Hello – Gled33 here.

Mother of four, lost the weight after the first three with low carb. Then after a gap of 13 years we got an ‘autumn baby’ – which brought gestational diabetes too. I’ve found it impossible to shift the weight this time as my energy levels are so low (hypothyroid too) and her 3rd birthday is rapidly approaching. I am depressed that I no longer recognise myself.

My real goal is to get back to my wedding weight by my wedding anniversary on 30th May – 147lbs. This is a total weight loss required of 38lbs.

Having low carbed before very successfully, I tried to do this again last year but I got “too good” at it before and know too many recipes which produce “low carb” treats and relied on low carb bars too often. This is not the way to enjoy the clean eating benefits of a proper low car plan and whilst it may be OK for maintenance I didn’t lose much and quickly reverted back to my normal bad habits.

I don’t need convincing about the science behind this way of eating. I need to go back to basics and use a community to help me when I feel weak.

Mini goal 1 – lose 16 lbs in first 8 weeks.
Mini goal 2 – lose 2 inches off waist.
Mini goal 3 – complete step goal daily for 8 weeks.

Hello Gled33, those look like very achievable goals. As for feeling depressed, you’ll be amazed at how full of life and energy you’ll feel after a couple of weeks of doing this. There are lots of threads you can post to on this site for challenges and other issues. Otherwise, find a group of people starting at roughly the same time and buddy up with them by posting on the thread they’ve started. If you can’t find a suitable thread, start one and people will join you. There are lots of great people on here – very supportive and willing to share information and experiences.

Good luck!

Hi Gled33, Snoop is right, those are super achievable goals — I can imagine that with all those little ones about that you are already over-busy, so add one more (easy) mini-goal, and that is to take some quiet and calm time for yourself each day to do the mindfulness part of the BSD. From my one-year perspective (on maintenance) I believe that part of our problem is that we are too packed with daily commitments and it can be really helpful to slow life down a bit during these BSD weeks. I had to really take off the pressure for a few months and just focus on the plan — I know that won’t be completely possible with a family but try to simplify and say “no” to any extra activity.
Remember, it is just the keeping on keeping on that works — if you have any less-than-perfect days, just start again! Even imperfectly this way of eating works and is also very healthy for your little guys!
I’ll look for your posts!