Looking to Reboot, and lose 50lb. Support needed please!

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PotatoHead_
PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
in Motivation and Support
Logged back into MFP today, after a 5 year gap.
I reached a target weight way back then, and then took my eye off the ball. Became a mum, got old etc.

My solo efforts to get back on track have repeatedly failed. Last time I actually recall succeeding was when I was recording on here. At that time I found that connecting with others daily, particularly those who had a similar amount to lose to me (ie. over 3 stone / 40 lb), was really helpful.

I guess I'm looking for support rather than tonnes of advice. When you login daily, it's nice to see in your feed that your 'pals' have done so too, and I enjoy seeing other people's weigh-in progress - it's motivational for me. If you can be one of those pals - please hit me up, thank you!

Current: 14st 11 / 207lb
Goal: 12st / 168lb
(in the UK)
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Replies

  • fairy_daisy
    fairy_daisy Posts: 247 Member
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    Hi PotatoHead_ ! I’m just restarting too. Also in the UK (Scotland). I think I’ve got about 30 pounds to lose and I’d love some mutual support/encouragement. I’ve done it before but the weight’s just gradually crept back on again and I’m feeling old too - losing weight seemed much easier ten years ago, but I’m still only 37 and it has to be possible. I’m just concentrating on logging at the moment. Good luck with getting started!
  • louisejen5918
    louisejen5918 Posts: 66 Member
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    I've just restarted too.
    CW 14st 13lbs
    First GW 12st
    Feel free to add me 😁
  • ThilaM87
    ThilaM87 Posts: 26 Member
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    Hi there, I've just restarted too, would love to have a pal throughout this journey. Failed one too many times trying on my own.
    Current = 92.8kg
    Goal = 65kg
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @fairy_daisy My gosh we sound like we're in the same position! Ditto only on the logging to get me going, and am cutting calories. I honestly feel too heavy to even exercise at the moment - I had literally bought a new swimming costume to go swimming twice a week at the very moment Corona hit us :'(

    @louisejen5918 That's so funny, our wright and goal weight are the same - We must help each other!! I got below 12st previously, so I'm hoping I can do it again. How about you, any success previously?

    @ThilaM87 I had to just google a conversion to KG, LOL :D So we're similar, although your goal is lower than mine. Is this the first time you've tried to do this with pals on MFP then? We can do this - I do find it helps to see each other on here. The time I had my big success was pre-wedding day. This time I've set it as a holiday in Sept (if it can go ahead that is...) as I find I can't succeed without a target date!

    I've sent Pal requests to all three of you !

    Do you guys have specific weigh-in plans? Daily? Weekly? A specific day of the week? I am weighing daily to hold myself accountable (this worked for me previously, but I understand most people hate this), but I'll only input weight onto MFP once a week. Are you guys doing that?

    Much Love!
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    Does anybody else want to join in too?
    I'll check back to this thread once a day to see if we have any other rebooters!
  • louisejen5918
    louisejen5918 Posts: 66 Member
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    @PotatoHead_ hey, my highest weight was 19 stone, I'd almost lost 5 stone before lockdown, but I put almost a stone back on 😭
    Ah well, gotta get on it!!
    Have you lost previously?
  • fairy_daisy
    fairy_daisy Posts: 247 Member
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    @Potatohead_ Oh no, I hope you get to use your swimming costume before long! My fitness is definitely seasonal, I normally do a load of walking and other outdoors stuff in the summer, but the lockdown messed that up. I've tried getting back to jogging, but it feels like such an effort with the extra weight, and when I exercise I want to eat more... So I'm just focussing on the food side more at the moment.

