Mutual support thread for people with a lot of weight to lose. Part III

[alphaechokiwi]

This is a mutual support thread for people who have a lot of weight to lose. The original thread started with a poster who wanted to lose 9 stone and has evolved from diet advice to offering each other mutual long term support. Most of us have started in the morbid obese range or with a BMI in the high 30's (ish).
Everyone is welcome, regardless of where you are on your 'journey'. We have some inspiring stories. But also lots of us are muddling along, sometimes doing well and sometimes not so well.
We're all at different points. Some have lost lots of weight and are now maintaining. Others part way through a big weight loss and others starting out. We try to offer encouragement, congratulations or consolations where needed. We are respectful of different approaches and recognise that everyone has their own unique set of circumstances.

Thread 1 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3894410-i-need-to-lose-9st-help
Thread 2 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/4192315-Mutual-support-thread-for-those-currently-losing-or-working-towards-losing-a-lot-of-weight

Can I join? I have about 10 stone to lose. I've recently lost 10lb, but support sounds good

Apologies for anyone I've missed - welcome to the new thread!
@untilyournexthairbrainedscheme
@zebracat
@ScottishhBeth
@MamaNewtNewt
@weightlossKin
@SnowyMouse
@BippityBoppity87
@wombatandaplant
@Notthissticky

@HerRoyalRisesAgain - you are very welcome to join us! Hopefully a few more posters from the old thread will pop up again soon. Well done on the 10lbs loss. Getting started is always daunting.

Thanks for the new thread!

My weigh in for today is
SW: 14 stone 4
CW: 13 stone 12 (week 7, 10 oct, 1.75 loss)
GW: 13 stone 0 (Christmas)

Welcome @HerRoyalRisesAgain :)

For the new thread, my stats are:
SW 113.5kg
CW 78.6kg
Height 1.63m
GW somewhere under 66kg (BMI under 25)

I’ve just got back from holiday, hence why I’ve been awol. Still not back at the gym though, my trainer left the gym at the end of last month and my new trainer is on holiday till Thursday, and I train Monday Wednesday so won’t be in till next week.

So I will be back then. Hopefully my holiday didn’t put on too much weight.

Thank you for starting the new thread alphaechokiwi !

Nice to see new posters arriving, and hopefully everyone from the old thread will find us here.

To introduce myself, I started in early July 2020 and hit my goal in late August 2021.

SW July 2020: 119 kg
Goal August 2021: 70.5 kg
Current weight: 73 kg

My goal is the top of the healthy weight range for my height so I shouldn't go above it (but reluctant to go much below as I am starting to see some loose skin on upper arms and stomach).

I've gone a bit astray in the last week or so - stressing about various child related things mainly and I always eat when I'm stressed! Need to get my head back in gear as me eating leftovers while clearing up after dinner or cheese and crackers just because DH is having them isn't actually a way of keeping reality at bay no matter how much I want it to be, and doesn't help anyone! I'm always fine until after dinner...

I shall get back to it this week - I'm working lots of late shifts which usually helps! Weight put on fast usually goes fast as its often salt related water retention I find, so hopefully the damage isn't as bad as it looks!

@alphaechokiwi Thanks so much for the new thread. Isaw the physio. He was very thorough, and gave me very focussed advice of what to do and not do. Can’t swim ,unfortunately.
Feel much more hopeful now. I have kept to a lower calorie limit and finally I am back under 97 kg. I’m going to try to stick with that strictly this week before we go on holiday next weekend. My mini goal is to be at 9o-93 by Christmas.

How is everyone doing? I spent yesterday in A and E with a dislocated shoulder so the only thing I had to eat all day was a ham and cheese sandwich.

Oh dear Royal. That sounds horrid, how is it now?. I’m sticking to my plan which means I have gone to bed hungry a few times this week. In such circumstances,I am always very disappointed not to wake up thin😁.
My hip is responding to the new regime, and much less painful.

Much better than it was, but still painful.

Glad your hip is responding well.

Hello all! I think I was on the original thread but haven't been around for a while.

SW October 2020: 21st 5
Goal 31 January 2021: 17st
Ultimate Goal: 14st
Current weight: 18st 5lbs

I've been overweight my whole life and am currently the lowest weight I've been since I was pregnant with my daughter. I'm calorie-counting and also taking Saxenda in the hope that it helps rebalance my metabolism, utterly screwed by years of eating disorders, dieting, and PCOS.

Hello @peachgreen and welcome back. I don’t know much about saxenda, except that it can cause a lot of lavatory action. The results are impressive, how have you found it?

I'm just over 18 stone, heaviest I've ever been. I'm clueless about dieting, no idea where to start!

How did you start?

Hello fiveleftfeet - I was a bit heavier than that when I started and I began with intermittent fasting 16:8 (fast for 16 hours out of every 24, eat within an 8 hour time slot - its easy because the 16 hours includes sleep! An example would be fast from 7pm until 11am and eat lunch/ brunch at 11am and your evening meal at 6pm, but you can do whichever hours suit you).

There's no one right way to do this - what is important is to think about why you're overweight.

Do you snack in the evening after the kids are in bed/ after your last meal? If so intermittent fasting can really help because its a hard line - you just don't eat after X time, its uncomplicated but you're not denying yourself anything - you can eat whatever, but you just have to wait til tomorrow (and the odds are that you might not want it/ as much of it during busier daylight hours, but if you do, you can have it).

