Feel utterly broken - another diet failed again

You have to have a calorie deficit. So if you're eating too many calories, which you are if you're not losing weight, then you need to cut back or do exercise daily.....exercise which makes you puff a lot

Could your thyroid be out of whack? Might that be why you can't lose weight?

Forget the fancy diets and intermittent fasting, for a start just simply analyse what you are eating and how much? (use/get a cheap kitchen scales to check portion weights/sizes).

A simple spreadsheet( or large piece of paper) and look at the labels on the boxes, packets and input the values.

You will be surprized where the calories, fibre , fat etc are and easiest places to to reduce/remove the bad stuff. Pick a target calorie intake and compare with current intake. Dont forget 1 lb in fat is 3500 calories, but a reduction of 500 a day will mount up in a week

I have lost +20 lbs in last 6 months, slow but steady but it has stayed off. I never thought I could do it.

I agree, it’s the only sustainable and sensible solution.

Or just two meals a day and an early lunch.

Some people still believe the myth that they must eat breakfast even if they're not particularly hungry.

It may be that you are eating too much, eating the wrong things, or your body is taking a while to adjust - or a combination of all 3. Here are my tuppence worth:

• healthy Mediterranean style diet
• lots of vegetables (see link), moderate amount of lean protein, small quantities of healthy fats (EVOO, nuts) and dairy (yoghurt)
• cut down/out UPF, sugar,, refined carbs.
• aim for 1400 calories a day (assuming you are overweight rather than obese - otherwise this may require adjustment)
• intermittent fasting - 2 meals + 1 snack a day; you'll get used to it - learn to sit with 'hunger' for a while before taking the easy grab some food option.
• exercise at least half an hour a day - not for weight loss but to kick-start your new healthy lifestyle; try Lucy Wyndham Read and/or Heather Robertson, as well as Yoga with Kassandra.
• walk, walk, walk, and walk some more - including up and down stairs.
• above al, fill up with nutritious fibre instead of carbs (but go easy on the nuts):

I feel you @Theolittle some people have no clue what it’s like.

“Just stick to 1400 cals”.

I can’t pal. That’s the issue!

In my experience the only thing that works is eating less and moving more. Being in a calorie deficit.

A little bit of everything is fine, just have much less of those things that are known to pile the weight on.

I have lost 2 stone on mfp but nearly every day is like this. Still feel it’s worth it as I’m a slim person now, but god it’s hard

Talking to you as an obese person.

Keto and atkins are a waste of time, totally unsustainable long term. Weight goes straight back on as soon as you eat carbs again. Took me a year to lose the weight I wanted, it was back on in 2 months. Plus I hated everything. It made me hate food and be so grumpy.

Same for VLCDs.

Weightloss injections - Again, when you stop doing them the weight goes back on, plus there are the added risks of increased chance of thyroid cancer and organ damage. Wouldn't suggest unless you're highly likely to die of something else first, like diabetes.

Eating less - Advice given by people who have never been obese. Our stomachs are bigger, can hold more, takes longer to be full. Our fat cells are bigger too, as they've been stretched, so weight goes on more easily and harder to lose.

A fat person who slims down to a "normal" weight will still have to eat 10% fewer calories than someone the same weight and height who has never been obese.

Intermittent fasting - Honestly it stopped my brain working, I couldn't think straight, couldn't function or do my job properly because I was being starved of energy. Even worse first thing in the morning until I was "allowed" to eat, at which point I was often unable to stop myself bingeing.

What's working for me currently is seeing a nutritionist and going back to basics. i knew I shouldn't be eating chocolate and diet coke for breakfast and having someone I had to report to really helped. I am also logging calories on myfitnesspal as it's so easy to go over or not realise the size/weight of your food.

I plan ahead, try to be more conscious about food, eat more regularly (so no "excuse" to get something naughty), only have healthy snacks at home, and drink/track my water intake. the weightloss is slower, but it feels much more sustainable.

when I'm thinking about eating something, I think "can I make a good decision right now" and usually the answer is yes. then I just do the same thing the next time. instead of thinking "I can't eat x" or "I'll never eat y again, how depressing"

If that is really all you have been eating and assuming you don’t drink alcohol, then you should be losing weight. Doesn’t sound a huge amount of calories that. You doing any exercise?

It’s strange how people refuse to accept that the simple formula to losing weight is to eat less and exercise more. I fail to see how gorging on sausages (or whatever the latest Atkins thing is) is meant to help you lose weight. Just eat 3 reasonably healthy, normally portioned meals a day, drink lots of water and go for a jog.

