Losing weight when you don't have much to lose

VJsmum

I have lost 18lb in the last 6 months by cutting out sugar and wheat and doing the 5:2. I, too, was carrying a lot round my middle but it has all gone and rather than going "out" i now go "in" :T

I haven't really done heavy duty exercise either - i really just walk everywhere. I do about an hours walking three times a week plus some smaller intermittent walking

Butter and cheese are fine - it's what you put them on that is more important.

Gloomendoom

fairy_lights wrote: »

As the title says, has anyone had any success in losing weight when you only have a few pounds to lose?

Mrs G discovered some time ago that watching her diet was the way to keep a trim tum... and that it is the best way to remove any excess that creeps on over Christmas and the like. Exercise on its own doesn't do it.

She only ever has a few pounds to lose and she manages to do it successfully. Unfortunately, pound for pound, it seems to take her a lot longer to do than people who start with a higher proportion of fat. She doesn't starve herself though.



Waiting for a ferry... not at the gym.

Rebecca_Palmer

Hi, for me jogging and walking around is the best exercise ever. You dont really exert effort that much but you get to loose pounds slowly:)

YORKSHIRELASS

I can sympathise. I am 5ft 4 and weigh just over 8.5 stones. If I put any weight on it goes straight on my tummy and it shows.

A gym instructor once said to me that ladies don't naturally have a completely flat stomach and if you have had kids then that makes it more difficult to get your tummy toned.

With anything to do with diet and exercise I think its all about finding something that works for you and it sounds like you have already done really well.

I love kettlebells and would definitely give that a try. For me a mixture of different types of exercise really works, I currently do dance aerobics, cycling and kettlebells. And brisk walking. I agree with others, dont underestimate the power of a brisk 30 minute walk every day.

As for diet I dont believe in cutting things out or following special diets. I just try to eat a sensible balanced diet, not too much saturated fat, sugar, processed food, red meat or alcohol and plenty of fresh fruit and veg.

lantanna

I'm exactly the same as you. I lost 6.7 stone with Slimming world and have been left with a little belly. As a child and before gaining weight I was always thick around the middle. Its just my shape.


There is absolutely no fat on me apart from my belly. My body fat measurements are good. I go to CX Works classes which I find really good. Its all about strengthening your core a lot of it I think. Also I think I lot of it is accepting who you are and what you've got.


You may not love your belly but I bet there are parts of you that other people would kill for!!!

Fluff15

By the sounds of things you're doing everything right - just need to make some small improvements. Try and get the exercise up. I find for myself, short sessions of around 25-35 minutes of HIIT works best, which alternates between cardio and weights, keeps your heart rate up and builds muscle. For a quick fix I use Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (available on youtube), but I had a look on that website you're using and it had good videos as well. Maybe if you're trying to find just 30 minutes each day, rather than a full hour, you might feel more up for it?

Breakfast is great. What bread do you use on your sandwiches? Can you swap it for a more nutritionally dense bread such as seeded? Also, do you like raw vegetables? Can you snack on things like snap peas, carrots and french beans? Also swap the dried fruit for real fruit. Ingesting more nutrients means your body will not try and retain the fat due to lack of nutrients.

Jack's recipes are great. Try and limit your cauliflower cheese for the weekend and swap out roasted veg with butter for olive oil. If you're having roasted veg like butternut squash etc, then maybe up that for your dinner during the week instead of additional mash. Bulk out meals with more vegetables where possible and don't forget to treat yourself at the weekends!

Take your measurements now (in the morning - you will bloat throughout the day) and again in four weeks at the same time if you have stuck to making small changes, I'm sure you'll see an improvement.

penneyeugene

I prefer losing weight when I only have a few pounds to lose compared to losing a lot. It seems easier that way and I feel more determined losing the few pounds I gained. Like what some of the others are saying, losing weight needs discipline and a strong will. I have no problems with dieting but what I'm having a problem is being able to regularly exercise. It seems I miss out exercising most of the time.

bambibear

I'm a similar size to yourself and changed my diet to have less carbs, e.g. having only 1 small Yorkshire pud and half a roast potato on Sunday and cutting out bread, having soup or salad for lunch and also a smaller general portion size. I lost a stone to go from 11 to 10 stone in about six months. I'm now used to the smaller portion size and if I feel like having a bar of chocolate or bag of crisps I do!

bbright

It's all about toning - try yoga and pilates, which are great for you in the long term as well.

purpleshoes_2

There's no such thing as toning in a fitness sense, when people talk about toning they generally mean building muscle, which doesn't go down well often as people think they will bulk up. How you look at a certain weight when you exercise compared to not may be very different, but that's still not toning. Pilates and similar classes will help strengthen your core, but generic body sculpt, body tone classes, it's just a name.

If people lift heavy weights, do hiit and eat clean they'll build muscle and drop body fat.
Look better, but that's hard work, still isn't this magical word, toning.