the thread to help with this!

Zebracat thanks for the nice comments and well done on seeing 94.9, even if it was elusive! I hope your medicine side effects settle down ASAP and your social stuff is at least fin not duty! I think you and alphaechokiwi are right about the t-shirt dress, so I've consigned it to be my summer emergency change of clothes for work and left it with my bedcovers in the cupboard in our staff bedroom Its not something I'd usually work in, but I've only had to use an emergency change of clothes twice in the last 3 years anyway and it'd do I will have to try the wet newspaper before I give up on the boots.

alphaechokiwi that's fantastic about your lovely active day at the beach with DD - that makes it all worth while as you say! I was at the open air pool with dc3 in a bikini today! A very high waisted bikini with a substantial top bought by bra size admittedly, but it was actually pretty flattering until this month I hadn't worn a bikini since about 2002...

Will start a new post as I can't scroll to the next page to reread what others have said...

BippityBoppity87 3lb every two weeks is a good loss! Keep it up and you'll lose 78lb or 5.5 stone in a year! Averaged out it'd be unusual to lose much faster long term and if you did you'd get into loose skin territory! Image being 5.5 stone lighter next summer!

FatCatThinCat I agree with alphaechokiwi that 0.3 either way is essentially a stay the same. In all honesty if I have one very indulgent day I am pleased with a sts, and two + is a gain but everyone is different obviously. I gained two Kg on my birthday - I had one indulgent day and weighed 2kg more the following day. Obviously not a "real" gain as long as it is just one day, but it took all this week to undo it and get back to the same weight as the morning of my birthday. I was expecting it so I'm happy enough!

ScottishBeth good luck with the return to work and very well done on the 1.3kg!

Readytostartagain sorry to hear about your bad week, I hope things continue to improve!

irresistibleoverwhelm welcome to the thread, your plan sounds very likely to succeed!

I was 74.9kg this morning which is a sts really, though as I was 75.0 last Friday its psychologically positive to see the 74 intead of 75, despite actually being meaningless DH told me yesterday that I don't need to lose any more weight, but im still technically 4.5 above the top end of a healthy BMI, so will continue but with room to have a relaxed day now and then, which tbh is what I've been doing recently - I haven't really lost anything meaningful for 5 weeks now, but would like to get into the healthy BMI category eventually! I'm a million miles from where I was this time last year so pretty content! I'm also so pleased that the warm weather is finally established! I bought some second hand zip off walking trousers from vinted after getting rather overheated on a long walk last week - started early morning and stupidly didn't consider the increasing temperature between 7:30am and midday! The brand is Fjäll Raven and a size 12 pair were a bargain - 25€ with tags - 160€ new on their own site! So I ordered them and am so pleased that they fit! I thought after I ordered them that they wouldn't as I googled and some reviews of the brand said their trousers come up small, but I think it must be more that they design for a less curvey body shape and women with very curvey hips and small waists found them too tight - a rare benefit for me of not having an hour glass figure!

We only have one very close neighbour house (semi-detached but then about 50 meters to the next house) and our neighbours have a tiny front garden, yet they manage to do day long loud garden work for at least four hours every single sunny weekend - wtf are they doing in that tiny over manicured space?!

Oh hare, your persnickety gardeners made me laugh. I had a friend who used to cut her tiny lawn with hair dressing scissors. Then she went really off the rails and ended up as a New Age traveller, but I think it might be different for German people? Unless their love of order is just racial stereotyping. I have only known 4 Germans and they all did like things done very properly.
We have been entertaining today. Dh cut himself badly whilst cooking so I had to take over, and then just as I was at the critical point with this very elaborate meal, we found out that 1 guest had a very severeallergy, so Ihad to make them something else.entirely. The good news is that I was so stressed that I could barely eat when we sat down, but I necked a lot of wine!
They are lovely tho so we had fun.
Also Hare, it does not count as an STs when you get below a significant bar, like 75 kilos. That’s just amazing and I hope you are very proud..
@alphaechokiwi. You are so right about the joy of a day at the beach, and you are so right to really remember how uncomfortable you were last year. I do already feel benefits after 10 kilos. Hot weather was unspeakable, summer clothes a nightmare. My skin rubbed against itself and trapped moisture so I would get horrid rashes. I’m never going back to that.
The side effects of my medicine, on the packaging were , literally as long as my arm! And mine are awful, aching joints, headache, diarrhoea, irritability but there’s also a high probability that I will get a severe allergic reaction, as I did to its sister drug. And it triggers my condition. And I have to have my liver function closely monitored. I don’t know if it will get better, but I hope. It does.
@irresistibleoverwhelm, you are very welcome here. Hi to everyone else too.

