If you've lost weight...

[Caniaskyousomething]

...how did you do it?!
I've read various books on nutrition/diets and I think as a result, I've bamboozled my brain and I have no idea what might be the best way forward!

There's the obvious 'calorie deficit' but how to do it? Slimming World? Weightwatchers? All I read is that these kind of things are the devil incarnate however 20 years ago, I lost 2.5 stone with weightwatchers and kept it off until I fell pregnant with DC2. So how successful have you been on SW or WW?

Calorie counting and use my fitness pal or nutracheck? Is a calorie just 'a calorie'? I've read it is not necessarily true.

Insulin...according to Jason Fung, is the lead hormone that causes weight gain, so should I follow a plan that reduced spikes in blood sugar? Ie do something like zoe?

Noom/second nature...tried the latter, made not one jot of difference.

Slimpod...again, no difference (for me)

Hypnotherapy...made no difference for me.

As you can see I've tried lots of things but remain obese. Need to lose 4 stone to be in the top of the healthy range for my height. 54 and menopausal. Sedentary job, limited exercise time as look after elderly parents and work.

I'm at a loss as to how to begin losing weight. So, please give me a boost and tell me what worked for you! Please 🙏 thank you for reading

Once you are menopausal how you lose weight changes. I only aim to lose 2 lbs a month where previously in my thirties I aimed for 2lbs a week. Eat unprocessed food as much as possible - eat below TDEE using the zig zag method.
I have lost 30 lbs since Jan 23 - its not a diet but healthy eating and weighing and measuring everything I eat. I usually eat approx 1400 calories a day . Increase protein and fibre and keep sweets and alcohol to a minimum -ideally just cut them out .....

Hmmm. I did Dry Jan, thinking it would kick start weightloss but nope, scales never budged! 🤦‍♀️

Different strokes for different folks ...

The best diet is the one that works for you. So I'd have a look at all the ones you've tried, to work out what does and what doesn't help you, and go from there.

I'd also suggest that you stop thinking in terms of having to lose 4 stones, and break that down into more manageable targets, as it's overwhelming otherwise.

I'd also recommend Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson. It's a bit of an eye-opener, I think. It's not a diet book per se, but outlines a series of principles for better weight loss.

i calorie count and portion control aiming for 1400 calories a day.
Same family meals, more veg, but weighed out.
i use an app called cronometer, import and log in recipes and go from there.
i firmly believe dh and I eat healthily, just too much. Too much had in the past included cakes pastries cheese platters popcorn and chips in rather abundant quantities.
activity is also very important, we go out of our way to simply do more.

And to reassure you @Caniaskyousomething, don't worry too much about the exercise if you're so time pressured. Unless you do a lot of it, daily, it won't have much impact, if any, on your weight. That's not to say it isn't good for you and your overall health, but losing weight is much more about your diet than your exercise.

I had a health scare last summer.
NAFLD and cholesterol through the roof.

I didn't go on a diet per se but I cut out: bad fats, refined carbs, wheat and seriously cut down portion sizes, so no: cream butter, refined sugar, white pasta, rice or bread. Much more fruit, veg, chicken, fish and pulses. All the hunger spikes disappeared and so did all my aches and pains and eczema. And Alcohol, I now might have one glass a week.

I have lost 31lb and feel fabulous.

Good luck!

I was a bit flippant in my reply. I stopped all midweek drinking and reduced my weekend drinking. I also started to take healthy lunches into work with me rather then eat the deep fried crap in the office canteen. Cleared the house of snack food except for fruit. Drank loads of water. As for exercise I really ramped it up and was honest with myself as to how much work I was doing down the gym. Too many people go to the gym but just mooch about not really getting a sweat on. I bought a sports watch and chest strap heart rate monitor so I could accurately track my calories burned. I took up rowing and training with my fellow novice rowers was great for motivation.

OP, do you know what the issues are with your diet rn? I mean, do you know what you should change or is it something that's not clear or hard to identify?

My Fitness Pal. 1,500 calories per day.
Post menopausal.
Over 4&1/2 stone off. No exercise at all as I was incapacitated at the time.

Wegovy.
I've lost weight using various methods over the years but found that I just weren't working for me anymore. Decided to throw some money at the problem and it's an absolute game changer.

I could've written this post. Also lost two stone with intermittent fasting over about 12 months AND I'm keeping it off!

You may have lost weight but this regime just looks incredibly unhealthy.

I have lost 1.5 stone since December last year.

I read and followed the Fast 800 programme. Which is essentially calorie counting and follow intermittent fasting between 7pm & 12pm.

Prioritise protein in every meal. Plenty of veg & salads with every meal. Stay hydrated, drink loads of water. Nothing is off limits, but I count it in my calories. Naturally what I eat has leant to low carb.

I upped my steps as I was very sedentary, aiming for 10k steps per day.

There is so much contradictory advice out there you just need to find what works for you, what works for me my be seen as too restrictive. In the long run it has to be sustainable for you, good luck OP.

Calorie counting for me, using the nutracheck app. It also helped me work out portion sizes of things like pasta, rice etc. and reduce them. I also try and keep an eye on how much protein and fibre I have on it so that my diet isn't too carb heaving or having too many calories that have no nutritional value.

For me it's been about a sustainable approach to my diet and changing habits for the long term. It's led to slow and steady weight loss that I've been able to keep off.

