Maybe on second thoughts that title should read onwards and downwards! I'm nearly 57 and seem to have been unhappy with my weight most of my life. Since my teens I have calorie counted, renounced carbs and counted points. Over the years I have become an expert on what to do to lose weight but I expect like many on here not very consistent at putting it into practice! I love to cook which I think can help with healthy eating.In 2007 I weighed 1pound under 17 stone-not good if 5ft 2! I'm now 13 stone 4. A slow process but going in the right direction! Last summer I reached the giddy heights or lows of 11 stone 4 and for the first time in years was thrilled to wear clothes that I enjoyed rather than for what they covered.Sadly a stressful year resulted in comfort eating and weight gain. I'm in a position now where after many years of caring for others I can care for myself and see at bit of the world. In September I followed my dreams and went on an Italian tour. To my amazement we were walking 6 miles a day-something I never thought I could do! OK I admit it-there was often gelato involved! I came back without gaining a pound!Theresa are other adventures planned for next year and I want to undertake them fit and slim! I don't really think it matters what diet plan you follow it just has to work for you and you have to be in the right headspace. I favour weight watchers but the old system as find it varied and flexible. Certainly worked this week as lost 7lb. I know the challenge comes when you work hard and weight loss slowsdown. So onwards and downwards!
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Jrt1
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Hello and welcome to the Weight Loss Forum Jrt1 and very well done on maintaining the bulk of your weight loss. That really is a difficult thing 😊
First of all I'd like to invite you to join our Newbie Club, which we hope will be a good place for you to connect with members, who are also just starting out. If you just post a few words to introduce yourself and respond to others there, you'll soon break the ice. Here's the link
You'll find all the information you need to navigate the forum in the header and a link to the 12 week plan, so please take the time to read it carefully.
I also follow a portion counted plan, very similar to the old WW but I do eat a little more, this is how I have managed to,lose weight and keep it off so please double check your calorie target using the nhs BMI checker. 7lbs in a week is quite a rapid loss and I suspect, not all fat, so, as I’m sure you already know, this rate ain’t really sustainable. But very well done for getting back on track 😊
And as you say, being able to enjoy fabulous trips like your Italian one is why we are all trying to get fitter and slimmer. Onwards and downwards is our catch phrase too 😊
Thankyou for you reply😊. Yes I was rather surprised as well as pleased. I think a virus helped as I wasn't particularly hungry-usually a starting point is 4-5lb. I would be delighted with 2lb a week but middle aget and hormones mean I will be happy with 1b a week! Yes now I'm in a position to follow a few dreams I want to be physically as fit as I can be-in a few years I want to go to India and although I think you should seize the day I think I will need optimum fitness levels!
I really understand about caring responsibilities taking their toll on the time that you can devote to your own health.... myself and my husband cared for his Mum for over a year (she lived with us) through There are many of us on this Forum who have additional barriers to losing our weight - whether it's age, the side-effects of medication, thyroid problems, disability, illness.... it just means that we will have to put in that little more effort to counting calories and keeping an eye on portion sizes as we are likely to need less calories because of our inability to burn additional calories through huge amount of exercise....
I have a disability that I was born with (shortening of all four limbs as a result of the drug Thalidomide my mum took when pregnant with me). As a result my mobility is minimal - and was further reduced following a serious head on car crash in 2002 when I broke my ankle. I went on to have my ankle joint fused and am still in constant pain with it.
I started my weight loss journey at 14 stone - 5 and a half years ago. I am just 4ft 9" tall and so was classed clinically obese.
I was 49 years old and had been trying to lose weight all of my life since the age of 9. My disability makes exercise difficult (I am very sedentary and use a wheelchair outside of the house).
The one thing that I realised very early on in my journey was that I was just eating FAR TOO MUCH! I was a short, middle aged, sedentary female and I was eating the same as 5ft 9" active man (my now husband!). No wonder I was piling on the weight!
I started my journey at the end of February 2012, and managed to lose 4.5 stone in 2 and a half years through calorie counting and logging/weighing all of my food.
I cannot stress enough how important this part of the weight loss journey is - beng able to recognise just how much we are eating and address that. It is not about cutting out any foods but about being able to make informed choices about the foods we eat Also about learning how to behave differently around food. Just because food is in front of us does not mean to say that we have to eat it! Being able to exercise control and moderate intake is paramount.
I re-gained some of the weight I lost, then lost it again and have now managed to more or less maintain for the past 6 months at around 10 stone. Still considered "over weight".
Ideally I would love to drop another stone to 9 stone and maintain there.
My weight loss journey has been long, but I am still learning new tips and tricks to help me along the way and what's more, still enjoying the challenge! I would say that my behaviour around food has changed massively - I have learned to respect food, to "break" it's control over me, and to be able to modify how I behave with food. Just because food is within sight doesn't mean I have to eat it! I don't see eating the way I do as meaning that I am missing out any more - in fact I am now able to enjoy my life and have regained the ability to do things that I struggled to do or even found impossible to do!
Here are a few of my past posts which I hope you will find helpful and inspiring. I won't try and tell you that my journey was easy - and you'll see that there were many blips along the way, but 5 years down the line, I feel about 20 years younger than I did when I was lugging around 4 stone more.
Please do pop back to the forums and share your journey with us - we are here for you, day and night and happy to share your success or support you when you need it.
ou are spot on despite what many people say losing weight is rarely as simple as just eating less-you really have to change your relationship with food and also try and work out why you eat certain things.Im definitely a comfort eater! I think its also about breaking habits.I remember years ago being quite surprised by people who bought chocolate on a regular basis which wasn't something I really did.Then I got into the habit of buying them and it almost became second nature-hmm never felt like that about lettuce though! Its a habit I have now broken and fortunately the craving has disappeared. In fact I try and avoid any diet versions of sweet things altogether -they are normally so high in sugar. I tell myself now that if I want a treat it will be high days and holidays-and something very special that I will savour.
I tend to follow Weightwatchers-the old one as I find it very easy and very flexible.I think part of the reason my weight hasn't increased as much as it could have done during difficult times is I continue with their basic techniques such as using spray oil and lean meat etc even if I have thrown in the odd Mars bar! I think maintenance is the hardest part which is why I really have tried hard to change how I view food.Healthier eating has to be a way of life rather than a means of getting into a size 12. My daughter is a massive fan of Slimming World and has done incredibly well but I find the notion of unlimited carbs unnerving and the portions are absolutely massive. Not good if you come off the plan and start eating "normally",most of us are overweight because we eat too much of something whether chocolate or cheese-we need to know what a reasonable portion is!
Finally two of my favourite tips are:
Am I hungry or tired-its amazing how often I think I'm hungry when in reality am tired and am just looking for a boost(hopefully not the aptly named chocolate bar!)
Secondly a great visual boost is to get two pretty jars and either shells,beads or pebbles. I use medium sized shells,one jar represents the number of pounds I need to lose and as I lose weight I transfer a shell to the other jar.Im looking forward to transferring that last shell over!
It sounds simple but on many an occasion before someone told me this is would find myself being peckish during the evening and sometimes undoing a days healthy eating when I should of just gone to bed! The mid afternoon slump is another pitfall😕!
Yes I was a career for a long time, very easy to forget you are entitled to a life also. I also like to cook but sometimes wish I didn’t have to bother..Enjoy your freedom it sounds like fun.
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