What helped you lose weight?

[Happyface82]

Looking for inspiration really! I was always very fit. Naturally thin and I exercised a lot. The last 5 years though I hace gradually put on weight. It started when I did IVF, then had baby, then 1 more baby... Ive lost the plot. I have 4 kids and working a lot. My 4th baby was very unsettled at nights I was exhausted. I started a diet in September, lost a bit of weight and got nice comments which helped but now Ive gone downhill. I dont know how to find the motivation.

What made you change? I really want to do this!

Swimming - all last summer I went in my (lovely) neighbour's pool every day, and lost a fair bit of weight

Upping my protein and fibre intake. And exercising more - weights and swimming.

The only thing that works for me is the 5:2 diet. Something about knowing I can eat what I want the next day helps me stay on track on the 2 days the calorie intake is so restricted. Long term calorie counting just makes me want to give up.

Probably worth saying that this is probably not the most sensible way forward though. I have never needed to lose that much weight. But when my weight has been creeping up and I need to lose half a stone as my trousers are feeling a bit tight, I do 5:2 for 6-8 weeks and it’s done. Then I go back to my old ways… It does reset your eating though, so I have only needed to do this 3 or 4 times over the last 20 years and the weight usually stays off for ages.

I always look at my plate or my meal plan, and ask what I can add, rather than what I can take away. So while I've made a few healthy swaps (double cream in a pasta sauce has been replaced by creme fraiche etc, my quiche I made for lunch was in a tortilla wrap rather than pastry) mostly I've added in a lot more fruit and veg, so my lunch now will be my sandwich or soup and a roll, plus chopped up pear, apple, strawberries, blueberries and cherries for example. For dinner if I do say chicken and mushroom pasta, I'll also add in some peppers or courgette, maybe some shredded greens or spinach and some aubergine. Tonight I did some shredded chicken encilladas. Recipe called for just chicken and black beans in the sauce, I added kidney beans, red peppers and sweetcorn too. My lunch now takes me about 2 1/2 hours to graze on, so I'm not getting that mid afternoon hunger pang because I'm only just finishing eating, and my dinner keeps me full until bedtime. My only food rule is no chocolate or sweet stuff if I haven't hit my 5 a day yet, and I aim for 8-10 a day. When I first started trying to eat more healthily I read that your gut is happiest when you have 40+ plant based foods a week, so I printed out a little chart and stuck it to my cupboard so for a few weeks I could track the variety I was getting and to try to encourage me to not always rely on the same half dozen fruit and veg.

Two different questions there, OP.

What made me change? Out of control blood glucose despite two medications and increasing issues with mobility as I hit 60 - along with all the problems and daily humiliations of morbid obesity which I’ve known most of my life.

What helped me lose weight? Several things📧

— recognising that, for me, part of the issue is an addictive response to sugar, crisps and similar foods - once I start, I can’t stop. So (for me) moderation is not realistic, it has to be abstinence

• learning about the effect of the type of food on hormonal response and therefore appetite. I therefore now eat low carb minimally processed food as much as possible and do not snack or graze between meals.
• Support from like-minded people
• A 12-step program to deal with all the dysfunctional emotional responses which I used food to deal with
• Prioritising health and function rather than appearance. So I exercise because it does me good and makes me feel good, rather than to burn calories.

I’m still at the very top of the overweight range by BMI. But that’s a hell of a lot better than being morbidly obese.

Lots of reasons. My mental health issues I've had for life and my sister getting breast cancer caused me to finally give up alcohol which I'd been contemplating for years. I think that gave me headspace to start thinking about myself differently. But I was sober for about 6 months before I started mixing up methods to try and lose weight till I found one that worked for me.

Would you please share any information a oh this 12 step program ?

Weekly attendance to a weight loss group whose membership were proactive. I sat with the members who had lost and maintained. Felt I soaked up the vibe. It was a great find. Have lost 20lbs myself. Now attending to ensure I get support to maintain rather than slipping, and give support.

https://www.oagb.org.uk/about-us/

Can sometimes be worth having hormones checked. A lot really does seem to be luck. Some overweight people eat very little, and some slim people seem to eat a lot.
One woman seemed to be eating non-stop but was tiny, turned out she had an overactive thyroid, so we shouldn't always assume size is based on diet/exercise.

I think this is true but also there is a different way of eating that many naturally slim people adopt and that's not eating when they're not hungry. Or "forgetting" to eat when they're busy. Also I tend to see slimmer people that don't snack. So you might see them tucking into a huge meal but not see the rest of the week's behaviours.