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. .

then respond to the poster posting inaccuracies, I simply asked the op a question, it was a valid one,

Two posts in to a thread asking about weight loss without drugs and they are being mentioned . Happens every time.
There are numerous weight loss injection threads for people to go on.
I have a family member who has lost 3 stone by cutting snacks/ takeaways right down ( they were having a lot of these though ) and going to the gym.

That's great!!

I lost 9 stone in 9 months and have kept off over 7 years. I was 20 stone and now between 10st 10 and 11 stone. I used meal replacements until I lost the weight and then just healthy eating, low carb, lots of veg. I kept the breakfast protein shake going as I don’t like eating early.
I didn’t do any exercise to lose it, I introduced that a few years ago as wanted to see how my shape could change. I’m the same weight but toned and much better figure. Not much loose skin.
Every day there is temptation, longing but I distract myself and tell myself how good I feel like this. And no food is worth it! It is a life long change.
One day a month I let myself have a binge day, I’m controlling the beast rather than letting it control me! I love that day 😂

I have lost 4 stone since June this year, through diet changes and upping exercise. Cut out all sugar and snacks, upped daily walking to 10000 steps a day and also Thai chi walking 3 times a day. I also do protein shake for breakfast, home made soup for lunch, evening meal three quarters of the plate is veg with quarter being white meat or fish. All white bread, pasta and rice changed to wholewheat,/wholegrain

I have got 'several' gallstones now after MJ - had none beforehand. I did lose 5 stone over 2 yrs, but slowly and I thought, carefully.

It still was very helpful though, but surgery to remove the gallbladder would not be easy due to previous surgery, so now I am on some meds to try and dissolve the gallstones.

However, as my GP said 'it could have happened anyway' - weight loss itself can be associated with gallstones, so may have happened in general with the weight loss.

Apparently, eating regularly and small amounts of fat at regular times can help avoid this. (the gallbladder needs fat to empty regularly and decrease the risk.) I went off fatty foods completely on MJ and was often intermittent fasting.

I'm really worried by these accounts of gallstones and gallbladder issues.

That's amazing! Well done!

i lost 20kg in around 18 months - still have around 14 to go and even then will still be just under 11 stone - I’m 64 - consistency over a long period is key - calorie counting plus changed up what I ate

Where possible I have breakfast later in the morning, and then lunch for me is about 3 or 4 ish, I find spreading out the meals helps with that massive gap between lunch and dinner and I won't snack at all, I go to the gym, only twice a week due to work, but I'm feeling the benefits already, I have wine at the weekend but even then I don't go mad.

The best bit is that the OP literally said she struggled to stay on a diet for more than 3 weeks. But with the jabs she wouldn’t struggle to stay on it.

I usually get bored of dieting after 6 weeks, this time I am 22 weeks in and 4stone down. I’ve been able to diet, change my attitude to food, break habits, all on the lowest dose. When I stop I’ll need to eat a little more, but jot more than maintenance calories, I know because I stopped when I went on holiday for 3 weeks, and within 3 days of being back home the bloated travel weight had gone and I clearly hadn’t actually gained weight despite not jabbing.

Also it’s not rude to discuss the jabs when the OP mentioned them in her first post. Especially when there is incorrect info being posted about them by other posters.

This is a risk with any quick weight loss. So dieting in general can do this to you. I had issues with mine a few years back when I was dieting without meds, nothing this time around.

I read on the leaflet it is about a 1 in ten risk. So considered 'common'. However, they can also form as a result of weight loss, which has of course benefits.

Can I ask whether stopping it for three weeks messed with your system at all?

