hello ALL. I am back after more than 2 years!. i joined you for 2 successful weeks of amazing, massive weight loss, then I stalled, got very upset and gave up!. then, last February, I gathered the courage to become healthier: the live well scheme was extremely helpful and supportive for me to register on a weight loss programme for 12 weeks, but I have failed miserably! , again!. no weight loss whatsoever!!!. I really was not really ready to lose weight, I only aimed at changing my unhealthy eating habits, drinking more water and upgrading my mobility... now I feel very guilty and had to give up- as I was feeling unsuccessful, thinking that I will not be able to achieve any weight loss ever!
Perhaps the clue is that I have to stop trying to reach a three or four pounds weight loss a week and concentrate on enhancing my healthier lifestyle choices as I originally intended...
I feel I would like to rejoin your group, but with a more relaxed attitude, not prioritising in weight loss, but rather finding the little quirky ways that fit my needs and lifestyle, enjoying my journey, rather than surrounding myself with stressing and unachievable targets.
I suppose, that I just have discovered that weight loss is as everything important in life: it can only be achieved by a consistent and enjoyable journey, achieved by hard work and confidence, which I hope I can find within myself and with your help.
Thank you health unlocked and all of you here for staying with me in the background!: every time I saw your emails, even when I was not an active part of the group, I felt that when I was ready to try again, I would be able to do so.
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Sole_1
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Hello and a very warm welcome back to the Weight Loss Forum Sole_1 😊.
I am pleased that the forum has been of help to you in the background. You are absolutely right about making the right changes at the right time, and about small steps being important. What helped me was focussing on healthy, and sustainable, habit changes rather than actual scale weight. I’ve updated your badge to show you as a restart, please wear it with pride as it proves you didn’t give up. 😊👏🎉
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Hello Sole-1, there is so much in the press for ‘quick weight loss’, drop a size in 4 weeks.....non of which is sustainable. Be kind to yourself and make small changes. Someone once posted their ‘actual weight loss’ over a couple of years which showed that’s it not linear. There will be ups and downs and plateaus. I wish you lots of luck on your journey...
Welcome! 3 or 4lb a week is far too much - that would mean you'd be starving yourself and your body would soon demand that you stuff yourself to ward off starvation! Your metabolism would soon slow down too and you'd soon stop losing anything. So I'd go for a steady 1lb a week. Good luck!
Welcome back. You hit the nail on the head when you said that you need to concentrate on a healthier life style rather than the weight loss. The lifestyle change may bring you a weight loss of 3 or 4 lbs at the beginning but this isn’t sustainable in the long run. 1/2 - 1lb a week is a much better target. 1lb per week will leave you 2 stone lighter by December! A very achievable target.
Hello Sole_1 and welcome back! Apologies for the length of my post, but feel free to read it in short instalments....
When I started my weight loss over 7 years ago (aged 49), I had 4.5 stone to lose. I lost most of my weigh using a website: weightlossresources.co.uk (which I still use to this day!) but I enjoy the support and posts on here alongside using the other site.
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 - over 7 years ago. I am just 4ft 8” tall and so was classed clinically obese.
I had been trying to lose weight all of my life since the age of 9. I had used Weight Watchers and Slimming World at various points. I would lose about a stone, then get fed up and go back to old ways of eating - the weight would return - plus a bit more. I realise with hindsight that the lack of awareness of "portion size" meant that these ways of attempting to lose weight were never going to work for me.
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. That works out at 130 weeks, so on average my weight loss was less than half a pound a week - of course some weeks I lost more, others I gained... but I am trying to impress upon you the importance of just keeping on going, even though the weight may not come off as quickly as you would like it to.
I cannot stress enough how important this part of the weight loss journey is - being 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.
The other great news is that it is entirely possible to lose weight without moving! Of course though, there are lots of advantages to moving a bit more - but it doesn't have to be as formal as going to a gym or out for a five mile run. A good session of house work, mowing the lawn (when the weather permits!) or even a cooking session will all burn calories and have the advantage of making you feel much better emotionally too! It's good to find something that you LIKE doing, that is enjoyable and that you are likely to sustain on a regular basis.
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.
Eating the way that I do now means that nothing is forbidden - everything in moderation, treats little and often. I've ditched takeaways and fast food and only eat out now for special occasions rather than a couple of times a week. To start with, I resented that I had to do this, but over time I have come to accept that this is my "new way of life". I'd rather cut back but have all the benefits I enjoy with improves mobility, less pain, the ability to do things I once couldn't and knowing that my health is as good as I can make it.
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 6 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.
Welcome back Sole_1 and well done for overcoming your disappointments and giving yourself a chance to learn something new and try again.
" stop trying to reach a three or four pounds weight loss a week"... Definitely. Sensible weight loss is around 1-2lbs a week and there will likely be fluctuations so that some weeks you may not lose at all. Last week I gained 2lbs and am still unsure why that was.
The main thing is to keep going and to keep talking about it and even when we think we've failed, to keep coming back here and talking about. This helps others to help us.
"achieved by a consistent and enjoyable journey, achieved by hard work and confidence"... so true
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