Weight loss myths

[Iamtheworst]

I have at least 10 stone to lose. I am at the start of a long journey but I’m finally prepared to do the work and face my demons.
So, obviously I have a lifetime of confused thinking and justifications about food.
I think I know that when you lose weight viruses that were trapped in fat are rereleased into your body and therefore you get illnesses when you start to lose weight. Is that rubbish? I have a cold just now and am imagining a year where I get every bug I have been in contact with for 10 years. I am generally healthy which is sheer dumb luck and hoping to keep it this way.
I don’t know how much I weigh. I do not want to step on scales yet, for reasons I don’t want to go into but I’m sure you can imagine. Can I track how I’m doing by how my clothes fit? Or will be kidding myself? I don’t think I can step on scales till I’m a size 16 at least.
Food is still occupying my every thought but I don’t think I can change that yet.
I’m hoping you will all reassure me, but again justification makes me question my judgement.

[PostNotInHaste]

I can promise you that is absolutely not true, don’t worry. You can do it by clothes if you prefer, I suggest if you don’t use the scales then get a tape measure.

However there is something about taking that step onto the scales where you start to face up to the situation, it’s incredibly easy to fool yourself. There’s a thread on here for people who have 100lbs to lose, please feel free to pop over. Good luck.

[Iamtheworst]

Thank you. Have you done a big weight loss? Its weird the things you can believe based on nothing.
I know i need to know the numbers eventually but I can’t do that just now. I have been calorie counting though. I know I am in energy deficit everyday.

[PostNotInHaste]

Yes I’ve lost 91lbs, was over 100 but have had a blip. How many calories are you going for a day? Do make sure you build in things you enjoy, everything in moderation though try to avoid things that might trigger a binge. I find for me being stricter in the week then relaxing a bit at the weekend help.

Start with small changes, they gradually add up and make a difference. You will be doing this for the rest of your life, there’s no end to it even when you are at the weight you want to be but it’s worth it.

[Iamtheworst]

Wow that’s great well done. 9lbs is hardly a blip in the grand scheme of things!
I’m sticking to about 1000 calories a day, I’m pretty sedentary which I am trying to work on. I’ve been throughly shattered since I started and on days I work if I go for a walk I can hardly lift my head of the pillow the next day.
I’m handling days where I slip over 1000 calories by cutting that amount the next day. So it turns out over the week to be 7000. I’m starving every evening but that’s got to be working.
I’m hoping to be able to see a change by the Easter holidays, pictures at Christmas were the final nail for me.

[NotANotMan]

1000 calories is not enough for a body of your size. That's why you feel like shit.

[Passportapplication]

Which weight loss programme are you following OP?

[Iamtheworst]

I’m just doing calorie counting. You name it I’ve done it in the past. I managed very low calorie a couple of years ago which was closer to 400. I feel that 1000 is about right. I’m shattered because I’m eating less than I burn. I can’t really go more because I can convince myself that crisps and burgers are fine.
It’s also weird because I never ever used to get hungry, not when I woke up not ever.

[PostNotInHaste]

That is absolutely far too low. Put your figures (or approx figures into this. tdeecalculator.net and aim over the course of a week to average 1000 a day less. Fine to do it as a weekly figure. You wa t sensible sustainable weight loss with a gradual change of habits including increasing exercise gradually.

[PostNotInHaste]

And you can have crisps and burger, build them in, just not all the time, ditch the whole good food/bad foods and on/off waggon mindset, it doesn’t help. Aim to eat good nutritious foods 80% of the time then relax the other 20%. Firget what you’ve done before, start afresh. KOKO is the ket. This means keep on keeping on. One meal/day/week does not undo the other good choices.

[Iamtheworst]

Yes definitely keep in keeping on. That’s the things this time I am determined not to give up. Even if I fall of the wagon.
Ok I thought cutting right down would be best. I’ll look at the calculator. Ugh I hate facing up to things.

[Bombardier25966]

If you slip up one day, put it behind you and start again the next day. Don't reduce your calories the next day or it turns into a vicious cycle.

Why are you starving in the evening? Are you not leaving yourself enough allowance?

[Passportapplication]

400 calories?? Per day? Omg you can't survive on that.

[PostNotInHaste]

I know and I won’t forget the moment I had to. It is hard work, but I read something that said being obese is hard too, chose your hard. It’s is true and life is SO much easier a better weight in so many ways. Imagine not having to worry about enough room on a chairm seatbelt extenders, chub rub, no puffing up the stairs, grabbing clothes off rail in any shop and many many others.

