What works? keys to success? breakfast?

[Onthehorse]

Hi,

I have been various BMI's in my life. More recently BMI 24. For the past few years I have been BMI 22 or 21 - in a good place, before that I was BMI 26-27 eek. I am currenly very bottom heavy so look a little but ... cuddly on my lower half but small on my top.

My weight has been creeping up recently as has my appetite. Today i totlalled up my daily kcal intake... I eat 3000 kcal a day yes i know I'm a fatty! I am actually amazed I haven't gained more.

So now I need to do something about it, I emotionally eat, I'm a snacker, I binge a bit, I am terrible at time of the month. Now i would like to change. I thought that this morning then spent all afternoon working at my computer then suddenly eating a healthy snack but then moved onto the cheese, bread, biscuits - whilst working!

I start overeating as soon as I wake up really and am wondering if breakfast is actually a downfall rather than a benefit _ i am aware breakfast whether I have it or not is not a only factor.

My questions to you lovely mumsnet people is

1. What works? yep the secret please? how do you stick at it most days?
   
2. How do you not overeat - for those who are binge overeating prone.
   
3. Does breakfast help or not?
   

1. A bit of a long shot does anyone know where to go for CBT - there is nothing for me locally. I would rather do it online too.
   

1. What do you turn to improve your mood?

[Dontgiveamonkeys1350]

I was always a big believer in only weighing myself once a week. Boy was I wrong. I went through a period of not losing anything. But never going over my calories. Adding a pound when I had never eaten over my calories.

Two things happened when I weighed in once a week....

1. I had lost weight- fantastic I will have a treat. Ugh. Weight gained.
   
2. didn’t lose weight - great don’t know why I bothered ate loads of food. I started weighing once a day. It’s great. I see the weight come off everyday. Keeps me motivated.
   
   Also. It shows u how u go up and down. Monday it said I had put on a pound but I knew I had not. If that had been my weigh in day it would have been bad for me.
   
   Then today it says I lost five pounds. But I didn’t. I was obviously bloated the week before.
   MIT really does help to see the weight loss come off daily and it keep u on track as u don’t have a ‘week to make up for it ‘
   
   Since doing this I have not over eaten or binged. As the scales are a daily reminder of how good I’m doing.

[ChocOrCheese]

I also weigh daily. It can be a two-edged sword in that you can get very weird fluctuations, but I find a daily weigh keeps me more accountable.

I log everything I eat and drink and try to make sure that I am mostly consuming fewer calories than I use.

I don't eat breakfast and exercise fasted. Basically I follow the 16:8 fast so have my first meal of the day around 2pm. If I eat breakfast I feel hungrier throughout the day.

[BIWI]

[[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breakfast-Dangerous-Meal-Morning-Wellbeing/dp/0008172366/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 According to this book, breakfast is a dangerous meal! ]]

Daily weighing keeps you on track and makes you face the reality of your eating - as well as helping you to understand the normal fluctuations of your body.

[Onthehorse]

I really think breakfast makes me more, not hungy as such just wanting more food quickly and regularly. For examples I had breakfast yesterday and wanted a snack about an hour after. Day before skipped breakfast and was able to hold off all food until lunchtime and only ate then because I felt a headache coming on and knew I ought to eat. Thanks for the link BIWI - interesting.
Dontgive a monkeys yep me too, massive weight loss I can eat everything not lost anything might as well eat what I want.

[Onthehorse]

Choorcheese why do you fast is it because it reduces your appetite (I am hoping it wasn't a fluke - it has been the ONLY thing to hold off my appetite but wondering if it will last longterm), Have you managed to control weight this way?

I am not hugely overweight but my weight has gone up and up each year and my family have a history of obesity and I do eat a lot! My appetite seems to get larger too which is likely linked to hormones unfortunately but I'm really hoping this no breakfast thing might be part of a miracle for me - very hard though as it's ingrained into me to get up and eat, so it took willpower to avoid.

[BIWI]

One of the things the author of the book noticed, @Onthehorse, was that his blood sugar levels spiked hugely after breakfast - and much more than after any other meal. That's what accounts for the extra hunger pangs.

