Ww's works on points rather than cals...but I would work it out at 1500 cals a day...
Maybe that's just the way people who don't have a weight problem work..my friends who have never had a weight issue have a weight where they feel happy and just keep an eye on things..and cut down when the pounds creep up...Easier to do something about a few pounds rather than letting yourself get to 21 stone which I was 2 years ago!

I'm also at 1500 per day, Maintenance will be roughly 2000 cals, up it gradually and I mean very gradually. So go to 1600 for a week and reassess, 100 cals is only 1 extra banana each day for example, then do the same next week. Once the weight starts going on you are over your maintenance so drop back down 100 cals, If you jump all of a sudden its going straight to fat.

That must be murder. I know how I felt last summer where I wasn't far from 17 stone. Always pulling at my t-shirts and easily getting back pains. As I had lost all my muscles. I could barely workout for 3 minutes when I started all this. Now I'm 12.6 stone but still not where I want to be. I'm looking forward to the next few months.

WOW more amazing results, Thats how I am also, you think once you reach X weight you'll look the way you want but once you get there its not. For me I thought it was 13 stone down from 16 in Jan but once I've got here I realise there is still more work to do, 12 stone might do it, the problem is you end up losing both muscle and fat, I know guys who I wouldn't say are bulked up but they certainly look thinner than me but they are heavier.

Yes..that's something I could try....Having being so overweight (25 stone at my heaviest) I don't think I know what eating 'normally' is...It's all a learning curve!

Well done on your success...so many benefits to weight loss..my main reason was type 2 diabetes raging uncontrollably...now gone..normal blood sugars, and one happy doctor!..Good luck on your next steps along the path!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JPa2mvSQ4

It truly is a lifestyle change. I love working out now. Though I'm still ringing dripping in sweat after 2 hours 15 minutes workout sessions roughly everyday. Though, what I know now from one of the posters recently in this thread, I wish I took part in one of those weight watchers or such but I'm doing this for me and not following anyone else's diet except my own.

Even over Christmas/New Year I lost weight that was how determined I was and still. It is and will continue to come off. I even plateaued for a month and I was nowhere over my limit. I just continued to stick to the plan, cook my own high protein diet and workout hard. It certainly wasn't the first I plateaued but it was the longest. Sometimes I lost 6lbs in a week but that was rare, regularly 4lbs, 3lbs, 2lbs and 1lbs. You just have to keep going as the body is a complex machine. It certainly wont shed the weight to ones schedule. It will deal with it in its own time.

I certainly do not regret it. How energised you feel but best of all is the joy of cooking nice food. Salmon dishes frozen and tinned with different seasonings, scrambled egg with no cheese, chicken dishes, pork dishes with variety of different coleslaw, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes. My own sauces with very very low amounts of sugar/salt as I am so sensitive to any sugar or salt it makes me grew towards it. Quite a few other things I'm missing... Soup variety as well.
Nuts has been tempting but it is the salt... I find any form of salt extremely strong.

Porridge or Ready Brek with bananas sliced in the morning. Or low fat yoghurts. Apples/Bananas for a sweet tooth moment. Treats, liquorice. Refreshments, only mineral water listed 0.0/.01g non sparkling. Nice big stash.

No bread
No Rolls
No crisps
No sweets
No deserts
No alcohol
No biscuits
No cake
No coffee
No cream
No pizzas
No pasta
No pastry
No beans
No pies
No potatoes/chips
No fast food
No processed food
No microwave food/no microwave period don't own one
No takeaways
No sodas of any kind whatsoever
No orange juice
No smoking
No snacking
No eating late at night or through the night
No bacon due to the tanginess of the salt, same for sausages

I've actually gained muscle though, from both rowing machine, stationary bike and small weights.

I'm setting small goals though, my first was 182lbs, new goal is 168lbs and I think my final goal will be between 165lbs and 154lbs. Whatever I weigh once I've completely lost my stomach/flab. Though you could be right as I'm sure I'll have a new goal by then.


