General Weight Loss Support Thread

Penn

SozBbz wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I've recently started tracking calories on MFP (not my first time, but hey)

I was on course from Tues-Fri last week. Went away for the weekend and wasnt counting. Plenty of eating out and alcohol.

Am only getting back to it today (yesterday was going ok but then I had a McDonalds) so today will be better. Going to go to chopped for lunch and have a steak/veg/noodle stirfry for dinner. All planned within my calories. I do better when I've got a plan.

I weighted myself again this morning and was up 3lbs since Friday so obviously a bit disappointed but not surprised. I'm wondering if thats a real gain as while I wasn't watching my food, I doubt ate 11,100 calories above my maintenance rate over the 4 days. Trying not to get to disheartened, hoping that some of it is just the effect of flying/bloating etc.

Yeah I'd say maybe your weight this morning is still just the effect of your weekend, but likely just temporary. It should balance itself out after a few days.

SozBbz

Penn wrote: »

Yeah I'd say maybe your weight this morning is still just the effect of your weekend, but likely just temporary. It should balance itself out after a few days.

Weighed myself again this morning (after having a good day yesterday) and down 2lbs.
I also realised that I hadnt had a (sorry for TMI!) bowel movement for 3.5 days so this is probably contributing.
I don't consider my diet to be low in fiber and haven't noticed this issue previously. I eat porridge for breakfast most mornings and eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg.

Michellenman

Stayed the exact same this week. Deservedly so, I certainly wasn’t expecting a loss and am delighted not to gain. I think the last 2 weeks have been full of dinners out and client lunches so to not gain is a bonus.

Penn

Been knocked on my ass with a tooth infection all week, which has pretty much relegated me to a yoghurt, scrambled eggs, canned tuna diet for most of the week. I'm over the worst of it now but still not going to be eating right until likely next week. Means my weightloss might be more this week which is good, but for pretty much the first time since I started the diet, I'm f*cking starving. I'm getting just over 1,200 cals, but the makeup of those calories aren't sustaining me as much as other foods.

Thankfully, being hungry still won't lead me to eating bad food, because my gob won't allow me to eat it anyway. Just gotta push through and jump straight back onto the wagon once the infection clears.

kayevajo

currently 13st 09lb bmi reccomends 12 stone

so lost 7lbs in 3 weeks,

diet is

brekkie , weetabix and banana and 500ml water

lunch , normally oily fish and crackers with 500ml water

dinner , still not great can be anything! but with another 500ml water

would have nuts or furit for sncak as well as 500ml water

so thats 2 litres a day , is that too much or is it ok?


walking close up to 15 miles a weeks

any advice on the dinner aspect?

Penn

kayevajo wrote: »

currently 13st 09lb bmi reccomends 12 stone

so lost 7lbs in 3 weeks,

diet is

brekkie , weetabix and banana and 500ml water

lunch , normally oily fish and crackers with 500ml water

dinner , still not great can be anything! but with another 500ml water

would have nuts or furit for sncak as well as 500ml water

so thats 2 litres a day , is that too much or is it ok?


walking close up to 15 miles a weeks

any advice on the dinner aspect?

Hey, that's great progress so far. Seems like you're fairly on the ball.

With regards dinner, hard to know. I'd say if you haven't already, download MyFitnessPal and put in everything you're having. Your diet already isn't too bad, but quantity could be the main thing (ie. Nuts can have a lot of calories, so how many nuts you have could add up).

I'd say have something you enjoy for dinner, just watch the portion sizes. Make some small changes if possible too, such as brown rice rather than white, or go for lean meats etc.

Bassfish

Had my Friday night 'kebab'. Lean lamb mince seasoned with lots of spices, formed into kofta, grilled in the George Foreman, made a sauce with Greek yoghurt, chilli sauce and mango chutney, a heap of salad, all in a wrap. About 700kcal altogether. Twas delicious, cheap and and I don't feel dirty afterwards

Penn

Penn wrote: »

Been knocked on my ass with a tooth infection all week, which has pretty much relegated me to a yoghurt, scrambled eggs, canned tuna diet for most of the week. I'm over the worst of it now but still not going to be eating right until likely next week. Means my weightloss might be more this week which is good, but for pretty much the first time since I started the diet, I'm f*cking starving. I'm getting just over 1,200 cals, but the makeup of those calories aren't sustaining me as much as other foods.

Thankfully, being hungry still won't lead me to eating bad food, because my gob won't allow me to eat it anyway. Just gotta push through and jump straight back onto the wagon once the infection clears.

