New girl !

I’m the new 54yr old girl here although I’m not starting the diet until Monday. I’ve been very careful with what I eat and been doing couch to 5k (wk8) running for 25-30 mins a day but I’m still the same weight 😫 so I’m going to give the diet a serious go next week. So want and need to lose 2 stone! Blooming menopause!

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

Hello and welcome, Scruffyhair 😊

Good for you, doing C25k. I hope you get the running bug. Exercise/activity has so many benefits but, as you've found, it doesn't do much for our weight. For that, it comes down to what we eat.

As we get older and our metabolism has taken a hammering, most of us have developed insulin resistance and we cope much less well with carbohydrates. Please read this, which explains further healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

And this is a great, simple plan for getting on the right track. You could print it out and use it to plan your shopping this weekend, for your new start phcuk.org/wp-content/upload...

You'll find all the information you need about the forum in our Pinned Posts healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... including a Welcome message, the Daily Diary and the current weigh in: a good place to start is by joining a weekly weigh in on the day of your choice (maybe Monday, if that's when you plan to start) and using the Daily Diary, where members share their meal plans.

Take your time exploring. This gives you a tour of the forum healthunlocked.com/?tour=true and, along with Pinned Posts, will show you how things work. I hope you'll become an active member and we will see you joining in around the forum 😊

[Hidden in reply to BridgeGirl]

Thank you for that. Will look into it. Was going to just limit my calorie intake to as low as I can get without having to eat dust. Will start it on Monday so can get a good full week in without any set backs and go from there. Had some crisps and a can of coke already today! 😮 so after the weekend it is all systems go.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Hidden]

Please don't do that. You may have immediate results but you'll soon grind to a halt and where would you go then?

That's a simple, unfussy, unfaddy guide I've given you, full of good stuff and adaptable to your tastes. Start making some plans for next week and follow the link I've given you for Pinned Posts, so you can join the weigh in and Daily Diary on Monday.

You're in good company now

[SofaJockey]

Best of luck with that. What sort of diet are you thinking of following? 😄

[Hidden in reply to SofaJockey]

Thank you. I am going to just try and eat healthier foods and keep my calorie intake to as low as I can. The recommendation was between 1400 - 1700 - the lower end being better so I shall aim for that, hopefully I won’t have to eat just dust! I’ve stopped all alcohol (12 weeks) and caffeine. Fingers crossed it will kick start my metabolism and the weight will start dropping off - 😆 yeh- I can dream !

[Lytham 3 stone]

I feel your pain, the hot flushes are the bane of my life ! Take a look at lchf, it's supposed to help in our situation, but the food is gorgeous ! x

[Hidden in reply to Lytham]

Thank you, will have a look at that. Although HRT is definitely helping (on it 3 months) with the symptoms -I am flush free! Yay! Brain fog is clearing and got my energy back. Just need to lose the belly! 😊

[Lytham 3 stone in reply to Hidden]

And you will, stick with us, you'll get there! x

[Hidden]

Hi Scruffyhair. Welcome 🙂 I'm sure you will be successful with your 2 stone weight loss and you will get tons of support here xx

[Pink4eva]

Hi Scruffyhair, welcome to the forum. I am menopausal/hot flushes. Started following LCHF with IF nearly a month ago, also started HRT at the same time. symptoms have eased a bit, the main thing for me is reduction in cravings and subsequent binge eating. Hope you get on ok, happy to chat.

[Hidden in reply to Pink4eva]

Thank you. Yes HRT has been my saviour! I have been on it 3 months and I am now flush free - yay! The brain fog has cleared and I am sleeping so much better. Energy levels are up. I stopped alcohol and caffeine (12 weeks ago), and my fitness is improving just need to lose the jelly belly and thunder thighs! It’s just finding ‘healthy’ foods that are low calorie (daily calorie allowance 1,400 or there snouts) according to the recommendation from my BMI. Hopefully I won’t be eating just dust, as of Monday morning. 😆

[SofaJockey in reply to Hidden]

Healthy food isn't so hard to find. For example, today I had a yoghurt breakfast with a pinch of Alpen and some double cream. Lunch was sardines with some sweetcorn. Dinner will be Chicken Tikka with cauliflower rice. Some blue cheese on crackers (2) to finish. I don't routinely calorie count (though I suspect that's low). The main thing is it's tasty and satisfies my hunger so I don't snack and lose weight too.

I believe weight-loss is determined much more by what you eat than simply the lack of food. Dust or even dust-plus can be pretty miserable. Might be worth looking at the daily diary thread and of course LCHF as has already been suggested.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Hidden]

The NHS BMI calculator will have given you a range, not a single figure. Where does 1400 come in that?

Of course, if you follow the real food plan, you won't need to count anything

[Hidden]

😂 * (there a bouts)

Not (there snouts)

Although that was probably more appropriate for my calorie intake 😆🐽

[Pink4eva]

Me too, haven’t had any alcohol for 4 wks, this has helped me a lot, not just the calories from g and t, I am far more likely to binge eat when I have had some alcohol. I am still getting the odd hot flush, but nowhere near as bad. Have lost half a stone so far, which is ok, but was hoping for more. Everyone says that a steady weight loss is more sustainable, so have to be patient. I need to loose about 4 stone. This time last year was nearly at my target weight, have put it all back on again through binge eating.