    I've tried weighing daily, weekly and monthly and I don't know what's best! At the moment I'm weighing daily but trying not to worry about random fluctuations. I'm still in the easy bit at the beginning when it goes down quickly, so I'll enjoy that!
  • Ava003
    Ava003 Posts: 28 Member
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    Hey!
    I even though I’m still young I’m gaining weight fast. I think I have put 20 pounds on in the last 6 months And at now at 170 About a month ago I decided to lose weight I haven’t lost anything but I’ve stopped gaining weight which is good. I started jogging regularly and watching what I eat a little more closely. Obviously whatever I’m doing isn’t working I’m looking to get a bit of helpful tips and support from other people trying to do the same thing
  • ThilaM87
    ThilaM87 Posts: 26 Member
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    Thanks @PotatoHead_, you're my first friend here, yay!. It's my first time reaching out to the MFP community for support. I've been in and out of MFP since 2012. My lowest weight was last year at 72kg (158 pounds). Certain days are harder than the rest and having mutual support will definitely help.

    I weigh myself daily but it affects me a lot when I see my weight fluctuating. Weekly weighing will be a better option but I can't seem to resist my urge to face the scale every morning

    Yesterday I went over my calorie goal :( I did well throughout the day but I binged on snacks at night just before bed. Felt terrible but I'm restarting again, hopefully today will be a better day. I dont understand why I can't control myself when it comes to snacks. I binge on them even when I'm not hungry. Any idea how to curb this and stay motivated?
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @louisejen5918 With all sincerity, I think you've done a fantastic job! To have lost 5 stone, and ONLY had a...what...20% wobble on that during lockdown is frankly amazing. This period has been the strangest to contend with, even if people work from home and haven't seen much change in lifestyle (with their loved ones staying safe)...the impact of what's happening has been huge. It's when I'm putting on weight that I cover my eyes and don't look at my eating or the scales. You've done the opposite, you've monitored it and are now rebooting! We can do this together!

    Yes, I've been this weight before, then went down to 11st 3 (157lb) by my wedding day. Have just gradually crept back up since I guess. I was at my goal, but stopped monitoring. That's been my failure.
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @fairy_daisy I absolutely hear you! I feel like I can barely move at this weight. Last time I lost weight, I calorie counted and got half way to my target, then added in exercise. You've just reminded me of that, despite my recent swimming plans!

    So it sounds like we will both be doing the same for now - focussing on the eating, and then building to more. Last time I found an eliptical cycle trainer good, so hopefully I can get back to using one of those in a couple of months.

    Hurrah for being in the easy bit dropping pounds! I'm only two days in, so I'm yet to have achieved anything LOL. I really hope that the easy bit is about to kick in! Maybe I'll do a MFP weight log tomorrow, since it's Sunday?
  • cugogirl2017
    cugogirl2017 Posts: 8,764 Member
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    This sounds like a good group. I am not sure how groups work. I too am back on MFP but for about a month and a half. Have lost 6 lbs. It seems slow go but I am determined to keep going. I would like to lose 50 lbs. Thank you, good luck everyone.
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @Ava003 Hellooooo! Well done for curtailing the gain! I remember the first time I started logging the calories on here - it is a real eye opener as to why you aren't losing weight.

    Ava my big tip for you is spend your first week being militant in logging everything. Literally everything. The dollop of ketchup you put on the side of the plate, and the splash of milk you add to a cup of tea. All the little tiny things add up to a significant extra amount of calories across a day that would otherwise be forgotten. You'll need kitchen scales, some time and patience...I hope your life affords that!

    I do think that this type of careful monitoring on MFP will help you figure out if there are any changes that you need to make, even if you only need to do this for a short time.

    I remember stopping eating fajitas and stirfrys regularly 5 years ago, as I was astounded at how many calories I was eating once I MFP'd all the ingredients! I had thought they were 'healthy' meals...clearly not how I was making them!
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @ThilaM87 Yeaaaaa for us being Pals !!! <3 Well done for restarting and keeping going afresh today! The norm is to have one 'over calorie day' and then give up and think "I'll start again on the 1st of next month".

    Gosh, I'm trying to think of ideas. Well, keep yourself accountable with the snacks possibly? If you have an evening snack, logon and enter it on MFP in real time as soon as you have eaten it. Might that help prevent having a second or third?

