Petite support for losing a few pounds/getting to our 'happy' size

[ACuppaAlwaysHelps]

Hi all. Following on from the thread that @SprayPaint started yesterday, a few of us (@Waiting9 @Horriblehistoree @FaceofSpades) seemed keen to have a thread to support each other in reaching our weight loss/body shape/fitness/health goals.

All petites are welcome on this thread, but it seemed like it would be particularly helpful to have a corner of Mumsnet for those of us who are petite/small framed and officially a 'healthy weight' but know we feel/look better a few pounds lighter (which would still be within a healthy weight/not underweight).

Maybe we can share goals, progress, struggles, things that are working, etc.? It would also be lovely to hear from any petites who are at a 'happy weight' and what you are doing to be successful.

Someone (maybe @FaceofSpades?) posted some helpful thoughts on the thread yesterday.

Please share how you all think this thread could be helpful.

Feel free to share as much or little as you like. Height, current weight, goal weight or other body measurements, nutrition, calories, exercise, NSV, etc.

When you're small, a little bloat goes a long way too. Just shifting that after a few days of good habits makes a good difference.
Although with upping my fibre again after being off piste for a few weeks, my digestive system hasn't yet caught up with waste management...

The results will come.

At least with my focus on nutritious food, even if progress is glacially slow, it's not a wasted effort because it's all good for my body anyway.

"Waste management" - I love that I have a big issue with that and have been consciously trying to up my fibre intake over the last number of weeks. I have a kiwi chopped up in some greek yoghurt with raspberries and big spoon of milled flaxseeds every day (keep the skin on the kiwi) it has helped but you really need to keep on top of the water intake which I'm still not great at.

@VeraWangTea my advice would be don't weigh yourself just yet for now go on how you feel. Concentrate on cutting out the snacks and upping your water intake. Try to get steps in too when you can. I've not changed the meals I eat really, although I have cut the portion size down a bit, the main change I've made is cutting the snacks. I have a very sweet tooth and was having buns/pastries/biscuits/chocolate every single day. Plus wine at weekends which then leads to more snacks... I got serious on 5th April (I know the exact date because DH & I had a fabulous blow-out meal the night before!!) and I've not had any snacks since then. I'm not the sort of person who can have just 2 squares of chocolate etc. I have one square and lose all control! So I've just had to cut it all out. I had some trifle on Easter Sunday and a couple of glasses of bubbly but otherwise I've stuck to it, I've actually surprised myself. I walk for an hour every evening.

I was 9st 2lbs when I weighed myself on 4th April and this morning I was 8st 7lbs which I'm delighted with. I just need to keep at it now. It really is about adjusting your mindset and being consistent, which I know is harder than it sounds! But you can definitely do it - good luck!

@LifeInAHamsterWheeloh wow that’s a nice loss! Was that just through cutting foods or have you added workouts too?

I have an awful relationship with food, have fallen off the bandwagon and stuffed my face endlessly…gained 4lbs, not surprised with how much I’ve eaten over the last two weeks.

I've not added workouts but have added an hourly walk every evening. Where I live is very hilly so I suppose it might count as a workout?! Aside from that I've cut out snacks altogether and honestly this I think has been the biggest factor for me. It's quite shameful how much crap I was eating, even though my main meals are quite healthy/balanced. I ate lots of biscuits, pastries, buns, chocolate bars etc. (not bothered about crisps or sweets) I'd say easily an extra 500 cals per day 😳I'm also doing intermittent fasting (really just by cutting out the snacks) once I've had my dinner at 6pm I don't eat again until at least 10:30am the following day. And I'm drinking more water although that's still taking a big effort.

Hope it’s ok to join late in the thread. I’ve read loads of your posts and you’re inspiring me with your tales of getting to 9st something!

Back in the day I was super fit and 9st 5 (and ironically thought I needed to lose half a stone. Ha!)

But perimenopause got me, and now I reckon I need to lose at least a stone. I’ll weigh myself in the morning to find out how bad it is. My main issue is snacking while working from home, but this can’t go on as I feel horrible.

