Is it possible for morbidly Obese to lose the weight?!

[OneMoreStepAlongTheRoadIGo]

I've started on my own zoe-eque plan to try and eat healthier and lose the ton fo weight I need to... BUT...

I keep hearing that it's near impossible for those morbidly Obese to do this without surgery or drugs. I dont have access to those although I wanted to try this way first.

Is this true? Is this lifestyle factors which I want to change or is it something metabolic? Like the fat is another organ thing?

Id love to hear from anyone who has done it and kept it off.

Or anyone who knows these things.

I think the biggest burdles to overcome is the all or nothing view of weight loss, coupled with the idea that losing weight is the hard bit.

I think neither are helpful ideas.

All or nothing...
Whilst we all want to be 'slim' to look good etc, even 10% weight loss can have significant health benefits. It can be tempting to think 'if I cannot get from 200lbs to 150lbs then it's not worth it', But even if you went from 250lbs to 225lbs you would have made big improvements. I genuinely don't think it's helpful to think you have 100lbs (or whatever) to lose because it sets you up for feeling like a failure if you never get there.

Losing weight is the hard bit....
It's not. It's the easier bit, imo. The hard bit is then maintaining it for ever. As a result, I don't think it particularly helpful to eat in a way you cannot sustain in order to lose weight to the level you cannot maintain.

It might be better to look at your current eating habits and identify changes you can live with. They will result in some wight loss and you know that loss is a loss you can keep up. Back to the point above: losing 100lbs and gaining 75lbs back is going to be worse for you than making smaller changes and 'only' losing 25llbs to start with.

Motivation is something that weakens over time (proven). If you rely on that to get you through, it will eventually fail you. What you need are habits, formed in a way they do not feel punitive and stuck to.

I never feel 'motivated' to brush my teeth. I just do it twice a day, every day, for life. The same needs to be true of eating habits.

I think, anway.

Can i just say 'loose skin' is not a given even for the middle aged losing large quantities.

They won't pay for it.

@IncompleteSenten what a great attitude, you're so right about a few minutes for what ? I'm using that.

I had no loose skin luckily.

I was in a similar boat OP and had a gastric sleeve 3 years ago. I lost about 9 stone and don't have any significant loose skin (I did use bio oil and a vibration plate for daily exercise which I think really helped).

I had been dieting for my whole adult life - had done well with SW, Atkins Dukan etc and then piled it all back on and more.

Have you read 'Why We Eat (Too Much) by Andrew Jenkinson? It's a v interesting read - lots of scientific details about why we gain even more every time we fall off the wagon and how to re-set your set point weight.

Is the medication mirtazepine? That's what was a major contributary factor in my weight gain.

@OneMoreStepAlongTheRoadIGo You'd be welcome to join our thread
Lose 2 Stones For Christmas.
I've gone from 18.5 stones to 16.5 and want to get to 14.5 for Christmas.

I'm only using willpower. I don't want medication or gastric bands etc.

I have a screwed up relationship with food. I'm in my 50s and I don't know if the weight will stay off. It's just one day at a time.

@Daiyu yes it's mirtazapine! It's made a bad problem worse weight wise. I'm a week into halving my dose but feel a bit funny so going to give it another week before halving again... are you still on it?

I have that book! I'm going to read it after I've finished "ultra processed people."

9stone is amazing. And I'd be happy with that even if I was technically obese I'd be a different person. Do you think it's possible without the surgery now knowing what you know?

@reddoughnut well done! I might well come across... and yes I can point at factos if my weight gain easily it's reestablishing a healthy relationship that's tricky!

@OneMoreStepAlongTheRoadIGo I lost mine with slimming world but also I know in my heart that what I was eating was wrong. So I keep thinking that my food choices were right or wrong. It is hard. I do have food issues but I am trying to overcome them using slimming world as a guide

I couldn't have done it without surgery - definitely the best thing I ever did.

I had to come off mirtazepine - the surgeon wouldn't operate until I came off it.

I had tried several times before to withdraw but hadn't managed, but I was determined once he said that! I tapered off slowly and moved to citalopram , which helped.

I will pm you more details about coming off.

Its absolutely possible but it's very very rare

@Tigertigertigertiger - do you work in this area?

Is trying to be one the very rare worth it do you think?! Or should nhs be helping more onto drugs/surgery!?

