Hoping there's room on the bench for another one!
I've lost 7 stone over 19 months, have used WLI but also big diet changes and joining a fab, friendly gym and discovering things that I can do as a very uncoordinated person.
Still want to shift another 3-4 stone which should be doable by the middle of 2027 if I do what I have been doing I think.
I'm mid 50s, 5ft 2 and have an auto immune condition (which sometimes needs steroids) and a very underactive thyroid.
Things that have helped me so far:
Talking myself out of having to restart on Mondays, the 1st of the month, after <insert event>. I do what I can day by day, meal by meal. If I have a cake because it looks lovely, I get straight back on the bandwagon and don't tell myself 'I'll start again on Monday' and give myself permission to hit the f*ck it button and stuff myself silly until then.
Prioritising sleep. It's so much easier to make good decisions when I'm not tired. I have developed a wind down routine and I try really hard to stick to it. Magnesium has also helped with sleep and I cut out booze to see if that helped...unfortunately it did so I had to stick to it!
Following lots of good fitness content on social media. I find it motivating to see healthy recipes and women doing exercise. I'm never going to avoid social media but i can at least fill my feeds with good stuff.
I travel a lot for work and I have a few body weight exercise routines that I can do in hotel rooms so I can keep up good habits. Also try to book hotels with pools if I can.
And exercising first thing in the morning seems to work for me. I start well and it seems to be easier to carry on through the day making healthy choices.
I've simplified our diet so I have one of two breakfasts and I prep salad veg twice a week and store it in silicone bags in the fridge and then make sure I have protein sources to hand. So yesterday I prepped my salad, boiled some eggs, made up some tuna mayo and got some cooked chicken out of the freezer. This sorts lunch and then dinner follows a protein + veg+ complex carb formula and i order 7 protein sources, 7 lots of complex carbs and veg for 7 meals. It's like eating by numbers and it has worked for me! I've been telling myself that food is fuel not a treat - someone up thread said food is not a reward because I am not a dog - made me laugh but it's so true. A reward for me is an hour with a book so that's what I try to do.
I have a few quick meals in the freezer for days when I really CBA. Salmon you can cook from frozen, steam bags of frozen veg and a pouch of rice. It helps me fight the urge for a takeaway. It's very UPF heavy but it's still healthier and cheaper than a Chinese!
I also read something yesterday about not thinking of exercise in terms of losing weight but think of it in terms of maintaining my body's effectiveness into older age and that's the next mindset shift I am trying to make.
I've still got loads to learn so I am looking forward to journeying with other women in my age bracket.
We can do this!