My goals are: Log food in MFP. Exercise x6 days a week (already doing x5). Cut snacks to twice a day, mainly healthy snacks. Weekly weigh-in.

@BlueberryFlapjack sounds like great goals, i don't exercise as much as you, but i too do daily logging of food to keep me honest. I have been following the sustainable weight loss thread as well as this one. I am now at my lowest weight (54kg or 8 and a half stone) since before I had children. I had a wobble over easter, but have managed to get back on it and lost the gain from the school holidays. These threads have been so helpful. I hope you manage to achieve you goals.

Thanks @Hoolahoophop - sounds like you've done brilliantly. I weighed in and I'm 10st 8, which is horrendous. The last time the scales went that high, I was pregnant. But it's good to know, and it's motivated me to stop snacking so much and get back on MFP. I'm not in a big rush to lose it all quickly, but I'd like to lose enough to feel better about myself by the summer hols. I'm going to aim to get to about 10st 3 by August and then maybe about 9st 12 by December. That feels realistic.

I've upgraded to the MFP subscription (and tidied up a couple of under used subscriptions to justify it) to get better data on macros.

I'm generally finding it OK to reduce carbs, but I'm struggling a bit to put up protein and reduce fat. I've always swerved "low fat" versions of products as they tend to result in more processing and being bulked up with other ingredients. I might have to look into that a bit more for things like natural/ greek yoghurt.

Having a phase of finding it hard to balance fat loss and energy levels at the moment. My running load is increasing which tends to mean heavy muscles and water retention.
I did a long run early yesterday to beat the heat so had an early breakfast, and actually felt good on that compared to my usual mid-day runs.

The fruits of a focused week have paid off. 63.25kg
My daily check-ins have been all over the place this week- I suspect that was due to water retention from the sudden warm weather. I've had 64s which were unlikely to be atributed to food, just a large (for me) amount of variation.

This is why I favour frequent weighing. I shrug off whatever the outcome is, but it's hard enough seeing slow trends developing anyway, and a weekly check-in is so easily distorted by variations of water retention, digestive system and menstrual cycle that mask more than my rate of genuine loss.

My muscle mass is holding steady so that's positive. Slower results, but very healthy long term as it will keep my metabolism up.

I need to get back on it. I’ve not lost what i gained over the easter break. Alarm set for a 5k tomorrow, and making a conscious effort with meals and no snacking. 🙈. Im more focused when i’m in a routine at work etc, but after years of not having the best social life, i’m not saying no to meals/drinks with friends, so i need to focus and be good the majority of time, usually if we socialise i can compensate the next day or 2, but since easter i’ve got into bad habits again. I “only” want to lose 10lbs ish to get to my feel good weigh but my god it’s hard. Saw my reflection in a shop window last night 😫 wasn’t happy… must try harder 😫

It's that same slow effect as the last stubborn stone that people with larger amounts to lose encounter as they near target, but without the satisfaction and reassurance from having acheived the majority of the loss before reaching that point.

I’ve slipped a bit. April was a busy month. My birthday followed by DS2’s 18th then Easter and a week away. Managed lots of walks on holiday and a couple of gym sessions and gain was 3lbs which isn’t bad overall. I’ve not quite got back into the good habits I had before holiday.
I’ve been a bit lax on the calorie tracking and eating more snacks than I really needed. Busy weekend so back on good habits next week. Back to weighing and tracking my food, cutting out the alcohol and snacks as this made a massive difference

@Christine1998 and @RM2013 I'm hearing what you are saying about routine, getting back on it and tracking. The lack of routine over Easter screwed me up, and a bit of a hey it's the holidays relax attitude is hard to ditch. Also we have a lot going on at home so have been grabby easy food rather than planning and not logging. I need to focus back on routine and good habits

It's awkward when things are a bit fragmented and it's hard to keep that momentum going. I feel like I'm just picking up after Easter, and just getting back into the zone I was in then.

