Just saying hi!

[LaughingCat]

First time venturing into this corner of Mumsnet so wanted to raise my hand and say hi!

I’ve put on 11 stone since August 2024 - first lost my ADHD meds to the medicine shortages then fell pregnant in January 2025. Hormones went mental, quit smoking, couldn’t have any stimulants like my pre-workout supps and got severe pelvic girdle pain. Then new baby, full house reno and my hubby had a stroke. Perfect storm to pile the weight on!

Hormones are calming now and I’ve dropped nearly a stone in the last few weeks - but that’s the easiest one. I want to do this slowly and sustainably. I know I’m going to need a support system to stay on track over the long haul, and I’d love to support you lovely people too! Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Hi.
I am not known here and only post on 1 thread, but I thought I would say welcome anyway.

You have had a tough few years by the sounds of things.

What is your plan for your weight loss? Are you joining a real life group? Are you planning on using medication?

Good luck with your journey. Many here are really supportive and understand the day to day struggles of it all.

Hiya, thanks for posting. What an incredibly stressful time for you

I'm the reverse really ~ I retired several years ago and have never been happier. But my weight has crept up and I have recently joined a local Slimming World group to tackle this. I lost a few pounds in the first fortnight but the last week has been a real battle. I love meeting up with friends for coffee and the cake is always so tempting!!!!

What did you do to lose the first stone? You've done so well to lose that amount in such a short space of time

Now that we're having nicer weather, I'm hoping to get out & about for more walks. Will that work for you as well?

Wow. While you say that's the easiest, I'm not sure it is. Sometimes taking that decision to make a change is the hardest step.

I like to think of it as the "infinite 1%". (I heard it somewhere and I liked it.) Basically that you have more in common with a marathon runner if you run for 5 minutes rather than someone who stays on the couch.

Making the decision, committing to it and following through with change is huge. Absolutely amazingly huge.

Excuse my language but can I just share a "WELL FUCKING DONE" on the loss of that first stone? I bet you've not taken your hand and given yourself a bloody big pat on the back but you really should!

Thank you for your welcome, @PositiveAttitude!

Really good questions! My plan is reasonably straightforward - food-wise, I’ve slowly tapered the binge-eating of UPF’s and junk food. I’m a qualified nutrition coach so I’m gradually transitioning to a more wholefood-based diet again. I don’t want to end up counting calories or fasting unless I hit a really stubborn plateau, so I’m sticking to three meals a day, where I eat between roughly 9am and 7pm (no night-snacking!). Exercise-wise, I’ve been also gradually increasing my walking stamina over the last few weeks (after the emergency c-section, I was toast!). We’ve nearly got one side of the house with flooring downstairs now, so I’m going to restart some light cardio 3-4 times a week and some stretching/core work once a week, from next week. I’ll then start to add in weights and HIIT once I’ve strengthened a bit more and lost a bit more weight.

No medication or real-life group - keeping myself accountable using a reward system I designed a few years back that has both scale and non-scale goals. I’ll weigh in at home every evening, and again at a proper digital set of scales in Boots every Tuesday to track progress.

Actually writing it down, it feels quite overwhelming but I guess it’s just taking it step by step! Thanks so much for your kind words, PE!

I know you know this with your training but I love the fact you've built in rewards for both scale and non scale changes. I do some behavioural science work in my job and there's great evidence for that kind of approach helping. The reason why I joined here was for the social aspect as well to keep me on track.

Not sure if you want a suggestion on the exercise but ignore if not. There is a website I'm not sure if you know called "Fitness Blender". They've been going for years and while some of their output is now fee paying only, they have hundreds of workouts which are free and they're still adding some. Some of them are low impact if that's where you want to start and you can filter by free only. .Fitness Blender

Good luck with it all.

I should have asked. I used to have a non scale reward based on steps and daily exercise but it didn't really work for me. What kinds of non scale things do you reward? I see that as a big element of what might help this change but it's an aspect I'm currently missing.

Ah, anyone whose username are two of my fave ladies has to be awesome! I know what you mean - I usually can only put on weight when I’m settled or happy, and lose weight when I’m stressed. First time for everything!

I think it’s a matter of scale - the first stone has come off easy because I put on around 11 stone in the last 18 months so my starting weight was 145.3kg (or approx 23 stone). I just tapered off the binge eating and walked with the pram a bit more over the last few weeks. If a certain percentage of that weight was bloat/water weight, it stands that a reasonable chunk would come off straight away as I reduced the amount of junk food and total overall calories. If you weighed less to start with, less would come off.

So incredibly proud of you for losing those first few pounds! Plateaus are inevitable, where you do everything right but the blinking numbers just won’t shift or they go in the wrong direction - they really do start going back down though and usually quite suddenly. I usually go by the rule of trusting my plan, waiting a fortnight and if it still isn’t happening, then tweaking what I’m doing. It’s so frustrating though!

And yes, more walks now! It’s been so nice - I swear by the end of Feb I thought we were living underwater it rained so much, and my weight and c-section meant I struggled to walk long distances. But now getting out there so much more!

The infinite 1% - I LOVE it! I’m wholesale thieving that one 😁 And thank you - I’m at the weight where you can lose a stone and no-one can really tell so it’s nice to hear a well done!

I’ve never heard of Fitness Blender but holy heck, that’s exactly what I’m looking for! I have a Beachbody membership but I’m honestly getting bored with doing the same classes over and over again. When you can lip-sync the trainers’ lame jokes, you know you’ve over-played it 😂

OK, on the non-scale goals - I’ll DM you, as it will be way too long/complex for a thread!

No problem. I'm now a stone down and while I'm only at a BMI of 26.6, it's only my other half that's noticed. NOBODY else has!

Having lost weight before though, I know there's just some point where "ping" and the whole world suddenly sees. What I liked last time though was occasionally seeing myself in the reflection of a window and thinking it was someone else. So I keep thinking about that and realising that will come again.

Thanks I'd love a DM on that. It would be really helpful and no problem on Fitness Blender. I've been using them for c. 7 years? They were originally a couple just doing the workouts themselves but recently they've got other fitness trainers in and I have to say I think I like the new ones more. Probably the same issue as you though. I just know the kinds of exercises and chat of the original two presenters. So anything that mixes it up and brings variety is great. I am a runner so I've also found their Pilates is good (as that kind of strength and flexibility is super important for runners to avoid injury) but I also love their more conventional strength training. There's all sorts on there though. I don't do as much HIIT as I used to but there's that kind of stuff if it floats your boat as well as the (in my view) less scary ones. I LOVE strength though as the calorie burn is often really high without all the bouncing around and I think it does more for how your body looks too.

Wait a hot second - congratulations on that stone!!! That’s a massive achievement, lady! Everyone will see it soon and you’ll get all the well-deserved praise - until them it’s your own cool secret before they all catch up 😁

I love strength work, too! My dumbbells are all in storage while the house reno is ongoing and it hurts 😭 I can’t wait to get those back in a few months.

And definitely on the effect it has on your body - I came across a fab little saying a few years back that really hit right: eat for the weight you want, train for the shape you want. It’s so true.

You should have the PM now - I can only apologise for the unedited stream of consciousness. If there’s anything you don’t get, just shout.

No it's great and you gave me a couple of ideas I'd not thought of even though I do work in behaviour change. I really appreciate it.

Ahhh…I missed that in your initial comment. I work on behaviour change comms campaigns so yes, borrowed a lot from different types of nudge for my goals to keep me engaged.