Thanks, it certainly teaches you patience. In fact everything about it truly is education. My biggest shock was 2 years ago one morning watching Sky News as they were playing a game with cotton balls, guess how many cubes of sugar was in each small glass. I was shocked how many were in the glass of cola. Sure I knew there was a lot, say 3 - 4 but it was 7. I was like what the f#%*! For so long I lived off coca cola, Irn-Bru and such and since then I've been cold turkey.

That was when I started learning how so much sugar hampers your metabolism. Then of course that year later I decided to step on the scales as it was irritating me pulling my shirts all the time, sides and back. Got the fright of my life that day I stepped on the scales.

Never again will I allow this!

Indeed as you say how many benefits there are. Look better, feel better, feel better mentally, positively and sharper thinking. As well as clothes all fit. I'm now down to medium t-shirts and 34" waist.

I've had a pretty awful few months diet-wise since February. I started off the year well and lost weight but I then went on a weekend holiday of no exercise and unhealthy eating and after that I simply couldn't resist going back to my old ways. I tried to keep my gym routine up but I grew to hate it even more than I usually do and stopped at the end of March.

I got a bit of a 'wake up call' from a relative at the weekend when they made some rather curt comments about my weight, so i've resolve to change my ways on Sunday. Since then i've been on a 'proper' diet - complete cold turkey from everything bad and eating no more than 1000-1200 calories a day. My normal weight loss regime has been to cut out the worst foods from my diets but not eat much less and just hit the gym regularly - but i'm 100% not going back to the gym or any other exercise (other than walking) so this is my only option.

I was pretty hungry on Monday and Tuesday but my appetite receded yesterday. Now I just have a constant headache and am irritable - which I assume is from the sugar withdrawal. I'm drinking coffee with sweeteners in occasionally but I don't want to get too reliant on them.

Now I have the issue of trying to work out how to manage my social life and other things round this new diet. We have a team lunch every Friday and apparently the only thing being provided tomorrow is pizza, so I need to work out a way of either skipping the lunch or just not eating anything during it. Then I have things like bbqs and going out for meals with friends to manage - it's not going to be easy but I suppose i'll get used to it. I stopped drinking back in September so I guess it's a similar process of changing your habits.

Just jump back on that horse and go again.

Yes social things can be an issue, I've had 2 parties so far this year where I went and ate and drank nothing as there was nothing healthy on offer, or we went out to an all you can eat Chinese buffet, I sat poking pieces of chicken out of the curry pot as its all I could eat that was healthy, not fun and people think you're weird but sod it, they're probably jealous that they don't have the same will power.

My failure to manage my diet and weight was clearly one of the factors that led to me developing type 2 diabetes in my 50's about 8 years ago. Since then I have managed my diabetes by diet supplemented with Metformin tablets and had managed to lose about 2 stones. My blood sugar is now below the level measured on the diabetic scale. However last year I gradually put on about a stone and after Christmas was determined to do something about it.

I read about the 5:2 diet and though sceptical decided to give it a go. What appealed to me was that I only needed to be absolutely vigilant about what I ate for two days a week and could eat normally and even have the odd "bad day" without feeling guilty or that I had "fallen off the wagon". On my fasting days I can have 600 calories which largely thanks to the inventiveness of my wife in researching menus and counting calories hasn't been much of a problem.

All I can say is the it has worked for me and I have lost 15 lbs in about two months. My latest blood sugar reading was the lowest ever despite reducing the amount of Metformin that I am taking.

My Facebook "on this day" shows that a year ago today I weighed just 0.5lb more than I do now. I did put on weight late last year though 😞

So this morning I hit my goal weight I set back in January of 83kg down from 106kg and more importantly I am now in the healthy BMI range which is the first time I can ever remember being in this range. The plan now is to try and build some muscle.

Fantastic! Well done

Excellent results to everyone who has lost weight. Thanks to those who commented on my loss too.

I just wanted to update from my post above that i'm now four weeks into my new eating regime and i've had some pretty fast results. I'm not weighing myself but clothes are fitting much better and people have commented that i've lost weight. I feel a lot better as well.