[Onthehorse]

really reallty interesting BIWI because about an hour after breakfast - even a dark chocolate (You wouldn't think much glucose there0 iw asnt something else to eat. I usually feel a real craving and a bit weak as it were.

[Onthehorse]

ps also explains spoke to my very sporty brother who said he felt so much better on holiday in the med they had breakfast later (coffee wehn woke up) and had cheese and meat for brunch (he called it breakfast). Admuttedly he was sitting in the sun so that may have helped bt said his mood and energy were much better - the insulin connection would explain this well.

[Wallabyone]

If I hold off on having breakfast and have a late brunch/lunch, I generally lose weight and feel less hungry. I find a coffee or two in the morning keeps me going. I love breakfast as a meal though, so do miss the whole ritual of it. I have about a stone and a half to go post third baby, so needs must (sadly!). Today, I had a coffee, then eggs, bacon, beans, mushrooms etc out with friends at about 11:30pm. Still feel very full and should be ok with fruit and coffee until dinner.

[FurrySlipperBoots]

I'm a massive yo-yo dieter, my trouble being that I'm naturally greedy with a sweet tooth and eat for comfort. My current BMI is 26.9 and at 12 stone I'm heavier than I ever have been before. I generally find it easy enough to lose weight when I get started (though having said that it's got harder the last couple of years, as I approached my 30s). What works for me when losing weight is:

Skipping breakfast altogether (not usually hard as I don't fancy food in the am)
Either skipping lunch or sticking to broth, 1 packet of twiglets and if working a diet coke
Eating dry air-popped corn for a snack, which is fairly filling and counts as a 5-a-day!
Doing small swaps with foods I'd eat anyway to pick slightly lower calorie options - for example buying the 90 calorie flavoured houmous as opposed to the 120 cal one.
Eating reasonably normally in the evening, just limiting butter, cheese, and the extreme volume of icecream and biscuits I'd work my way through if not on a diet
Sucking/crunching on a tray full of small icecubes after tea. It gives my food a chance to fill me up while having no calories at all, and it's kind of comforting I suppose.
I also don't 'exercise' as it makes me too hungry, but I up my walking from an average of half an hour to an hour a day.

It does work, in that I lose around 3lbs a week the first week, 2lbs a week for about a month and then 1lb a week for as long as I continue. My main trouble is that a special occasion comes along - Christmas/my birthday/a family get-together/Easter and everything goes tits up again then. My yo-yoing isn't going too well as I always gain more than I lose if you know what I mean, so my weight has crept up about 3 stone these last 10 years, just with fluctuations. I'm hoping to lose some now as I'm ill and can't face eating but unfortunately not up to walking either.

[ChocOrCheese]

@onthehorse - I fast because I've never felt all that hungry in the morning and generally ate breakfast because I thought I ought to. Then I discovered I train better fasted, so breakfast got pushed to mid-morning. Then I started reading about the health benefits of fasting, but the 5:2 diet never appealed, and I just naturally fell into what I now know to be the 16:8 approach. I needed and wanted to lose weight and my initial approach was to have a cup of black tea or coffee if I felt hungry in the morning, and then if I still felt hungry half an hour later I would allow myself a snack. Usually I had got diverted to something else by then and didn't feel hungry at all.

Now if I have breakfast (when on holiday to keep hubby company, for example) I find it fires my appetite much earlier and although I hold out until lunch, that lunch is usually quite big.

With skipping breakfast I find I am happy with a light meal around 2pm (say 400 cals), another one around 5pm (say 300 cals) and then I eat what I want for dinner (typically 750 to 1000 cals).

[BrightSpells]

The disordered eating advice on this thread is brilliant.

Op, what are you eating? What do you have for breakfast?

[Onthehorse]

Brightspells you think I have disordered eating??

[Onthehorse]

Chocorcheese interesting! That you also train better fasted ... do you run/weights? thanks for sharing this :-) very motivating as I think I am probably the same and need to try it consistently to see if it works for me. Really encouraged by your results though.

[Onthehorse]

Wallabyone yes I like the whole ritual of breakfast, and can happily eat a huge bowl of porridge/cereal, eggs you name it, I've been known to have last nights dinner for breakfast!! Really glad you are seeing results, I suppose this is more time restricted eating.. yep, since having kids I have those extra pounds I am yet to shed. Well done so far though please keep me posted!