Thank you! ❤️

Welcome @irresistibleoverwhelm - sounds like you're on the right track.
That sounds like an eventful day @Zebracat
@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme - a bikini! How fantastic. You have achieved such an amazing success this year....you are a real inspiration to me.
I'm 82.2kg today, so 0.8kg lost. Happy with that. Focused now on getting under 80kg. I've had a few wobbles and ups and downs since Easter, so will be very happy to celebrate that mini goal when I reach it.

@FatCatThinCat I'm sure that 0.3kg will disappear soon, if it hasn't already.

@Zebracat I'm sorry about the medication and side effects. I hope you are enjoying this weekend with all the social things you have on and that you are feeling better soon. And well done for doing so well up until Friday! I've just read your latest post as well - sounds like you had a bit of a chaotic but fun time yesterday!

@alphaechokiwi I just didn't want you to get left out, since you're so supportive of everyone else! But beach trip sounds amazing! You've achieved so much in the last year. And well done on a good weightloss this week!

@BippityBoppity87 as long as it's going down you're fine! I weigh in clothes as well. I figure fluctuating water weight will make more of a difference. And I also think going to the loo will make a difference! The other day I was worried that I would only have lost about 200g so I really made myself go!

@Readytostartagain glad you are a bit better. Taking a break from weighing isn't a bad idea occasionally.

Welcome @irresistibleoverwhelm - sounds like you have a very sensible plan.

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme agree with the others - well done on getting under 75kg! That's amazing! And wearing a bikini sounds exciting! What you've said about one indulgent day means STS is a useful way of thinking about it. That's definitely something I'll try to bear in mind in the future.

Thanks all for your good wishes for tomorrow. I am really pleased to be going back, but I am pretty anxious as well.

@alpha (don't know why it won't let me tag you) it is reassuring to know that you felt daunted too! I guess it's pretty normal.

Hope it goes well today @ScottishBeth . Well done @UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme on breaking the 75kg barrier and wearing a bikini.

@ScottishBeth I hope your first day back went well

Morning everyone. So I've lost 3lbs! I have no idea what's going on 😂 So roughly two weeks ago I lost 3lbs after a 3 week plateau. Lost nothing last week, just been on the scales just now and lost another 3lbs. No idea how that works lol

alphaechokiwi well done on the 0.8 - you'll see 80 (79.9) soon!

ScottishBeth how's being back at work going?

BippityBoppity87 well done on the 3lb! I'm sure there is a reason, but it might take years of studying human metabolism to get to the bottom of all the factors! In the end it's working and you know not to let plateau get you down because your body seems to do biggish loss - plateau - biggish loss ... If you could manage then recording weight just once per month might be more realistic/ motivating, but now you know what to expect you can take plateau in your stride knowing they precede a good loss for you!

I had the day off and walked 16 or 17 miles over the hills yesterday - it was glorious and felt like a mini holiday. I was mindful of not eating extra, just as normal, so that and four early lane swimming sessions straight after the kids leave for school (enabled by late shifts) and sticking to moderate portions, no snacks and sensible eating (also easier on late shifts) might mean an actual loss rather than the 100g you were all so lovely as to congratulate me on ) this Friday, or at least toned muscles