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

I’ll look at that Thankyou . I’m going to wait today to see what time my body is actually hungry!!

I actually like the look of that 16/8 . Never really considered it before . An 11-7 window could work for me .

That's spot on my window!

And it just becomes the norm.

Of course there are exceptions like hols or staying somewhere else but on the whole I've stuck to it and it's really worked for me

Thankyou!! I do think that could be a way forward for me .

I love intermittent fasting. I don't even have a particular window, I just encourage myself to take longer stretches between eating, and stop eating early evening as late night snacking was a major issue for me.

I think a lot depends on how you are brought up. The way I was brought up was to eat at set mealtimes, whether hungry or not. Then I married someone who ate when he was hungry and it was like a revelation.

That's interesting rebuilding

I also think it was such pressure to always have breakfast... most important meal of the day, you're doing damage if you don't have breakfast blah blah.
I am not a breakfast fan and have never missed it if I don't have it. In fact, if I have breakfast I seem to get hungrier quicker.

Now they say that intermittent fasting is good for you, it's how our ancestors ate after all !
One meal a day.

Honestly I think a little light has gone on with the thinking about hunger and the 8 hour window .

So today I got hungry at 1120 but I had begun panicking from about 9am … like “ what if I get hungry!!” It’s so silly …. The 11 - 7 window will work for me both on days off and at work .
Feeling really positive

Welcome @GreatBigBeautifulTommorow Glad you have joined us. And yeah, calorie counting can be a trigger for lots of things. Hello Fresh, and no evening snacking sounds like a really good start.

It's really hard not to have disordered eating, I think. All the food we have easily available is designed to be addictive, essentially. I used to work in a shop that had a massive billboard opposite, whenever food was advertised it'd make me so hungry as it was all I could see for sometimes a 12 hour day!

At the beginning of my weight loss journey I read 2 books that you might want to look into. The first was overcoming binge eating - not a weight loss book, but I did find some of the strategies quite helpful. The second was Feel Great, Lose Weight by Rangan Chatterjee. This has mixed reviews, but I really liked it. Though the photos in it are a bit ridiculous!

I think I might be similar to @Rebuildingconfidence. I am doing intermittent fasting, but not every day, and I vary it sometimes. I'll often just have lunch and dinner, sometimes I will have breakfast, lunch and a small snack (if I'm working late that is quite good), occasionally I'll just have 1 meal in a day (think that's only happened once). But it's working well for me.

My weightloss is extremely slow. But I'm actually delighted that I'm keeping it off. And whenever I worry that it's going to slowly, I'm just trying to remind myself that what I'm going for is sustainable change. And I feel like that is happening for me.

Good to hear Adm. Same for me today... I had lunch at 11.45, and my DH has a hobby 3 days of the week whereby we just have to eat earlier in the eve than we would normally.
That's actually helped me.

@Roussette same for me with breakfast. Without it I don't get hungry until much later, if I have it, I'm starving by mid morning.

Some days I wake up hungry, and those days I do have breakfast.

@ScottishBeth my weight loss is super slow too, but I look at this as a total reset of my approach to food, rather than a diet, and hopefully the slow loss will be more sustainable!

I found The Obesity Code a very interesting read. It's largely about the benefits of intermittent fasting for health and weight loss.

This is prob a silly question

Doing 16 8 are you managing to get 5 a day ( at least ) in ?

@ScottishBeth thanks I’ll have a look at the books.

My fall back eating style is starve all day and “save” everything for teatime onwards.

Stuck to plan yesterday but tummy rumbling loudly when I got into bed! Hoping it eases as I get into the swing of it.

Adm
I do
Because I love all salad stuff and just about every vegetable so I cut back on the things I normally fill my plate with, and piled up with that.

Rice is OK for me. Potatoes is OK. (but I cut portions drastically)
Pasta and bread piles it on for me, so yes I had some but cut down a huge amount.
Now I've lost weight, I always do a homemade pizza on a Friday and it's a lot of base!
2 or 3 small new potatoes, OK. Or small amount of mashed potato.
But lots of veg to make up for the lack of those two!

So although I wasn’t really particularly focusing last week I’m down 3lb .
Focusing this week on 16 8 . It’s helping me to listen to my hunger cues .
Still need to look at exercise

Great start!

So huuuuuungry
I’m head hungry as well as physically hungry today

@GreatBigBeautifulTommorow how are you doing? I know you said you stuck to plan but is your plan realistic and sustainable? Just hope you're ok.

@Adm1010 well done! That's a really good start! I think making small changes a few at a time is very sensible, and it sounds like that's what you're doing.

This morning I weighed 83.7kg, which is a loss of 0.6kg in the past week. I am very pleased with that. I went out for lunch today and ate quite a lot. But I've also done a 1 hour exercise class (more strength and flexibility than cardio, but still hard work), and I walked to the restaurant rather than driving - 40 minutes each way. I know that won't cancel all the calories that I ate, but I feel good about it all, and that is the most important thing.

I think I’ve put on like 3kg from this holiday oops.

Also I’m starting a dog walking business. So will be able to get extra walking in and I’ll get paid for it woo.

@ScottishBeth I’m ok thankyou!
Had a chat with my dietician friend she said I need more protein as keeps you fuller and not eating enough.
May I ask how much you’ve lost in total? Amazing on the exercise, it’s all about balance, hope you enjoyed lunch.

@GreatBigBeautifulTommorow that makes sense. I hope that'll help you not feel starving all the time. I did enjoy my lunch, as well. It filled me up so much so I'm not having a meal this evening. We've got some fruit prepared so I'm just about to have some of that. I have lost 6.7kg total. It's been very slow and was very start/stop for a while. I was very ill for a lot of last year with long covid. So I had to be very careful. And also it was a very stressful time, which made me overeat sometimes. So I don't really know when I started. I am pleased with how I'm doing now though. I feel like even though my weight loss is slow, it is steady and if it stays off that's the most important thing.

@Wombatsandstuff hopefully it comes off soon! I'm a bit worried about going on holiday in 2 weeks, but it's sort of inevitable. But I'm sure even thin people indulge when they're on holiday. But they just know how to balance it so that it comes off again afterwards.

Thanks !

The 8 hour window is working well. I feel like losses might be slow but I’m ok with that . It’s a big picture! And I want the changes to become my life

ScottishBeth if it's any consolation, we've just had a two week holiday literally centred around food and drink, and I was shocked I only put on a couple of pounds. So it is possible to indulge and cope! I will say I can't seem to shift it, but since we've been home we've had two weekends with socialising and eating, so it's hardly a surprise!
When on holiday I did carry on with the walking and that helped I think.
Hope it works out for you too

Really pleased with a loss of 6lbs 4oz

Plan for the week ahead is more protein and slightly more calories as advised, see if I can reduce the hunger!
Really wish Saxenda was available through GP as seems really effective for hunger and balancing all the gut hormones. Alas I can’t stretch to paying privately long term.