The secrets of overweight people

[ColouringPencils]

I mean this in a light-hearted way, but I guess it might also be helpful to us to see where we're getting it from.

I'll start:

I always serve myself the largest portion, and often nick a few extra bites in between the cooking and serving stages.

I eat a full meal whether I am particularly hungry or not (then often have seconds).

I gave up sugar and doubled my cheese intake (then I went back on sugar too).

Speaking of which, no meal is not improved by a generous topping of grated cheese.

I could quite happily drink a bottle of wine a night, although I don't let myself. On my 'good' nights I drink hot chocolate/ couple of beers and eat crisps instead.

Sometimes if nobody has seen me eat my first slice of toast, I'll put a third one in. This is especially the case when it's white bread, the 'only one' I could buy in the corner shop.

When DH is away I love to read and eat chocolate in bed.

Anyone else got any good tips to help me continue to sabotage my weight loss efforts?

The thing that annoys me, though, is that though I do eat a bit too much, and probably drink a bit too much, on the whole I eat quite well. Plenty of veg and salad every day, I can’t have gluten so not a lot of pastry, cakes and pasta, and a good amount of fruit.

I walk everywhere and run every other day too.

So why am I at my heaviest ever? Surely a slightly big dinner and the odd packet of crisps is t responsible?

I think about food ALL the time.

It genuinely baffles me that there are people who are too busy so don't have lunch, or are content to have a cracker and an apple past its best because that's what is available. I need to have what I fancy! If I don't, I'm a hot headed snappy irritable beast.

And wine... can't say no.

Bottle of wine most nights. I've now accomplished 5 extra stones in 3 years because of this.

2 stone over weight and my downfall is a bag of crisps every day at lunch. Also portion control at dinner time. I'm lo carbing and exercising and I'm down 1 stone. I hope when the diet ends I can keep it off by skipping the crisps and watching portion size.
It's the first time I have done a serious diet. Previously I have just been sensible and moved more, which works eventually, but time is not on my side. None of my clothes fit anymore so I decided drastic measures were needed

I'm fighting my secret......

If I buy a bag of doughnuts I have to eat them all. They are even nicer if they are really really fresh and springy so I can push the nozzle of the squirty cream into the centre and fill them up.

Ivewgor big bones, so need more food
You have to finish your plate
You need to be very, very full after every single meal
You need carbs with every meal or you'll simply fade away

Pinkarsedfly - are you heading towards menopause? If not maybe ask your doctor for thyroid tests. From what you’ve said then you shouldn’t be overweight.

You could always try a food diary and use the nhs website to work our calories. I found MyFitnessPal underestimates the calories in food but overestimates the calories burnt doing exercise. I’ve now got a paper food diary that I carry round with me. Bit off a faff at first but I found that I eat a lot of the same things so after a week or two I can work out the calories quite easily. There may be one thing that you’re missing that is causing the weight gain.

Even though I am fat I'm actually pretty fit! I walk everywhere and never sit still. Awaiting diagnosis of ADHD at 41 but it all makes sense.

I do think I have an addictive personality.

"how are you lot even able to get out of a chair??"

Just because I'm overweight and love food doesn't mean I'm sedentary. I run or do HIIT (or did before I had a bump in the way) 2/3 times a week. I just tend to consume the calories I burn off.

I'm bigger than I was at my smallest but smaller than I was at my biggest.

Ivy44 well, I’m 45 soon, so yes, probably.

I’m also on citalopram, which doesn’t help.

I don’t have any other thyroid symptoms. Plenty of energy, etc. Just a bit heavy!

Seeley how many calories in a bottle of wine? I know people who say they drink a bottle or more an evening, but are skinny. They must be living off salad only mustn't they.

Pinkarsedfly - wasn’t meaning to be rude, I have friends from hiking that are mid to late 40s and they always talk about how it’s so much harder to manage your weight once the menopause is looming. I’m 40 and it’s one of the things that is encouraging me to get my weight down a bit, and keep it down, before it gets even harder.

@LifeBeginsNow IBS doesn't always make you loose weight. Trust me having the shits the whole time makes me starving 😂

Pandycuff - about 750 calls in an average bottle I think. If they’re having wine instead of dinner and eating healthily the rest of the time, then it’s possible. That sums up my diet when I was in my 20s.

I think an average size woman (5 feet 5) who weighs 68kgs needs 2000 calories a day to maintain that weight.

You are my people. I feel at home here.

I can't have a slice of toast, or it opens the floodgates. I am trying keto at the moment and have cut sugar and carbs, and I can honestly say it is one of the hardest things I have done, my addiction is strong. But I have lost the bloat and dodgy tum and almost permanent food hangover, which is quite motivating.

I was always a fatty, then I lost a lot, then gained it all back during my mat leave which was spent lying on the sofa crying and eating toast!

If you look at your weight gain over your entire adult life, and not just weekly/monthly you'll realise its much more than just calories in/calories out. I'll use my own weight as an example: Say for example I'm 3 stone over weight (42lbs) and I'm currently 35 (so 17 years as an adult) that means I've actually gained 2.4lb a year- now assuming that to gain 1 lb = 3500 excess calories, that means I've eaten 8400 calories more than I burned every year since I was 18. Which is 700 a month, or just 22-25 additional calories a day. I'd argue that it's nigh on impossible for anyone to accurately judge their calorie consumption that accurately purely by appetite alone , so by that rationale, anyone who isn't overweight is there purely by luck or some other higher force at work!

For me, the difference between being bmi normal or bmi 'overweight' was not about eating chocolate, crisps, huge portions, drinking beer and doing no exercise. It was literally 1 mouthful of food extra a day. It seems very unfair that to lose that 3 stone I have to diet relentlessly, cut out lots of foods I enjoy, and run miles and miles every week.

I know people who say they drink a bottle or more an evening, but are skinny. They must be living off salad only mustn't they.

My mum drinks a bottle of wine every night and has done for years. She is very slim. If she feels she needs to lose weight, she cuts out potatoes for a few nights and gets back down to her ideal weight.

I think a lot of us are deluded about how much we eat. A colleague found some vegan chocolate and bought me a bar, which I promptly ate. She was horrified. She had said she eats chocolate every day after lunch. However it then transpired that she has ONE SQUARE of chocolate a day. Not the whole bloody bar.

ivy 750 is less than I thought

In my 20s, I drunk lager. Probably an average of 5 pints a night. I ate healthily but plentifully! And never had an issue with my weight

My secrets are (or were as I've quit them for the last few months)

• Eat take away on my way home from somewhere, fine because it will be my dinner. When I get back DH has prepared dinner or suggests getting take away. Instead of saying I've already eaten, I decide to eat the second dinner and say nothing.

• When I do the grocery shopping, I throw in a family block of chocolate and keep it hidden. I eat it over 1-2 days.

Chocolate spread is my downfall.... I haven't bought it the last two shops as I eat it with a spoon in 2 days max. I'm disappointed with myself but I love it so much!!

@Herehere well yes...frankly. What a weird thing to do; comment on a thread just to say something utterly pointless yet smug.

Pandycuff - I was also skint when I was in my 20s and lived off scrambled egg, beans, toast and porridge. Couldn’t afford a car so had to walk everywhere. Wondering about hiding my own money and giving myself a much tighter food allowance. But then I would just eat DC food and I don’t have time to walk everywhere now.

Ivy44 you weren’t rude. Sorry if my reply sounded snippy

When my DP is on earlies i eat really well.. when hes on lates i often go to the shop on my way home for snacks.. have a longer bus ride when hes on lates so usually have a choc bar for the journey too.

Just read that and thought, so how did I afford the wine? Priorities change I guess!