21 stone:Goals and Realistic Expectations

Unicrons Dad

I'm in my late 30s and very out of shape at 21 stone at only 6FT tall , I really want to shed this weight but Id appreciate some advice on some long term targets and realistic goals from a weight loss and diet point of view . My long term goal is around 13-14 stone but that's going to take a while, probably a year of consistent effort. My initial goal is to get to 17 stone and I should get there within 3-6 months of consistent effort and a good diet. Obviously healthy eating is natural foods like fruit veg fisg eggs lean meats etc but how realistic is it to cut the ****e food too. I was planning a cheat meal once a week. Any advice is greatly appreciated

Fann Linn

Unicrons Dad wrote: »

I'm in my late 30s and very out of shape at 21 stone at only 6FT tall , I really want to shed this weight but Id appreciate some advice on some long term targets and realistic goals from a weight loss and diet point of view . My long term goal is around 13-14 stone but that's going to take a while, probably a year of consistent effort. My initial goal is to get to 17 stone and I should get there within 3-6 months of consistent effort and a good diet. Obviously healthy eating is natural foods like fruit veg fisg eggs lean meats etc but how realistic is it to cut the ****e food too. I was planning a cheat meal once a week. Any advice is greatly appreciated

I went from 15.5 to 13 last year. Kept the cheat meals to once every 6 to 7 weeks. Plus plenty of exercise.

Alf Veedersane

Unicrons Dad wrote: »

I'm in my late 30s and very out of shape at 21 stone at only 6FT tall , I really want to shed this weight but Id appreciate some advice on some long term targets and realistic goals from a weight loss and diet point of view . My long term goal is around 13-14 stone but that's going to take a while, probably a year of consistent effort. My initial goal is to get to 17 stone and I should get there within 3-6 months of consistent effort and a good diet. Obviously healthy eating is natural foods like fruit veg fisg eggs lean meats etc but how realistic is it to cut the ****e food too. I was planning a cheat meal once a week. Any advice is greatly appreciated

A 'cheat' meal is fine within reason. If you go on an all-out binge in the one go and class it as a cheat 'meal, then you're kidding yourself. If you get too carried away, you'll undo too much of the 6 and a half day's work for the sake of one meal.

Also, track your intake on MyFitnessPal for a period of time to get a better understanding of your food...calories and portion sizes. You'll need a digital scales as well. It's a bit of a pain in the hole at first but you become quicker at it and you really learn where you need to make changes.

Don't focus on the ultimate goal but on the goals all along the way. Getting under 20 stone, under 18, etc.

I suspect you know a lot of the foods you shouldn't be eating as regularly as you are. That's why recording on MyFitnessPal will help - you'll see the damage they do to your calorie count. So work on whittling away at those until you've removed/reduced them to the point where they're not a problem.

Also, there's a General Weight Loss Support Thread that is good to post in and put your thoughts down in writing. Sometimes when you're finding it hard, It's good to get feedback from others who have been in the same position.

And if you get derailed, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Recognise what happened, accept it for what it was and get back on track asap.

Best of luck.

Unicrons Dad

Im thinking 2000 calories a day would be a good number for me to cut on ?

Alf Veedersane

Unicrons Dad wrote: »

Im thinking 2000 calories a day would be a good number for me to cut on ?

It's a good starting point. How effective it is as a target for your calories will be borne out on the scales. Assuming you're recording everything you eat and drink accurately and honestly. If you are and you're not losing weight, then you might need to revise downwards but kick off by making some changes, recording your intake and building your plan on that. You don't need to make drastic changes all at once - some people can, others can't. Figure out how to get to a point where your diet is such that you can maintain at 13 stone without needing to check what you're eating, ie your diet is 90% good and your weightis managed by default

Brian?

Unicrons Dad wrote: »

Im thinking 2000 calories a day would be a good number for me to cut on ?

That may be a bit on the low side and could leave you starving all day. Depends on your activity level. Myfitnesspal is your friend there.

For the cheat meals, once as week is fine imo. I lost the guts of 5 stone once in a year. I actually had a cheat day rather than a cheat meal. I found I could eat less on the cheat day as time went on. When I cheated I went big, taco fries for breakfast when I was coming off night shift big. I wouldn't go that big though in the beginning.

Macy0161

Started similar, at 20 plus stone and 6ft tall. After a few years arsing around with "diets" that just gave short term weight loss that went back on, I went calorie counting using myfitnesspal. Target weight has gradually crept down as sporting goals changed, but I'd recommend incremental steps rather than a long range one. I'm aiming to maintain now at around 11st 4lb (cycling and running my current focus), but my inital goal was 16stone, that became 15, etc. I'm several years down the track - it's been a lifestyle change, not a "diet", and that's probably the right mindset.

What worked for me was...

• Working out my maintenance calories (from the sticky here somewhere)
• Taking 500 calories off that as my target
• Honestly and accurately tracked my calorie intake - that means weighing really
• Weigh in weekly, and recalculated maintenance and deficit after that (I set up the maintenance calculation in a spreadsheet just to be quicker)
• On top of the diet, I aimed to "earn" 500 calories a day through exercise, which was walking at the start.

My experience at your size is that portion control will give the initial weight loss, and simple changes like switching from fried to grilled/ oven baked. I think what made it sustainable for me was a gradual change of diet rather than a big bang approach. I'm not going to say don't go healthy, but just be mindful of too many extreme changes. Before you cook or eat, work out/ look at the options in myfitnesspal - it did inform my choices.

As for cheat meals - once you record it, and accept it will slow progress, if that's what makes it work for you. Personally, I always kept my beer and crisps night, as that was a social and mental outlet for me. Undoubtedly slowed my weight loss, but I come back to sustainability. Same as if I was eating out, I just enjoyed what I was eating and went for it - but it would be rare enough to not make a massive difference tbh. If you google "fakeaways" you'll come up with healthier/ less calorific alternatives - taco fries was mentioned by Brian, I actually prefer my fakeaway version to chipper version these days.

You have to have your head fully in it and commit would be my last advice!

La.de.da

Best of luck OP. once you get on track it'll become a little easier.

I lost 6 stone over the course of 2 years. For me it was a marathon not a race.

I made small changes, went back to basic cooking with fresh ingredients. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. 2 litres of water. Exercise 4 times a week. Being prepared and doing you weekly shop, having healthy things in incase you crave snacks really helps.

Personally I didn't weigh everything I ate or write it down as when I did this I became too obsessed with food. I weighed myself once a month. But felt progress in my clothes and shape.

Fell off the wagon plenty of times, but that's human.