General Weight Loss Support Thread

tamara25

I’m so fed up of counting calories, doing my fitness pal & need to lose a stone but not getting anywhere really. Now I will be honest I don’t always stick to my calorie allowance every day.. I was considering joining unislim for s while. Couldn’t find any recent posts on it. It might work better for me??

Penn

tamara25 wrote: »

I’m so fed up of counting calories, doing my fitness pal & need to lose a stone but not getting anywhere really. Now I will be honest I don’t always stick to my calorie allowance every day.. I was considering joining unislim for s while. Couldn’t find any recent posts on it. It might work better for me??

Haven't heard much about Unislim, but it seems fairly similar to the likes of Slimming World, which I do know many people have found great success with. There's a thread for SW here which could probably help with specifics.

It can definitely be a pain having to input calories every day etc. What I find helps me is to do it early in the day, usually when I get into work. I generally know what I'm having for lunch and dinner, so I just put it all in then, and if something changes throughout the day, I can just go back in and change it. But a lot of that is just routine at this stage, and knowing what combination of meals/snacks will keep me under my calorie limit.

tamara25

Penn wrote: »

Haven't heard much about Unislim, but it seems fairly similar to the likes of Slimming World, which I do know many people have found great success with. There's a thread for SW here which could probably help with specifics.

It can definitely be a pain having to input calories every day etc. What I find helps me is to do it early in the day, usually when I get into work. I generally know what I'm having for lunch and dinner, so I just put it all in then, and if something changes throughout the day, I can just go back in and change it. But a lot of that is just routine at this stage, and knowing what combination of meals/snacks will keep me under my calorie limit.

Thanks for your reply. It’s so frustrating at times. Unislim seem to have carbs at most meals though, which wouldn’t suit me.. when I go clothes shopping it really gets to me!!! And being in my mid 40’s doesn’t help either.. I must get a notebook & write everything down food wise with calories beside it. That will help a bit. I’m conscious too of not counting calories in front of my girls, don’t want them to start obsessing about how much food their eating etc. are you at your ideal weight penn? Or how much have you to lose?

SozBbz

tamara25 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. It’s so frustrating at times. Unislim seem to have carbs at most meals though, which wouldn’t suit me.. when I go clothes shopping it really gets to me!!! And being in my mid 40’s doesn’t help either.. I must get a notebook & write everything down food wise with calories beside it. That will help a bit. I’m conscious too of not counting calories in front of my girls, don’t want them to start obsessing about how much food their eating etc. are you at your ideal weight penn? Or how much have you to lose?

Are you not using MyFitnessPal? As an app on your phone its super discrete and the barcode scanner is handy.

You can eat a fair few carbs on SW too, I've never done Uni Slim so I don't know. Personally I eat carbs 2 meals a day and actually find it easiest to leave them out of dinner, and just have whatever I'm having with a salad.

silverharp

tamara25 wrote: »

I’m so fed up of counting calories, doing my fitness pal & need to lose a stone but not getting anywhere really. Now I will be honest I don’t always stick to my calorie allowance every day.. I was considering joining unislim for s while. Couldn’t find any recent posts on it. It might work better for me??

I’d imagine they are reasonably similar, some version of portion control, eat 5 times a day kind of dealio. If its not hugely different from what you are doing you are not going to get different results or different long term results which is clearly more important. Sometimes you need to shake it up and keep your body guessing. I’d suggest look at some variant of Intermittent fasting , 16:8 for example or 5:2 where you eat ~600 calories for 2 days a week and eat sensibly for the other days. It might have the advantage for you that when you do eat you feel more satiated after.

SusieBlue

tamara25 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. It’s so frustrating at times. Unislim seem to have carbs at most meals though, which wouldn’t suit me.. when I go clothes shopping it really gets to me!!! And being in my mid 40’s doesn’t help either.. I must get a notebook & write everything down food wise with calories beside it. That will help a bit. I’m conscious too of not counting calories in front of my girls, don’t want them to start obsessing about how much food their eating etc. are you at your ideal weight penn? Or how much have you to lose?

How did you get on with the gym?

I know counting calories can be a bit tedious but honestly, its worth it to be able to include all the foods you want. I eat chocolate every single day and my weight/body fat is still going down every week, because its within my calories.
I have a hard time with portion control and over indulging, the "free" foods on those plans wouldn't suit me because I'd just end up overeating.


I believe Unislim, like Slimming Word, favours an extremely low fat/high carb approach to their plan. Maybe this will suit your needs better but definitely do a bit more research into it first, the slimming word thread in particular seems to be very busy here.

