Large weight loss

skyarmstrong_

Hi there,

Me and my daughter have recently decided to loose weight in order to feel happy and healthier as well as being able to fit into nice clothes and just feel in total amazing.

For background information, I am 50 and weigh 14 stone. She is 13 and weighs 17 stone 3.2 pounds. We are both 5”8.

We have tried loosing weight before but both have up in the process.

I am writing on this format to see if anyone has advice on loosing weight, what sort of things to eat, workouts, e.t.c. Really, I would be so thankful for any help.

Also, I was wondering what the ideal weight would be for both of us to be healthy and not overweight. We both have broad shoulders and are quite big built. All of the other information is listed before.

Thank you so much, any people that have any advice please leave it in the replies/comments of this post.

Lietchi

What to eat: obviously, focusing on whole foods, plenty of vegetables etc would be best health-wise. But the most important thing is: if you want to lose weight AND keep it off, you need to find a sustainable way of eating. Sustainable means that you like the foods you're eating, not eliminating all of your favorite foods, and preferably also not radically changing your diet in one go.
You don't mention what you're eating now, but you can lose weight pretty much eating any foods you choose, as long as the quantities are appropriate (eating fewer calories than your body needs).
So why not just start logging your food intake as it is now, and based on that info you can already easily notice foods that are high in calories and perhaps not very filling. Gradually, you can adjust quantities, perhaps make easy substitutions (lower calorie versions) etc. With time you can also start focusing on your macros: increasing protein intake often helps to feel fuller with less food etc.
If you make temporary changes to the way you eat, your weight loss is also likely to be temporary (regain when you go back to your normal way of eating) so focus on gradual changes you can keep up with after you reach your goal.

Exercise: entirely optional for weight loss, although it does allow you to eat more for the same rate of loss, or lose faster for the same food intake, and is great for health. Yet again: sustainability is important. Find exercise you enjoy and a frequency that doesn't burn you out. You can start small: short walks, for example, and build from there. Some kind of resistance training would be good to avoid losing (much) muscle mass while losing weight.

As for an ideal weight: that's impossible for us to answer. Since you mention a broad build, perhaps the top end of a normal BMI would be good. There's no need to fix that number just yet, you can set a provisional goal and then reevaluate.

I recommend reading the topics in the Most Helpful threads stickied at the top of each subforum, lots of useful info. I would also recommend seeing a doctor, for your daughter, since she's still a child it would be good to have a doctor monitoring her weight loss.

mnhughes22

I'm a "big girl" myself and I've struggled with loosing weight. I honestly find it works easier for me not to focus on a goal weight and how much I do or do not loose in a week. That focus gives me a bit of anxiety and negative thinking if I don't make some goal, and then I start having issues sticking with it.

For me, it works better when I focus more on the lifestyle changes and when I started loosing weight (about 80lbs ago) I started by re-evaluating my diet and trimming things out. My first focus was sugary drinks like sodas, juices, etc... I didn't go cold turkey on them or anything drastic, but I phased them out and I allow myself a juice still in the mid-mornings. I also worked on increasing my water intake during this time. I started my focus there because that was the biggest waste of calories in my diet.

After that I focused more on my diet, adjusting portions, removing more and more high processed foods for fresh alternatives, trying recipes with higher veggie and cleaner protein options, replacing snacks like chips for better options like nuts or what have you. I even changed the time of day that I was eating at to space my meals out better, and making lunch my bigger meal of the day rather than dinner so I wasn't going to bed with so much food in my system.

Also, like Lietchi mentioned, exercise can be optional, but I highly recommend it. Especially if you're a big person trying to loose a lot of weight. I found that for me my body seemed to shift and changed as I lost weight, the way I walked changed because I wasn't carrying so much mass on my thighs and such. I focus on small weights doing curls or arm/leg lifts, resistance bands and some really good stretches, along with walking.

You can also do minor things to "trick" yourself into walking more. Like parking in one of the back spots in the parking lot when you go grocery shopping or whatever to give yourself a few more steps in there, or going the long way to the bathroom at work, just small things like that where during the day you're just putting in a few more steps than you used to. It all adds up.

I hope that helps!

springlering62

My husband is on MFP, too. It’s very easy to share meals. He “friended” me, my diary is open, so he simply looks at what I’m having for dinner and copies it over to his food log, and then adjusts quantities as needed.

It makes it very simple for him and I can rest easy that his meals are accurately logged. (I’ve seen what he’s logged on his own, bless his heart.) 😂