I recently found this site and am very impressed by the community support offered. I started to try and lose weight back in February and since then have lost about 24 Lbs. That represents about 8%. I am not obsessive honest.
I have found it hard. I use "My fitness Pal", I think it's a great app but in my experience you need to be a bit obsessive to get a grip on your life. I take more exercise than in years (gym and swimming) and I get on the scales daily. I know that is not recommended but I enjoy the link (or otherwise) between calorie intake, exercise and weight.
What amazes me is how low my calorific intake needs to be to reduce weight. I am 6' 2" and started at over 20 stone and my usual intake is sub 2000 and frequently nearer 1500. I rarely binge, my alcohol intake is moderate and I don't cheat. Everything I ingest goes into the app. I don't experience out of the ordinary cravings or hunger pangs but progress seems very slow.
Am I doing things wrong? I such slow progress normal? The reason I say I think it is hard is that I think my calorie restriction is quite extreme compared with the results.
I am by the way aware of the dangers of obsession and I don't think I will lose my balance.
Written by
Manosteel
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Have a look at the NHS 12 week plan, as many people have had success with it. Also use the BMI (can be found in the pinned Newbie post) to find your target calories, it's important to eat enough. This was a major turning point for me, realising I could eat anything I wanted as long as the calories are accounted for 😊
Don't forget to take your starting measurements and a 'before' picture, as they can be very motivating on days that the scales refuse to co-operate 😊
To the right of the HOME page (bottom on a mobile), you'll find Events. In there, you'll find links to our daily Weigh-in's (you will choose just one day per week), our Daily Diary, where we post our menu and exercise plans, for accountability, advice and support - which is great to get ideas of what other people are eating and I have to confess to nicking some of their menu's and our “What's happening today” thread, where we pop in for a chat.
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We've found that to get the best out of this community, we need to be active on the forum, as it's where we exchange information, get motivation and inspiration and make friends. We hope that you'll join us here, regularly, too 😊
Wishing you all the best on your weight loss journey
Have you put your stats into the NHS BMI checker - it gives you the calorie range to eat to enable you to lose weight
If you reduce calories too far your body seems to cling to fat. I've done a quick calculation and estimate you should be eating considerable more . . . Well over the 2000 mark 😊
For sustainability and long term success this is really important
Best wishes
Anna
Morning. If you have an old photo, to compare to a more recent image of yourself, you may get the validation you seek. We can be our own worst critics and not acknowledge the achievements that are obvious to others. I'm constantly reading posts on this forum about the improvements in muscle tone, stamina, well being, cm loss, clothes fitting better that all come as unexpected added extras.
Hi there, the advice above is sound. I am just over 20 stone (26 when I started at the end of January ) and I am eating 2500 calories on weekdays and about 3000 on weekends. This took a bit of experimentation to find what was the right number for me. But what you are targeting is very low. Give eating a bit more of the right stuff a try and see what happens. Good luck
Thanks for all your answers you have given me a lot to think about. It does seem counter intuitive to eat more and lose more weight. Thanks James40, you have done brilliantly. Do you exercise much?
Sorry James, I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty, I was just trying to understand what has worked so well for you. I think you could crowd fund the secret.
I wish I had the secret. I found what worked for me, but I am a firm believer in the fact that everyone is different. So what works for me won't necessarily work for others. Obviously the fundamentals are the same, but the exact formula is different. Good luck with finding yours. Once you have it you won't look back!
I do agree with the others above about you not eating enough so do look on the NHS bmi calculator as advised above, there is also a link on here to get there too. I think it is in the welcome newbies although I could be wrong with where it is as I just google it and find something with NHS site to count and click on that. I can't remember name for it though. The reason I will only use this one is because the others tend to give average amounts that is same for all that, go on site and the calculator gives personal amounts for each person to lose weight. I never used to lose weight before because I never ate enough calories and not eating enough means your body thinks you are starving it and turns what you do eat into body fat and this weighs more than eating the extra calories does and stops you from losing weight and sometimes puts weight on instead. You will also find the amount of calories you can eat a lot higher than you would expect. Hope all works out well for you and good luck with your journey.
Thank you so much everyone. It really is a leap of faith to relax the strictures but I am going to give it a go. As with most things it seems that the answer is in your own head. I will let you know how I get on. I suspect that my weight will bounce up for a while until I reach a new balance.
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and our “What's happening today” thread, where we pop in for a chat.
Well - here we go; I'm a newbie
Not lost any weight for nearly two months
Newbie alert 
Newbie! 