I agree with @Penn about inputting calories first thing in the morning to the app, I usually leave about 200/300 for some wiggle room in case plans change.

Penn

tamara25 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. It’s so frustrating at times. Unislim seem to have carbs at most meals though, which wouldn’t suit me.. when I go clothes shopping it really gets to me!!! And being in my mid 40’s doesn’t help either.. I must get a notebook & write everything down food wise with calories beside it. That will help a bit. I’m conscious too of not counting calories in front of my girls, don’t want them to start obsessing about how much food their eating etc. are you at your ideal weight penn? Or how much have you to lose?

I agree with others that the MyFitnessPal app is the way to go. I use it when on the go, or just the MFP website when in work. It can take a while to get used to knowing how much of a portion size you have to input it correctly, but after 2-3 weeks you build up enough of a library and knowledge to be able to reasonably estimate it.

I'm down over 5stone in little over 6 months just counting calories and changing how I eat, not a lot of exercise (bits of walking here and there), and I have about another 2.5stone to go. It was kinda easy for the first while simply because I was so heavy which meant a 1,000 calorie deficit for me still meant I could eat about 1,800 calories a day. Now I'm down to only being allowed just under 1,400 calories a day, which is a lot tighter, and will get tighter still going forward. But, it's achievable. I know the areas of my typical diet I can still tighten up on (for example, I'm having thai green curry for lunch all this week, but instead of having it with brown rice like I used to, I just added more veg instead). Carbs aren't inherently bad themselves, but some carbs just have more calories than others. Even going for brown rice, wholewheat bread/pasta can knock a good few calories out of your diet and they make you feel fuller for longer too.

You have a stone to lose. It's not a lot, but at the same time, the hardest part whether it's a stone or 8 stone, is just getting into good habits. Getting into a routine of planning meals, sticking to them, and keeping track of calories to remind yourself to stay on goal. It becomes almost second nature after a while, but the first month can be the hardest.

The main points I'd suggest are:

- Make sure you're still enjoying the food you're eating, so don't go chomping on rice cakes if you don't like them just because they're low calorie. Find a nice low-calorie yoghurt or something. Find healthier versions of meals you like, which generally just means swapping out one or two ingredients for healthy alternatives or lower-calorie options.
- Keep track of the numbers as best you can. Use either MFP or this calculator to find out how many calories you should be eating to lose 1 or 2lb a week, and stick to it as best you can. It's a numbers game; if you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. How much weight depends on your calorie deficit (though try not to go below 1,200 calories per day).
- Make yourself accountable to something in order to keep motivating you to continue. Whether it's a Unislim/Slimming World meeting, telling your partner or a friend or even just posting here. I weigh myself every Sunday morning and typically post here, talking about my week and how it affected my diet, or how I'm feeling about it etc. There's a lot of great support here and it motivates me to keep going so I can post a great result the next week.

neris

pumpkin4life wrote: »

So just for anyone reading here:

I used to be pretty overweight growing up until about close to three years ago at this stage, almost by the day, when I decided to change.

I started a ketogenic diet and a **** ton of dead lifts and three years later, I'm in great shape.

Fùck that Jordan Peterson lad. You want a rule for life? Here's one. Embrace the iron.

The iron makes the weak strong and the strong humble.

Anyone can do this.

And one thing that will happen: because Irish people hate people who do better than them, you will get some passive aggressive, bitchy comments coming to you.

Don't let that discourage you.

It's a real life changer, but it starts with food and it starts with good habits.

the only problem with doing weights is if your watching the scales and wanting to see the numbers go down it can depress the crap out of you, even though your toning up and trimming down

Penn

neris wrote: »

the only problem with doing weights is if your watching the scales and wanting to see the numbers go down it can depress the crap out of you, even though your toning up and trimming down

Yeah after I hit my bottom target, I plan on properly joining a gym and getting a weights program going, as I'll quite likely have loose skin to fill out and tone up in general.

But, even though lifting weights can help with weight loss, adding muscle at the same time would mean my weightloss wouldn't be as much, and ultimately I set myself a target at the start that I need to achieve. I need to see that number on the scales keep going down at a steady pace, as it's motivation to keep it going. I need to hit my targets (interim and end targets) to motivate me to keep going. Lifting weights runs the risk of jeopardising my short-term progress, even if it'd be beneficial long-term, but I need my short-term progress to motivate me for the long-term.

Different strokes for different folks and all that.

