Wanting to lose close to 10kg in time for Christmas

[MangoLove]

Hi, Looking for anyone that would like to join for support

Height: 5'3
CW: 87.7kg
Christmas GW: 80kg

So, I know 80kg is still high in BMI - but this will be a huge achievement for me and my body shape. I'm pretty fed up of not feeling comfortable in my clothes when seeing so many family and friends over the festive period. A bit shallow - but I want to look better!

Plan

1. Intermittent Fasting - keeping my eating window between 1-7pm
2. 15k steps a day - a morning walk and then walking in front of the TV after the kids have gone to bed.
3. Water Water and more Water
4. Choosing low calorie treats and letting myself have 1 a day!

Really trying to keep this is simple as possible so that if i fall off for a day, it will be easy to get back on track. I'm also not falling victim to the stacked high piles of chocolate tubs in the supermarkets. I will not buy a tub till December!

Would anyone like to join? We have 11 full weeks till the start of December, and at 0.5kg a week - an opportunity to be at least 5.5kgs lighter.

I'll come back every Monday to share my new weight but will obviously be here in between to muse and hopefully share some nsv's

@okayhescereal well done, great achievement!

The BMI calculator is really a rough guide and it should give out a large interval of normal weight, right, not a fixed one. The NHS one gives between 54kg and 69kg as "healthy weight" for me, but I'd look terrible if I weighed less than 60kg. I'm not tall but I'm big boned. My ideal weight (in my head anyway) is around 62-64kg, but TBH I'd be glad to just get that BMI bar in the green. I look fine at 65-68kg and most of my clothes fit me when I'm in that range. At the moment more than 2/3 my wardrobe is useless 😞

Welcome @DaisyMabel @Penguin89 and @Sahmcharlie

@okayhescereal - you are literally my motivation. You are doing amazing!
I see all the lbs dropping in this group and its really helpful to try and stay on track and want to be part of the movement

My check in for the last week goes like this

01/09 - 89.1
30/09 - 85.9
01/10 - 86.4
08/10 - 88.1
14/10 - 86.4 (⬇2.7 since start)

15k steps M✅ T✅ W✅ T✅ F❌ S✅ S✅
2l water M✅ T❌ W✅ T❌ F❌ S ✅S✅
18:6 Fast M✅ T✅ W❌ T✅ F✅ S❌ S❌

This weeks plan is
🔶36 hrs fast food fast (had a cuppa & digestives at abut 9pm last night, so will only have liquids till 9am on Tuesday)
🔶Try and average 15k this week. I go away on Thursday and so it will be much harder to get my steps in towards the end of the week (Av. was 16,752 this week)
🔶Drink more water - I don't know why I find this so hard!

There's 10 weeks left - so a real opportunity to lose at least 5kg ('d love to average 1kg a week and lose 10kg, but even 5 would be amazing!)

@ankhet - you and me both.

The number of times I've had to pivot on an outfit that I had planned in my head because a zip wont go up or it feels like something will rip if i so much as breathe out 😂

I can laugh about it now because I'm generally heading in the right direction - but its a proper pain!

Ugh I know the feeling on the wardrobe. It's motivating though to think of getting back into it.

I hear what you say about the BMI a lot. The least I've been as an adult is about 64kg and imo I looked gaunt. But when I'm hovering around 70 then if I go for a medical checkup they'll point out that I'm at the top of my BMI limit, so feels pressured to be lower?!

I'm totally with you on getting that BMI bar in the green though, we can do it!!

Another lb off this week

Height - 5ft 2"
SW - 13st 12lbs
CW - 13st 4lbs
Loss this week - 1lb
Total loss - 8lb or 3.6kg

Sticking to my calories with food is not a problem. Staying away from white wine is! It really is empty calories. However, a slow and steady loss can't be sniffed at!
10 weeks to go!

@MangoLove ha right back atcha on the inspiration! This thread is thanks to you and it's been brilliant.

With water, things I find helpful is to fill a 2l jug in the morning and keep it in the fridge. Can put cucumber or lemon slices etc in there too. Emptying the jug is the goal. Having it ready and seeing it go down seems to really help me in actually reaching 2l. Also as soon as I've emptied a glass I refill it and keep it nearby. That seems to help.

Your step count is so brilliant. I don't have a pedometer but this morning I rode the kids to nursery, parked the bike and walked back. So have done about 35 minutes of walking and have that again later to collect them and the bike. Figure every little helps!

Oh wow @MangoLove the idea of a 36 hours fast is appealing. Hats off to you. I can do 16/8 fasting or 18/6 easily but I've never tried any longer than that.