I'm trying to see it as a year long project.
I miss the days of consistant gentle losses when I was losing baby weight in my 30s when I got better results on less effort, so thinking longer term is mentally a bit easier than thinking about a rate of loss.

@BogRollBOGOF I think you’re right about daily weighing. I might have to switch from weekly - otherwise it’s hard to know how you’re really doing.

I was slightly derailed by eating out on Sat, but back on the MFP wagon today. The more exercise I do, the more I want to eat healthily, so my goal for this next week is to stick to my exercise routine.

Sorry for the late reply (and you may have already found something) - I use Nutracheck. It’s UK based, really easy to use and you can track macros as well as calories. I like the way you can see averages over a week or month for things like protein.

I also weigh daily. I use Happy Scale to show trends, etc.

I still haven’t lost the few pounds I put on over Easter (and I didn’t even eat that much!).

I’m currently struggling to know how many calories to aim for each day. I really want to lose these few pounds but also want to fuel myself sensibly to keep going with Caroline Girvan weights workouts (along with generally being quite active).

Thanks for that tip @ACuppaAlwaysHelps - I’ve downloaded Happy Scale. I don’t want to be too weight obsessed, but I do need something to keep me on track.

I also use nutracheck and find it helpful. It's very quick when adding foods you eat often, plus it's the only calorie counter I've found that works with batch cooking.

Weight today was 59.4kg, last week was 59.7kg. It's slow, but the general trend is down, while still keeping my strength up (I lift weights three times a week) so I'm ok with that. I'm keeping measurements as well in case the scale stalls, though realistically I'm beyond the stage where I'm going to quickly add muscle (and I don't have the body type that gains muscle easily)

I've still managed to generally keep away from snacks (if I snack it's fruit rather than chocolate or biscuits) so I'm pleased with that and what it must be doing for my overall health. Like a poster above I could easily add 300-500 calories every day just from chocolate.

I haven't weighed myself in a while because I've been so bad since I ran my last race a month ago. I've been trying to stick to a small deficit over the last couple of weeks although it's hard when I need the calories for running.

I just look absolutely huge at the moment and I'm very fed up!

You have my sympathies as I have fallen off a bit of a cliff myself, but it mightn't be as bad as you think.

I hope not. Really trying to stick to the deficit apart from on long run day now. I'm in the process of training for a 20 mile race so my long runs are going to be long. Anticipating somewhere between 14-15 miles on Thursday, cut my fueling back to 30g of carbs per hour instead of 60g, will up to 60g on race day only for that extra boost.

It's not been the best day either, no time for lunch so ended up having a flapjack as I walked up to go get the kids. No idea how many calories were in it since it was homemade, hopefully not more than my lunch! 24,000 steps done already today, I'm knackered and still have to find the energy for an hours run.

Also, I have absolutely no idea what I even look like! My race photos came back and I look about 15 stone, the main mirror in my house makes me look alright, window reflections make me look even heavier than race photos so I'm like 🤯

Consistently trending lower, and loitering around the 63.5kg zone. The April disruption hump has now passed. I started this campaign at 66.2kg although there was holiday bloat involved which naturally went quickly.

I will be very happy when I get to see 62s...

I'm beginning to feel a smoother line around my hips/ thighs. Tummy not obviously co-operating yet...

@ACuppaAlwaysHelpsdo you think it’s just possibly water weight? When I go up a few pounds I can ‘feel’ it, especially in clothes, and as you’ve been on track and doing so well, I’m wondering whether it isn’t actually weight gain (fat) but potentially water retention, from your posts i understand you do lift.

I added 4 pounds, went back down, and now up one or two again 🤷🏽‍♀️ but I do weigh daily; and I’m definitely seeing treads such as, gained if I’ve overloaded on carbs the previous day.
I’ve stopped tracking, it was making me feel miserable. So I tend to eat when I think I’m hungry, but I do have pcos and the sugar/carb cravings are crazy!

I tried on an outfit from approx 16 years ago (pre dc), and I was sort of happy 😂 but I really need to work on my stomach!