Give me hope - tell me your success

[Persephoned]

I am the heaviest I have ever been. I was doing really well and weight gain slowly coming off until I was laid up at the start of last year following an accident and it piled on again and then some. I’m making real efforts now, eating sensibly, cut out booze, lots of exercise but it’s slooow. I’m a big believer in slow weight loss and no such thing as an easy fix so know I need to be patient….but I felt so sad looking at my fat middle aged body this morning. Please give me some hope I can improve things!

Since mid Jan I've lost 2 stone. I've never, ever been able to lose weight but turning 40 this month encouraged me.
Im doing the 16:8 diet. I know it's not for everyone but it works so well for me. I'm not a fan of breakfast so fasting till later in the day suits me.

I haven't done any excercise apart from walking and I don't walk every day. I did have one big loss one week where I walked tonnes so excercise can help but I'm happy with the pace of weight loss I'm getting just now.

The amount of benefits I've noticed are also encouraging me. From no excruciating heartburn, plantar fasciitus has more or less disappeared to being able to strap up shoes that have an ankle strap myself as I have less of a gut!!

Wow plump, that’s amazing! Well done. And I’m turning 40 this year too 😃 I will just keep plodding on, and see where I’m at in three months I guess. I’m swimming but also might try the 16:8.

I meant to say I've drastically reduced my carbs as they just make me hungry and finish my time in allowed to eat with a high protein yogurt which definitely keeps me going through my fasting time.

Cut out carbs/crap. Gone from a size 20 to a 14 since Sept last year.

I also do 16:8 with low carb and can highly recommend it. I've lost 6 stone since the end of March 2021 and gone from a size 20 to a size 8. I'm 41. You've got this!

Hi OP, weight loss isn’t easy especially sticking to “good” habits. I managed to go from a size 16 to a size 12 and that took me over 2 years.
I’d definitely say find exercises that you actually enjoy, I absolutely hate running and the idea of going to the gym so instead I found dance classes and swimming to be my style. I also tried to be more active around kids in the family and they always got me chasing them or something haha
Also with food, I know some people will strongly disagree with me now but going straight cold turkey and cutting out at once, can be harder than doing it slowly. You might find it easier to take out a few things at a time, that you want to cut down on.

You can definitely achieve anything you put your mind to but please don’t put yourself down now for not being where you want to be! You’re working hard and you should be proud!

I have lost 36lb since January and I'm 50lb down from my absolute heaviest. I use my fitness pal and log what I eat and don't eat back exercise calories.

Also using my fitness pal along with saxenda injections.

Lost 1.5 stone so far...4 to go

5.5 stone off on slimming world in a year, still working at maintenance.

It's not particularly sustainable- you have to stay on a tweaked version of the diet forever, to keep the weight off. Who wants to do that?

I'm reading the 'why we eat (too much)' book to help. Basically our western diet contains foods that trigger appetite and make weight loss hard. We need a total reset. I'm hoping over time I can get to a point where maintenance isn't a constant demand on my attention.

Thank you all, really helpful to read what others have done/ tried and some amazing successes here 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 @xMari that’s a similar loss to what I’m aiming for, so will keep at the swimming! I’m going twice a week at the moment but maybe should up it?
@astridpeth wow, def going to think about 16:8. I’ve been doing a sort of 14:10 so perhaps I just need to up my game a bit

I feel like I'm starting to have success. Just doing light sit-ups, stretching and getting more sleep seems to do wonders for little effort.

Oh yeah, I only went swimming twice a week and had a dance class once a week. If you want to do more, that’s fine, as long as you allow yourself to have rest days during the week.

Now I’ve kept the weight off for a while, I just go for little 15 min walks and swim once a week to maintain where I am now.

Happy to answer any questions @Persephoned or offer advice from what worked for me!