I need to lose 3 stones but it seems an impossible task. Please help me.

[ApolloandDaphne]

i am age 61, 5'6" and about 14 st 7lb. I have a dodgy hip and so exercising is difficult.

I don't know where to start really. I think losing weight would help my hip issue. It's just me and DH at home.

DH is tall, lean and a runner. He eats a lot and loves all the carbs. Would think nothing of eating a huge bar of chocolate, pack of biscuits, family bag of chips etc. I think i need to ditch carbs.

I am retired and do all the shopping and cooking. DH works long hours and is often home late. I hate eating late. I also can't deal with loads of treat food around the house.

I don't want anyone to know i am trying to lose weight, especially not my DM. She is a tiny 6st and likes to crow that she doesn't deny herself but just look at how thin she is, you get the idea.

We like to socialise and go out a fair bit or have visitors to our house and i don't know how to factor this in.

My perfect scenario would be to go away to a retreat for 6 months and have someone cook for me and help me heal. I am tired and sore a lot of the time.

Sorry this is a bit of an essay. Where do i even start? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.

I need to lose the same or a bit more, OP. I’ve got into some terrible habits and I’m looking to make individual changes, rather than be overwhelmed by the whole.
I’ve started with ditching Diet Coke, drinking more water and moving more.

I was about your weight and height when I decided I'd had enough. I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app (other calorie counting apps are available!) and bought a food scale. At first I just logged everything and was horrified at the calories in some of the "healthy" things I'd been consuming. Just the act of tracking instantly steered me towards lower calorie choices. After a while I aimed for a max of 1500 calories a day.

Fruit juice. Cake. Thick sliced white bread. Alcohol. None of this stuff filled me up for the amount of calories it was "costing" me. What did - large plates of veg (stir frys, large portions of roasted veg, cauliflower rice) and lean protein like chicken breast, eggs and tuna.

I lost 18kg in 6 months (I had a holiday booked which worked as an incentive - a slower loss might have worked better in hindsight so I didn't feel deprived). I upped my walking, trying to hit 10k steps per day, but other than that, no exercise. A year later I lost a further 10kg and I've kept it off for 8 years now.

I was younger when I started so it may be a slower process for you, but it's not complex. Once you've become used to the flavours of the food you're eating (i.e. the lack of sugar) and you start seeing the numbers on the scale, it becomes really rewarding and there is a direct correlation between calories in/calories out/weight.

Good luck.

Thanks @TheLonelyGoatTurd I think I am way beyond that. I need radical changes.

@Smerk That's very helpful. I have lost weight in the past and found it fairly easy but it seems impossible now.

I really struggle with feeling overwhelmingly hungry. It sounds so pathetic but it's horrible. I need filling food and I can see protein is much much better than carbs. I also think I need something easy that doesn't involve counting and logging calories. Are there any diets that are that simple?

If you want protein, filling, and no counting, then it's Keto, surely? Or very low carb & only the healthiest carbs.

The Fast 800 also seems to be highly recommended - fasting for a number of hours per day and then keeping under 800 cals - but if you don't want to count, I'd say intermittent fasting & keto is probably the best combo. IMO, obvs.

Try Glucose Goddess

Have a look at the blood sugar diet. No weighing, just managing your sugar spikes so your less likely to crave all those foods which make it a struggle to loose weight. I go a slow and steady loss of 2.5st over a year (13 to 10.5st) and it’s now a way of life rather than a diet.

Slimming world.
Lots of protein, veg and a limited amount of sugar etc
Extremely sustainable
No weighing or measuring of free food

I'm your height, and weight (but a little younger).
Snacking is my downfall. So, I'm eating my normal meals - with pudding after dinner maybe 4 nights a week.
BUT, the mid afternoon chocolate, the "kids in bed" biscuits etc etc etc are very much reduced.
I'm also doing a 15 min gentle excerise video before everyone gets up. Technically 5 mornings a week, but probably averaging 4.
Currently 3 kg (half a stone?) down.
It's slow going - but sustainable.
I've also split it into "mini targets". So current aim is under 90kg. Will decide where I'm going after that. Final aim is to be seventy-something kilos - which is probably overweight for my height, but a fairly comfortable place for me.

I need to lose a similar amount of weight but am worried about yoyo dieting. I'm trying to introduce a good habit every week or two. Weight loss is slower but I'm hoping more sustainable. So far I've lost 8 pounds in just over two months.