It could be that its what you eat that's the issue not the quantity and it might be more useful to try to cut out fizzy drinks first, or it could be "grazing" on snacks due to stress or boredom or procrastination or it being the tiny thing you have just for you when small children are with you 24/7 - if its grazing through the day then it might help to make a conscious decision not to eat at your desk or only to eat at the dining table if you have one, or not to eat by yourself if you eat meals as a family.

If you don't know where to start a lot of people find it helpful to spend a few days or a week not changing anything but keeping a really honest food diary of what they eat and when, and if possible why (meal? genuinely hungry? Just fancied it? Bored? Comfort? Cold? Stressed? Avoiding something else? Social eating with friends/ partner?). You can look at that after a few days and think about one change to make first - for example no eating directly from cupboards alone in the kitchen, I'll offer everyone else food every time I want a snack and that will help me think twice about it! Or instead of heading for the fridge when I'm bored or when working from home is stressful or the kids are bickering I'll find a different distraction - go for a walk/ bath/ put some music on/ do a 3 minute relaxation exercise/ watch cat videos on YouTube

Good luck!

@zebracat To be honest it's been pretty sensational for me. Besides a 2 month break from taking it over the summer I've lost consistently. And even when I wasn't on it, I didn't gain any weight, despite many ice creams and fish and chips! While I'm on it I do intermittent fasting, sort of - I don't eat anything before 1pm or after 9pm - and it works well for me.

The side effects haven't been bad for me at all - a bit of fatigue when I first started taking it and on one day I accidentally double-dosed and that was horrendous, I was vomiting and felt awful. But titrating the dose correctly I haven't had any issues.

Honestly it's been a bit of a life changer and I'm really angry that it's not more readily prescribed. The NHS berates overweight people but they have this magic drug that works, and makes positive long term changes, for most people and they don't prescribe it. Very infuriating. I'm paying the best part of £250 a month for mine and I won't be able to afford to do it forever. But hoping it will help resent my insulin resistance and then I'll be able to carry it on alone!

@peachgreen I really hope it continues to work well for you. £250 is a lot, but worth it if it helps. I wish I could afford it! A magic pill sounds great.

At the minute I've no appetite though so I'm only eating one meal a day

Am I able to direct people to Team RH on Facebook?
It's a great source of information on calories in v's calories out/ metabolism/ what not to do etc- even without joining! ( you might want to join after seeing people's results!) I have no affiliation to them but their advice has helped me so far and think it's incredible- if harsh- advice! Sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Welcome back @peachgreen and well done on your loss so far. I read 'Why we eat (too much) over the summer and found it extremely helpful in understanding not just insulin resistance but also leptin resistance (which causes that sort of craving for food without being actually hungry) and grehlin. You might find it helpful if you are ever thinking of moving away from saxenda.
Welcome too @fiveleftfeet - I think @UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme has given you some very sensible advice. I would also advise you to download a nutrition app like MyFitnessPal (there are a few of them around). Input your stats - height, weight, activity level. Then eat as you normally would for a period of time but log everything. This will give you an understanding of where you can make changes. You can then give some thought about what sustainable changes you can make. It might be fasting, or just cutting out certain foods and upping exercise, it could be low carbing. But spending the time to analyse why you are overweight / putting on weight in the first place will pay dividends in the long term. I started at a similar weight to you and I've lost over 35kg in 12 months. I have another 12kg to go to get my BMI under 25. I also fast, I exercise (swimming and cycling) but have 'relaxed' days at the weekend. hope you find something that works for you.

@Zebracat -well done on getting back under 97 in difficult circumstances and I'm glad to hear that the physio was helpful. Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll be able to get back swimming soon.
@HerRoyalRisesAgain - I'm sorry to hear about your shoulder, that sounds really painful. I hope you are feeling better now.

Thank you @alphaechokiwi, that book looks very interesting - I've just ordered it. I certainly find that when I'm in control of what I'm eating, it gets easier every day to stay in control and I'm sure that is to do with the leptin resistance.

Can I join you please?
I’m 5ft 10in tall and currently weigh 19st 5lb, so have a bmi of 39. I’ve recently started reading ‘Why we eat too much’ and am trying to follow the advice given in the book. I have a very complicated relationship with food, have yo yo dieted for years, and am currently in recovery from binge eating disorder. I have various health issues related to my weight and feel that I really need to get a grip on my eating. I want to be able to breathe at night again without a CPAP machine, so that means putting down the Pringles and getting my arse into gear!

Hi @manicmom - welcome to the thread. I hope you will find it useful and supportive. I'm trying to implement the recommendations from Why We Eat (too much). It's a gradual process, especially around oils and omega 3 fats, which I find tricky. I lurk on another thread on this board dedicated to it, which has lots of helpful advice. Good luck with it all!

Thanks @alphaechokiwi

Thank you for the new thread!
Hi to everyone 'old' and new 😊

It's always lovely to know how everyone is getting on and so inspiring to hear people's journeys.

I can't remember the last time I updated but I've officially reached 40lbs lost! Still just over a stone to go for my fertility referral (+ 2 more for actual IVF), hoping to be at referral weight by christmas. I'm worried though.
We already have a weekend away, three birthday celebrations (usually meals out or buffets), two Christmas celebrations plus Christmas itself between now and the end of December. I feel like it's actually impossible to take part in life and continue losing weight at this time of year 🙁. Am I being delusional thinking I can lose weight continuously across this period of time? Has anyone ever done that?

I've got a bit of a plan: only one dessert a month, never have three courses, remember that I'd rather waste money/food than waste calories (for when I feel obliged to clear my plate!), lots of exercise, no alcohol and only one carb on a plate at any one time (no burger buns and chips for me!) 😂 maybe I AM delusional.