Bunny Colvin

neris wrote: »

the only problem with doing weights is if your watching the scales and wanting to see the numbers go down it can depress the crap out of you, even though your toning up and trimming down

Very true. I'm back in the gym the last week and lifting weights again, so I'll have to take that into account. You know by the look of yourself and how your clothes fit though. I'd rather build some muscle and tone up then being despondent over the number on a scale.

Bassfish

I've been lurking around this thread for a while so thought it's time I contributed something
I've been making big dietary changes, upping my fruit and veg intake, cutting carbs down to about 130g a day, sticking mainly to porridge for breakfast but trying to have some protein with every meal. Cutting out bad habits like getting a pastry with my coffee and I've cut back significantly on booze.
I started at 109kg and I'm down to 101kg now after two months. The first 5/6kg were very very easy but the weight loss has slowed to a crawl at this point. I can only manage to get to the gym twice a week due to a hectic work/family life but I'm enjoying it when I'm there. I've tended to let myself go a bit at the weekends so I'm going to reign that in and hit the gym early Saturday morning as that'll stop me giving into temptation the night before!
Hoping to be under the 100kg by the time Santa visits!

Penn

Bassfish wrote: »

I've been lurking around this thread for a while so thought it's time I contributed something
I've been making big dietary changes, upping my fruit and veg intake, cutting carbs down to about 130g a day, sticking mainly to porridge for breakfast but trying to have some protein with every meal. Cutting out bad habits like getting a pastry with my coffee and I've cut back significantly on booze.
I started at 109kg and I'm down to 101kg now after two months. The first 5/6kg were very very easy but the weight loss has slowed to a crawl at this point. I can only manage to get to the gym twice a week due to a hectic work/family life but I'm enjoying it when I'm there. I've tended to let myself go a bit at the weekends so I'm going to reign that in and hit the gym early Saturday morning as that'll stop me giving into temptation the night before!
Hoping to be under the 100kg by the time Santa visits!

That's great progress, Bassfish. Congrats.

As much as the gym will help, diet is key, so anywhere you can think of trimming a bit from your diet will definitely help. Even if it's just a case of reducing your portion sizes a little will make a difference.

As you lose weight, the amount of calories you need also reduces. So while the first few kgs were easy to lose, you now need fewer calories to maintain your weight, which means you need to take in fewer calories than you had been to maintain the same rate of loss.

No doubt you'll get under the 100kg before Xmas though. One good final push for the next few weeks will get you there!

Bassfish

Penn wrote: »

That's great progress, Bassfish. Congrats.

As much as the gym will help, diet is key, so anywhere you can think of trimming a bit from your diet will definitely help. Even if it's just a case of reducing your portion sizes a little will make a difference.

As you lose weight, the amount of calories you need also reduces. So while the first few kgs were easy to lose, you now need fewer calories to maintain your weight, which means you need to take in fewer calories than you had been to maintain the same rate of loss.

No doubt you'll get under the 100kg before Xmas though. One good final push for the next few weeks will get you there!

Thanks a mill, ya I'm tracking everything religiously on MFP which I actually like doing, I know some people hate it but it gives me good reassurance.
I have a goal that by my sixth wedding anniversary next April I'll fit back into the jeans and shirt I wore the day after our wedding! They're currently in storage in the attic

Penn

Bunny Colvin wrote: »

Very true. I'm back in the gym the last week and lifting weights again, so I'll have to take that into account. You know by the look of yourself and how your clothes fit though. I'd rather build some muscle and tone up then being despondent over the number on a scale.

I read some good quotes earlier on Reddit but can't find them now. The main point they were making however, is that Diet determines size while Exercise determines what shape that size is. Something like "Size is made in the kitchen, shape is made in the gym"

Exercise might increase muscle and tone up your body, but you still need diet to reduce the size of your body.

The number on the scale can be important to people, as it's one of the most clear signs of progress. If I'd focused on building muscle or toning up, my waist measurements etc might have been slowly decreasing or clothes becoming looser, but because my muscles are under a hell of a lot of flubber, I imagine I wouldn't have felt like I was making enough progress in the short term, and I may not have stuck to the diet.

Exercise, building muscle and toning up are absolutely goals I'm aiming for, but the number on the scales is a quicker, more consistent yardstick by which to see progress than just how clothes fit, and it makes for easier and more quantifiable targets in both the short and long term (eg. Lose 2lb per week, lose 20lb by Person's Birthday, lose 50lb by 6 months).

neris

Ive done the weights training while loosing weight and while it trimmed me down it did depress me very week when I got on the scales and saw the numbers hadnt gone down very much. I put on a few kg between April & October and went back to loosing weight mid October and havent touched weights this time and am more pleased to see the scales. Still got another 12-15kg to go, just dont know if the dog will have any fat left on it by that stage from the amount its been walked

Spirogyra

First time that I can remember as an adult have slipped to under 12 stone.

