How on earth do I loose weight

Hi
The way I did it was to set tiny but achievable goals - for example I set myself a goal of losing just 1 lb per week and completing a short, 5 minute brisk walk, along with cutting down a tiny bit on the naughty foods. It took me a year to lose the weight but I’ve kept it off and it wasn’t too painful ?
So I guess what I’m saying is, take it slow and steady. And never give up! If you have a bad day just forget that and start again - you can do it.

This is my way - don't ban any foods, you'll only crave them, just eat smaller portions, get more exercise and don't snack in between meals. Works for me and it's easy to follow.

I agree with the last 2 posts.

If you want support join us on ‘I’m a pear the sequel’. We have been going for two and a half years as a thread. There’s lots of friendly advice.

Come and join us. ?

My Dad's advice was, eat less and move more!

I only wish I could follow it.

Try Slimming World. It's good to have some support and encouragement.

Take a look at Michael Mosley's Fast 800 diet pigsmayfly. It has a big following on Facebook at the moment and is really working for a lot of people who have struggled before - including me! You do need to read and understand the principles behind it but it's a real game changer.

Would recommend the 16:8 diet.
Eat only within your chosen 8 hours.
No snacking outwith this time.
Some folk omit breakfast, and eat 12 to 8pm.
Others choose 15:9 which I prefer and eat only between 9 till 6pm.
It concentrates the mind, stops snacking and combined with say a 30 minute walk, hopefully you will lose the weight.

Just a thought, have you had a thyroid blood test?

Friend of mine had a similar issue, was unable to lose weight, it transpired she had an under active thyroid. Once on hormone replacement her weight returned to normal.

Michael Mosley's diet does seem to be based on common sense and is a real chance to lose weight and start a better relationship with food. For me, I've stopped eating completely between meals, cut out bread and all wheat-based foods, no cakes biscuits rice pasta - almost no carbs. No sugar. I know it's not sustainable but if it shifts the weight to start I've always found that I have enough motivation to keep going! Walking every day, drinking lots of water, having lunch and supper off small side plates and not a dinner plate, eating slowly and making food interesting, trying new recipes all seems to be working. My ideal would be to lose the weight and then revert to 5:2 eating - having very few calories 500/800 - for any 2 chosen days each week and eating normally but not large portions for the other 5 days. This would allow me, I think, to immediately cut back if it looked as if the scales start showing an increase in weight again.

Most importantly, I have been determined to eat my daily rations within a certain time, say between 10am and 6pm. This means that I am then fasting for about 15 hours. This also sees my weight drop and my digestion truly benefits from a rest.

Hi Pigsmyfly
I have been a member of slimming world for on and off for a few years.

This year, I put several pounds on over lock down.
As I was already overweight, needed to lose at least 2 stone.

In June I decided to take myself in hand and got the slimming world books out and made a promise to myself that over the next few months I would lose some weight (without rejoining slimming world )

It has been slow and steady progress.

I weigh myself every morning.
To date I have managed over two stone.

Ist I imagined myself wearing a favourite skirt that I had not been able to fit into for a couple of years

2nd I wrote a daily food diary

3rd I made a weekly meal plan.
(Loads of slimming world recipes on the net, including pinterest)

4th I follow 16-8 fast
My last meal is around 6pm.
Breakfast after 10am.

Breakfast overnight oats with fruit and aldi's 0% vanilla yogurt.

Lunch banana or homemade soup or eggs

Evening meal inc potatoes or rice or pasta with plenty of veg
Protein is either fish or poultry
( I dont red meat )
Or Vegetarian sausages.

Tip Nothing fried.
Roast vegetables and potatoes using 1 cal spray

99 calorie choc bar (Bliss)

Plenty of water
Lemon and ginger tea

Covid19.
Although to my knowledge I have no underlying medical conditions, age and obesity was against me.

Last week on the BMI chart, I was for the first time for many a year,in the normal weight zone

Unfortunately I can do nothing about my age.

Are you very stressed? Cortisol and stress can make you gain weight and make it impossible to shift. I've had a doctor tell me that being very stressed can make the weight stick no matter what you do.

I can also recommend Dr Mosley's eating plan. BTW I read an article by him recently where he says that there is good evidence that a 12:12 split for the "fast" is just as beneficial or has similar put comes to a 8:16 split. He also now says that 800 calories a day is fine for the low calorie days (ditch the 500 calories); people find it easier to stick to.

What I've done is we eat earlier in the evenings and it is easy to not eat for 12 hours until the morning. Other than that, I've done similar to GrandmaFrench in that bread or toast is now a treat on my over 800 calorie days. I am slowly but steadily losing weight and I don't feel hard done by at all. The Fast800 eating plan does not recommend eating low fat foods.