Don't think about it as losing 3 stone which seems impossible, just think about losing a bit of weight and then a bit more. Cut down on eating, particularly the empty calories of sugar, cakes, biscuits but don't beat yourself up about it. The weight will come off gradually.

Have a look at intermittent fasting, or daily time restricted eating.
I'm finding it much easier than I expected, and weight loss is slow but steady. It's really flexible, so can fit around socialising/eating with your husband etc.
I've found the podcast 'intermittent fasting stories' really helpful - and the book Fast, Feast, Repeat.

I have the Fast800 books and like a lot of the recipes. I find 800 calories very hard though and in the past I have tended to give up quickly as I'm so hungry. Might it be possible to tweak this? Stick with those principles but eat a bit more so I can sustain it?

If you don't want people to know and want a convenient way of doing keto. Then some of the food delivery companies have options. Greenchef do keto I believe. Just bulk up oh portion with carbs and your own with salad or something. If you get 4 portions you can have left overs the following day.

Also skip breakfast :)

I am 2 stone down, have kept it off for 18months. Pretty happy at this weight, although still 2kg heavier than pre -kids
My whole life I would panic if I missed a meal, especially breakfast. I don't know what I thought would happen, but it felt bad. And then I just stopped. Intermittent fasting has worked wonders and completely reset my relationship with food and hunger. I now have a black coffee at 7am and 11am and 3pm, and a proper dinner, with pudding if I want it. If we are going out for lunch, I eat a smaller meal than I would have previously, but I don't feel restricted.
On holiday I eat as I wish, and then back on it when I get home, no problems.
Have a look and see what works for you. 8 spent my whole life calorie counting, reducing carbs etc, and this is the first thing that feels sustainable

Absolutely not doing that ever. I have eaten breakfast my entire life. I cannot function without it. I like Greek yoghurt and berries. I will keep that and ditch the granola. I'm also like eggs.

Have you considered the weight loss injection Ozempic? I lost 3stone with this - completely lost my appetite

I know a lot of people are doing this but I am not going to. It's a step too far for me to do without any medical advice.

My version of fasting is pretty much this. No calorie counting, but just aiming to stick to two (filling but healthy) meals a day, in a time restricted window.

Today I had a cheese sandwich and homemade tomato soup at 2pm, and a chicken tray bake effort for tea at 7ish. Nothing except water/black tea/black coffee when fasting. I'm trying not to have snacks either, but often cave and have something at 5ish.

I'm finding it easy. I thought I'd be starving in the mornings but have quickly got used to it. I love that there's no calorie counting or banned food groups. It's the only 'diet' I've ever tried that I can see myself sticking to long term. I've lost 9lb in 6 weeks since starting.

A good starting point is to find a calorie calculator where you out in your weight/ height etc and it will tell you how many calories you can consume a day whilst losing weight.

I’ve been calorie counting for about three months and lost around 8lbs.

It took years to go on so it’s going to take at least a year to come off.

I still eat what I love but I have modified it.

For example I loved a good fry up

before: Two has browns, two eggs, four skinny sausages, 2 bacon, two toast, black pudding, mushrooms

Now:
One slice of sourdough (120 cals)
2 skinny sausages (137 cals)
2 bacon medallions (66 cals)
Black pudding (100 cals)
tin of tomatoes (45 cals)
mushrooms (20 cals)

It fills me up and I’m not in a food coma afterwards

I love Ribeye Steak and I still have that once a week with roasted asparagus, mushrooms and Aldi dauphinois pots (137 cals) and four onion rings (97 cals) it’s honestly lovely!

Eating well is not as hard as you think.

I have still ate out, I still have takeaways usually a kebab, I still have a drink on a weekend

I also try to get my 10k steps in a day. Usually end up with about 50, 000 steps a week.

Im doing it for my long term health. Eggs, tuna and chicken are your friend and they can be eaten so many ways.

You can do this. Join some Facebook pages too for ideas and inspiration

Dont lose faith if the scales fluctuate mine do by up to 5lbs sometimes but this is a process and you should trust it

No extreme measures gradual changes. Good thing is you're in charge of dinner.

Each week add something on...

Week one
Eat more veg. That's right.. more of something. Look at your typical meals and think, how could this have more veg except potato. Look at a list of veg on the Internet and go for variety. For example if you're cooking pasta up the veg vs pasta ratio
Drink more water and some green tea

Week two
Work out an exercise you CAN do. Is it gentle walking? Can you buy a 5k weight you lift with your arms only?

