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

Welcome @ReluctantDieter - wishing you every success and I hope you find the support you need here.
@wombatsandaplant - congratulations on losing that kg and well done on reaching that milestone.
@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme - I hope you are feeling better. Cyctitis is so painful. Don't worry about the weight gain, it's temporary. It's a timely reminder about the hidden calories in juices and other drinks though. They used to sell sachets of something (sodium citrate??) in Boots that did wonders for cystitis. Might be an alternative to the cranberry juice if it's still available.
@Zebracat - I'm sorry to hear that you have back pain. I hope you manage to get back swimming soon. I have observed over the summer that my joint pain and stiffness returns when I have overindulged in sugar and junky carbs so maybe a return to your 'No S' plan will help too.
@Angliski - thank you. I have been intermittent fasting and calorie counting. But to be honest, getting my head in the right place has been the difference for me this time. It all felt very hopeless this time last year. I've been on every diet going over my adult life. So I tried to use all that failure and experience to help me. I looked back over all the reasons why my various attempts had failed e.g. too hungry, food I didn't like, too restricted, feeling that there was just too much weight to lose, an insensitive comment / crap photo etc. I put together a plan to lose weight that didn't exclude anything and where I didn't feel deprived. And then I planned some mental strategies to try and help me with the inevitable wobbles, and days / weeks where I fell off the wagon, lost motivation etc. I have this thread for support and accountability, I plotted a graph showing my expected weight loss and the time it would take, I've got mini goals in place and rewards of nice clothes etc for reaching them, I'm ready for and expecting to lose motivation, and have mental strategies in place for when I do.
I have lost 35kg over the last 12 months (was aiming for 40kg but summer holidays got in the way), and I aim to get the last 15 off over the next few months. I doubt I'll hit that target by Christmas but I could be into the healthy BMI range by then. I'm ultimately aiming for a BMI of about 23, but I'll see what feels right when I get that far. I've had lots of wobbles along the way, and fallen off the wagon loads of times.... but one or other of those mental strategies kicks in and I've managed to keep going. This thread has been great and I hope that you can get some support here too if you need it.

wombat well done and glad the aqua aerobics and wek away were good - that sounds like a good plan to do those classes.

Zebra thank you so much for your sympathetic words, it really was horrible. I haven't had cystitis in years and forgot how it dominates every moment. I really was quite unwell - not only unable to be away from the toilet for more than 30 minutes and therefore unable to sleep much, but also had chills and slept / tried to sleep in big winter jumpers, which I then had to wash . Fortunately I got antibiotics on Monday and am much better now. Kudos to you remaining so positive through your various quite significant health problems - it really makes it difficult to prioritise anything else! I'm lucky that I'm generally very healthy, and forget to appreciate it! I'm sure you'll be back to your lowest weight and feeling good when you get back to swimming and into your usual busy routine to avoid snack temptation!

alphaechokiwi you always give such good advice and comments! Is your DD back at school now? Are you into a post-summer healthy eating/ weight loss focus now, or giving yourself another week?

I'm back to 71kg this morning, which is only 500g off the top of a healthy BMI, which is where I'm happy to be given skin considerations etc. So I'm thinking I had 3kg of bloating/ water retention (ironically given peeing 40 times per day) during the cystitis - certainly I couldn't get my wedding ring off, and its been easy to get on and off since I weighed about 85kg! The 500g must be the cranberry juice calories

Welcome ReluctantDieter , how are you getting on so far?

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme - I so glad to hear you're better - that sounds like a rotten dose you had. Also good to hear that the cranberry juice didn't have any lasting impact. No more 'weeks off' for me for a bit. I'm focused on weight loss between here and Christmas. I've had a good week and will weigh myself on Sunday. DD is back in school too so getting my routine around swimming going again too.

Morning everyone, I weighed 81.1kg this morning. So I've still got a bit of holiday gain to sort out. But hopefully back to losing steadily now.

alphaechokiwi that doesn't sound too bad at all! Good luck as you get back into the swing of losing steadily.

Do many people on here walk for exercise? I can't find any walking for health/ exercise/ weight loss nor long distance walking threads on MN. Does anyone know of any? Sometimes things are under very odd headings/ sub sections so I may be missing something.... A lot of people walk as a hobby or as their main consciously chosen form of exercise (not just because they have to walk the dog or get the kids to school) so I'm surprised there's no subsection like there is for say horse riding or weight lifting...

If there really isn't anything I might start a thread somewhere... I've been walking most days since last year, and actively doing longer and longer walks, up to about 24km (15 miles maybe) and it helps me with weight not so much because of calories burnt but mentally, though of course it does burn calories and build lean muscle, slowly but surely. Its been harder to do the long walks over the summer holidays because of my own feeling that I shouldn't leave the children to default to screens for too many hours per day, and doing day trips etc. but as they go back to school I'd like to commit to doing 16km / 10 miles whenever I'm off work while they're at school (massive pro of shift work for me!). I'd love a thread with others with similar goals (whether the distance is less or more doesn't matter, but the deliberate commitment to walking for exercise and mental and physical health).

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/exercise/4347256-Walking-for-exercise-mental-and-physical-health-as-a-hobby?watched=1&msgid=110743854#110743854

Hope that works! I started a walking thread under "exercise" because I don't have any patience

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme - good luck with your thread. I hope you'll find a few like minded folk. Swimming / cycling are more my thing, but like you I need them in my life not to burn calories but for the mental clarity and stress relief they bring me.