SusieBlue

In regards to the weight training, yes the scales will move a lot slower. But if you are training consistently then your inches & body fat will be reducing each week.

I am currently a size 8-10, but previously, a few years ago, at this exact same weight, I was a size 12-14.
The difference is that I now have a lot more muscle, and far less body fat.
So even though I'm not at my lowest ever weight, I'm easily in the best shape I've ever been.

I have previously weighed a lot less than I do now, but I looked a lot heavier and took a bigger dress size.
What I'm getting at is that sometimes, the scales are not always good way to track progress. I know how demotivating it can be not to see the numbers moving though!

Mellor

Penn wrote: »

Exercise, building muscle and toning up are absolutely goals I'm aiming for, but the number on the scales is a quicker, more consistent yardstick by which to see progress than just how clothes fit, and it makes for easier and more quantifiable targets in both the short and long term (eg. Lose 2lb per week, lose 20lb by Person's Birthday, lose 50lb by 6 months).

100% This^^
Sometimes you can build a small bit of muscle and lose a small bit of fat at the same time. Bit the huge huge majority of time people just used "probably building muscle" as an excuse

silverharp

weight and waist measurement but they mostly correlate. If you had a week where your weight went the wrong way but your waist decreased , I wouldn’t worry about the weight gain or lack of loss. Likewise if your BMI says you are overweight but you have a healthy waist measurement , I’d go with the waist measure as a guide.

Down another 6 pounds today I weigh myself the 1st of every month. I’m on my diet 6 months today best thing I ever did was buying a treadmill and use it to watch tv with headphones to watch all my tv shows from America and the Soaps and listen to music

Weight Loss Diary.

2018 - June - 14.10
2018 - July - 13.06
2018 - August - 12.07
2018 - September - 11.10
2018 - October - 11.07
2018 - November - 11.04
2018 - December - 10.12

2 pounds shy of losing 4 stone

Weekdays I’m so strict but Saturday and Sunday are treats days for I’m having a pizza both days and apple pie for desert on Saturday and chocolate on Sunday I burn 1000 calories or more a day about 4-5 hours Monday to Friday on the treadmill I’m used to it now it’s so easy it wasn’t in the beginning I wanted to die but I didn’t give up.

If I had one wish it would be to eat and not gain weigh because my nana apple pie homemade is to die I’m drilling thinking about lol

Bassfish

Weighed in at 99.9kg today! The first time I've been under 100kg in six years

jaykhunter

4 stone in 6 months is nothing short of AMAZZZZING! Fantastic turning a sedentary activity into a very active one! And you still eat Pizza and pie, wowsers. How fast r u going on the treadmill now and how fast/long were u doing when u started?

tamara25

I’m just catching up on some of the advice from other posters here since I commented last. Ye have given me a boost & I feel confident again going back to counting calories & fitting in as much walking as I can. I usually have some rice cakes & fruit for breakfast when I’m at work. I’m guessing the rice cakes wouldn’t be the most nutritious foods? Going to bring in some wheat & sugar free muesli to work with me for breakfast instead. A tin of salmon with side salad for lunch. Just thinking of ways to tweak things diet wise which might help also. Spirulina for blood sugar cravings. Do fish oils help weight loss? Onward and upward guys!

jaykhunter

jaykhunter wrote: »

4 stone in 6 months is nothing short of AMAZZZZING! Fantastic turning a sedentary activity into a very active one! And you still eat Pizza and pie, wowsers. How fast r u going on the treadmill now and how fast/long were u doing when u started?

4.0 on the treadmill 4 hours a day 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening but something I only do 90 minutes in the evening I’m 6 months on my diet today

And yes for my treat day I had a pizza apple pie, I’m so strict Monday to Friday I eat between 400-600 calories and a full 2200 calories on Saturday and Sunday I don’t exercise weekends either

La.de.da

Been browsing through some of the thread. You guys are really giving me good thoughts on getting back on the wagon.

Always been overweight, in late teens/early 20's lost 9 and a half stones. Have at least half of that back up. Along with PCOS, colitis and hypothyroidism. I know these will be vastly improved the more weight I drop. Well the PCOS for sure.

I'm going to download my fitness pal. Only thing is now I have a restrictive low residue diet. So I'll have to keep my calorie intake still within the foods I can eat. And cut out the ones I shouldn't be eating ie sugar.

