Hoping for the best outcome!

[angelis58]

Hi everyone, i've always struggled with my weight, gone from losing and gaining, from being depressed over it, to accepting of it, and back again! However, im 58 this year and its taking its toll on my health now, so I need to lose around six stone and keep it off for good. Not going to be easy - best of luck to us all!!

[Tiggerr]

Welcome angelis.

You're basically describing the life of many of the people here who can totally sympathise.

Try to read as much info that the admins supply, join in as much as you can and keep your mind open to new ideas.

Good luck!

[IndigoBlue61]

Hello and welcome to the Weight Loss Forum angelis58 😊

We've found active participation to be key to success, especially with our weigh-ins and Daily Diary. Follow this link to our chat thread and a list of all the activities we run healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

If you haven’t already, then please read the Welcome post here which has lots of useful information about all the things we have on offer. healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

For your own privacy and safety online we suggest that you lock your posts by selecting ‘members of my community’ when you write a new post. Please read our security post here healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... especially as your post isn’t locked

Have a good read and please just ask if you have any questions

Best wishes in your weight loss journey

Indigo 😊

[H61g]

Welcome angelis, there’s many of us on here just like you, so you’re not alone. Engage with this site and you’ll get lots of support. Good luck with your journey 😊

[Pineapple27]

Welcome angelis58 , yep, that was me some 7 or 8 years ago. Tried Weight Watchers, Slimming World, lost weight, got fed up, regained the weight and more....

If you want this to work for the longer term, you need to think about it as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. That lifestyle change will need to happen a bit at a time and will involve many things : changing your behaviour around food, portion control, emotional eating triggers, increasing your activity levels, trying new foods, making healthy food swaps, etc.

Commitment to diet/lifestyle change and resistance to temptation doesn't just happen! It has to be worked at.

The only way I have succeeded this time is to change how I approach food and eating it. I have learned to resist temptation! BUT please believe that this has taken a LOT of hard work and practice.

It's about "normalising" or "modifying" behaviour around food... and I think that with enough "practice" it becomes more and more easy until you get to the point where a behaviour is modified to the point of it becoming the only way.

I am sure that even some people who are not over weight do sometimes over indulge - but the fact is they don't do it very often...

Those of us who are over weight have been used to "treating" ourselves, eating portions that are too large, eating the things that we know are calorific because we can!

It's been a combination of changing all of those aspects of how I behave around food that has meant I have been successful this time.

I have developed a respect for the food I eat. Not everyone has the ability to eat as well as we in the western world eat. We should not abuse the privilege.

I rarely eat "on the hoof" any more, I rarely eat between meals. I take time to sit at a table and present my meals nicely. I take a moment or two to really look at my plate of food before I pick up my knife and fork.

Almost daily I say to hubbie "Aren't we lucky to be able to enjoy such lovely food". I really mean that too, I am not saying it for anyones benefit but his and mine. We should never take for granted having easy access to delicious food stuffs and our ability and love of cooking!

If you log your food - keep track of how many calories some of those "treats" contain, after a while they kind of stay in your head (medium egg = 70 cals, slice of white bread 100 cals, meringue nest 57 cals, 30g (matchbox size) of cheddar, 122 cals)

I do have sweet treats, but I buy my own choice, so things like 2 finger Kitkat, single finger Twix, Club biscuit... these are all around 100 calories. I keep them in a tin and I can have one whenever I want to, but I limit it to no more than one a day and usually with my afternoon cup of tea. That's not to say I eat one on a daily basis (usually about 2-3 times a week). They are always logged into my diary.

If you don't keep a log of what you are eating and the calories foods contain, then it's a bit like trying to travel from one place to another without a map! You might get there eventually BUT it's likely to take you much longer than if you planned the route and used a map PLUS you might take a few wrong turnings and end up going back on yourself!

I have also learned not to plan each trip out of the house to include food. Once upon a time, I'd have included lunch with a trip into town, coffee and cake with a visit to the garden centre.

