I have moaned all year about feeling fat and have basically done sh*g all about it....

[whitebits]

...can I realistically lose a stone before Xmas ? I did the 5:2 last summer and got down to 9 1/2 st which I was very happy with. Then I got distracted/fed up with a number of things that were going on in my life and ending up turning back to food and comfort eating. I'm angry with myself but its done now.

I really want to get back into the fasting as, apart from the weight loss, I also felt great on it and my IBS really calmed down. I was pooing normally for the first time in bloody years

But I've been struggling to find the motivation to get back into it. Then today my parents invited me out to lunch and literally nothing fitted me. I ended up wearing my normal every day clothes ( one pair of jeans that currently fit me, refuse to buy another pair in a bigger size !) and just putting on a pit more make up and a different coat . A few years ago I would have made much more of an effort but I seem to have lost my mojo the bigger I've got.

I'm telling myself that it's only the middle of October so if I really knuckle down I could shift something before Xmas. Then the devil on my shoulder is saying "oh just wait until the New Year". But f*ck knows what size I will be then.....

[FoodieMum3]

I presume October was a typo and you do know it's actually mid November?

You know what you have to do Start now! You're right, you'll have so much extra to lose and it will be way harder if you wait until new year. If you start now, you'll be wearing a size smaller and feeling great at Christmas, easily.

[whitebits]

Yes, a typo but perhaps a bit of denial too on my part, thinking I have more time than I actually do. Time to get my finger out my bum and the cake out my gub really isn't it.

[MaryWestmacott]

Ok, forget the stone, forget "dieting", think about small changes that aren't until you hit a target weight or set event (like Christmas or a holiday), but forever.

Clearly, while the 5:2 suited your body (in that you lost weight and your digestive health improved), it didn't suit you as you weren't able to stick to it and have regained the weight.

What was it that helped your ibs, was it just cutting out the crap for a couple of days a week? Or generally eating less? Were you eating more fruit/veg on your fast days?

Perhaps something like my fitness pal to do a gentle calorie control everyday (rather than an extreme one two days a week) would be easier to fit into your day to day life, logging what you eat might be good, see if you can see patterns with your ibs. Small changes like "crisps/chocolate/wine are only for weekends", "drinking only water or black coffee/tea in the day", might be easy to make habits for life, rather than just until you get into your old jeans.

Can you build more exercise into your day at all to help?

The problem with 5:2 is that many people don't change how they eat on the 5 days, so don't form new eating habits as you often do with other diets, so if you stop it, there's nothing to stop you regaining the weight.

Don't go on a diet, change the way you eat, avoid dramatic changes as they'll be harder to stick to long term, but slow weight loss is normally permanent weight loss.

[whitebits]

Thanks Mary. I definitely feel that it was simply the fact I was eating less that helped the IBS. Also on the fast days I would tend to eat veggie soups and foods that were possibly easier to digest which also meant my digestive system got a rest.

[MaryWestmacott]

Well, then try MFP, download it today (it's free) - log what you are actually eating for a week or so, try to include 'gentle' foods days (so the veggie soups), without doing a massive cut back that makes it hard to stick to long term.

[RoadRunner123]

Me too! Can I jump on your thread? I did myfitnesspal a few years ago. Lost about two stone and have since put one back on. I'd love to lose it again and keep on having a definite start date....and then I don't last more than two days. How can we motivate ourselves????

[MaryWestmacott]

Roadrunner - can you start with a few 'forever' changes, it only too me about a month to get used to having coffee black without sugar, now with sugar it tastes all sorts of wrong and I treated myself to a hot chocolate the other night and it tasted too milky and just wrong. I also no longer have maple syrup on my porridge (best breakfast for stopping me picking at stuff mid morning), again, it now tastes wrong with it.

Alone, neither will make me thin, but these (and a few others) are little changes I can keep up forever, not just until the scales say a certain level. Have a think about your eating habbits, is there a new habit you could start today, nothing big, but by Christmas, that'll just be something you do. (walking/exercise is another one, eg. there is a toddler group I always take DD to on a Thursday, it's just over a mile - mainly up hill - from my house. I decided this September when it restarted, I would only go if I walked. So far, I have done every week)

Pick something small, and every other week add another change. The only rule is whatever small change you make you have to stick to, so make it realistic. (Veggie day every Tuesday to make you eat more veg? No chocolate until the DCs are in bed? I'm sure you can think of loads!)

[RoadRunner123]

That's a really good idea actually, thank you. I've been thinking lately that I always want 'a little something' when I have a cup of tea. And, well...I'm drinking too much tea!! Maybe restricting my tea, and therefore treats would be a good start.

Every day's a veggie day though!

[Showy]

I completely agree that lifestyle changes are the way to go. Think about sustaining a healthy you with whom you are happy to live for the rest of your life. Not a you who is committed to a restrictive diet for the short term until you can't sustain it or the negative eating starts again.

Make exercise normal for you whether that's a hobby, swimming with the children regularly, walking instead of driving, bike rides, running up and down the stairs every time instead of walking, cleaning floors by hand and instead of with a mop, going dancing, walking, hiking. Something you have the potential to love. Or you have shown you have motivation to diet. Could you use that determination to do a couch to 5k? The Shred? Six Week Six Pack (you could be done by Boxing Day)? Have a short term goal? It's massively rewarding to use your body in a new and impressive way. You CAN do that.

Eat well because food is good, it makes your bowels behave, you enjoy food and you deserve to. Food isn't a misery or something you deny yourself. Retrain your palate if you need to, it's surprisingly quick. Use food to fuel your body and fight your IBS and enjoy the results of it. Not through dieting but by giving your lovely body what it needs, seeing some stuff as a rare treat (you enjoy it far more that way) and reshape your relationship with food.

Can I ask (you don't need to give details at all) if you have dealt with all the things which upset your diet before? Are there reasons why you comfort eat which you'd like to tackle alongside a new, improved you? The two probably go hand in hand. Eating really is the easiest, quickest, most 'necessary' thing to use for comfort and I think we all do it to some extent.

[MaryWestmacott]

OK, and easy change, no food with tea during the day. If you can't drink tea without needing something to eat, stop drinking tea.

If you have sugar in your tea, stop - I promise by Christmas you won't want sugar in it anymore.

That's a nice easy start, think of another change for 2 weeks time.

Good luck!