Week 7, another 1.5lbs gone

very well done Bigmumma. You are doing great. I had a look at your previous comments and others' replies. Keep going but could you do swimming instead of walking to save your knees? Keep eating sensibly. Every little helps.

Hi MrsWobble2, thank you for your reply and support.

I have always been very active despite being overweight or obese for all my adult life. My hubby and I used to go hillwalking and hiking most weekends and our holidays were always spent walking coastlines, reservoirs, woods, local beauty spots, etc so its second nature for me to walk. I live in a seaside town and yesterdays walk was a 6 mile round trip along the prom. I swim for half an hour twice a week and do a half hour mobility workout at the gym twice a week to to reduce the inflammation in my joints. I have no doubt that the arthritis in my spine and knees is due to the amount of walking I have done over the years, and ironically I need to continue to stop my joints seizing up. Nowadays my walking is restricted to walking on the flat so we joined the national trust and spend our weekends and holidays at a more leisurely pace. Food is my problem, and its my diet thats caused my fatty liver. I overeat very rich fatty food, in fact I am a glutton and regularly binge. Sorry for the essay of the history of my life. It was only after joining this forum that I realised how valuable having support from others with similar issues is. So thank you to you and everyone else for showing an interest and supporting me in my journey. Hopefully I am able to show as much support to others x

hello again Bigmumma and thank you for that nice long message. I am glad you you recognise that rich fatty food is the problem. I hope you are making sure that you dont buy rich fatty foods or high sugar foods so that you dont have them in the house. That is really the best way I think. Then if you have been really good each day and have been eating what you know is good/lower calorie snacks and meals then (if you trust yourself not to binge) you can allow yourself a special, small treat each day. A 6 mile walk is a long way (and more than I can manage) but I dont think it really is great for you if you have inflammation in your joints. I would be interested to know what sort of foods you eat in the day and what you consider to be good foods and a naughly small treat. I am trying to lose a stone and have lost a few pounds over the last month but my scales seem to go up and down and give me several choices each day! so I need to weigh myself at work. :0)

A typical binge was 2 mini pork pies, 2 pepperoni, 3 bags crisps, family bar choc or half box choccies and a cream cake - all in one sitting, in the evening and that was after I had had dinner. Now I am at Weightwatchers after the dr referred me. I am on their flex plan which basically is a list of basic, plain food that I can eat freely. Any treats come out of a 49 point weekly allowance. It's working for me and there are definitely no junk foods on the list.

My hubby has recently been diagnosed with high cholesterol so we only buy low fat foods and my binge days are a long way away. The only problem I have is my 18 year old daughter who fills the fridge with junk. But I get round this by putting all her stuff in the outside, spare fridge as soon as she leaves for work each day. Its all about finding strategies that work for you,isn't it?

As for my arthritis, 2 years ago I was walking with a stick after I 'logically' stopped walking when I was in pain. The less I moved the more my joints inflamed and the more painful they were so again I moved less and less. I was in a vicious cycle, my bp went up as did my cholesterol and I developed a fatty liver. Dr told me it was essential I moved more and suggested swimming, mobility exercises and walking on the flat (and to avoid hills where poss). He prescribed very strong painkillers and in those first few months I was popping them like mad. Now I rarely take the painkillers as the pain is now tolerable. For me walking and moving more has become an essential way of life and I really notice it if I ever have a sofa day. If I don't move my joints swell. I have strict guidelines from my dr - no high impact, no high resistance(on gym machines) and definitely no weights. After yesterdays walk , today I have slight discomfort with my sciatica and that is all. If I had had a sofa day, my joints would be screaming. We are all different and this approach suits me and keeps me mobile. I have not needed my stick for over a year. To use the 'how long is a piece of string analogy' to one person a long walk is a mile but to another it's 26 (thats the furthest I have ever walked in one day and that was pre-arthritis, I doubt I will ever walk that far again). Thank you for your continued interest and support. Sorry for the essay again

Oh Bigmumma, I felt ill when you described the binges. Thank goodness that is in the past! How hard to have to handle the junk food for your daughter and move it to another fridge. Can she not just put her food in the outside fridge straight away so you dont have to see it and handle it. It is not really fair on you although it is challenging your ability to ignore junk food..... I am glad you on a special and sensible weightwatchers diet plan and good that your husband supports you as he is being careful too. My husband and I are both trying to reduce our calories so we can get rid of our wobble. I was wondering if you work as it is good to get out of the house and focus on other things and other people too.