The first couple of weeks were extremely difficult - I definitely had some sort of withdrawal symptoms from sweet and fatty foods and I was waking up in the middle of the night with hunger pains. However that all eventually receded and I'm finding it much easier. I still have to ignore my body whenever it tells me i'm hungry but it's like my mentality has shifted to just accepting it - i'm no longer searching cupboards for food at 9pm

Most importantly i've done it without exercising - well apart from the golf that I play anyway. I can't tell you how much of a motivation it is to not snack at work knowing that the reward is that I don't have go to the gym/running in the evening.

I suppose time will tell how successful I am getting down to a healthy weight and staying there but i'm currently feeling better about it than I have for a long, long time.

Hi everyone, hope it's ok that I join in.

I used to be a healthy 8 stone 6 pounds and a size 8. After my health took a severe nosedive in my mid 20s (although I'd had various issues since childhood and never knew why) I was subsequently diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, POTS, Fibromyalgia etc. at the age of 30. I was put on various medications and these combined with my newly sedentary lifestyle caused my weight to balloon to over 12 Stone. Try as I might I have never been able to shift that weight.

As of this month I finally decided enough was enough. I know I will never be 8 stone 6 pounds again but if I don't lose at least SOME of the weight now, at 37 years old, I never will.

I still can't do any exercise (except for some light physio) and my diet has never been full or varied as my condition affects my appetite and my digestive system, but I'm going to do whatever I can to lose at least some of this extra weight. I have to.

At the start of May I was 12 -8. Currently I am 12 -3. First target is to get to 12 and then I will see where I go from there.

Xxx

Good effort serenity.

I'm hardly the best person to give advice on this subject (see my posts above ) but I would say that it is possible to lose weight without exercise or a complicated diet. As simplistic as it sounds it's just about reducing your total food intake down to an appropriate level and then sticking with it regardless of how you feel. It takes a serious amount of will power and determination but if you're willing to stick with it you can break through.

Thank you so much. Another half pound down this week so 2.5 pounds to go to first target.

As I said my appetite is poor, and I realised I was skipping meals a lot because I just couldn't face them, then eating biscuits or chocolate instead. I'm trying to force myself to be a bit more sensible - even if I don't feel like a full meal I will have some toast or some cereal or at least some grapes or something, instead of biscuits.

Now down to 12 Stone 0.5 pounds. Half a pound off my target! When I reach 12 I will set a new goal of 11 stone 7 pounds

I weighed myself for the first time on saturday and was surprised to see that I'm almost a stone lighter than this time last year - even though i'm sure my waist size is the same (well I'm wearing the same trousers and jeans).

I can only assume that I was building up a lot of muscle weight last year which kept my overall weight artificially high. It would explain why I was struggling so much with the scales. Not that you could tell this from photos back then - I didn't look any more muscular.

This giving up the gym/exercise thing has been a revelation so far. It's allowed me to focus 100% on changing my eating habits without the constantly pressure of having to dedicate so much of my free time on doing something I hate.

Well done to everyone on their weight loss quest

I have lost 20 kilos since February so pretty pleased, but during this time I've been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and high cholesterol

When I was retested for hyperthyroidism it seemed to have gone back to acceptable levels so no medication required apparently- but I am going to see a specialist about my cholesterol as it's the inherited kind

I just feel so tired all the time, anyone else have these symptoms ?

Tired all the time is a big symptom of Hypothyroidism, it was one of the major things I had before I was diagnosed. Do you know what the acceptable level was? It may be that you are just outside of the Hypo range but still feeling the symptoms.

Hi,

It was a bit confusing as the nurse practitioner said I should be on medication, but then the GP said I was borderline on the first test and had levelled out on the second one (which was 5 months later) no-one had told me I even had hypothyroidism in February .
It would explain so much, I feel so useless.

Good job everyone still working at their weight loss goals xx

Last weigh in had me at 11 stone 12 pounds - lightest I've been in over 2 years. New target 11 -7

Well done everyone who is losing weight !!

I am still sticking at it with my every 3 week visit to Boots to weigh in on their scales. My current update is down to 26.12 stone (okay, so that is pretty much 27 stone, but being just in the 26 mark sounds better, ha). Started in last November at 33 stone. Aiming for 22 stone at the end of December. Taking it nice and slow but if I gave up all "treats" I would rebound, I know that, as long as I lose 5 to 6 pounds every 3 weeks then I can still eat some sweets and stuff from time to time.