What side of the health/weight loss argument do you sit on?

I have insulin resistance, due to complex endocrine problem, as a result my best diet is low carb. I hit 60 last year and with a combination of major stress, hormone blockers ( breast cancer) and being post meno/age, I hit my top weight.
I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and following the premature death of my little sister ( who lived a very healthy active life compared to mine) from pancreatic cancer, I decided to sort my diet out.

I cut out unnecessary carbs, I love bread, and chose calorie deficit diet. I’m now nearly 10kg down. We eat a lot of chicken and plant based meals, DH had a stroke 3 yrs ago and his taste has changed along with mild dysphagia so avoids most red meats. He had a few choking episodes early on after the stroke so avoids it.

I really notice the difference. I had a piece of cake , my birthday treat, and literally fell asleep within ten minutes when my insulin surged. It just reinforces the fact that refined carbs are not good for me.

I cook from scratch, I don’t do low calorie stuff, still use cream, butter etc to provide flavour but just eat less. We avoid convenience foods with all the hidden sugar, you can really taste it if you haven’t eaten any for a while.

I think that it’s about finding the diet that suits your body. And accepting that as you age your BMR drops, so you can no longer eat as much as you could in your twenties.

Dunno but obesity DEFINITELY has multiple and many adverse ‘side’ effects, in many domains of health and mortality.

I used to be very much about perfection, making sure every single thing I ate was 'clean' and that I was within my calories every day. Trouble is it wasn't sustainable, I became obsessed with food and started having binge/restrict cycles.

Now I'm much more balanced. The vast majority of my meals are balanced with fresh ingredients but I also have chocolate, dessert, crisps etc when I fancy it (as I'm no longer banning these its not that often tbh as I know i could have them whenever). I have found physical activities i enjoy doing so exercise feels easy because it's no longer a chore or a punishment because I hate my body.

There's so much out there when the answer is different for anyone; generally though I do believe striving for perfection rarely works.

I don't know what sides you mean.

I'm interested in supporting local producers, in food security in a time of climate change, and the environmental impact of food, food production and food waste. I'm interested in preventing hunger and particularly child hunger in the 6th biggest economy in the world. I think perfect nutrition and perfect health is an illusion with suspiciously eugenic origins. I think that both weight loss and environmentally aware living have replaced religion for many people, including me. I'm also overweight, usually obese but currently doing better there thanks to (environmentally damaging) injections. Every food decision is make is shot through with a million different calculations.

I eat 800 calories a day, the same foods every day. Protein bar, vegan cocktail sausages, vegan lasagne ready meal. Once in a while, I may have a an 85calorie pack of baked wotsits after dinner. My BMI is overweight, and I don't appear to be losing anything.

I know my diet isn't healthy but I can't be bothered to change anything when as a society we seem to know duck all anyway. I'm staying fat on 800 calories a day, that should be impossible, but it's happening. So I just continue with it. I did try to eat better last year by including loads of veg, but just made me feel sick and didn't feel better even after 6 months of sticking with it. Got tired of it in the end.

I have been diagnosed with anorexia a few years back , but that was because I wasn't eating at all 5 days a week. I certainly had lost weight because of that and was very slim (but not extremely underweight, BMI of about 16 by the time I got medical care, but I was very sick). None of them believed me when I told them the "healthy maintenance diet" (after weight restoration) they gave me when I left hospital was too much. I was wrong they said. That is what I should be eating. And oh look at that, got super fat from it - almost obese.

We don't know anything about nutrition and we should stop pretending we do. I don't trust anyone to tell me how I should eat, they don't listen to me when u relay my lived experiences and it's wrong.

Let people eat how they like, and get off people's arses about being too fat or skinny because no one knows shit.

I think we just stick to what works. If I put weight on I want to strip fat and not muscle. So I do a light fast for a bit. Just water until 12 pm and just water after 8pm making sure I track the protein I need because I weight train. Extreme fasting (or starving yourself) strips muscle, injections strip muscle. So the scales will show that magic number but your body is swearing at you.

But NOTHING is the enemy. I can have what I feel like to eat in moderation. I don't want to spend my life thinking about food.

I use scales that give you readings for everything. Bone mass, muscle mass, fluids, protein etc. they're not an exact science obviously but they're good for monitoring overall.