I did Slimming World. I didn't have loads to lose tbh, half a stone. However, I really like their ethos.

You make sure you have enough fibre and dairy and you can have unlimited amounts of meat, pasta, rice, potatoes. I know some say this is crazy but I found filling up at mealtime made it easier to cut out the snacking. On MFP I was so obsessed with keeping calories tight I was hungry a lot and would end up bingeing.

Because of the way the 'syns' work they also champion coming from scratch and avoiding UPFs.

6 weeks ago I weighed 14 stone 4.
Today I weigh 13 stone 5.

I worked out that to lose weight I should aim for 1400 calories a day.

I’m too long in the tooth for all these fancy diets so I am keeping it very simple.
Less 🍔🍟🍨🧁and more 🥗🍓🍏🏃🏼‍♀️.

I literally cleared the house of ‘bad’ food and re jigged my weekly menus to replace high carb, high fat food with lower carb, higher protein items.

I WFH and found I was not moving much. After much searching I found a You Tube lady who does really good work outs, a lot of them themed like ‘30 minute ABBA walking workout’. I do one 30 minute workout a day, it is 3000 steps. I also regularly through the day get up and march on the spot or dance for 5 minutes, it has made a real difference.

I do not snack at all, I have eggs for breakfast or overnight weetabix with yoghurt/fruit.

Lunch is now wholemeal wraps with cold meat and salad or eggs (if I had weetabix for breakfast).

Dinner is smaller portions all round, I changed my dinner plates to my Mum’s old ones from 1978 (pyrex white ones). Half the plate must be veg or salad. A quarter is lean meat or fish, a quarter (sometimes less) is carb. I’ve cut down sugar in my drinks and drink 3 large glasses of water a day.

I’ve also joined a line dancing class, huge fun and the 90 minute class adds 8000 steps to my daily step count.

I haven’t weighed under 13.5 stone in 7 years. My target is 11.5 stone (if not less) by August.

Has it been hard? Yes, but not as hard as I imagined, seeing my BMI already drop by 2 is encouraging.

You mentioned Dry January OP - I’m surprised the scales didn’t budge as I quit drinking a month ago & have dropped just under a stone. I was a very heavy drinker though so perhaps that’s made a difference.
When I tried to lose weight in the past, I wrote down everything I ate as I wasn’t being honest about my food intake. Maybe keep a diary. And maybe give up alcohol permanently?

Unless you do a lot of it, daily, it won't have much impact, if any, on your weight. That's not to say it isn't good for you and your overall health, but losing weight is much more about your diet than your exercise.

I knew one of the the exercise naysayers would be around sooner or later. At least this time they stopped short of actually telling you not to exercise, as has been advised in previous threads!

Exercising once a day should burn around 300-600 calories (very approximately as we're not specifying the BMI and the type of exercise), and possibly more if someone is obese.

If the calorie intake is otherwise reasonable this is ample to create a calorie deficit and weight loss.

Exercise may well not be the ideal route here due to the OP's caring responsibilities but I am going to keep posting on every thread I see it claimed that exercise is not a driver of or a factor in weight loss.

A divorce worked for me. The weight dropped off

I lost two stones last summer by cutting right back on carbs and sugary treats. I basically stopped eating bread, pasta, rice anything with pastry, cereals etc and I banned myself from eating anything containing processed sugar. Puddings were mainly fruit (sometimes with cream) or natural yogurt (sometimes with fruit). I discovered spiralised courgette was a good substitute for spaghetti and cauliflower rice was a sub for rice. Breakfast was mainly eggs (there are so many things you can do with eggs), smoked kippers or melon or yogurt etc. I ate loads of meat, cheese, fish, salads and vegetables and I really never felt hungry. The weight fell off. I did slip up on this diet a bit - maybe once a week - (roast potatoes when having a roast with friends, birthday cake at a party, cream tea that my friend had bought me, etc!), but then I just went back on the diet. I never gave up alcohol, but other than that the only cold drink I had was water, still or sparkling. And lots of cups of tea!

I totally agree, exercise has 100% made a contribution to my weightloss.

I did the Fast 800 for 3 weeks. I just watched the programme ‘lose a stone in 3 weeks’ it’s still on channel 4 but it’s called something else with micheal Moseley. I gave up booze for 3 weeks but then just ate sensibly, 2 meals a day unless I’d exercised then I did have breakfast. It’s calorie counting, it works, until you stop.

A combination of low-carb and calorie-counting, and log everything on MFP to maintain.

It's just a way of life now!

Heartbreak and Ozempic
When younger, low carb diet as well

All in combination with healthy eating and exercise. except for heartbreak when lost appetite completely, but it's not my preferred diet 😆

If you'd bothered to read all of my post you would have seen that I'm not an exercise 'naysayer'.

As I said exercise is very good for you.

But exercise will not result in weight loss unless you do a lot of it every day.

Which, actually, is pretty much what you have said too!

Exercising once a day should burn around 300-600 calories (very approximately as we're not specifying the BMI and the type of exercise)

When I was regularly running 5K a day, it would burn 300-325 calories. But that's a lot of running to do every day, and from the OP, it doesn't sound like that's going to be feasible for her.

So you can back off saying that I am an exercise naysayer. I just have a more pragmatic/realistic understanding of the role of exercise in weight loss than you do.