I now plan or even prepare a meal BEFORE I go out (usually a salad) so that I know exactly what I can eat as soon as I walk into the door... and don't turn to "what I fancy" (usually high calorie carbs that don't keep you full for very long...)

Make a list of the reasons WHY you want to lose weight. Keep it somewhere safe (stuck to the inside of a kitchen cupboard door?) and look at it from time to time, especially when you are raiding the kitchen for treats!

I always ask myself before eating something really calorific "Do I really want to eat this thing more than I want to lose weight this week?". It's called "mindful eating" - being aware of why you are considering eating - real hunger? Boredom? Temptation? Feeling fed up?

Have a glass of water, wait 5 minutes and consider whether you still want the food. Once it's been snaffled down, it's too late and you may end up feeling cross and angry with yourself....

....and that feeling (guilt, failure) lasts for a long time, much longer than the temporary enjoyment of whatever treat you ate....

Oh, and I always remind myself how good the feeling is of seeing a loss on the scales at my weekly weigh in! That wonderful feeling lasts for days! Don't forget how that feels - you need to remind yourself of that feeling next time temptation strikes!

I’m healthier and fitter now at the age of 56 than I was 20 years ago…..

I am writing this as someone who had struggled all of my life (since the age of 9) to lose weight. I have a significant disability that affects my mobility - use a wheelchair outside of the house. I am also very short (4ft 8”). It wasn't until the age of 49 when I started to log everything and kept track of the calories I was consuming that the truth hit me between the eyes. I was eating FAR TOO MUCH for a short sedentary person. I changed my whole approach to food and eating it that everything else clicked into place

Just wished I’d found what worked for me years ago.

[Trierisme 1st 7lbs in reply to Pineapple27]

What a wonderfully supportive, encouraging and practical post pineapple27, I was going to reply but you’ve honestly covered everything, and very well too...

[angelis58]

Thank you so much for the supportive messages, its a hard journey I know, as i've done it a few times before - just hope I get to better grips with it this time! Good day today though, only made healthy choices with the weekly shop - other half needs to lose a couple of stone too, so hopefully it works well for the both of us.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to angelis58]

If you've done it several times before, then there's one thing you know for certain: you have to do it differently this time. Don't tell yourself you failed, it's your diet plan that failed you. Don't fall into the trap of doing the same thing but trying to work harder at it this time: find a different approach

I don't think anyone has given you these to read: they could make all the difference

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

phcuk.org/wp-content/upload...

[angelis58]

Some really interesting reading there, and very helpful, thank you BridgeGirl! And you're right, it has to be different this time - i'm not looking at it as a 'diet', more of a lifestyle change, to improve my health more than anything. Be nice to go down a few dress sizes too though!

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to angelis58]

I'm sure you'll see those dress sizes shrinking. Once you get the eating right, the weight will follow

I recommend joining a weekly weigh in on the day of your choice, and using the Daily Diary to log your meal plans - I've found that really helpful. All directions in the Welcome post IndigoBlue gave you the link for

[Gin-Gin]

Your story sounds like you were talking about me. Only difference is I'm 67.

We can do it!!

[Tiggerr in reply to Gin-Gin]

Hi Gin-Gin and welcome.

At the risk of sounding terribly repetitive, as has been mentioned a few times here, frequent use of this forum is what often makes the difference for so many people.

Tagging TeamAdmin so that you can get the official welcome plus a host of really helpful information

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Gin-Gin]

Me too, Gin-Gin And I've lost close to three and a half stones with the support I've had from this forum, and what I've learned along the way. I eat very differently now from 18 months ago. This is one of the posts that helped me find a new approach

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

This explains how the forum works and how to find your way around healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... I recommend joining a weekly weigh in on the day of your choice, and also using the Daily Diary to help with your meal planning.

Please also read our post about privacy and security online healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Wishing you success in reaching your goals

[angelis58 in reply to Gin-Gin]

We can definitely do it Gin-Gin, I only joined here yesterday and its been so helpful already!