I think you should have read if fully, that was only witnessed in patients in the cardio vascular disease study

It does not mess “qirh your system “ you just get hungry again and your body reverts back to when you didn’t take the drugs,

some real scare mongering on here, I thought people were now better educated on the meds, but maybe not,

the biggest risk for gallstones is actually obesity, or rapid weight loss, it’s because of too much cholesterol not breaking down. No one on the meds needs to lose weight rapidly,

I lost six and a half stone on them, no side effects at all, been maintaning on a low dose at a size eight, bmi 20 for about 20 months

lots of options exist now, inc pills and if you don’t like them you don’t need to take the next dose, it’s not a life time commitment or something where there is withdrawal symptoms

the op said she didn’t wish to use them, asking why not is a valid question to someone who has always struggled to lose weight, and more importantly keep it off.

if it’s cost that’s one thing, but if it’s misinformation then that’s something totally different and many posters can help her with accurate info, even through the nonsense being posted on here,

Can you do intermittent fasting? I know some people can't cope without breakfast but I found that eating between 6 and 7 in the evening and then not eating again until lunchtime which was something light , really helped me lose weight. But I don't like breakfast so that was easy for me.
Also not having any biscuits, snacks, chocolate or cake in the house. If I was hungry I'd snack on some thing healthy like fruit, celery , nuts, I cut out all pudding apart from Greek yoghurt and fruit.
Apart from that I ate normally but was very careful with portion sizes.
I kept motivated by weighing myself everyday and reminding myself that I was obese and had to do something about it.
I also tried to be more active. Slowly I built up my activity levels

This did absolutely zilch to me. Just saying to remind that the same method doesn't work for all. Ketogenic was something I found really easy as no hunger and I love green veg. Consider it as lifestyle for overall health.

At 60+ with 4 stone to lose, I lost 3 and have maintained at that for a year. Not sure if I’ll ever ditch the last stone.

What goes in goes on My Fitness Pal. I really learnt the calorie count of the “ small things” (butter, oil, cream) and weaned myself off the large glugs to weighed quantities. I upped protein. I eat lots of Greek yoghurt and eggs - made tasty! I cut out ready made junk food and - this is the biggest for me - found tasty, spicy, whole food meals that I enjoy and look forward to. The book Filling Meals is brilliant. No food is off limits, though I can’t have biscuits in the house.

I still have a daily battle with constant thoughts of food and could eat any time of day - I honestly think I have to live with this, unless I go on the drugs which would shut my head up a lot). Meantime I feel quite proud of my loss.

OP - focus also on your “why”

There was recently a study that even if the calorie amount is the same but it contains bread, it leads to putting on weight. So that's one easy item to cut out.

WLI are actually designed to lose weight slowly.

My story was the same without the drugs as it is with them.

Calorie counting, good clean meals, minimal processed foods, decent amount of protein.

Keto has worked wonders for a lot of my clients but the odd few felt absolutely terrible on it, one woman stopped having periods. I would recommend it for people but with the proviso that you give it 2 months and assess how you feel. Equally some clients felt better eating keto than they ever did before - mental sharpness improved, energy levels, bloating etc, not to mention the weight loss. I hear it argued that consuming the majority of your calories from fat primes your body to burn fat for fuel which ends up assisting the use of bodyfat for energy, the mechanism is beyond my pay grade but first-hand experience suggests at least for some people this works.

The last diet I was on before I got pregnant was a proper bulk diet, 3,500kcal a day which is likely 500-1,000kcal above maintenance for me depending on my activity levels and it was quite low in carbs, 50-100g a day. I was very strict with carb timing, any food that I ate which was what you'd consider to be a carby food such as potato would only be in the post workout meal, otherwise I mostly stuck with meat, cottage cheese, butter, cream, eggs & a reasonable amount of fibrous low carb veg so that the big meals I was eating weren't made even bigger by having them with a portion of carbs. I felt fantastic eating this way, having been a competitive runner who fuelled on nothing but carbs for years, I was amazed how I could push pace and distances with no carb intake after I'd gotten through the adaptation period, pre run I would drink 150ml double cream for around 700kcals.

OP, the make for starting this thread.

I have a similar amount to lose and I can’t take the jabs. I have had pancreatitis, have thyroid problems and only 1 kidney so they really aren’t an option for me.

I am at the point of needing to make those lifestyle changes so reading other people’s posts carefully for inspiration.

That should say: “Thank you for starting this thread.”