@ankhet - its my first attempt so we'll see how it goes. I'm calling it a food fast, so not eating anything but will have teas and coffees with milk. Dont think I can go zero calorie on my first try. I'll probably also go to bed super early tonight just to try and get it over with as soon as possible

@ToddlerMumma - well done on your loss. slow and steady really does seem to be the winning formula.

@okayhescereal - walking really is my happy place! Earphones on, fitbit on wrist and I can go for ages. On the weekends its easier,, but during the week it means planning out the time during the work day.

@ankhet @MangoLove I did one yesterday and it got tough towards the end. 24-30 hours I seem to be okay with but I ended up going to bed just after the kids at about 8pm last night to avoid the kitchen!!

Might not be your cup of tea but I found dissolving an oxo cube (I like the veg ones) in a large cup of boiling water helped quell some of the hunger pangs at about 30 hours in.

That’s a massive achievement! It may cheer you to know that in terms of longevity, overweight people actually tend to fare better than normal weight people ( who still fare better than obese though). You are in the longest-lived category!!!

Probably better to be more towards the lower end, I’m not gonna lie! But thought you might enjoy that fact to celebrate and motivate you onward!

I lost 0.8 kg this week, so that’s 3.9kg in total. Bit disappointed, but I did eat out 4 times last week.

Hoping for a better week this time. I’d like to hit the 5kg loss in total next week, as this would be half the weight I want to lose shifted.

I'm down 10lbs since 23rd August, so really pleased with that. I've not been this weight since 2006 . . .. Unfortunately my blood pressure hasn't dropped as much as I need despite my no salt, no upf diet, so I'm going to try for another 6lbs. I shall need a face-lift at the end of this 😂

I have finally found you. 👋

I have been trying to stay around 1400 calories a day. Started on 98.8 kg 😫 probably 4 weeks ago.
93.8kg today.
My brain finally clicked that I am serious, so there are fewer cravings.

Jus like @okayhescereal , my ideal weight according to BMI is ridiculous for my height. I was 56kg and looked starving at 18.
With gigantic exercise efforts and constant headaches due to starving myself, I could reach 74kg 10 years ago.

I have no set target, we'll see. 70kg would be great. Niggles and headaches are not a problem any more, as I am perimenopausal (everything is uncomfortable and that is fine). I give myself good odds.

Morning all - how it all going? Hope everyone is trying to stick to the plan!

I am off on holiday tomorrow so may read/write sporadically on here. I weighed in at 86.2kg this morning - do down 0.2kg from Mon. I'll be using this as my holiday weight gain benchmark. I intend to fully utilise my half board and so will have breakfast and dinner - but will keep it as clean as possible. Lots of fruit and avoid the carbs. I have packed some gym clothes so hopefully can make use of the facilities too.

Steps have been an utter disappointment the last 2 days, but I have been pretty good with eating.

Has anyone been away since trying to lose weight? Any tips? I will eat and drink - but don't want to set myself too far back

Hello! Thanks for the check in @MangoLove hope you have a lovely holiday!

I'm down 3kg now, hooray 🙂 been a bit of a struggle today with strong sugar cravings, I've resisted though! The health visitor came for DDs 6wk check and she's actually gone up a centile (on the 91st now!) so my milk supply seems to be holding up OK, phew. I've been making sure to have plenty of protein and good fats, eg a boiled egg and a small portion of mixed nuts at lunch time as well as soup.

I'd love a big bar of chocolate right now though!

Well done to everyone else for losses this week 🙂

Also I'm impressed with the super long fasts! Something I'd like to try when I'm not breastfeeding, mainly out of curiosity!

I think I have to train myself out of eating all the time...I used to have a very active job and could eat a lot without gaining weight. Now I've got two kids and I spend a lot of time just pottering about, often at places with coffee and cake.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday @MangoLove !! Not sure where you're off to but I personally seem to eat less in the heat, so maybe you'll not have the appetite?! Maybe stick to what you've been doing with the IF and see how you go? But mainly just enjoy. Haven't been on a holiday in about 6 years, very jel!

I've not had the greatest day today, gave blood and have been feeling woozie ever since which didn't put me in the mood to be cooking nutritional meals. MFP seems to think I've still stuck to <1800kcal but it's been really crap food. Plus all the snacks they offer you are super processed, salty, sugary delights so I was off to a bad start from the get go. Meant to be fasting now till Friday morning but will see if the dizziness has disappeared in the morning before making a decision on that.