This was me 15m ago. A couple of years of trying keto, fasting, SW/WW. Sometimes it worked for a few weeks with an initial water/glycogen loss, but increasingly nothing. Before kids/menopause etc could lose a couple of stone easily when I needed to but nothing worked.

In the end I started Ozempic, moving to mounjaro after 9m. Have lost 5st. I still hit plateaus from time to time, but moving up doses gets me there. It’s not fallen off - probably averaged 1.5lbs/week over the whole period. My sister and son are now using it and it has really helped understand my relationship with food.

I would seriously suggest investigating it, or asking your GP for a dietitian’s referral.

I’d also ask your GP to run a check up to make sure your thyroid and related blood tests are normal.

I use weight loss injections to kerb my crazy appetite.

People saying just stick to 1400 cals - yes fine that will 100% work… but what if that makes you obsessive, weak, ravenous and miserable? Waking up at night starving. Dreaming of food. Unable to focus at work. Feeling shaky and snapping at your partner. What then?

Stop dieting.
I got to mid 50s before gaining weight kicked in and had a whale of a time trying every diet known to man kind.
What works (for me) is to eat everything I always ate, and enjoy, but in smaller quantities.

I halved everything (roughly), but added proteins to fill me up
.Still had weetabix / Porridge, but would have half my usual amount and add in fruit. And yes, I know fruit has sugars. Don't care, its natural, not processed.

I had half the amount of soup for lunch, with a slice of toast, or a sandwich, fit to bursting, with one slice of sourdough.

Dinner as usual. Fish and chips? Oh yes, just less of them. I promised myself if I was hungry, I could always have more, but I was never hungry...just greedy!

I eat normally now. I realised I was just eating too much before, but have not denied myself anything, so its more of a change of eating, rather than a diet.

No problem with it at all

Oh, and I eat chocolate, crisps and takeaways. I'm just more aware of what I'm eating and make adjustments.

Atkins and WW never worked for me. I did them religiously with a flatmate when I was in my 20s, when the weight should have fallen off. We were eating almost exactly the same. We made work lunches and ate dinner together. She lost a steady 2 lbs a week. I lost nothing in 30 days. Slimfast I would lose maybe .5 lb/week if I was lucky, but a night off for a birthday or similar and I'd gain back 5 lbs.

The only thing that's every worked for me is calorie counting. I lost 5 stone during covid and another stone since through exercise. Currently maintaining a BMI of 21.

Unless you binge. If you are prone to binge eating the compulsion overrides your feeling of satiety.

Wow, I'm 16st 1lb and a size 22 - you must be tall! I'm a short arse.

OP, based on personal experience I'd suggest that following a "diet" never works or lasts because we can't sustain it. We have to change our mindset - for me it's just really bad, lazy eating and too much processed and sugary foods. I've tried making a small achievable change, like cutting out chocolate and cake etc but eating plenty of fruit. I'm half a stone down in 2 weeks. If I fancy chocolate, I have a small amount - about a 3rd of what I was eating every night a few weeks ago!

Good luck, feel your pain.

Mounjaro!

Thats the problem with diet!! People expecting magical transform instantly but your change is not that huge such as extended fasting or shake-diet. You still eating three meals but just excluding carbs. I wouldnt give up, give it another 2-3 weeks I will say. ” Saggy” might be a sign that your body is in shock hence holding back on the fat and water, plateuing before dropping. If you squeeze your fat, you might be able to feel it being lumpy rather than high densed and hard. So you are on the right way. Try measuring instead of weighting too.

and get rid of ”diet” mentality. Think of lifestyle changes which works in the long run. Diets are never sustainable and weight can easily be regained if you dont enjoy the process.

The only thing that ever works for me is calorie counting. 1500 calories max a day, gym 3-4x a week and walking 10000 steps a day. It’s boring but it works. Really educate yourself on proteín to stay full, I need at least 30% of my calories to be from protein.
Theres no magic diet, people sell things that generally mean less calories but anything you have to pay for essentially wants you to fail at some point so you have to keep on paying.
take a breather, have a few days off. Look into calorie counting, buy some scales

If you haven't, try intermittent fasting. It worked for me, big time.

I start mine in a few days.

Mounjaro. I was sceptical but it really is the only thing that has worked for me in many decades of dieting/exercise/therapy.

I wish everyone was able to afford it so that they could see how well it works. If you can afford it OP please do give it a go.

I’m on keto at the moment. Could you suggest the types of fibre I should be having? I lost 5 kilos quickly but have stalled these last couple of weeks.

I highly recommend a book called Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel. No diets! It's the only way I managed to break unhealthy eating habits and actually get down to an ideal BMI