Might post here for some moral support every now and again.

Honestly last time I lost the weight, I rarely weighed myself. Maybe once every two months. I knew by my clothes and energy levels I was doing well. My hope is to get back to that mindset. Where the weight loss isn't all I think about, it's just living a healthier life.

Sorry for the essay!

Penn

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Down another 6 pounds today I weigh myself the 1st of every month. I’m on my diet 6 months today best thing I ever did was buying a treadmill and use it to watch tv with headphones to watch all my tv shows from America and the Soaps and listen to music

Weight Loss Diary.

2018 - June - 14.10
2018 - July - 13.06
2018 - August - 12.07
2018 - September - 11.10
2018 - October - 11.07
2018 - November - 11.04
2018 - December - 10.12

2 pounds shy of losing 4 stone

Weekdays I’m so strict but Saturday and Sunday are treats days for I’m having a pizza both days and apple pie for desert on Saturday and chocolate on Sunday I burn 1000 calories or more a day about 4-5 hours Monday to Friday on the treadmill I’m used to it now it’s so easy it wasn’t in the beginning I wanted to die but I didn’t give up.

If I had one wish it would be to eat and not gain weigh because my nana apple pie homemade is to die I’m drilling thinking about lol

Super work, tajd! 4 stone in 6 months is a hell of a result, and really shows off the effort you've put in. You have a plan and you're sticking to it, and the numbers don't lie. Fair play!

Don't know what's so special about this week (particularly as I took a short stroll down Quality Street in work), but my loss for this week is 4lb. Really happy with that as after this coming week, party season starts kicking in, so if I get another good loss this coming week Xmas shouldn't knock me too far off track.

Great seeing so many excellent results and people starting to take the plunge now. It's the season for presents, and there's no time like the present to start now!

Kevhog1988

Lost 3 pounds in my first week of comitting to a diet after a few months of sporadically eating clean followed by eating terribly. I finally have a goal in my head of being fit enough to train/play junior football for the club. Encouraging to read all the posts on here.

Penn

So for the first time since I started, I failed to hit my weekly target. Only 1lb this week. Not sure what the cause would be, though likely the 4lb last week was just a bit of a glitch and normally would have been 3lb last week and 2lb this week. Either way, 5lb over 2 weeks is something that can't be complained about.

So no matter. A loss is a loss and I'm still at least 6 weeks ahead of my main target. Plus it now brings me to 80lb lost. Having to buy even more new trousers and jeans as I'm down another size too.

This week should be more challenging due to several events, so I've already only allowed for a 1lb loss this coming week. Have a good week of it, folks!

Penn

Penn wrote: »

So for the first time since I started, I failed to hit my weekly target. Only 1lb this week. Not sure what the cause would be, though likely the 4lb last week was just a bit of a glitch and normally would have been 3lb last week and 2lb this week. Either way, 5lb over 2 weeks is something that can't be complained about.

So no matter. A loss is a loss and I'm still at least 6 weeks ahead of my main target. Plus it now brings me to 80lb lost. Having to buy even more new trousers and jeans as I'm down another size too.

This week should be more challenging due to several events, so I've already only allowed for a 1lb loss this coming week. Have a good week of it, folks!

1 pound is still a lost keep going

SozBbz

Penn wrote: »

So for the first time since I started, I failed to hit my weekly target. Only 1lb this week. Not sure what the cause would be, though likely the 4lb last week was just a bit of a glitch and normally would have been 3lb last week and 2lb this week. Either way, 5lb over 2 weeks is something that can't be complained about.

So no matter. A loss is a loss and I'm still at least 6 weeks ahead of my main target. Plus it now brings me to 80lb lost. Having to buy even more new trousers and jeans as I'm down another size too.

This week should be more challenging due to several events, so I've already only allowed for a 1lb loss this coming week. Have a good week of it, folks!

How close are you to your target weight? I'm guessing close enough as it sounds like you've lost lots already.

Anyhow, i think you need to mentally prepare yourself for the fact that such consistant big losses are going to get harder to come by as you aproach your target weight. Know it, accept it and don't let any setbacks stop you.

I know you can explain away this week and thats grand, as you say 5lbs over 2 weeks is brilliant. You will probably have weeks from now on where you've done the right things but the scales just haven't shown it for whatever reason.

You've done so well so don't let this push you off track! Weight loss is not perfectly linear and sometimes the scales won't say what you want or think you deserve. Just know that if you're doing the right things, the losses will happen, but maybe not so predictably on a weekly basis as you've seen to date.