I've lost 12kg over the past three months (and am now into a healthy BMI) by cutting calories and eating a higher volume of healthier food - salads, soups etc - so I don't feel hungry. A typical meal is a grilled chicken breast plus 2/3 different salads x2 two a day, and treats in moderation.

I think health/weight has to fit the person, people will do well when they aren't having to fight themselves every step of the way. That may mean vegan / whole foods / Mounjaro / carnivore / 5.2 / 16.8 / whatever.

My mum was super morbidly obese from age 40. She died of a heart attack at 70 after years of health issues (I'm surprised she lasted that long) so I'm hello bent on never getting fat. My bmi is 24.9 so I'm dangerously on the edge of overweight but I've had a baby 2 months ago. My weightless go to is normally lots of berries. Yogurt, seeds, nuts, veg and grains

Oh and I also have borderline high cholesterol which knocked a lot of my previously high fat (real butter, full fat milk etc) diet on its head. I've switched to skimmed or oat milk. Can't bring myself to buy veg spreads but I'm trying to eat less butter or replace with olive oil instead.
Cheese is probably my downfall 😁. It's good though.

Does it have any side effects? My 19st son could do with it

I'm pescaterian, I get Riverford recipe boxes X3 or 4 per week which means we eat really well and either vegetarian or vegan for those evenings. Other evenings are lazy dinners and sometimes processed (battered fish fillets, pizzas) but always with a side or 3 of veg/tomatoes/salad so hopefully that balances a bit. I'd eat less processed if just me but eldest is quite fussy and I am done battling. I bake salmon, veg and homemade chips/potatoes once per week as an easy dinner that everyone will eat. Often batch cook Bolognese and things like that to be served with pasta.

Breakfast for me is porridge with oat milk and frozen fruit, sometimes eggs. Lunch is jacket potato, soup or sandwich. Black coffee and green tea first thing, then just water or occasionally smoothies.

I had an ED as a teen and I probably tend to orthorexia now if I'm not careful, but I am ok at the moment and more about eating mindfully and fuelling my body.

I have a penchant for pain au chocolat and croissants dipped in good coffee. I run and exercise quite a lot and that helps with the feeling of eating to appetite and enjoying food, while also encouraging healthier eating because I want to be fit for exercise. My main barrier to eating well all the time is my energy levels when preparing food. If I get hangry and I'm tired, that's when I'll end up with a bowl or 3 of cereal just to give me a quick boost.

I felt exhausted just reading your post! All those daft rules and dads!
I make my own food, vegetarian for ethical reasons, eat when I am hungry and stop when I am satiated. So eat what I want, when I want.
I enjoy being active, and do things I enjoy.

Since starting a desk based full time job I am stiffening up so trying to get more informal activity into my day, and more mobility stuff.

I am a size 6/8.

I'm vegan with a diet consisting of around 80% whole foods. For the first time in my life I've maintained a BMI of 21 for 5 years. I'm 55 and have no menopausal weight gain despite HRT. I keep my calories to the recommended level for my age, weight and lifestyle. Nothing will convince me that bread, potatos and rice are my enemy while animal fats and meat are my friends.

Aren't you fabulous🙄

Hey @Agix Agix,

I hope you're keeping well. If not too much trouble, would you mind sharing the name of the WFPB meal service that you used/ use?

Thank you!

I'm mainly plant based and no meat, but I do eat fish. I batch cook on Sundays for the week, and try to cook a lot. So today I've hard boiled six eggs, four potatoes, some vegetarian sausages and a huge bake of spinach, mushrooms, chickpeas, tuna and pumpkin soup.

I do this to avoid having to think too much about food during the week. Work longish hours and want to minimise cooking time. There are foods, like peanut butter, that I don't have in the house or I would eat the lot. I'm a recovering alcoholic so need firm boundaries.

I'm a bit underweight but not intentionally.

I have always eaten reasonably well, I had a food allergy in my teens/20s that forced me into cooking from scratch and I just carried on.
It somehow resolved itself but the cooking habit stayed.

I bought the Chris Van T book and was surprised/pleased to see I was doing most of the things he was promoting already.

I'm slim/thin, low side of BMI healthy weight, and have never struggled with my weight. I dont have food "noise". I'll eat when I'm hungry, could forget to eat, or not actually think I'm hungry until I start eating.

