Difficult weight loss

[Mickregan67]

I am a 58 year old female trying to lose weight

I would like to lose 3 stone I have tried slimming world lose the first two weeks then it stops have tried living on just salad but the scales are just not moving any ideas so frustrated.

[Pineapple27]

Hello Mickregan67 - welcome!

I have a significant physical disability which affects my mobility (mobility further reduced in 2002 following a head on car crash, broken tib and fib which didn't heal well and then an ankle fusion).

I am also very short - as a result of my disability (4ft 8”) rather than genetics - my two "little sisters" are both a foot taller than I am! I use a wheelchair outside of the house, and cannot stand for long period of time because of pain in my hips, lower back and damaged ankle.

Pain, long term illness, ill-health, reduction in mobility or a disability doesn't make weight loss impossible - it just makes it rather more challenging - but hey - us folks who have to deal with pain and / or disability on a daily basis are used to challenges, aren't we???

I started my weight loss journey at the end of February 2012, weighing in at 14 stone - almost 7 years ago. I was 49 years old and had been trying to lose weight all of my life since the age of 9.

I managed to lose 4.5 stone in 2 and a half years through calorie counting and logging/weighing all of my food going from a size 24 to a size 16 and from 14 stone down to 9 and a half.

Then re-gained some.... lost some again and have now managed to more or less maintain for the past 2 years (upwards during main holidays and Christmas!)

BUT... ideally I would love to drop another stone and maintain there.

The one thing that I realised very early on in my journey was that I was just eating FAR TOO MUCH! As a VERY short (4ft 8”), 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 now think of the weight I lost as each half a stone being a new born baby... I lost 9 of them and can't really understand how I was ever able to lug all of that around with me all of the time!

I often wish I had dealt with my weight when I was a lot younger, but still, better late than never and also the risk of illness that is associated with being overweight increases once you reach 50 years plus....

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 7 years down the line, I feel about 20 years younger than I did when I was lugging around 4 stone more.

A few things I've found that help me:

Cutting down on portion sizes (always read the recommended portion size on packaging),

Reducing the amount of bread, pasta and rice I eat - replacing with vegetables such as stir-fried cabbage and leek, mashed swede and carrot.

KEEP MOVING - I exercise for 1.5 hours most days, seated stretches on a gym ball and bouncing and flinging my arms about.

NEVER stop (I still log my food on a daily basis as there isn't much wiggle room).

EXERCISE isn't essential for weight loss - logging and weighing portion sizes is. If you can't move much, it's even more important to recognise that you have to eat less than someone who is more mobile / moves 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.

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

I've also got a blog that you might like to take a look at: flidfit.com

[Hidden in reply to Pineapple27]

Brilliant post pineapple. You’ve hit the nail on the head when you say you were eating too much. My problems started when I moved in with my husband. He is 6ft 6inches tall and I am 5ft 5inches. My portion size gradually crept up to match his and at one point we were the same weight and he could have done with losing a few pounds too!! We often try to make excuses for our weight gains - comfort eating etc but the bottom line, for me anyway, is I EAT TOO MUCH. I am trying to follow the LCHF way of eating but I think I also need to take a serious look at my calories too. I will be reading some of your earlier posts for inspiration xx

[Pineapple27 in reply to Hidden]

I used to weigh more than my husband (he's 5ft 9, I'm 4ft 8") and it was a very special day when I got to weigh less than him!

[Dolphin14 in reply to Hidden]

Can you tell in what the LCHF diet is?

[Hidden in reply to Dolphin14]

Hi Dolphin14 it’s Low Carb High Fat. It goes against everything we’ve been taught before but it’s becoming very popular. Have a look at the Diet Doctor website and also the Low Carb Program. 😊

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Dolphin14]

Low Carb High Fat, Dolphin14. Follow this forum too, to find out all about it healthunlocked.com/lchf-diet

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Hi and welcome, Mickregan67

You're the same age I was when I arrived here and discovered the reason I was struggling to lose weight. It was this post that led me on that voyage of discovery healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... and this supports it phcuk.org/wp-content/upload... If you follow this forum too, you'll find others on the same journey healthunlocked.com/lchf-diet

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

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

To make navigating the forum easier, we've put all the information you'll need in a newbie pack and here's the link

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Please take the time to read it carefully, so that you're able to enjoy everything that we have on offer.

