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How much weight have YOU lost?

cdpm said:
Has anyone found the secret to keeping it off?
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For me it was finding what worked and sticking to it. I lost over 11st - kept it off over 10 year, I do yo-yo up and down with a stone on then off but I know why, too much dairy especially cheese & cream, also even though I do keto and people say you don’t need to count calories on keto I definitely have to. I do best at no more than 1600 cals a day keep me stable, anything more than that for a time and I gain. I gained over Christmas not because I ate off keto plan but I ate too much cheese, cream, butter and probably nuts. At the moment I’m being strict 1400 cals to get the stone off. Finding it fairly easy and the weight is going down again.
 
cdpm said:
Has anyone found the secret to keeping it off?
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The difference for my weight loss this time is that I feel like this is my new lifestyle. It’s not something to endure until I get to a certain weight. And, I enjoy eating this way. It brings me joy to know that I’m providing my body with proper fuel. Trying new, healthy dishes interest me. And, I‘m not amused with foods that I know aren’t my friends. This is different for me and I hope it will be sustainable. I’m planning to take some classes and get certified so I can teach fitness and wellness one day, after I retire from my real job.
 
For me, the secret to keeping the weight off is due to not having to feel hungry. Every other weight-loss system had me ravenous, not to mention crabby, tired and weak. I eat "enough" not due to my amazing willpower (no willpower required at all) but because there is no desire to eat more. I am amazed at this.
 
That’s interesting. I guess we all have different reasons behind our struggle. For me, I think my eating was more of habit than hunger. Because I ate when I wasn’t hungry. I was never one to eat a big meal, but overdid it on snacking at night. I now have one snack at night and it’s small and healthy. I don’t get hungry that much anymore, but I’ve learned to tolerate it. I think my stomach has really shrunk. Lol
 
I’m taking something for my mental health for the first time in my life. I live with complex PTSD and had a lot of therapy. But COVID brought up a lot of stuff. I’m on Prozac - lowest dose - and it has helped me a lot with my relationship to food. While I’m still I. The weight loss phase, it fees very different than all my many attempts earlier in life.
 
Thanks for sharing your story @rhaardoerfer, glad you are getting help with your mental health, it’s hard because it affects everything in your life but great to see you are feeling more positive with your relationship with food. Whilst I don’t have mental health issues I do have food issues and had an eating disorder (still do it never fully goes away) I can identify with you saying it feels different this time as it did for me too, it may encourage you to know I’m 14 years in on this T2 journey and way of eating and can count on one hand the blips I’ve had and they’ve been short lived so keep at it you doing fine
 

Thank you for sharing! I am excited for this new phase on life even as my diabetes diagnosis was what triggered major changes. I feel better than I have in a very long time.
 
Happy to say I’m now down 70 pounds in my weight loss journey. Still have 30 pounds to go. I suspect they may be more difficult to lose than the first 30. I’m trying to shake things up with intermittent fasting. It’s a struggle.
 
Prancy said:
Happy to say I’m now down 70 pounds in my weight loss journey. Still have 30 pounds to go. I suspect they may be more difficult to lose than the first 30. I’m trying to shake things up with intermittent fasting. It’s a struggle.
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Congratulations! 70 pounds is a massive achievement. You should be extremely proud of yourself

I'm finding it harder to lose weight as I get lighter too. Some things are easier, like hunger and cravings - I'm used to the foods and the pattern of eating. Exercise is a lot easier - I can walk farther and more often without aches and pains. I'm just finding that what used to work well in terms of diet and exercise no longer has quite the same effect. I'll just have to accept an ever-slower rate of weight loss I think - I don't fancy cutting calories any further or spending over an hour a day exercising. Some progress week on week is better than nothing.
 
You have that right! It’s more difficult to get the scale to budge. My diet is tight and carefully perfected with the aid of a nutritionist. I am baffled at how slow the weight comes off now. I work out like crazy. I do need more strength training. I’m increasing that as my tennis elbow improves. Hopefully, gaining muscle will help me burn more calories.

Thank you for the kind words. I want to stay motivated as I inch towards my goal. It’s difficult to envision me losing 30 more pounds.
 
What did you do or not do to not feel hunger?
 
cdpm said:
What did you do or not do to not feel hunger?
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When I went keto, I stopped feeling hungry for hours and hours after a meal, so slipped into intermittent fasting while not really intending to. Prior to that, being on a "healthy" diet that included carbs, and sugars from fruit/carby veg. I was always ravenous. Clearly, carbs aren't good for me personally, no matter how they affect or don't affect others. I still get hungry after about 20 hours' fasting, occasionally sooner, but I just eat whenever that happens. I've never been a snacker - wasn't brought up that way - so for me it is easy just to eat when I need to.
 
Still only 29lbs. Slow going.
 
I think I might join you guys here, if I may... I've been resisting paying too much attention to weight loss while I got myself settled into low carb (I have relapses but am determined those won't stop me this time). I feel confident with low carb now, and I have enjoyed looking at my fitbit weight history recently to see how it's going.

So while I'm not setting goals, which historically has been disastrous, I am really motivated to track weight loss and talk about it again. I'm still morbidly obese but down 3 stones from my heaviest weight in 2017. It's been up and down, and at the end of last year I was creeping up again to the level where mobility and daily life were badly impacted.

I'm going to count from January this year, and so far have lost 21lbs. The fitbit monitor is great because it records my aria scale weigh-ins every morning, and gives average weight for the week with a graph showing trending over time (week, month, all time). I find the average for the week very helpful as it smooths out the little ups and downs that can demotivate.

@Outlier I noticed sharp hunger pangs in the morning again after a few days of eating too many carbs. It vanishes almost straight away when back on low carb!
 
Congratulations on the weight loss - no small achievement and long may it continue

I'm also a fan of the Fitbit weight graph with the way it gives you a nice trend line that smooths out the ups and downs, and the weekly average numbers it gives you without the hassle of spreadsheets. I find daily numbers next to useless by themselves - 'water weight' causes too much variation from day to day, but weekly averages are a reasonably good measure of progress.

I've kept myself motivated by making a game of trying to make each weekly average lower than the last, a weekly 'challenge'. Each week offers a little tiny victory that way, making the daily weigh-in something other than just depressing drudgery. Long-term goals can be demotivating - they take forever to achieve and progress made seems insignificant - but I do find small, achievable weekly goals help keep me motivated to *not* go out and buy wine and pistachios

The very best of luck in your endeavours!
 
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