6 stone to lose - my journey!

[StanleyOscar]

Hi everyone, long-time lurker here but decided to pop my head up and talk about my weight loss journey which I have just begun.

49 years old, yo-yo dieter for approx 20 years. Never have much problem loosing weight, just can't keep it off. So, I joined Slimming World on Wednesday and have around 6 stone to lose. So far I have lost 3lb, which is to be expected in week 1. Very much enjoyed the group meeting, and the meals/recipes are good too.

So far, so good. Anyone else on their journey too?

Well, I had my chinese takeaway last night, and it was rubbish. Obviously over the time that I have been losing weight, my 'cravings' for junk food seem to have fizzled away. I ate 1/8th of what I would normally eat, and quite frankly was bored. Don't get me wrong, the food was prepared to the usual standards, but I didn't get a buzz from eating it and so it will be some time before I order another one.

@picklemewalnuts - Totally agree with everything you say about Keto, to be honest, it's not something I would ever try, and so if my body has moved into ketosis, it was unintentional. How are you today?

@73kittycat73 @WheresMyTweezers @ThroughThinkandThing - How are you all doing?

Well that blasted 1lb is being stubborn! Hopefully tomorrow will see me reach my first stone off.

@picklemewalnuts & @stanleyoscar I probably shouldn't keep citing Why We Eat (Too Much) as I haven't finished it yet, but I think what I'm picking up is all calories are not equal and while at a basic level if you reduce calories you'll lose weight, for the weight loss to be sustainable you need to be making sure you're having "good" food else metabolism/hormones/other body stuff will pull you back to where you started. I don't know too much about Keto so don't have any words of wisdom there.

One good thing - my sweet tooth seems to have disappeared. I'm still often hungry but managing it fairly well with fluids and fruit. For me daytime is the worst but we have our evening meal fairly early (6pm-ish) and from then to bed time is fine. I need to get a bit better at having stuff in for lunch which is filling, "good" and low calorie. My white bread issues have gone but my replacements are a bit boring - seeded bread/soup/omelette etc. I don't eat meat (but eat fish) and want to avoid overly-processed things. Any suggestions?

Beans on toast is one of my faves on tired stresst days.
On healthy days, blend chickpeas with garlic lemon juice and rosemary for a healthy version of hummus.

@picklemewalnuts that sounds like an excellent version of hummus - thank you for the tip.

@WheresMyTweezers, I am having lots of substantial salads - so, lettuce/cucumber etc with roasted butternut squash and feta, or with peppers, onions and prawns - that sort of thing. More interesting than a plain salad, and tastier (I think), but still few in calories.

Yes, I call them rainbow salads. Everything chopped quite small, any of: cucumber, tomato, sweetcorn, radish, beetroot, celery, carrot, cabbage, peppers etc.
With (allowed amounts of) grated cheese, hard boiled egg, seeds/nuts.

Some lighter than light Mayo, or balsamic vinegar, or fat free yogurt/cottage cheese.

Really filling, tasty, different every time you make it!

I'm going out for dinner tonight, which I was looking forward to. I'm a bit tired though. I've planned to have something like ham and eggs or gammon with a jacket or salad instead of chips. But I'll indulge in cake if everyone else does.

I've had an apple and a strong coffee to tide me over!

@StanleyOscar interesting on the Chinese front. I am going out for Italian on Monday with colleagues, so it will be interesting to see if I feel the same. Slightly concerned at how calorific it will be, but I have discovered they do half size portions of adult meals for children, so will ring to see if that works for adults too - don't really fancy paying £20 for something I am going to leave half of!!

Weighed myself this morning (I try to be strict with myself and stick to just Mondays so I get weekly updates rather than obsessing every day, but with being 15 stone dead on Monday I gave in) and I am 14 stone 13 and so pleased when I saw the 14!

Hello everyone. I feel much better today.
Well done on the certificate and weight loss StanleyOscar!
It's so motivating to be in a new stone bracket isn't it ThroughThinkandThing? Well done on a pound down.
I hope you really enjoy your meal out tonight picklemewalnuts.
That's really good about your sweet tooth disappearing WheresMyTweezers. Mine is still firmly here.
I have stepped back and taken stock of my weight loss after a huge blow out yesterday. I realised I was being too strict and pushy with myself. I had been approaching losing weight like ripping off a plaster: the quicker the better, and exercising like mad too. Well, I've decided to calm the f**k down. After doing the NHS BMI and a BMR/TDEE calculator I have decided to up my daily calories from 1200 to 1400. I should lose about a pound a week on that. I have also decided I am still doing my two yoga classes (Mon and Weds.) a week but have cut down to just doing my tummy exercises to Tues, Thurs and Friday, giving myself the weekends off. The weight loss will be a lot slower than I'm used to and it'll take minimum 17 weeks to lose what I want, but if it's more sustainable and enjoyable I'm more likely to stick to it, right?