Forgot to update yesterday. Tooth started healing on Friday and wasn't as bad. Thought being on the soft foods would increase my weightloss this week, but didn't account for two things; I had a family even Friday night (and got a few compliments on my weightloss from relatives who haven't seen me in a while) so even though I wasn't having beers (due to antibiotics and painkillers) I still had a good few minerals and some of the finger food which took me to double my calorie limit for the day, and also (trying not to be TMI) not a lot of fibre in the stuff I was eating last week.

All in all though, still down 2lb this week, which even though most weeks I hit 3lb, 2lb is always the target I'm aiming for, so not disappointed in the least by that. Means I just missed out on hitting 4 stone lost, but it means I did hit a more important milestone; I'm officially over halfway to my goal. Gave myself 1 year to lose 108lb, and have hit the halfway mark in 21 weeks. I know the second half will be harder than the first as calorie limits become tighter and I'll have to properly introduce exercise as I go on, but still, I've now officially gone so far that I'm closer to my goal than my starting point, so may as well keep going in this direction.

Thanks for the support so far, guys. It really means a lot and even just posting here gives an accountability which keeps pushing me on. I hope to continue repaying you in kind and offering any tips/advice I can. Cheers!

Onwards and downwards!

Alf Veedersane

Well done! Keep on trucking - no doubt a lot of people take hope and inspiration from your progress.

L'prof

Zero interest this week with my cold, felt miserable. Didn’t bother with MFP and was very close to skipping the scales. Glad I didn’t though. Was sure I’d be up but ended up being down 2.8lbs. I reckon it’s more that I went so badly wrong the previous couple of weeks than actually having a good week this week

SozBbz

L'prof wrote: »

Zero interest this week with my cold, felt miserable. Didn’t bother with MFP and was very close to skipping the scales. Glad I didn’t though. Was sure I’d be up but ended up being down 2.8lbs. I reckon it’s more that I went so badly wrong the previous couple of weeks than actually having a good week this week

Yeah i think not skipping the scales is key. Whether the result is good or bad, knowing is the main thing. If you don't know, then its possible for your mind to tell you all sorts of things and it becomes a bigger issue the longer you leave it.

I was away a few weeks ago and had to face a gain when I got back, but I weighted myself straight out of bed for the next few mornings and a lot of that gain fell away pretty quickly, so most of it was just me being out of routine rather than real weight gain.

Knowing about the gain motivated me to get back to my routine, but if I hadnt weighted myself and adhoc eating could have contained and I'd have been facing more of a gain!

Michellenman

Down 1lb this week, woo! Fractionally shy of 8lbs in total and I’m really delighted. Doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s about 6% of my starting body weight and I’m only 5ft tall so I’m starting to see a real difference. One or two people have commented too which is always nice to hear Heading on holiday for 10days on Sunday so really going to enjoy myself but try not to lose the absolute run of myself.

Penn

4lb this week. Think that was the effects of the week before kicking in. Now officially over 4 stone. Thankful for a big loss this week, as I have a few big dinners and hopefully a big drinking session coming up over the next few weeks, so might not have such happy results over the next month, but well ahead of targets anyway, so going to enjoy them.

Keep 'er going, folks!

iguana

Haven't weighed myself in ages but finally got around to it this morning and I'm down 3lb since last time. My BMI is now down below 25 which was my main goal. I now want to work toward losing maybe another 5-7lb which I know is ideal for me and increasing my exercise from very little to an average of an intensive half hour a day. Unfortunately I find eating less and moving more much easier in summer than winter and I don't want to regain everything over the next few months, so I really want to stay on top of it.

On the plus side, I'm no longer enjoying the feeling of being stuffed full of sugary, carbs. I actually end up feeling very uncomfortable and bloated when I eat even moderate amounts of bread or pasta, especially if I do so for a few days in a row. I feel way, way better when I eat a bigger ratio of protein. I've bought some red lentil pasta to experiment with, so hopefully I like it. As I occasionally hanker after a nice warm pasta bake on a winter evening!

L'prof

Well done Penn, outrageous stuff. Are you doing Slimming World or anything? Massive losses week on week

Penn

L'prof wrote: »

Well done Penn, outrageous stuff. Are you doing Slimming World or anything? Massive losses week on week

Cheers. No, not doing Slimming World or anything. Nothing against it, and have had in the back of my mind that if I start to plateau or something, I might use SW then to hopefully kick-start the weight loss again. No need yet though anyway. I just prefer counting calories to syns tbh.

Have been lucky enough that life has been quite boring, so haven't had too much to throw me off my stride. Went to Italy for a week but with doing so much walking about, being off the diet for the week didn't hamper me at all really. Might be busier now until after Xmas, a few friend and family meals and events coming up, but should still stay on track.

