I'm your opinion...

[wishthiswasreallife]

What is the best way to lose weight? Best as in healthiest,good results etc.

So I'm on slimming world right now (for the 30000th time) and I'm just struggling all round. I'm fine during the day and then night time I struggle because it's so much work and prep I end up having cereal etc.

I'm now wondering if I should try calorie counting? I am pretty active 12,000 + steps a day so I'm looking to have a really good diet aswell as the fitness.

All opinions appreciated,I'm feeling pretty lost and down just now.

Thanks everyone!

Working from home is so hard for temptation. I have to really work hard not to pick at things in the kitchen. Could you have lunch away from your desk? Maybe even outdoors if it’s as nice with you as it is here? I find that always helps me. Lunches when you’re busy are tricky-I’m making a big pot of soup to freeze in portions.

I use the Nutracheck app which is for calorie counting. Lots of failed WeightWatchers on there!

There is loads of support with the forums and the admins. It is all about making positive, realistic and sustainable changes to your diet and nobody pretends it is easy or there will be an instant fix, but it mkes you realise it is doable.

It works out your calorie allowances but you can choose to follow different plans eg 5:2, lower carb, maintenance etc. You can scan barcodes to enter foods which I find really quick and easy.

It is paid for - £30 for the year for mobile only but I think it is well worth the money.

You want the Low Carb Bootcamp right here on Mumsnet. It's a fantastic way to lose weight, you get loads of support and advice from other Bootcampers, ideas and recipes for meal planning, you don't go hungry or deprive yourself, you still eat delicious food, and you lose weight.

I did my first one in May 2019, I had a stone to lose, and that came off in almost the first fortnight (though that is unusual!). By the time we finished I was well within the healthy BMI range. After my second one I finished three stone than my original starting weight, and was a size 8.

I've remained low-carb (mostly, now I'm maintaining I do occasionally eat carbs, but they no longer form a major part of my diet) and kept the weight off since. I have more energy, so I work out more and have good muscle tone. As part of the WOE you eat loads of green leafy veg and drink loads (and loads!) of water so my skin is better than it's ever been and my immune system is fantastic - over than Covid I haven't been ill since, and I only got Covid very mildly (one day in bed, a few of feeling a bit rough, and a lingering cough and loss of smell/taste for a few weeks).

And it's free! Well, the WOE can be expensive, but there are no charges for the help, guidance, support or recipes, and it's such a lovely community, I love the Bootcampers.

If I sound evangelical, it's because I am! Bootcamp is in my top 5 of Best Things I've Ever Done.

They've just finished a Bootcamp, btw @wishthiswasreallife , but there'll no doubt be another one starting soon.

I've been working with a PT for a year to lose weight after reaching a point where I realised I needed to take charge of my health. Best financial investment in years. Goal was to reach a healthy body weight and tackle long term unhealthy relationship with food. Work in progress but 70lb down and sustained. Importantly, I stopped punishing / rewarding myself with food. What worked was tracking calories through myfitnessPal and maintaining a reasonable calorie deficit across every week. I train hard 3 to 4 hours a week but that's because I love it and it's good for my mental health. I don't diet. I aim for around 1700 calories a day, but monitor this over the week, (some days I eat more, some days less). I weigh in once a month as body weight fluctuates weekly. I keep an eye on portion sizes and generally don't have dessert straight after my meals. When I do have sweet stuff or alcohol I make sure I really enjoy it. Think about your relationship with food, it's there to be enjoyed yes, but it's really just fuel to keep your body strong so try to fuel yourself in the best way possible!

The boot camp sounds really good to me. Is there any info beforehand when it will restart or anything? Thanks for all the advice. I could eat away from my desk but again it will be a rush which worries me I end up grabbing something easy. I then panic about teatime because I don't know what I can make which is healthy. I just feel so lost right now

eat your normal diet, remove the extra bad bits like cake,crisps,alcohol. and make your meals 1/4 smaller.

I lost 7 stone in a year doing the 5:2 diet but I also exercised a heck of a lot. Started off small so I’d just jog up and down the garden to begin with but made sure I did it every day. Then once my fitness had built up a bit I started doing YouTube fitness videos religiously (HIIT mostly but also did yoga). Eventually when I felt confident I started running in public.

@wishthiswasreallife

The boot camp sounds really good to me. Is there any info beforehand when it will restart or anything? Thanks for all the advice. I could eat away from my desk but again it will be a rush which worries me I end up grabbing something easy. I then panic about teatime because I don't know what I can make which is healthy. I just feel so lost right now

There's loads! Go to the Big/Small/Whatever weightloss section, then the Low Carb Bootcamp section. Lots of information for you be reading up on.

There's a current thread on there for the final week of the current Bootcamp that you can introduce yourself on. They're a very welcoming lot, I promise.

So if I was to calorie count does anyone know a goal for my weight to lose a good amount a week? So do I need 1,000 calories a day,more, less?

1000 calories a day is far too low in the mid-to-long term and not sustainable. I have a history of disordered eating and one of the things my GP used to constantly pull me up on was having too few calories, you need a minimum of 1200 a day just to maintain function. I find my anxiety goes off the charts when I have less than 1100 a day as it throws out my mental balance as well as affecting me physically.

Nutracheck is really good for keeping track, the food database leans more toward UK shops and typical foods than My Fitness Pal does. Weigh everything to begin with but after a week or two you'll get a better eye for judging what 200g of pasta looks like and how many calories are in two spoons of sauce, etc. You can add your own recipes to it too, for example if you make a specific meal regularly you can add it to your recipe book then next time you have it instead of recording all the individual ingredients you can just add "my chicken curry" (or whatever the meal is) and its all already calorie counted.

Calorie counting means nothing is off limits, nothing is bad or syned, and you can eat normally without having to make different meals to the rest of the family. It can fit around your lifestyle too as you can cook fresh where you have time or use ready made/processed foods on busy days if you need to, you just count in the calories.

I have downloaded nutracheck on my phone. It's linked to my Fitbit aswell so that's good to keep track of. It's just all so confusing eating what's right I feel so overwhelmed and like I will never lose weight!

I think to some extent you need to let all the advice wash over you a bit and think what will actually work with how you like to eat and what your lifestyle is. Any positive changes you make will be a step in the right direction and there isn’t one way to lose weight. For me it was key to put any “slips” or “bad days” into perspective and not them turn into giving up or getting despondent. Every dayz’d a new start.Really good luck.

Just eat what you normally eat but record everything then after a few days, or even a week, have a look back and see what patterns there are, how far over your calorie allowance you're going, and where you could make some small changes. You might be surprised to find that what you're eating isn't too bad and that it's more a matter of portion size rather than content or you might see that you could save a fair chunk of calories by swapping some foods around (e.g., wholemeal bread for white bread, semi-skimmed milk for whole milk, and so on).

I agree about the bad days too. I don't view it as having a 'bad' day, I view it as just having a day and accepting that some days I will go over my calorie allowance and start fresh the next day.

So my first full day using nutracheck and I like it. Iv stayed within my calories and all my foods are green apart from two orange which is nice to see haha

Also Iv been weighing everything today too which makes it feel like I'm not overeating