We ask that you also read this important information about internet privacy and security.

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Wishing you all the best

[LouiseVeeLHG]

Hi Mickregan67,

Why don't you try to determine which foods make you lose weight and which don't?

The principal is quite simple and it has helped me shake many pounds. If you can avoid meals that make your blood sugar spike, you lose weight. It's when blood sugar levels spike that you gain weight, as your insulin turns high blood sugar into fat.

The problem is that different food types make different people's glucose levels spike, so you have to test on yourself. For example, butternut causes me no blood sugar spike, cranberries do. A bowl of vanilla ice cream - no blood sugar spike, oats do, etc.

Here's what you do:

Get yourself a blood glucose meter (cheap)

Get yourself some test strips (not so cheap)

Get a little black book to record your readings

Take a reading after you fasted for about 3 hours (don't test in the morning as your levels are naturally high in the morning), and start on basic food types you eat most:

(Rolled) Oats, Bread, Maize, Tomato, Coffee, Carrots, Potato, Pork, Fats, Butter, etc. Take a baseline reading before your first bite, then at 30 minutes after 1st bite, 60 minutes and 90. Compare the % climb from baseline to highest - that is your spike. 0-15% spike is OK, anything higher is bad - avoid those foods in future.

In my opinion weight loss is a problem you can solve yourself with a bit of self-research.

[Hidden]

Welcome Mickregan. There is some good advice in the previous responses. Have a good read as it will definitely point you in the right direction. Come on here as often as you can as you will get so much motivation from reading other posts and if you support others you will get loads of support back.

I look forward to seeing your journey. Good luck x

[S11m]

Bad official advice has made it hard to lose weight for most of us for decades.

Try giving up grains, potatoes and sugar... and working towards a Low-carbohydrate, High-Fat diet.

Do Not Eat All Day aka (Intermittent) Fasting. Start by setting a time in the evening after which you do not eat, and gradually narrow your eating window. See:

healthunlocked.com/fasting-...

[chellfitz]

Hiya I'm 55 and want to lose 3 stone too xx

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to chellfitz]

Hello and welcome chellfitz 😊

I hope you have found some useful information by reading the replies above and other posts on the forum. As Moreless suggests above, what we eat is so important, with low fats diets not being especially helpful, especially as we get older. This post explains why the hormonal changes women go through affect the way their bodies use carbohydrates and how important it is to reduce them healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

In case you haven’t already, please read the Welcome post here healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... please read it carefully and just ask if you have any questions.

Best wIshes

Indigo 😊

[akshay244]

mam, weight loss can be possible at any age it's not a difficult task but doing weight loss changes need to be taken in our lifestyle. I am sharing some of it that helpful for others you can also follow it.

1. Reduce sugar intake

2. Follow a balanced diet

3. Cycling, running or workout for 30 min.

4. Don't take the stress

5. Track all physical activity and diet

these are some fast weight loss tips follow it and start getting the result from week 1.

visit: nutritionguide.in/how-to-lo...

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to akshay244]

Hello akshay244, are you here to lose weight, or to offer advise?

[Sally6798]

Hi,

One thing I also never heard when I was struggling with my overweight is that your gut flora makes you crave the food it wants. If you have an imbalanced gut flora (with more bad bacteria than good), you will crave refined sugar, high salted food, etc...What I started doing is introducing homemade fruit kefir, kombucha and fermented food in my diet to rebalance my gut flora (these food and beverages are full of beneficial bacteria for the gut). I began slowly and then introduced more and more of these. I started to see changes in my attraction to food. I would never think I would be very attracted to vegetables actually. You can find many videos on Youtube about the gut flora and how to rebalance it with fermented beverages and food.

I saw that some people mentioned intermittent fasting. I am now doing it, I think this also helps a lot.

I wish you all the best!

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Sally6798]

Hi and welcome, Sally6798

That's very interesting and something I need to look into more too, thank you.

I hope you'll follow the links I've given Mickregan67 and will become an active member of our forum.

Onwards and downwards!