The main things for me I think have been counting calories, eating nicer food (as in not just healthier, but also tastes better) and meal planning. I'm logging stuff into MFP religiously (though last week I discovered I've been weighing my rice wrong, was weighing dry weight but because it absorbs water it then weighs twice as much. D'oh!). My general tastes have changed a bit too. I'm eating a hell of a lot more seafood which seems to be doing the job. And I either meal prep as much as I can like making lunch for the week on a Sunday, or buy whatever ingredients and cook the same dinner for 2-3 nights, then switch to something else for a few nights. A few emergency WW microwave meals or Cully & Sully soups in the fridge if need be, and have some healthy snacks (Greek yoghurt, nuts, tuna) knocking about. If I have healthy stuff there in the event of I don't have time to cook or forget to defrost something, I have a healthy replacement to stop me going for something bad.

I find planning the food as much as possible keeps me on target on MFP (bar the occasional curveball life can throw at you), but most importantly I'm still enjoying the food I'm eating. I'm never hungry even though I'm eating about 1300cals per day, and I'm not craving anything because I look forward to most of my meals. Most of the time it genuinely doesn't feel like dieting, to the point where when I've reached my final goal, I imagine I'll be cooking the same stuff, just maybe bigger portions.

L'prof

I’m shocked to be honest, that takes a lot of discipline. Fair play man, we’ll done. I just assumed that because the loss was so big and so consistent that you had to be doing something other than MFP

Penn

L'prof wrote: »

I’m shocked to be honest, that takes a lot of discipline. Fair play man, we’ll done. I just assumed that because the loss was so big and so consistent that you had to be doing something other than MFP

Trust me, I'm shocked myself. I only aim and hope for 2lb per week (though I knew I'd have to hit more than that some weeks to hit my goal weight by my target date), but I'm hitting 3lb fairly consistently. Little-to-no exercise either, a bit of walking here and there but even that's slowed down with the weather.

I've tried losing weight before, and lost a couple of stone before inevitably putting it back on. But this time I know I've learnt from past mistakes. In past tries I've let small things knock me out of my rhythm and let bad habits creep back in or stress-eat/binge, or I'd be eating stuff I didn't want to eat just to help me lose weight but it meant I'd be hungry and craving the stuff I used to eat, and I'd end up cheating the diet.

This time, I'm just belting through it all and properly finding things I do want to eat so it really doesn't feel like a diet or that I'm restricting myself in any way (bar maybe how much I weigh ingredients as opposed to just "Yeah, looks fine"). I have a couple of go-to recipes that are quick, easy to cook and varied. The only time I really feel like I'm dieting is when something outside of my normal routine happens, but just try to work around it as best I can.

I think ultimately, the three things that I'm finding to be most important are the numbers (cals in V cals out), accountability (constantly charting my calories and weight progress both in MFP and an Excel spreadsheet I made), and enjoyment (liking the food you're eating and I also chart minor successes like going down a trouser size on my spreadsheet too). Those three give me the consistency I need to be consistent.

From what I've heard about Slimming World it basically focuses on the same things, numbers (syns), accountability (weekly weigh-in) and enjoyment (you can select the foods you like based on syns, and you get badges/stickers for hitting targets). SW seems like a good system and from the other thread on here, some people are getting fantastic results from it, and I have a friend who has also lost a few stone on it. I certainly wouldn't recommend one way over the other, it's whatever the individual feels they could stick to better. The underlying basis for what I do and what Slimming World does is the same, but one way might suit someone else better than the other.

L'prof

Down 1lb this week. Another week where I’ve had little interest but yet I’ve recorded a loss. Baffled to be honest as that’s rarely the case. I’ll try and log everything today and hope fully I’ll be able to keep it up for the week then

Bassfish

I've been eating healthy for the past month, logging everything on MFP. Trying to get plenty of veg and protein in. Trying to only have bread/pasta/rice with one meal a day. Still having the occasional naughty things and have indulged in a few pints but it's all fairly well balanced out. Anyway I hadn't been weighing myself so said I would hop on the scales today and turns out I've lost six kilos!
Very happy with that!

Penn

Bassfish wrote: »

I've been eating healthy for the past month, logging everything on MFP. Trying to get plenty of veg and protein in. Trying to only have bread/pasta/rice with one meal a day. Still having the occasional naughty things and have indulged in a few pints but it's all fairly well balanced out. Anyway I hadn't been weighing myself so said I would hop on the scales today and turns out I've lost six kilos!
Very happy with that!

Great stuff, Bassfish. The numbers don't lie, so if you're logging the calories on MFP, that'll be reflected in the number on the scales.