My DH on the other hand is constantly thinking about food. He can finish one meal and then be asking what we are eating for the next. He genuinely panicks about not knowing where the next meal is coming from if we are on a day out.

We just learned of a Japanese expression "My mouth is lonely" and he thinks that expresses him to a T.

He is very overweight. BMI 35. He has constantly for the past 10 years tried to follow every Instagram diet going, and he has stuck at them. Carnivore, vegan, low carb, high protein etc etc. But what he never realises is that he consistently eats far too much on these diets.

It's a real issue in our relationship. I'll make a perfectly lovely balanced meal and he wont eat it as he is on another made up diet onlybeating meat and fruit....but he is eating 1kg of meat and 2kg of fruit at a sitting.

Finally, we have a BIG occasion coming up later this year, I have managed to make him see that he can't be dieting if he's never lost any weight.
He is almost has dysphoria about this and can't see it. He is now on a CICO diet of healthy foods, no fads and in 2 weeks he has lost 7lb.
I'm just hoping he can see the difference and continue this way, as I do worry about his health. His blood results haven't been good, but he thinks they are ok as he plays sport he can force them down himself without meds.

I do know this stems from his childhood and being left without food....I've been trying to getbhim into therapy for years. But I'm just glad atm he is trying something new that has the ability to work.

Also I suppose the point of this whole rambling post is that I don't think any diet can really work unless you do keep, somewhat, on top of the calories you are consuming.

Even after I read the CVT book I began to bake a lot more than I ever had before, then I realised I had never really eaten biscuits and cake at home before, why was I starting now. This seems to be quite common in the UPF free FB groups too

I have bad IBS and am waiting further tests to see if it’s IBD as have other auto immune symptoms
I had to give up gluten over 10 years ago and recently tried dairy free but have found I can tolerate small amounts with lactase tablets
FODMAP is very restrictive but has improved my stomach/bowel issues immensely but you do have to be very careful with a lot of fruit or veg and/or limit quantities eg I’m allowed 6 cherry tomatoes or 1/3 courgettes but not at same time! I’m getting very bored of the things I can eat eg carrots and having to take iron and vitamin supplements
Thankfully I can fill up on protein
I’ve always cooked from scratch as got too many dietary issues to risk something unknown creeping in

Yes I have IBS issues and cant tolerate a high fibre diet.

She’s not wrong in that many people with IBS find that starch, sugars and fibre exacerbate their symptoms and that fibre often affects the digestion of people with IBS differently than those without - insoluble fibre often causes them severe constipation rather than the opposite as it does for most people. Obviously fibre isn’t a “myth”, but she very possibly has been advised about it medically.

I don't sit on any side.
Never been overweight, largely due to lifelong anxiety managed by "common sense".
I eat what I want, in very small amounts.
Stomach just goes the size of a plum sometimes.
Clearly an advantage.
😕

I think very few people are very hard core of one particular methodology

Personally I try to stay fairly low carb, Ive had a sleeve so cant eat in volume so plant based protein is no good for me as I cant eat enough of it to get any in me. I love my dairy which is probably not good for me Im learning about acid in the stomach.
I know that when Im forced to eat carby foods too often like when on holiday in the UK, I dont feel well, eating out in the day is unbelievably hard if you dont eat bread/potatoes/pastries/wraps/chips/cakes/biscuits etc etc. Theres just nothing of any substance to eat. Soup is always 'winter vegetable', 'summer vegetable', 'mixed vegetable'. Or my absolute horror for acid indigestion 'roast pepper and tomato'. Heartburn central.

I like meat, I dont find it easy to eat certain meats, fatty meats seem to go down easier, not sure why that is so I love pork belly and chicken thighs, I cant eat white fish but do eat salmon and prawns

So its horses for courses

I dont eat anything with artificial sweetners in them which makes buying food a russian roulette and drinks? Forget it. Im trying to find aloe vera drinks at the moment as they are good for acid reduction, cant find any without aritifical sweetners. Apart from LIdl and they dont sell it anymore.

I know what you’re saying, OP. All about plants with me.
I’d quite happily go vegan. I might start working towards it.

Masses of protein and I'm a butter, not margarine person. With lots of salad and veg. Low on carbs these days but my protein is HIGH.