    Another option to prevent late snacking is to go to bed earlier and watch TV in bed instead of in the lounge (if your home life permits this). Brushing teeth and getting into bed tends to stop the return to the kitchen. I was given this tip before, and it helped me across my first week, just to get out of the habit of evening snacking. Once I broke the habit I got into the 'zone' and didn't go back to it for a while.

    If daily weighing is NOT motivational for you, it might have to be something you address now. If a slight upturn in weight impacts your ability to stick to your plans that day (ie. you feel low, and have more snacks as a result), then the weighing itself is a bigger issue than the snack. Maybe the two of us can commit to doing a weigh-in just once a week together, every Sunday? What do you think? I'd like to help you break the pattern of daily weighing whilst it's impacting you so negatively :*
  • ThilaM87
    ThilaM87 Posts: 26 Member
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    Thank you @PotatoHead_ for all the tips and support 🤗 The next time I feel like snacking, I'll definitely give them a go.

    Yesterday, I didn't have the urge for late night snacking, maybe I still felt guilty over what happened the day before. Haha, the mind truly works in mysterious ways.

    Weekly weigh in, every Sunday sounds great. Count me in 😊
  • cerysr
    cerysr Posts: 18 Member
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    Hi all, I’d love to join your friends group. I’m rebooting for like the millionth time. I’ve put on a fair bit of weight whilst in lockdown and a bit worried I won’t fit into my work clothes when the time comes! I’ve got about 50 kg to lose, yes kg not lbs!

    I’m best holding myself accountable if I weight daily but will only log weekly. And much like others here obviously trying to do this on my own hasn’t worked in the past! Hellllp! :#
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @ThilaM87 Yeaaa, pleased you didn't have the snacking urge! I had that urge instead of you, LOL, but I did the go to bed thing, and got through it. Likely because I was going to do a weigh-in this morning! :D

    @cerysr Hello and welcome to the reboot! You've just reminded me about work clothes, eek! I have been working full time, at first at work, but last 6-7 weeks fully at home on Zoom etc. Tbh, in these latter weeks, I've been wearing tracksuit bottoms with a work shirt. Now slightly worried about trying to get those work trousers on :#
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    <3WEIGH-IN SUNDAY <3

    So I just weighed-in, and technically I'm down 1 lb, after 3 days of being back on MFP and logging food.

    The thing is though, I'm actually only back to my weight from last Sunday in reality. I tried to 'cut' food Monday-Weds this week, and put on a 1 lb. This was the driving factor for me getting back on here and logging so that I would be more likely to succeed. So I'm happy I've proved myself right that logging and having Pals helps, but also I'm a bit miserable that I'm really still at Day 1 :(
  • PotatoHead_
    PotatoHead_ Posts: 290 Member
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    @cugogirl2017 Sorry hun, I wrote a reply before, but it's not in the trail above weirdly...so Welcome (again?)! You'll see from my weigh-in above, that I'm also in the "it seems slow" mindset with you, but slightly dejected by that in my case. Hopefully your determination can help boost mine and vice versa!

    I also can't remember how groups work on here, versus these discussion threads. Do I need to perhaps set up a group at some point, and we can shift over to that? Maybe once we have 5-10 people who definitely want to be part of a mini-community in a group?

    What does everyone else think about this 'Group' thing?
  • fairy_daisy
    fairy_daisy Posts: 247 Member
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    Hi @PotatoHead_ I’m in the same boat, just weighed in and I’ve lost weight since restarting on Thursday (after massively overeating on Wednesday) but actually just back to last week’s weight. I suppose I’ll take that, it’s better than a gain. I’ve got used to watching the scale drop for the last few days, but I guess that’ll stop. Just paying attention to weekly weigh ins sounds good, so I’ll report back next Sunday.

    I’m not really sure about groups v. message boards. Some message boards just keep running, I think you can bookmark them somehow?

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