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How much of my weight loss journey should I share with my young child?

Hi Heather, I am a long time listener in the UK and I love the podcast. I had a baby boy just over a year ago, my first child. I gave myself 6 months after to recover as you suggest, and am now back on my weight loss journey. I am down around 2 stone (28 pounds) since February, and I have been attending a weight loss group - the program is Slimming World, I'm not sure if you have it in the US, but I have found it a very gentle way to lose weight as it encourages eating good, nutritious food without deprivation. My question is how much of this should I expose my son to as he gets older? I have listened to a lot of interviews with people who have been taken along to weight loss groups as a child and it has created problematic relationships with food and dieting. I really want to ensure my son has a healthy relationship with food - I don't want "dieting" to be a thing in our house, but I also don't necessarily want to stop attending my group completely as it has really helped me lose weight - I'm currently the lowest weight I've been in years. I would still like to lose 40-50lb more, but I'm not in a rush. How would you approach this - would you suggest attending the group but just not mentioning it at home? Aim to stop attending the group once he is old enough to understand what it is, and work on it by myself? Or have an honest conversation with him when he is old enough to explain what it is? I would imagine that boys are less susceptible to the pressure of weight loss than girls, but I really don't know how to handle this. He is only one now, so I have some time to figure it out, but I would love to know your thoughts. Thanks so much, Catherine.

I’m in trouble. Real trouble

Hi Heather this is Marie again. I’m kind of hesitating writing this because I know I won’t get a response for a month or so and I’m in need now but I understand your rules. First of all I want to tell you that what you are doing is amazing. How you are helping and have helped so many people and that you are at goal and have not gained your weight back, once again that is absolutely beyond words amazing, fantastic. So congratulations once again to you. I have been overweight all my life got really heavy between seventh and eighth grade. Have lost weight 100+ of times. The only time I ever reached goal was in 2013 and gained back over 100 pounds within six months. Now I started back June 25, 2021 and for 14 months and seven days I was perfect on program. September 2 I had a really rough day All I was thinking about was food and could not stop but I did reach out on the forums which I’m not real good at doing that. Then the third it started, I started overeating but I wrote down everything. Then the binge started. It has now been nine days that I cannot get back on program all I am doing is thinking about food and shoveling the food in like I did before all my good habits , all my hard work for the last 14 months down the drain. I have already gained over 10 pounds I am very bloated very disgusted and my family is very upset with me. I just turned 60 in August I take care of my 91 year old parents am under a great deal of stress. I guess I feel like I have nothing to look forward to Only sad things and what the heck am I losing this weight for. I started to do it for my health because my health was so bad with being a diabetic high blood pressure Hashimoto’s disease but since I’ve lost this weight that’s all under control for now. But now the way I have eaten the last nine days My heart is beating fast and what damage have I done to my body. I’m listening to your binging series I’m listening to different things that you have out there and I can’t change my mind. Any advice? I don’t want to write you back and tell you I’ve gained 100 pounds because with going up and down so much and Being the age that I am I probably wouldn’t last very long. I am beyond scared and I don’t know if you or anybody else can understand this but I feel like I don’t have any control over my body. People just say stop do not eat a second whatever. But I feel like I don’t have control like somebody else is running my body. Does that make sense or am I totally totally a lost cause. Oh well thanks for listening I wish I could somewhere just pay you for a telephone call to talk to you now Before I am more in trouble. Plus you know when you have an addictive personality and a binge disorder you switch from one addiction to another. You’re not supposed to buy clothes until you lose all your weight I have been buying so many clothes and I’ve been charging them I am thousands of dollars in debt for clothes that if I gain another 10 pounds I will not be able to wear and I got rid of all my fat clothes. I am a total mess. Thank you again. I’m desperate for a miracle. Why can’t I get back to it I just don’t understand myself. Help me please. Thank you thank you thank you.

Questions about my approach

Hello Heather! I’ve been listening to you from the very start, and today I ordered the podcast premium to listen to all of your episodes from the start. Oh, how awesome you were and still are!!! Little background and questions: I started my weight loss journey august 28 at 264 lbs and today I am at moving average of 261, which is just fine with me. I have my daily calories set at 1740 ish and I look at my weekly calorie allowance that you have talked about. My plan is to track for 10 weeks and see where I am. Hopefully have a 10 lb loss. My question is: after 10 weeks do I then go on maintenance for a week or for two weeks? Or just keep losing??? Also, the diet fix calculator and MyFitnessPal have me at around 1980 calories, but I only lose half a lb per week on that so this is why I lowered it to 1740. Should I go with 1980 or just keep on 1740, since this is fine for me. My worry is that I will lower my calories too much and then struggle with the lower calorie allotment when I go down in weight. Hope these questions are clear. I appreciate you soooo much and love hearing your “younger” voice from way back in the day. Kathy

Should I stop trying to lose 5 lbs?

Hi! I have been in maintenance since November 2019. My weight has ranged from 147 to 155 for most of that maintenance time but for the last year it's been closer to 160. For almost a year I have been trying to lose about 5 lbs to get closer to the middle range of my maintenance range (150 to 160 lbs) but can't seem to stay there because of events, vacations and such that bring me back up then I have to work myself back down the range. I also started strength training with the purpose of getting stronger this past year. I'm going a little crazy because my clothes fit great but the # on the scale is higher than I'm used to in maintenance. Do I just need to go back to eating at maintenance and stop striving for that middle range? Should I change my maintenance range since I think strength training has changed my body composition? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Getting coaching

Hi Heather. I’ve been with a coach before that coached me and I lost 25 pounds. I kept it off through the pandemic but when we had 2 hurricanes hit us 6 weeks apart I went in survival mode and haven’t been able to get a grip on the habits and I’ve gained it all back. I tried macros but I think this is stressful although it should be easy if I planned the day before. I maintain my weight but don’t loose with macros. I would love to get coaching from you! I love all your podcast. I’m listening to Carolina coaching. I’m not a binge eater and it messes with my mind when I listen to these podcast. Of course I eat higher calories than I should to maintain a lower weight. My issues are spontaneous eating. Not in plate and butt in seat kind of thing. I’ve been working on my habits and would like to get started on my own with the future hope of getting coached by you. Like do a jump start on my own and knowing I’m going to get coached by you I feel I can focus on that. I’m not even sure I can get coached by you but what would you suggest I work on before getting coached? I loved my last coach but she didn’t have her own stuff together like you do and when we needed it the most she quit doing it! I am 63 years old and weigh 195. I will NOT hit 200 so I need to reverse this now!! Thank you!