I'm down another 3lb this week, bringing me to just under 4.5stone. I've been taking a photo of myself every time I've lost 20lb, so took one this morning and looked back at my older ones. It nearly doesn't look like I've lost anything going by the photos, but I think it's just a perception thing, plus I was reading a few days ago about how you lose more weight from secondary areas first (arms, legs, face) than primary areas (chest, stomach) because you store fat in the primary areas first to protect your organs.

Still though, photos aside, I'm down from a 42" waist to a 38", have had to buy new shirts for work because I'm swimming in some of my old ones, my chest and waist measurements are decreasing, and lots of people have commented on my weightloss even if I'm not really seeing the change myself visually.

Have another great week, folks! Keep logging the numbers and it'll be reflected on the scales.

Monife

Penn wrote: »

Great stuff, Bassfish. The numbers don't lie, so if you're logging the calories on MFP, that'll be reflected in the number on the scales.

I'm down another 3lb this week, bringing me to just under 4.5stone. I've been taking a photo of myself every time I've lost 20lb, so took one this morning and looked back at my older ones. It nearly doesn't look like I've lost anything going by the photos, but I think it's just a perception thing, plus I was reading a few days ago about how you lose more weight from secondary areas first (arms, legs, face) than primary areas (chest, stomach) because you store fat in the primary areas first to protect your organs.

Still though, photos aside, I'm down from a 42" waist to a 38", have had to buy new shirts for work because I'm swimming in some of my old ones, my chest and waist measurements are decreasing, and lots of people have commented on my weightloss even if I'm not really seeing the change myself visually.

Have another great week, folks! Keep logging the numbers and it'll be reflected on the scales.

Been following your journey, you're doing great! I think you lose visceral fat first that's stuck to your organs which is a really good thing healthwise so you will definitely start seeing it in the photos soon as it works itself off the not so bad fat.

Penn

Monife wrote: »

Been following your journey, you're doing great! I think you lose visceral fat first that's stuck to your organs which is a really good thing healthwise so you will definitely start seeing it in the photos soon as it works itself off the not so bad fat.

Thanks. Yeah between what you say and the 'paper towel effect', I'm not too worried. My weightloss is definitely being reflected in the numbers both on the scale and in my measurements (realised this morning I need another new belt for work now), so if anything once the visual changes start really kicking in, that will help push me forward for the rest of my weight loss.

Gwen Cooper

Hi all,

I'm not posting much, but I'm definitely reading and I'm very proud of everyone's progress!

I don't know if you remember, but some time ago I posted here about leg pain and fatigue after starting a diet. I was worried it might have been connected. Luckily it turned out that it was all just stress and one things got a little bit more peaceful around me, all these problems disappeared.

I just wanted to share my progress. My scale is broken at the moment, but I weighed myself 2 weeks ago and I was down by 16 kg (35 lbs). I didn't feel any difference (I still don't) and I didn't see any difference. I thought that maybe it's because I am so big and I need to lose a lot before I notice anything (I was 401 lbs when I started).

Well, today is the day. This morning I was getting dressed and decided to wear jeans instead of a dress with leggings. This is what I saw:



YAY!

SusieBlue

^ Congratulations girl, all your hard work is paying off! Onwards & downwards x

Penn

Amazing stuff, Gwen! Fantastic progress!

Bassfish

^ well done Gwen. You should be damn proud of yourself!

Gwen Cooper

Thanks everyone!

Coming here with a question for any ladies who might have experienced the same.

It looks like I'm having a bad day (week actually). I want chocolate. I want crisps. I want coke. I want jellies. I want meat. I want garlic bread. I want everything that's edible. The only thing that's stopping me is that I don't carry cash on me just in case I end up buying extra food.

Yesterday I was at my boyfriend's house. Not only I stopped in the shop on the way home and bought two giant chocolate eclairs, but I also ate half of a watermelon, was dying to steal some of my boyfriend's garlic bread and chicken. And while I was full, I still wanted more.

Whatever I ate tasted like the best thing ever. I nearly cried with joy when I had the garlic bread. I never had one that was so good - and it was a cheap one from Lidl! I had a bite of an eclair as well and it was divine. Everything is amazing.

I literally just finished lunch and I'm STARVING.

I'm due to get my period in 5 days so I'm wondering if that could be related. I always get peckish around my time of the month, but never like this. This is just ridiculous. I also wonder if that could mean that I'm pregnant - we've been trying for a baby for a while now.

Anybody experienced the same? I've been on a diet since mid-summer and was very good, I did have cravings, but I was able to shift focus on other things. This is the first time on this diet when I feel that I'm going to die if I don't eat something.

Thanks!

Emeralda

Hi guys,
Just wanted to find out if anyone would be willing to try my methods. I have lost 62 kg in 18 months. I haven't gained any weight for 5 years since I reached my target.

L'prof

Gain of 2.2lbs, I have to stop coasting and get back on track