I am not in paid employment, but I do get out a lot,between the health centre, shopping, weightwatchers and national trust properties and am rarely alone. Both my hubbies and my parents are elderly with one quite disabled so my mother in law goes to the gym and swimming with me (to give her an hour of peace as my father in law is quite demanding, bless him). I take my mother out shopping regularly too as my father is quite demanding in other ways... Lol. As they are getting older I need to be there for them as they come to rely on me more and more. I cannot imagine a more rewarding job than caring for elderly relatives. Won't bore you with the details but they were all there for me during the most traumatic experience a parent can have nearly 20 years ago and I need to be there for them now x

Oh, and I just love the names we give ourselves on this forum, hopefully one day we can change them... Notsobigmumma and MrsWobblenomore! Lol x

ha ha. I quite like Mrs Wobble! I wobble anyway because I am bosumy. x

BigM, yes I know what you mean about wanting to help your elderly relatives. You are a kind person. Its good that they have you. Me and my siblings help with our lovely (elderly) mother. Glad you are keeping busy. Have a good day and we will message again I hope. x

I know just what you're going through, I lost a total of 5 stone but it took me almost two years and I had good days and bad ones too! but keep up the good work because in the long run it's all worth it . You will find the longer you're on your diet the easier it becomes and before long it won't feel like a diet you won't even think about it. GOOD LUCK

Thank you Sarsy, its true the longer you stick with it the easier it gets. The first few days of dieting I craved refined carbs like mad. I had replaced them with fruit and by the end of the first weeks, I no longer craved them ( though I still eat up to 7 portions of fruit a day - but virtually no salad or veg, thats next on my diet to do list). When my family have cake and chocolate though, I do indulge but try to keep portions down (a strip of chocolate rather than a whole bar). I dont feel deprived then

well done sarsy!

It's journeys like yours and others (My Weightwatcher leader lost 8 stone and kept it off), that help people like me stay on track. I have spent most of my adult life yoyo dieting but never quite succeeding before falling back into bad habits. This time I have no choice but to succeed, my health depends on it. I have tried every diet on the planet (well it feels like it anyway), and have finally found WW which isn't a diet, its a lifestyle change with many members who have stuck to the propoints plan (which is totally unrestricted as far as which foods you can eat) for years and maintained their weight loss. I am on their flex plan which is more restrictive but it has taught me to identify raw foods, raw meaning mainly unprocessed. Thank you for your support x

You are doing really well. I hope your knees are feeling a bit better. I hope I will do as well by week 7 (just joined). Knees can be a problem for mee when I am walking at the moment, I hear them clicking so I realise I am putting a lot of pressure on them with my weight so this is 1 reason I am here, Keep up the good work

Thank you for your reply, my knees are sadly on their last legs ( no pun intended), they dont just click, they squish and grind. My dr says its crepitus (!?) i just describe them as decrepit. No amount of weight loss will repair the damage sadly, but will hopefully delay any surgical intervention. Initially I felt my knees were improving but when the pain returned i realised it was just coincidence - anyone with arthritis will know some days are worse than others with symptoms varying from mild (very little pain) to severe ( crippling pain that makes u want to go back to bed but you know that will actually make things worse). I am hoping I will get fewer really painful days. But its my liver that needs the most attention and ironically there is no pain associated with a fatty liver

Hi big Mumma. my right knee was a bit sore yesterday but it was fine this morning when I woke up. I have always had clicky knees so am expecting trouble as I get older. How was your eating day?

Glad to hear your knee is feeling better today.

Foodwise, its been a good day today. As usual I have been snacking on fruit throughout the day (2 bananas, 2 apples, 2 slices of pineapple and half a dozen strawberries, then a small bunch of grapes this evening). I even managed a few pieces of carrot. 10 weeks ago I rarely ate 1 portion of fruit a week so this is the biggest change in my diet. Breakfast was a bowl of puffed wheat, lunch a chicken sandwich (on low cal bread) and dinner was a ham and low fat cheese omelette. Drank water, sugar free fizzy drink and coffee. 11350 steps on the pedometer. A good day.

How was your day, are you following the nhs choices plan or doing another diet?

They say for very pound lost, 5 off the knees ( pressure I think)

Had a really bad day with my knees today. Could have done with my stick really but vanity and overconfidence resulted in my leaving it in the car when we were out on a day trip.

I really really hope that they improve as the weight comes off, but not looking good so far.

I hope things improve

Well done, it's still a loss. Same as I lost this week. Keep it up!!