140 Days 'Til Hamilton! Can I lose a stone by then? Let's see...

MerinneW
MerinneW Posts: 71 Member
in Getting Started
I've been on here... a while. And yet I am as big as I've ever been except when pregnant. I have always had a problematic relationship with food from a tiny child, but I lost control of my eating in 2018 after traumatic bereavement. I never really got it back in hand. I am now 14 stone, about 4 stone overweight. I look it. But worse I feel it. I'm uncomfortable, my clothes don't fit, my joints are complaining, I hurt. I want to stop.

My basic diet is actually great - lots of fruit and veg, whole grains, protein, three balanced meals a day. But I binge-eat snacks and crap around my meals, I can eat twice as many calories in snacks a day as I do on meals. My partner, who eats pretty much the same meals as me, is in great shape, meanwhile I don't so much run to fat as scurry, vault and spring to obesity! So what I need to do is knock the junk food on the head. That's all I need to do, and I think the weight will drop off (or at very least stop piling on!).

So I have a plan - a mini goal to kickstart me and give me a reason to let go of the dysfunctional comfort of my overeating disorder, to fight to actually care for myself in wholesome ways instead of running myself into the ground and then papering over the cracks with sugar highs, and to prioritise this project in the face of the hurdles that will no doubt come up.

I am a total Hamilton fiend, I listen to the soundtrack every day, and my best friend and I have booked tickets to go and see it on 17 June. I am SO EXCITED! But I want to make a real night of it: I want to dress up, look great, feel great, go for a nice dinner before, then go out dancing after. And I will, frankly, even if I've put on another stone by then, because I'm a mum of two small kids, I don't get out much and I'm going to make the most of it :P But how much NICER that would be if I was on a path back to health, if my feet and knees don't ache from carrying me around, if my clothes lie down nicely on me instead of pinching and bunching and riding up and falling down. If, basically, I've lost some weight by then!

So I'm setting myself a realistic goal - 1 stone, 14 pounds, in 140 days. I mean in theory this is a VERY modest goal (sustainable weight loss is supposed to be about a pound a week, it's 20 weeks away). But knowing myself as I do, I think achievable and small is better than ambitious and doomed to fail! :)

Wish me luck, give me your best motivating speech, share the Hamilton fan-girling :P - whatever you feel!

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,261 Member
    That sounds like a really wonderful plan: So much better than the "I must lose dozens of pounds almost instantly so I will eat only protein smoothies and do endless HIIT workouts" kind of plans we sometimes see here. OK, I'm exaggerating, but only a little.

    IMO, gradually remodeling habits can work really well for weight loss, and creates a more sustainable path to long-term maintenance. Certainly, you'll need to make some intentional changes in your daily life habits to reach your goal, but it should be reasonably manageable. For me, when I started logging my eating, some things really jumped out at me as high-calorie items that weren't worth that much to me for tastiness, satiation, nutrition, or any other good reason. Those first adjustments were fairly easy, and pretty obvious.

    I'm cheering for you to succeed: You're not throwing away your shot! ;)
  • ckschw
    ckschw Posts: 5 Member
    Good luck on your weight loss journey - it sounds like you have a workable plan. I started my weight loss journey in December and continue to struggle but have decided to keep moving. I was a real snacker and so I removed all triggers when I started - it helped tremendously - if it's not available you can't eat it - simple idea but very effective. Best Wishes on your Journey......
  • 1poundatax
    1poundatax Posts: 231 Member
    Like you I am a healthy eater at meal time- BUT- in between I do a lot of mindless snacking. I am working on gaining control of that. Not having snack foods in the house is not an option. I do have the choice about eating them, it is within my control. Right now I am focused on eating when I am hungry, being mindful of what, when, why I am eating. I am diligent about tracking- otherwise I can "forget" what I had or rationalize that it "wasn't that much." My goal is to lose 30 pounds by my 65th birthday in December. That is almost 41 weeks away. If I don't achieve it I will not beat myself up because I will know that I am closer than I am now.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,421 Member
    @MerinneW

    How has this first month gone? Sounds like a great plan, stick around and let us know how you're doing. :)
  • MerinneW
    MerinneW Posts: 71 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    @MerinneW

    How has this first month gone? Sounds like a great plan, stick around and let us know how you're doing. :)

    This month went completely bloody awful, sad to say! Kids and partner and self constantly ill, bad news, always some reason to binge - I've done badly. BUT I did do 100 skips every day of Feb for Cancer Research UK; and I did have a few runs of days where I didn't binge eat. My weight hasn't gone up, but it hasn't gone down. Still everything to play for!

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