Furryslipperboots hugs. You have my sympathy I have always had a huge appetite - was a very skinny kid oddly but my mum would say when everyone else had finished anything sweet I wanted more. It's great that your finding ways though. I used to find I kept my weight to a healthy BMi through having loads and loads of vegetables. I once worked for a bread company in their head office, let's just say they gave out free lunch and free freshly bakes bread in the am and pm... I got my BMI in a very high range. I thinking walking in the past has helped me but I thinking timing helps, i.e if I do loads of exercise int he am then by the afternoon I am beat. I've done more aerobic in the am and that curbed my appetite . Interesting calling it a diet, I find what I call a diet is actually just not overeating. I'm someone who I think will always have to be careful as I don't get that full feeling satiated feeling like everyone else does. Perhaps I have just ignored true hunger messages though.

[BIWI]

@BrightSpells. What do you mean by disordered eating?

[Dontgiveamonkeys1350]

I found that weighing myself once a week was making me have disordered eating. It was leading me up a binge eating path and didn’t want that.

[Wallabyone]

I don't think fasting as part of a healthy approach to eating and well-being is disordered? I don't think 'skipping breakfast' is as terrible as it has been portrayed in the past.

[ChocOrCheese]

@Onthehorse - I go to the gym most mornings for about an hour. A typical workout is 15 mins fairly intense cardio (boxing/rowing/cross trainer intervals) followed by 30 mins weights and 15 mins dynamic cooldown and stretch.

[Onthehorse]

Chocorcheese I am going to follow in your footsteps! Today feel ready to hit the gym. I read that there is more fat burning if you exercise fasted, not sure if this is true.

I am so shocked this coffee for breakfast lark is fantastic, half because I think I can sort of have what I want for lunch (within reason) and evening meal, mainly it's affect on appetite. I do get a bit snacky around three to five pm (after lunch). My lunch has been sandwiches though - I love bread.

My energy levels are up. The only slight snag is I am relying on coffee more and too much in the past can make me a bit "snappy" and I am ready for lunch by 12.00 - but I feel a genuine hunger for lunch at the moment and it's a recognising that I actually need lunch - slightly slight headed where before was staring at the clock thinking can't wait for snack/lunch for more appetite. We shall see.....


As with all these things sometimes I find it was the novelty effect... so far though this doesn't seem short of a miracle for me.

I am keeping an eye on the scale -it's not moving after only a few days -damn you- but at the moment keen to find something I can continue. Thanks for all your input it's really encouraging and supportive..

[Onthehorse]

Brightspells I didn't mean to sound defensive btw! I probably do have some disordered eating as always snacking...this seems to be helping me avoid that.

[ChocOrCheese]

Go for it!

[topcat2014]

Breakfast is generally a 'manufactured' meal for most people, in that it consists of packaged cereals for a very large proportion.

Therefore there is a lot of marketing pushed towards it.

Evening meals are more varied, so less 'marketed'

Apparently the 'breakfast being the most important meal of the day' was the American Mr Kellogg's invention.

The cereal industry has such a hold over US children's diets that every school meal has to include bread.

either that or I have been taken in by fake news

[Onthehorse]

I think I got cocky. I woke up completely wiped out today, Had black 2 coffees and felt hungry. Walked kids to school and when I got back I felt almost fluish . Picked at a few mouthfuls of porridge and started on some dark chocolate and fish sticks. I thought well as I'm hungry pana nice lunch (day off today) and cafe had ran out of sandwiches and I had a day snacking. I'm kind of annoyed with myself I've clocked in at 2500 kcal today (thereabouts). I don't know why i was so wiped out and tired. I got up much earlier than usual today too - 6 am - I am so much better getting up at 7. Frustrating if it's due to tiredness as I have early starts and late to bed all this week ... social and work. Sigh. I am going back to the no brekkie though as that worked than anything before for my appetite and I have never previously woken so hungry.

[Onthehorse]

ps I have also been having quite a lot of bread - granary though but wonder if this is causing me to be hungrier in the longterm...