And reduce desert.. ok look at how many times you have cake, biscuits, buns. How can you half it? Can you sometimes have fruit instead or dark chocolate? Make a plan,commit to it.

Week three
Some switches..

Instead of cheese... a small portion of salmon or chicken
Switch some of the bread for veggies or salad
No processes potato, microwave meals or take away unless special occasions

Week four
Decent breakfast please, no sugary cereal etc
Bring soup into your life, preferably home made but eat soup

Try porridge with a bit of fruit
Eggs with beans
Or full fat yoghurt with fruit

Above all don't view this as a diet or a bad thing. See it as a series of improvements that will change your life.

OP, I lost 3 St, same age, same height etc as you. Had a household of hollow legged males.
Also didn’t want to make it public knowledge, and didn’t tell anyone.

I decided to focus on healthy eating, and made on adjustment at a time.

First to go was random snacking and toast ad lib. I planned one afternoon snack of a healthy and low cal nature. Eg 30g of Brie and 2 oat cakes. An apple and a square of dark choc. A small packet of salt popcorn. Small mug of cocoa (s skim milk, cocoa not hot Choc, half a spoon of sugar) with one of those Nairns oat ginger biscuits). I made sure I had these things in ready.

Breakfast: I did a spoon of low sugar granola, a spoon of plain Greek yogurt and frozen berries. Or porridge with semi skim milk and berries.

Next I tackled lunch. Some protein, e.g an egg, or baked beans, or tinned sardines or mackerel, or tuna or chicken, cottage cheese etc. One slice of toast and loads of salad. Shredded white cabbage with non calorific dressing. Grated carrots, etc

Dinner; normal family dinner, but I upped my veg portion and cut the carbs, much smaller portions of rice or pasta.

Alcohol: no more than 2 or 3 evenings a week and in modest quantities.

Excercise: just walking at that time. I made a point of long enjoyable walks in parks or to areas I hadn’t explored.

Attitude: I looked on all this as investing in my health, nurturing my body, doing good for myself. Made sure I enjoyed the food I did eat. If I went haywire occasionally (it happened a fair few times) so be it, didn’t beat myself up, just continued with healthy eating the next day.

Losing 1lb a week like this didn’t feel like a hardship.

It was great when my weight started to come down and I used that feeling of success to motivate me for the next week.

Once I lost a bit, I started to do more forms of exercise. Classes at the gym, weights, swimming. Nothing extreme. Enjoyed the improvements in muscle tone.

All this suited me and my lifestyle. I think each person has to find the method that best suits them.

Good luck!

You're 61 and so need to make sure you maximise fat loss and not muscle loss because losing muscle is the last thing you want to do when you're over 50. If you aim to eat your goal weight lbs in grammes of protein per day, add in resistance training and at least 10000 steps a day you'll be on the right track. Try and eat whole foods, no processed foods and you will feel satiated. Protein in whole food is difficult to over eat, its just not that nice! Add in some complex carbs and good fats and you have a healthy and sustainable way of eating.

I’m in a similar boat, OP. I’m 55, 5’7” and have two and a half stone to lose to get to my target weight.

I’m day 2 of doing the Lean for Life plan - I’ve done this before and it is relatively easy to follow - normal meals on the low ish carb side (but limited carbs such as wholemeal bread are ok). It’s 3 meals a day and 2 snacks so good at controlling hunger pangs and if you buy one of her books (there are three by Louise Parker) or download the app, her recipes are delicious.

In preparation for starting, I sat down yesterday and worked out how I would deal with breakfasts and lunches on days I work from the office, how to manage catered team lunches and a strategy for eating out.

Today for example I had:

breakfast: poached egg on wholemeal toast
lunch: prawn and avocado salad
dinner: paneer curry
snack: apple and some pistachio nuts

There are a few of us on this thread if you want to check us out.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/4822038-louise-parker-method-final-try-calling-the-old-gang?page=7&reply=129977371

I was 13st 11lbs in January and decided to start walking 10000 steps a day. I then joined slimming world and progressed to couch 2 5k. I've got dodgy knees so it's hard sometimes. I then picked up a back injury for a bit but it's better now. I'm now 11st 7lbs and have 1st 7lbs left to lose. It's not been a quick weight loss but I'm getting there