How did I get so fat again!

[Catspyjamazzzz]

I’ve never ever been really thin.

I have been much smaller. I’ve yo-yoed a bit. I lost a chunk of weight last year (ww and lots of exercise).
However a year of no exercise (bad foot) and a full time job sat on my arse have really made me pile on the weight.

I feel like I don’t have the energy to do it all again. I still have foot issues and working full time limits the walking I can do (in the past I walked a lot) which I think kept my weight under control.
I’ve been very fit but never really thin and now I don’t think I am fit at all.

Please feel me stories of weight triumphs - I’ve just seen how fat my arms are!
I’m going on the exercise bike tomorrow - I am I am I am!

But you would, eventually, drop a stone if your diet remained the same but your activity levels rose.

But you would, eventually, drop a stone if your diet remained the same but your activity levels rose.

not if your calorie intake remains more than you burn.
people tend to underestimate how little extra energy exercise, even very vigorous exercise, burns.

get on a calorie counting app and get scales to measure portions.

good luck!

11lbs over 4 months is OK - but it will only happen if

a) you run for at least 30 minutes every day
and
b) you keep you calorie intake the same as it is now, without adding in extra calories

One of the 'dangers' of exercise is that it makes you hungry, so you eat more - and also, there's the psychological element which is very common - "I've done some exercise so I deserve that biscuit/cake/chocolate"!

In my example the school run made a massive difference to weight.

School was a 20 minute walk there, 15 minutes back. So 70 minutes a day walking, 5 days a week. I think it was about 3/4 of a mile away, so 3 miles a day walking.

It isnt a big change to walk vs driving. Didn't make a lot of difference timewise as parking was a pain (hence walking). But the extra exercise (which I didn't see as exercise) made a massive difference to whether I was gaining weight or losing weight.

So although weight loss comes from eating less it's sometimes easier to incorporate something simple like walking on the school run into your daily life and make a difference to your weight and health.

I find it quite harmful when people say it's 80/90/100% dieting as though exercise doesn't matter at all. If people are finding it difficult to reduce what they eat some may find it easier to exercise. Which will either slow their weight gain, stop it altogether or they will lose weight.

Ds starts primary school in September. Different school but same sort of distance as dds school. I fully expect to lose weight when we start it because I will be walking an additional 3 miles a day, which is 15 miles a week, 38 weeks of the year.

That is 570 miles a year. Walking that has to make a difference if my intake remains the same which it will.

I had a similar situation to you. I lost 3 stone on SW but I had a period of really bad abdo pain where I couldn’t do much exercise (just about managed the school run) and comfort eating meant I regained about half of it. Tried to restart SW but it’s not really coming off, couldn’t stick to it. I’m not convinced low fat is that good an idea anyway. I was still eating far too much sugar and craving sugar all the time. In a vicious cycle and I think sweeteners just make it worse.

Can I ask - do you binge eat? Do you find yourself eating without really wanting to? If so, I highly recommend ‘Brain over binge’ by Kathryn Hansen. It really opened my eyes to my bad habits.

I’m now doing something similar to Wilburissomepig. I’m following ‘The No S diet website here but it’s worth reading the book too - rules are: no sweets, no snacks, no seconds - except on ‘ S’ days, Saturday, Sundays and two exception days in a month. On S days you can eat whatever you like. It’s made me realise I probably don’t eat enough at meals and graze far too much. Eating too much sugar is a vicious cycle. I don’t seem to fall off the wagon too much because I know I’m only 5 days away from a treat. I also don’t need to eat as often as I was. I eat whatever I like for meals but I try to minimise my carbs and eat plenty of protein and fat so that I’m full for as long as possible. I’m also eating mindfully - sitting at the table, turning off my phone, chewing each bite 20 times rather than inhaling my food.

I do think it’s important to exercise too. It’s a motivating factor. Just as eat crap/can’t be arsed go exercise is negative, eat well/feel motivated to exercise (and then not undo exercise with crap eating) is positive.

Good luck with the change of job. It sounds like the right decision for you.