@73kittycat73 that sounds really sensible. And 17weeks (in the grand scheme of things) is such a short time.

Thanks ThroughThinkandThing. I suppose it is a short time, yes.
Hopefully the weather is supposed to be sunny here tomorrow, hopefully get out in the garden. Anybody have any plans for tomorrow?

Good new strategy, Kittycat! You have to not only lose it, but keep it off. You also need to eat less as you lose weight, so it's no good leaping straight in with severe reductions, as you will need to cut back even further at some point.

Tomorrow I'll be in a meeting first things, then ordering 150 bread rolls for a community kitchen I'm cooking at on Tuesday. Got some notes to write up and distribute, then some toilets to clean and some cooking to do.
All very glamorous

@ThroughThinkandThing it feels so good breaking that Stine barrier doesn't it?!!

@73kittycat73 I didn't realise you were doing so much exercise! And yes, you've got to follow something you can live with.

How did the meal out go @picklemewalnuts ?

Ok party poppers can come out now. 2lb off making 15 in total or in other words MY FIRST STONE (plus a pound!)

Still a looooong way to go, but feels like I'm getting somewhere. I'll take my measurements tomorrow and see what they're looking like too.

@WheresMyTweezers Excellent news!! 🎉 ⭐️

Well done Tweezers!

Meal was pleasant, thank you- ham, eggs, jacket potato, salad.

And cake. #notsorry!

Good for you for helping out in the community kitchen picklemewalnuts! Very admirable. Good luck with the loo's!
Yay WheresMyTweezers, your first stone! Well done on losing those 15lbs!
It seems sunny outside today so am going to do some bits in the garden later, mainly in marigolds. I don't know what the birds do in their feeding station but I know they leave one hell of a mess! So I shall be elbow deep in soapy water later on cleaning it all. I hope everyone else has a wonderful day, and good luck with any goals you may have.

@WheresMyTweezers , another lunch idea- I had a huge bowl of cottage cheese with chunks of frozen pineapple, a chopped apple, and 25g of peanuts. It was really tasty, and actually kept me full all afternoon.

@StanleyOscar how are you getting on?

I've had a light lunch because I'm having a BBQ tonight. I've got skinny sausages, and skinny burgers, but I'm having a nice white roll on my burger! I've got some celeriac, cabbage and carrot for a salad.
I also planted nasturtiums specifically to eat! So I'll add those as salad leaves, too.

I've not eaten much because it's sweltering here! I'm melting...

Thanks for the lunch suggestions @picklemewalnuts - the cottage cheese one sounds good.

1lb back on which was surprising as it was a light day yesterday but I know it's only a fluctuation rather than a real gain (maybe the heat?). Back to an even stone off.

I've been out for lunch today though and omg I have pigged out. Big time. Plus side is I am stuffed and probably won't eat anything else today. Scales will be interesting tomorrow though I bet.

Hello Team!

I'm good thanks. Put on 1lb after eating the Chinese takeaway on Wednesday, which was annoying. Anyhow, scales said 16st 7lbs this morning and so 2lb loss. I did a lot of gardening yesterday, we have 4 acres to maintain, and so that was quite a workout. I also went rowing, and did some spin biking, that may have helped.

My weight seemed to more or less plateau for the past 8 days, I was getting quite frustrated and so I switched back to salad, changed my exercise and it seems to be on the move again!

Start weight: 18st 4lbs
Current weight: 16st 7lbs
Total loss so far: 25lbs
Goal 12st 7lbs

@WheresMyTweezers - Congrats on the first stone! Don't worry about the 1lb gain, it happens.

@picklemewalnuts - Very hot here to, I'm in the UK. I eat less, but drink more which may increase my weight, hence the scales not moving much until this morning. I think I perspired a lot yesterday after gardening in the heat.

@73kittycat73 - Did the gardening you did yesterday have any impact on your weight?

That's good, Stanley. I think you've had such dramatic losses so far, it was bound to pause. I focus on eating lots of low fat, low carb food and drinking water.

Don't forget you may need some salt to off set the sweating. If I don't pay attention to that I lose control of my crisp craving!

Perhaps have a day away from the scales, tweezers, until you've got a healthy day under your belt!

CRISPS!

It's been over 9 weeks since I've eat crisps, I think.

Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned them! But have some salt!

I've made some lovely salads to have with the BBQ, cucumber and dill, celeriac coleslaw, and some mushrooms, aubergines and peppers to go on the side.

Peppers are amazing cooked long on the BBQ. They lose all structure and get really sweet and tender.