Telling your weight loss story WITHOUT drugs

[Chaostheory12]

I need to lose four stones. I've lost weight many times in the past using calorie counting but four stones seems insurmountable . I can't stay on a diet for more than about three weeks.
I don't want to use MJ etc so tell me how you did it and how you kept you yourself motivated. .

if you are going to calorie count. - make yourself nice meals that you enjoy so it’s not depressing

I just be short boring and have no he same things on loop all the time

breakfast is porridge with half water half milk and protein powder

black coffee no milk

i always make really nice curries and stir fries and save calories to be able to have like a pizza or chips or something regularly too

cycle or walk literally everywhere - gym 3 days a week to strength train

Can I ask why you don’t wish the drugs if you have never succeeded before, like most people, to get it off and keep it off.

I lost 5 stone and have kept it off by calorie counting and continuing to count to maintain.
I think the biggest difference this time was I didn't look at it as a diet, it was a lifestyle/diet change. So i still have the piece of cake or fish and chips at the coast. I've found counting over a week helped me stay on track because I never gave in because had a bad day and could plan to reduce calories for holidays/a meal out etc.

I'm 64 and have battled with my weight all my life. I'm 5 foot 6/7 and at my heaviest have been over 16 stone. And in adulthood I have never got lower than low 11 stone. My mother nagged me constantly about my weight and was quite nasty about it. After covid in Sept 2021 I decided to go back to WW and give it another try. I was 15 1.5 and I am now 9 6, a weight I never thought I would see or indeed was possible. It's truly changed my life. So why did it happen when I could never do it or keep it off before? Well, both my parents died in the last 3 years, I'm a LO and they lived over 200 miles from me and I work fulltime. Their decent into dementia was horrific and stressful and no NHS services joined up. So it was something I could control. I was determined and the WW app was fantastic for me and still is. So good luck. You CAN do this.

To be fair, I would never have used drugs. No idea what the longtime side effects will be.

What do you mean? They have approx 40 years of data and the scientists understand the body and reactions, as do all the global, health authorities and the WHO. Hence why it’s approved. They don’t approve prescription meds and say god knows what the impact of these will be,😂

but I do understand some people won’t take any medication at all, or want at least a century of data and that’s fair enough, we all have different risk assessments.

There are plenty of users who have had significant side effects. And in most cases I don't think this is the answer. Obesity is complicated but I don't think the answer is to use something which doesn't help the root cause. What happens when you stop taking the jabs / drugs? That's my opinion anyway. I'm not drug averse but I won't take them for no reason.

My brother used MJ. He had to have his gallbladder removed - very strong likelihood of link. He put all his weight back on afterwards…

It’s not as clear cut as MJ = Gallbladder issues, given this is a side effect of rapid Weightloss no matter how it’s done. But like every drug, the side effects are weighed up against positive outcomes, and risks can be mitigated.

I also don't think that rapid weight loss is sustainable or good for you.

But you don’t need to stop, and stopping dieting has 80 percent of people regain it all, the op is one of them, plus the drugs bring other health benefits like cardio vascular reduced cancers etc,

sorry I’m not getting your point,

Neither do I, you need to diet in the meds. They are just a tool how rapidly you lose is a choice, most lose 1-2 lbs a week,

do you maybe not know much about rhem?

I did 2.5, 4 isn’t that much more really after that.

calorie counting and walking. Seeing the weight come off was the motivation. I aimed for 0.5lbs a week and lost 1lb a week on average. I enjoyed it in the end tbh.

still basically on the diet because you can’t go back to old habits so I still calorie count and walk.

Of course I know things about them. I’m not stupid enough to give my opinion on something I know nothing about.

You don’t agree with me which is different. And fine.

The OP has made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want to take drugs, so people banging on about them and taking the thread off on a tangent are being rude.

I fast 16 hours a day and only eat for 8. This is usually stopping eating by 7pm and eating nothing until 11am the following day. Diet coke and black tea and coffee allowed. I have lost nearly 2 stone in 5 months, so slow and steady. I eat what I like in my eating window.

Go vegan, (whole food plant based not chips and Skittles! 🤣) it’s easy enough once you decide to do it. It makes you more mindful of what you are putting in your body, it naturally massively reduces what you ‘can’ eat, so temptations are way less. I lost weight and have kept it off for 12 years now. PLUS my IBS and lifelong sinusitis disappeared. And I feel much better actually.

Watch ‘The Game Changers’ documentary about fitness on WFPB diet, then ‘Forks over Knives’ then DOMINION then, if you need to, Earthlings (heavy going)

Hands down one of the best decisions I have ever made.

First thing you need to change is the mindset. If you say "I can't stay on a diet for more than about three weeks." then you will fail. You need to say "I can stay on this diet as long as it takes". It's positive reinforcement and its incredibly effective.