Serious kudos to all of you attempting any weight loss etc on mat leave/whilst breastfeeding. My youngest is 3 and I've only just started getting enough sleep to stop myself coping by inhaling sugar. Am really impressed by anyone who has the willpower and strength to do otherwise. Hats off!!

I really do hope I’m able to lose weight this time. Not sure if I said, but last time I did WW’s it didn’t come off me, but I put that down to being in the midst of menopause. It usually falls off when I stick to the program.

I’ve also been exercising like a dementor. I just got back now from a 1 hour 20 mins run, 11.6k. I’m training for a half marathon and a slightly shorter one next month and I’m doing 3 runs (total about 23k a week). I also do Pilates reformer and weights. I should be really fit, and really slim just doing all this, but I’m not.

I was 10kg overweight, and even when I get down to my goal weight it’s still not slim. I’m 5 ft 3, and in my mind my goal weight is 65kg. Anything less and I look awful. At 63 kg, someone once asked if I was anorexic. At 65 kg, I’m a size 12 top (I drop from 34FF to 32F boobs) and size 10 trousers. At 65KG and this size, where I have to shop in petit, I was told by my GP that my BMI was still high (26).

This is not a moan. I know my goal weight for me. I’m only slightly taller, and bigger than my mother was, and she weighed 7 and a half stone. I’m just a heavy person. I’m ok with it, but it affects my sport, and I want to be lighter.

I’m happy to eat less, and lay off the treats, but I’m not giving up my glass of wine for anyone.

Hi all
The posts on here are really motivating, you guys are doing great!

I hope it’s ok to post here. I’m considering low calorie myself but can’t decide between low calorie daily versus 5:2 with 2 very low cal days and 5 days at maintenance calories.

How do you decide your calorie limit? On the NHS website it says about 1400cals for women will result in weight loss as it is 500 cals less than the 2000 calories recommended daily. Is 1400 reasonable or should it be lower?
Right now I don’t exercise but I walk about 40 minutes a day. Will try to increase that to an hour.

I’m also worried about losing muscle rather than fat. What can I do to ensure I don’t lose muscle? Thanks for any guidance.

Hey @MaryQueenofPotts someone recommended I check my TDEE number (Google is your friend if you don't know) and then work down from there. For me mine was about 2200, so was recommended to aim for about 1700 a day.

With the diet, it's really very personal and hard to advise. Personally I started 5:2 in April and lost about 2kg v.e.r.y s.l.o.w.l.y. It didn't feel like it was working for me so I switched to intermittent fasting (eating for 6 hours a day starting with breakfast and then fasting the other 18), which worked a bit better but still wasn't losing a lot. Have since started counting calories and also throwing in a longer fast (24-40 hours) once a week and that seems to be the sweet spot for me, for now anyway. Though actually having reminded myself about burning fat rather than muscle it might be that this is a tad too much of a deficit and I should slow it down a bit to make sure I'm losing the weight I want to! A friend started 5:2 at the same time and has lost about 15kg since April, it's been great for her. It all seems very personal.

The key to losing fat rather than muscle seems to be regular exercise and not going in too hard with the calorie deficit. 500ish a day I think was recommended? Basically slow and steady rather than crash dieting. I presume monitoring protein intake and perhaps resistance training are also sensible suggestions, but that's based on assumptions rather than any expert knowledge!

Thanks for sharing your experience @okayhescereal about different ways to lose weight. I guess it’s something you have to try and see how well you get on with, as what’s suitable for one person might not be for another. I have done two low calorie days this week, well below my TDEE and have felt fine thankfully. No crazy sugar cravings. Focusing on protein, veg, complex carbs, healthy snacks, increase my water intake and all that has been manageable. But it’s only been two days 🤣 But I think I will continue the low calorie daily and see how I feel and how quickly the weight moves. After that, I can look at fasting 2 days a week.

Yes I think you are right about not having a crazy deficit so that muscle isnt loss. I have read something about strength training on a low cal diet to increase muscle. Need to
check that again because I’ve forgotten the explanation lol
Thanks and good luck with your continued weight loss!

Very surprised that my chocolate cravings are completely gone. I am desperate for proper food and would murder half a baguette.

15lbs lost in the last four weeks, very pleased but still can’t see a difference in clothes…huge difference in energy though. I’d really like to lose another 8lbs before January, that would take me out of obese bmi.

I'm getting a bit disheartened. I was feeling pretty good about my eating and exercise habits, felt like the weight was slowly coming off, but this week I feel like I've gone nowhere and see no difference at all. I always fluctuate and don't sweat the little increases as they always go back down, but I've been back up all week to where I was a month ago and it just feels like nothing is working. I don't feel any better. Argh!