Hope it's ok to share this link for anyone who might be interested.
www.eatinglessonline.com/?_se=YWVraXJ3YW5AZ21haWwuY29t
Details of Gillian Riley's free trial and forthcoming interactive webinar series. I did this a few years ago and found it extremely helpful to shift my thinking away fro the 'diet' mentality.

I have lost 0.9kg this week. Woo.

Well done @wombatsandaplant!

Thanks @WeightlossKin

We'll done @wombatsandaplant - you're being ver consistent and steady it seems. I hope your water aerobics are going well?

Thanks @alphaechokiwi, yes the water aerobics is going well, going again tomorrow.

When did you guys start noticing you lost weight? I’m at the start of my journey only 9.4kg in but I haven’t noticed any difference in clothes or anything yet. I am autistic though so maybe that has something to do with it, or maybe it’s too soon. People are expecting me to notice already though so maybe I’m just faulty, I dunno.

I’m just feeling a bit fat and disgusting at the moment. So maybe that’s clouding my view.

I've lost 16kg since the start of the year and so far can't 'tell'. Clothes that didn't fit, now do - just!, so I know I've lost weight but I can't look in the mirror and say I can see it. I don't feel any physically fitter or anything.

I think the more you have to lose the longer it takes to notice a difference to start with? So I think that's probably why for me! Also I'm still 9kg heavier (roughly) than I was at my lowest weight, so wonder if I won't really notice until I go beyond that lowest weight - once I get there I'll have another 13kg I want to lose.
Not sure if this is a helpful response. I think other people might notice before you do.

I felt it when I had lost about 10% of my starting weight. But nobody else noticed for ages. I wanted to keep it low key though. I found it unhelpful to focus on appearance though, it's so subjective and dependant on mood. It was very motivating to me to notice the other benefits of weight loss. How much fitter I felt, being able to participate in activities, how I slept better, better digestion and how much more energy I had.
I also realised that I was wearing a lot of stretchy clothes that were possibly too small at the time. So I didn't need to buy new clothes or pay too much attention to my appearance for quite a while.

Thanks guys. Oh well, I was hoping you’d tell me I’d notice soon lol. Ah well, onwards and downwards.

I have lost just over 10% of my weight to lose and just over half way to losing 10% of my total starting weight.

I noticed when I went from a 20 to an 18.

WeightlossKin I was 119kg when I started. I didn't tell anyone (not even DH) what I was going to do. Colleagues noticed after 15kg (we don't see one another daily as 8 of us all do varied shifts to cover 24/7/365 in twos or solo), DH noticed a bit later (I think because of the frog in boiling water phenomenon - you don't notice gradual change in someone you're with almost all the time).

I didn't actually feel any different "in myself" until I got to 90kg, though of course I noticed the difference in the fit of clothing. It was at about 90 I needed to buy new things and that not only trousers but my bras completely didn't fit any more.

I think people who have have weight related health issues which impact on daily life notice quite quickly, but those of us who are lucky enough to have dodged that bullet so far don't necessarily feel that different until we get close to getting out of the obese category. I started with a BMI of 41 and noticed a difference as I got to a BMI under 35. That's quite a lot of weight.

Other people noticed earlier though.

Once I got to about 80kg most of my team at work were following the same way of eating as me and intermittent fasting and avoiding refined sugar had become an informal agenda point at team meetings

Good morning everyone, I hope you all have had a good week. I'm 79.6kg this morning. I'm very pleased to be back below 80kg and back below a BMI of 30. I am happy to have managed to hold my weight reasonably steady over the holidays, but also very happy to be rid of the few extra kgs that crept on.

alphaechokiwi good morning! Yay, well done!

Well done @alphaechokiwi. I haven’t weighed today. I have worked hard to get back on track because my weight was just spiralling.Fairly confident that it will be going the right way again. But I went out for dinner last night, and although I was restrained, it was quite salty and I drank a lot of wine, so thought it best to wait a few days. Have a child’s birthday later which is also challenging. I feel a bit thinner, wore a dress last night which has always gaped across the bust, and , after I changed to a more squashing bra, it didn’t! , I do see that might just be me finally understanding lingerie. At 62, sigh.

Well done @alphaechokiwi
Great to hear you're back on track @zebracat

I'm feeling very sorry for myself 🙁 hoping to get to my referral target by December but since I've found that out three weeks ago I've only lost 2.5lbs. better than not losing I know but devastated to only lost half a pound this week. Feel like crying to be honest. I'm usually better at not being over dramatic after weighing in, but I wanted my stone award and a new stone bracket and got neither 🙁 I only had to lose a pound and couldn't even do that.

@WeightlossKin I'm sorry to hear of your setback. You've been doing so consistently well for so long. You absolutely will get to where you need to be, all you have to do is continue what you've been doing up to now. You'll get into your next stone bracket next week for sure. It's almost a certainty of losing a lot of weight that somewhere along the way you'll have wobbles. So don't worry about feeling upset , it happens to everyone at some point. I hope you feel a bit better soon

Forgot to say - I think a 2.5lb loss in 3 weeks is actually a pretty decent loss in itself. Well done x