The second thing, this is something I often told my clients, hunger/temptations to eat the things you know you shouldn't is something you just have to put up with. But the pain you feel from depriving yourself is temporary. The pleasure you get from achieving your goals has a solid chance of being permanent and the difference it makes in how you feel every day is a hundred times stronger than the pleasure you get from whatever that thing you want to eat is. You can do other things to put it out of your mind, you can go to bed early, have a coffee, go for a walk, do push-ups. I told one client to do 10 push-ups whenever she felt like cheating, and not only did she not cheat, she got way better at doing push-ups and was actually proud of herself.

I wrote similar for someone else on another post but basically its this

• Get in 10k steps a day ideally. Do as much of this as you can immediately upon waking. Re-schedule your waking time if you need to in order to achieve this. Get out of bed, drink a glass of water and aim to be out of the door within 10 mins of waking up. Wake up, get up immediately, walk immediately. Set your bedtime based on how many hours sleep you need back from whatever time you need to get up to achieve this.
• Get your protein in. The amount you need to eat per day in grams is your lean bodyweight in kilos multiplied by 2. If you are 14 stone and you'd be a healthy BMI at 10 stone, then 10 stone is 63.5kg, so 127g of protein daily. This will help keep hunger due to the body craving nutrition lower.
• Be in a small calorie deficit, 200-300kcal a day to start with, you can use a free online calculator to work out your maintenance calories. Weigh yourself regularly and write it down, do this in the same state every day, underwear only ideally. You should see 4-6lb a month weight loss. This is ideal and can be maintained for a long time. Faster is not necessarily better
• Lift weights. I really can't stress this enough, you need to lift weights. Ideally 3 or 4 sessions per week, maybe 45 minutes each is enough. Train hard with weights heavy enough that you fail at 8-10 reps. Lower the weight, go again. Gym people are the best people in the world, if you rock up at a dingy free weights gym on an industrial estate somewhere the people in there will love nothing more than to help you with form etc. Use Youtube to get the basics if you can't afford a PT, get chatting to people and they'll help. The goal here is to build muscle and get strong, this will turn your body into a fat burning machine because you are telling it "I need this muscle, do not digest it, burn the fat".
• Foods that work well are high volume, low calorie. Green leafy veg, roast squash, berries & low fat yoghurt (look for below 5g carbs per 100g), build your meal around the protein you like (meat, chicken, fish) and then bulk your plate up with these types of foods. Eggs are great too. Avoid snacks if you can, but if you can't, a lean protein snack is best - cooked chicken/beef slices or whatever.

Good luck, you can do it.

I’ve lost 5 and 1/2 stone (and atill
going), through calorie counting and an increase in exercise. Things that have helped:
•Not putting a time limit on it. If I’m away on holiday or it’s someone’s birthday, I go and enjoy it. I just make sure I’m straight back on my plan as soon as I can.
• Not depriving myself. I have chocolate every day. I make healthy meals, but still allow calories for treats. No way I’d stick to it otherwise.
• Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t fit in loads of exercise. I’m a full time carer, so I mainly do exercise videos and walk when I can. It’s not perfect, but better than nothing.
•Be accountable. Write everything down that you eat. I use MFP and weigh everything. It becomes second nature.

Oh no, the ultimate mn crime,😂

I asked a question it was another poster who derailed by going on about not enough data bizzarly and rapid weight loss. I’m just correcting inaccuracies.

I don't want to be thinking about dieting/what I'm eating all the time and have a fairly irregular and sociable lifestyle. I found 5:2 fasting worked for me - I was 12 st 7 lb and lost a bit over 3 stone over 2 years (mainly in the first year), and am still at the lower weight nearly 2 years after coming off it. I also came off it on holiday/when ill, and have sometimes gone back on it for a week or so as needed.
If you do try it, it's hard, especially to begin with - I felt awful in the first two weeks - but there's lots of advice/support online. I found reading what people posted in forums kept me going. And getting an air fryer to roast veg in!
Hope you find something that works for you.

That's what I have done in the past but somehow I am in a different place mentally now. Need to get back into that headspace.

I lost 4 stone through intermittent fasting . Started on 16:8 and now fast 19:5 so I open my window at 1pm and close it at about 6pm . I followed Gin Stephens . She's written several books and also has a podcast . It's the only thing that's worked for me. It took me just under a year.

This is not a thread for debating weight loss drugs. Don’t be so selfish, pushing your agenda, @Wildgoat.

OP I have lost a stone and a half this year, lower carbs, high protein, good fats, plenty of fibre (half the plate). I’ve stopped making sourdough 😄. I’ve kept an eye on the calories.