I also agree with those who say it is a marathon, not a sprint. Good luck, pigsmayfly you can do it.

Outcomes not "put comes".

The first thing to do is stop dieting, then plan an eating pattern that you find attractive and is based on the recommendations for what a healthy diet should be and that you will be happy to eat for the rest of your life. Get really used to it, it is surprising how cravings for sweet things will disappear with time.

Then make your portions bit smaller and make sure you get exercise every day. It could be walking, swimming, gardening, cycling. Anything you enjoy.

I put on 2 stone after the menopause and was 70 before the original 5:2 diet finally removed it over 4 months. I have more or less stuck to the maintenance 6:1 version ever since. I have a range I keep my weight in and just go back on it for a week or two if Christmas or a holiday push me above it. As time progresses, I just don't fancy sweet foods or large portions.

Another Michael Mosley fan here. His eating plans work and are relatively easy to follow. Of them all, I personally prefer the 5:2, where you have two relatively abstemious days and then can forget the calorie counting for the test of the week (though of course healthy eating is the way to go).

Exercise is important. Michael Mosley has common sense advice on that too, but recently I’ve been following the Fabulous Fifties work-outs on YouTube. They have plenty of variety and there are exercises to suit anyone.

We’re on the 5:2 . Seems to work for us. We don’t seem to eat more to compensate on our eating days, in fact we seem to have stopped nibbling between meals.
I did see an article in the paper suggesting that this type of diet could lead to more muscle loss than a conventional diet but I think that the benefits outweigh that. Just do more exercising and less sitting about than you normally do .

No snacking.

Remove all bread, cakes and biscuits from the house, immediately ! bin it all or feed it to the birds.

Smaller plates and less potatoes, fill up on veg.

Then do the 5.2 or the 12.12.

Back in the day, we only ate at mealtimes, no snacking and we were healthier and weighed less. I’ve lost half a stone, which gets me back to Normal weight, DH has lost a stone but has more to lose.

If you need to lose more than a stone I would recommend a slimming club, like WW or SW for support. Otherwise you could try follow the advice of others on here. As for the thyroid, if your GP says it’s in range, could it still be lower end of normal? I’m thinking this about myself as I have difficulty in losing my extra stone.

Thank you so much for all the replies. I have read them all carefully and will investigate further Michael Moseley as I have never heard of him. Will also join the I’m a pear the sequel thread. Cherrytree59 you have given me some good ideas to follow. Thank you everyone I feel encouraged ?

pigsmayfly I've added a link here from YouTube by Dr Jason Fung talking about why conventional diets don't work. He's really easy to listen to and this all made perfect sense to me. It adds good background to the principles of the F800 diet

www.youtube.com/watch?v=88_Zuid49xs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0dtPiyEaE39_hfS6QC34gHsuJX_WNmFU5ArJr7WDeL_eSRCN35oQiqu10

Thank you GrannyLaine

The only thing that appears to work for me is counting the calories, so that's what I do. There are online calculators that give you the number of calories you need to have each day. of course, the number is not that accurate but it still depends on your age and daily activity so I think it's more true to life than not. I'd suggest going here and finding out how much calories do you need n the first place- www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Then another thing that I know is that protein is important. While carbs and fats are important as well, you have to make sure you have enough proteins each day. Try Fatsecret for counting the nutrients but don't avoid any of them. Just make sure there is a balance between them.
My biggest stumbling block is motivation: I can't go on and on with healthy eating and exercises. I get tired and want to quit because life is too short for dieting and so on . I've found out that the best motivation is tracking your results: when you notice your achievements you just don't want to give up because you've already made it this far.
BUT
Don't cling on your weight numbers! Your weight is affected by water and hormones and stress level and so on, so weigh yourself once a week or two and take measurements or photos of your progress regularly (every day or once in 2-3 days). You can also use collage makers like this one to track down your progress in pictures. Going visual really helps.
And also an article on motivation- www.healthline.com/nutrition/weight-loss-motivation-tips#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3 They say you need to specify the reasons why you need to lose weight, and it is just so true. When you know why are you doing something, it gets easier.

What lovely helpful messages from everyone pigsmayfly and it’s great that some tips appeal to you. One tip I haven’t spotted is to take your measurements and photo NOW (you seem you’re determined enough to be able to do this) so you can look forward to the wonderful sense of achievement you’ll have as you make progress. Very best wishes.

Cs783

What lovely helpful messages from everyone pigsmayfly and it’s great that some tips appeal to you. One tip I haven’t spotted is to take your measurements and photo NOW (you seem you’re determined enough to be able to do this) so you can look forward to the wonderful sense of achievement you’ll have as you make progress. Very best wishes.

This! Don't forget to take a picture when you start, pigsmayfly