Hi all, I have just celebrated my 70th birthday with a great party lots of friends and lots of dancing and some pics were put on fab and it really hit me how over weight I am and I have been hating my body for years now. I retired from the nhs 18 months ago, I live alone and struggle with anxiety and depression and I find I eat and drink for comfort far too much. I’m trying to loss weight for health and looks reasons.
I really struggle with sticking to a system for very long and I need tons of enchoragement.
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Macastro
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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.
I know the feeling - they say the camera never lies and mine has been brutally honest on more than one occasion.
Some of us are going low carb high fat (LCHF) - I find it brill, I can eat butter, cream etc. Just cut the white stuff, like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes.
Sounds totally against what we've been told for years, but it works. You eat loads of healty veg and the fat keeps you feeling full.
Others calorie count but that's never appealed to me.
I was able to lose over four stone to get down to my target weight for my 70th birthday party.
I live alone - and I was depressed for years after the death of my late wife.
You will get support and encouragement here - but weight loss is not all about motivation and masochism, and you can "slim smart" without having to try tooo hard.
Many of us here find that what works is a combination of The Low Carbohydrate, High-Fat (LCHF) diet (see the forum here on Health Unlocked) and Not Snacking All Day AKA Intermittent Fasting (IF). See:
Hi Macastro and welcome! You will find this a great supportive environment to lose that weight.
Looks as if you had a great time for your 70th birthday.
The fact you live on your own might make this easier in some respects (you can make sure you don't have to cater for others), but of course harder in others (no body to encourage and support you). But you've got us lot here now, who are here to spur you on and help you when it gets tough.
Maybe now is the time to devote some time to ensuring that your retirement is a very long and happy one!
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 7 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.
Weight loss has always been hard for me. I retired from the nhs just over a year ago where I worked 12 hour days mostly on my feet so I exspended lots of energy so retirement is so different and I need all the enchoragement I can get. Dies watching rugby count?
I imagine after working long hours, especially being on your feet all the time, it’s a bit tempting to be lured by the siren call of the sofa now you’ve retired?
Guess you’re still adjusting to ‘all that free time’ you now have. I put it like that because most people I know say they are far more busy when they retire than when they were at work!
At the moment I’ve got 16 years of work (should that be time?) left. That’s if they don’t increase the age for retirement again..🙄
I’ve a sneaky suspicion that your comment about watching the rugby could be wishful thinking! Ha, ha!
Hi Macastro, you will get lots of encouragement and advice on this site.
Just a thought, maybe you could see if there are any health walks near you, these are groups of people who join together to walk.
This or something similar would provide exercise, a social event not food related and being out in green spaces with new people may help you feel better in yourself.
I find being out in the fresh air no matter what the weather makes me feel better about most things.
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