Accept there is no end date to this and that maintaining is just as hard as losing but at that point life is much easier.

[Iamtheworst]

Being fat is hard. I didn’t realise but I’ve been gradually reducing the amount of time I spend in public. I used to wear heels all the time, now my trainers look like they’ve been run over by a car. My friend has a sports car and I genuinely thought the fire brigade were going to have to cut me out of it.
The very low calorie thing was 400, I know 3 people that did it. Was all meal replacement and it tasted like shit. There was a therapy part to that I hated. Definitely 1 demon at a time.
I think I’m hungry in the evening because that’s when I used to binge (used too, like a fortnight ago).
Maybe I’ll buy a tape measure next weekend, might be up for it by then.

[Hitmonlee]

Absolutely not enough calories. I’ve lost 6 stone in 8 months eating 1870 a day. I am active though and swim 6 days a week.

If you stay too low you will either end up eating everything in sight because you are just too tired and hungry or your metabolism learns to adapt to a lower calorie intake and it will be harder to lose weigh in the long term.

My advice. Up your calories and find an activity/exercise you enjoy, and you absolutely can eat crisps and burgers just not every day and as part of a balanced diet.

[3luckystars]

I remember giving up cigarettes years ago, hearing "oh you will get SO SICK now that you have given up, everyone gets a chest infection" and also that I would get fat too.

You have a brain, use it and don't mind anyone else.

Good luck with it.

[FatandSassy]

@Iamtheworst my DP and I are in the same boat. We are both aiming for about the same weight loss as you. We are calorie counting, and just this week seem to have cracked something, hopefully. He is aiming for a minimum of 1500 calories a day, I'm going for between 1200 and 1500.
This week we are going for easy - so microwave meals in the evening, pre packaged stuff in the day with lots of fruit.
We've found that one of those porridge sachets works brilliantly in the mornings to keep us both full until lunch which is then a mugshot and a small bread roll or one of those microwave jacket potato things and tuna/sweet corn or something. Then a piece of fruit and (maybe) one of those muller lights. Is very filling.
Evenings we eat about 5/6. This is a microwave meal from the Sainsbury's be good to yourself range - usually under 400 cals but up to 500.
Snacking kills us too. Healthy snacks help. We use MFP to count, and propercorn, mini cakes, Cadbury's options hot chocolates, muller lights etc are all good to beat the cravings and the snacking. We usually save a good few hundred during the day to snack while we watch telly or whatever. I've given up fizz completely and find drinking squash is much more filling for my tummy too.
We started couch to 5k this week, my DP has just been diagnosed with COPD so we will never be runners but we do it by walking and walking as fast as we can instead of jogging, hoping to build our tolerance etc up. It only takes half hour and we can do it in the park after dropping the kids off at school.
Do you want to buddy up to help each other out?
We had tattoos yesterday so our diet was out the window, but we found that after a few weeks of eating like this, we both left loads of the takeaway we got and still came in at around 2000 cals for the day so not bad at all.
I do find it difficult though, Food is absolutely my comfort and I could never give up cake!

[FatandSassy]

Oh - and even though we're not completely rigid about it, we both lost 3lbs last week so something is going well! It's not much but it's a good start!

[FaithInfinity]

I don’t think there’s any truth in the whole releasing viruses thing!

I have a binge eating issue. I’m losing weight eating around 2000kcal a day along side plenty of exercise (walking and running). I highly recommend the book Brain over by Kathryn Hansen and the linked podcast. Ignoring the binge urges and doing a very low calorie diet may work short term but you need a long term strategy to deal with these issues which these can help with. Good luck!

[JulietAconite]

In the kindest possible way, what a load of baloney!!!!
Just stick to the straightforward proven rules- eat healthily and eat fewer calories per day than you need. (A calorie deficit of 3,500 per week generally equals 1lb weight loss.)

People say weight loss is 90% diet, 10% exercise. But exercise is great for health, strength, fitness and happiness.

[Iamtheworst]

I get it, less in more out weight goes down. I have made a lifestyle about convincing myself things are what they seem however.
So my cold is just a cold.
I’m amazed how much water I can drink though. Any hope that myth is true? That if I drink x amount it magically pulls fat out my body. I doubt it but I know drinking water is good for you.
I’m up to about 3 times a week doing exercise to make me sweat (embarrassingly easy). Hopefully I can keep stepping it up too.

[NotANotMan]

Oh god no
Drinking water doesn't pull fat out of you
What are you reading???