Counting calories with moderate exercise

Hey also looking for some motivation! I sent a friend request 🙂

So, how fast are you trying to lose weight? Losing as much as 4 stone (56 pounds, translated for other USA-ians like me) is going to be a long-term change in habits, taking many weeks to many months. That puts a priority on sustainability.

What I'd suggest is not trying to lose weight super fast, but rather trying to find relatively easy and tolerable ways to lose gradually. It's not necessary to give up all treats (though it can be helpful to eliminate ones you can't personally eat in moderation instead). Enjoyable exercise is a useful part of the process, so kudos on getting that going.

I won't speak for you, but motivation isn't my strongest skill, and it's hard to stay motivated for months at a time. Thinking in terms of changing routine habits - eating and activity patterns - in manageable ways, a bit a time, can minimize the amount of motivation (will power, discipline, etc.) needed. Experiment to find some changes that are reasonably manageable to make, use that limited motivation budget to practice them until they become routine, then next time there's a burst of motivation make some more changes.

Many people find that staying at a healthy weight long-term is the more difficult practice, not least because it's ideally a "forever" thing. In my experience, it helps to create new habits during loss that are easy/tolerable enough to continue long term almost on autopilot when other parts of life get complicated, because they eventually will.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: I was overweight to obese for around 30 years, and have been at a healthy weight for 7+ years now, after losing pretty close to the amount you're shooting to lose. It can work, and it's a major quality of life improvement!