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've done it. 23.5 stones down to 14 now. It's taken two years. For me - no carbs (and loads of protein and protein shakes).
The "exception" for the morbidly obese (as you put it) isn't medical - it's mindset. You have to really want it, really mean it and have reached rocked bottom where this time you're sticking with it!
I've still got 3 stones to go and I'm really struggling now!
Good luck OP. We've got your back x

On paper I am (now 13 stone 12) but down from 16stone 3- has taken 11 months though and I've eaten like a saint but haven't given up alcohol twice a week

@Tamsyn143 incredibly well done you. I've struggled with just over 2 stone in a year! I'm 61 now and until about 10 years ago I would easily have lost 3 to 4 stone on my regime in a year -

Wow well done Tamsyn! And crikey.

It does seem it needs to go beyond "eating like a normal person" to "eating like a saint" to get there doesn't it

@crikeyalmighty - keep with it!! For me, a photo with my daughter at a school event tipped me over the edge. Every time I see that photo, I'm back to having 100% motivation. I looked like a whale.

I'm 43.

Protein is key. Eating loads of protein means your hunger is kept at bay. It also supports the retention of muscle mass (which can suffer with extreme weight loss), good elastic skin and nice hair. My excess skin is tolerable. I'll likely look to have an operation on my arms in the future, but I'm not there yet.

I bought most of my protein shakes in Poundland. I have one before each meal. This has meant I've eaten less food and it's also ensured I get the requisite protein to keep me full. Also, the advice is not to drink for 20 minutes / half an hour before or after a meal (as it washes the food through your stomach meaning you get hungry again. This advice has made the biggest difference to me. X

I am a Dr I saw someone today who has lost a 3rd of their body weight over a year. Their BMI has fallen from 46 to 30. They tell me this is slimming world. But maybe thwy are getting Ozempic off the interent.

Yay! My bmi is 51 at the moment and I'd love to go in much lighter sometime.

Obviously they not thwy. But they certainly haven't had surgery !

I know of three good examples. I don’t know the people well enough to be aware of their methods though. They lost substantial weight 10+ years ago so I assume no ozempic etc. They do exercise - I know that for sure.

A friend of mine ate 500 calories a day to get from BMI 40 to BMI 29 during the first lockdown but then gained weight again. Not all of it though. She’s nipped it in the bud and is now losing slowly via healthy eating and walking. I suspect that she’ll keep it off this time.

I’ve just remembered a fourth good example. A big woman joined my gym about ten years ago and she became a medium-sized woman ……and has stayed that way. I saw her there this morning in fact.

It does occur to me you know, that people for whom exercise becomes a way of life seem to do better at keeping the pounds at bay after weight loss. But I’m no scientist my “sample” is very small!!

I'm not yet in a place to pursue anything fitness related really. It's a vicious circle isn't it.

I'm doing a 10minute a day plan for the last 2 weeks but that's currently my limit. I can't walk very far (can't walk around a supermarket as nowhere to sit).. I walk to the car... its infuriating as pre getting ill with ME I used to belong to a rambling club.

I hope once a few stone are off I can get more active though.

It does seem that people who have lost weight have to work hard (fitness etc) to keep it off in a way someone who was never fat doesn't have to!

I'm really hoping on a personal level that coming off mirtazapine will help.

@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!?

No , my sister is a doctor working in this area.

I'm not sure about the NHS 's role. It's such a difficult area

Thanks. I think I'm going to give it a go but do all the tier 2 stuff they suggest so in 2 years I will be eligible for tier 3 (which probably then ahs a waiting list).

So potentially surgery or drugs in 3 years but if I can make a huge difference to what I eat and my relatio ship with food in those 3 years I'll be in the best place for it maybe. I dont have the money to go straight in for the kill and maybe I can't be the 1% that does it but any changes I make will surely help...

Good luck. Small changes can make the world of difference. Don’t do big changes it’s not sustainable I found.

I think you are doing so well right now with your research and your understanding of changing what you eat and if you continue along that path you will help yourself so much.

It’s a long path. It won’t be easy. It won’t be quick.

Try not to get swayed onto so called quick fixes.

Reading the Chris Van Tulleken book is a great step.

Looking into the Zoe stuff and listening to podcasts etc is another great step.

Then read the Why We Eat (Too Much) book.

Look back at your other thread and especially at the posts by @rataverse.

Keep posting and asking questions. Keep looking for support.

Try getting in ten more steps every day.

Drink more water.

Track everything you are doing.

And try not to believe it’s impossible. It’s not. It won’t be easy but it’s not impossible.

And try not to think you have to lose ten stone.

Losing one will be great. That will make moving a bit easier.

Then focus on the next steps. Little by little you can make a huge difference to your health.

And the rest will come. Slowly but surely.

Thankyou so much. I really appreciate your support 🥰.

Hope you are going okay?

I’m ok thanks! Need to get my own head in the game!

I've come back to this thread a year later a bit despairing. I did lose about 2 stone and put one back on.

And that's it.

Life's a bit of a mess but it just seems impossible now. I want to save up for I jections but I do know that's not a long term fix either.

Mounjaro is a game changer for me. It is a long term solution for many. Hopefully, the NHS will role it out asap and a tablet form will be developed soon too.

I would budget within an inch of my capacity to keep affording MJ. Don’t stay loyal to one pharmacy. Shop around and you can get it for £120 to £150 a month even the higher doses.

It is an investment in yourself.

That's really encouraging to hear 😊.

I've seen my gp and nurse preactioner recently and both were quite dismissive of both injections and my weight loss attempts. I don't think they get it tbh.

I do feel a bit at sea without "support" but if I do do MJ will struggle to afford it never mind anything extra!

Yes. I was 23 stones and now down to just 14! No weight loss drugs nor surgery. Just lots of exercise (daily walking 7-10k) and cutting down on “bad” food such as choosing to eat less carbs and fat and sugars and more lean meats, salads, fruit and veg. It helps that I’ve never drunk alcohol nor sugary drinks. Taken me 20 years of very gradual weight loss of just a pound or two every month or two, but I started to feel great after the first couple of years.

I tried every diet going, couldn't lose more than a couple of stone, then it would go back on again, I reached 18 stone last year, and had many weight related illnesses, diebetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, mobility etc, so in desperation chose to have a mini gastric bypass, here in the UK. It was life changing I've lost 6.5 stone, and all my weight related issues have gone, and I feel the best I've felt in years, it's given me my life back.

Well done 😊.

@Flidina i always thought i didn't want surgery but I'm now scared ill lose life in my weight along now.

How does it impact you long term? Do you need to take vitamins? Are there things you can't eat? You must feel like anew person.

Im so glad to see this post as I've been thinking the same things myself. I'm about six stone above a weight where I feel healthy, and ten stone above a normal BMI. I think I've been on a diet for about 20 years, I'm well educated about food, I enjoy vegetables and cooking, love being outdoors and active..in other words when I heard about it being impossible to lose weight, it definitely made some sense to me.

I think having thought about it a lot, I eventually came to the conclusion that, even if I never lose weight, I still want to heal my relationship with food. Id say very few people at my weight have a healthy relationship with food. So I'm going to make that an aim in itself and forget about weight loss per se. I feel like the reason its so impossible to lose weight and keep it off is because we maintain the same shitty relationship with food even as we lose weight.

So I'm going to stick with the non UPF, CVT, Zoe models of whole food eating, and pay attention to my emotions, stability, coping skills for a long time and see where I land when I have all that under control. If I'm still as fat as now when I no longer diet and binge repeatedly, I'll have a rethink.

Maybe that helps :-)