People fail because they usually crash diet, lose weight incredibly fast learning nothing along the way and get to a goal weight and eat as they once did.

Old habits are easy to slip back into and once you've been fat it's very easy to be fat again and it requires a bit of effort to keep it off long term but it's very doable.

It won't be easy and it will take ages with periods of maintenance and inevitable bumps in the road but it can be done if you're serious about making a change.

A fairly well known example of huge weight loss is an actor called Ethan Suplee he's well worth a Google if you're unfamiliar with who he is and his story.

Have you thought about looking at eating as a symptom rather than the problem? Like are you using food to comfort, smooth, distract etc, and if the answer is yes then you need to address the cause of you trying to have those needs met through food and work on alternative coping mechanisms for managing your emotions.

I think for me it's trauma (body keeps the score and all that) and likely adhd (executive functioning issues with planning/preparing) and exhaustion from chronic fatigue meaning cooking isn't easy.

Ive had some trauma therapy so I'm in a better place to look at diet now. I hope. Hence the thread checking it is actually possible...

Yes, it's possible, I did it. Went from 24 stones to just 14 stones, without surgery, without pills, etc. It took 20 years though! Very slow and steady, lots of day to day exercise such as walking at least 10k steps a day, using stairs instead of lifts/escalators at work and shopping centres, walking to local shops etc instead of taking the car, getting rid of the gardener and doing the gardening/lawn mowing myself, just generally keeping myself moving all day, every day. I binge eat, and still do, and I spent my 20s and 30s ignoring exercise and trying to stop bingeing instead, which just didn't work, so I turned it on it's head and concentrated on being active - the more time I'm out walking, gardening, cycling, etc., the less time I have to sit and binge!

Well done Badbunny! I'm a bit old so hope it wont take 20 years but if it does I guess I'l be healthy into my 70s...

Unfortunately I can't really exercise much right now. (Mix of ME and deconditioning) . I can't walk far at all so am far too sedentary. I am doing g a "10min a day" exercise programme which is a mix of beginner stretches and light weights... which is knackering me! But I'm 2 weeks in and thinking 10mins of something a day is better than nothing.

I have lost 6 stone before.
It is perfectly possible...:however keeping it off is a different matter for me so here I am again trying to get myself out of poor eating and back to healthier, knowing that it makes me feel so much better but struggling to do it just the same.

Hi @OneMoreStepAlongTheRoadIGo!

@Anothershitusername - it’s not surprising that that happened. Feeling like you had no control. It’s because you didn’t. Your body likes being overweight. You know for when the next famine comes along. We may not live like our hunter/gatherer ancestors but we haven’t developed too much from back then. And for those of us who are or have been obese we continually put ourselves into famine mode when we diet. Particularly a really strict regime like the Fast 800. So your body went into panic mode and wanted you to regain weight so hey presto you did. It’s not your fault so please stop feeling ashamed. Have a read of the Dr Andrew Jenkinson book - Why We Eat (Too Much). He’s a bariatric surgeon and over the years has learned a lot about obesity and why it is so difficult for obese patients to lose weight. Difficult. But not impossible. He explains it all so well. When I read it I lost an awful lot of guilt. And threw out every diet book I had. And I had them all!

OP there's a fascinating chapter in the bill "why we eat (too much)" that describes the changes that obesity causes to the brain. I'm no scientist and the book was pretty sciencey but it's changed my life. I've lost 7lbs in six weeks by largely cutting out wheat, sugar and vegetable oil (and I'm only 6lbs overweight now)

This is an interesting article about huge weight loss and re-gain, and what causes the re-gain. Scientists followed contestants from America's Biggest Losers, people who lost massive amounts of weight.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html

I think I’ve read that article @MrsDanversChickenSandwich. It was a depressing read. I watched The Biggest Loser quite a bit. I think they lost the weight so quickly it was bound to go back on. And there was no psychological help.

I think and hope that losing more slowly and stopping every now and then to give the brain and body a chance to take stock and get used to any weight loss might mitigate the whole putting it back on issue.

What's the bill? Honestly I'd love to read this. 🙂

@kamboozled - I think bill is a typo for book. Why We Eat (Too Much).

Of course you can. In fact weight may come off quicker initially. There's so many people out there who have. Download My Fitness Pal and look at the success stories!