I hate being fat and I cannot keep weight off

[YourBestie]

Struggled all my life being just podgy - overweight. Not obese but fat. Lardy ballooning stomach. It takes so much to get weight off and keeping it off is just impossible. I cannot male any new habits (smaller portions, more veg and salad) stick at all. I hate this feeling. A year of hard work and a few weeks back into old patterns and life and I am a flabby disgusting freak again. I hate food so much. I wish I did not have the stupid kids to feed either. Cooking and washing. And food and food and food. Yes, I sound mental - I am just so upset being at the bottom of the mountain again. I am sisyphus. Is he the tne rolling the ball up the mountain daily?

You are not alone OP. Check out “I started Ozempic last night” for experiences of posters who have had success with Ozempic. I thought I was greedy and weak willed and disgusting and taking this has been a revelation- when I’m not ravenously hungry all the time I’m eating less and losing weight.

The thing about healthy diets is that they have to be a habit and a lifetime thing. It’s a choice and not an easy one. I understand how hard it is.
I managed to lose a significant amount of weight which was an achievement…but maintaining it for the past five years has been more so imho. I’ve had to change my lifestyle.

Do you do any exercise?

A few weeks of bad habits against a year of healthy ones will not make you put all the weight back on.. it will mostly be bloat! I've maintained a 9 stone weight loss for years and yes it means being good most of the time but I have binges for a few weeks, get bloated and put on half a stone and it comes straight back off.

A friend of mine struggled with her weight even though she exercises like mad. Turned out she had a thyroid issue- might be worth investigating?

I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life. Not massively fat but definitely overweight. Recently I changed my diet - I went low carb - because I am in my sixties and I was worried about getting diabetes and various family members have had autoimmune issues. To my amazement my weight started to fall and to date I’ve lost two and a half stone. I feel like I’ve found the key to weight loss and it is so simple. I know it sounds strange but why not research it and try it for a short time, two weeks maybe and see how it goes? You could change your life forever. Good luck 😉

I agree with low carb - chicken and roasted veg, salmon and veg, Shepards pie with veg topping instead of potato

Intermittent fasting works well for me. I try to only eat in the evenings. I know it’s probably not great but I’m usually not hungry till the afternoon anyway.

You need to stop obsesseing about food. The more you think about it the more power you give it. Tell yourself you can eat whatever you want when you want. I think at the moment you are always thinking about the next 'diet' therefore you are binging on the foods you are planning to eliminate from your diet. It won't work. Diets don't really work, eliminating food groups will only end up in you binging on them evenorw when you give up.

The only way you'll lose the weight and become the size you are meant to be is by normalising food. Eat the foods you enjoy. Learn to enjoy it. Try to be happy with who you are. If you hate yourself you will punish yourself with feelings of guilt and shame which feeds the binge eating.

Yes low carb is the key!

Low carb is expensive in these times though!

Thanks for your comments and great to hear of lots of success stories. I am pleased you have found lots of things that work. It struck me that they are different for everyone - low carb, fasting etc.

My average baseline seems to be a size 12 - 14 and this is uncomfortably full.

It's definitely to do with food - I have never had a good relationship. I hate being back at the bottom of a hill.

Of its to do with food then any diet will fail as you are restricting food, therefore making it the big issue it already is. You need to make peace with it. You can try all the suggestions about low carb, fasting etc but it's only going to bugger up your relationship with food even more. I am a binge eater and I go through stages of eating everything in sight, then I go through stages of eating 'like a normal' person and my weight evens out, food is no longer the enemy. Never have I been at my natural weight by going on a 'diet'. Every diet I've tried is followed by an episode of binge eating. Making up for lost time. Eating all the foods I've denied myself.

Sadly for me it's got to be low carb. Exercise will tone but not great for actual weightloss. I fought against trying low carb for ages, mainly due to not eating meat/fish.

I give myself days off it. I also started slow, cut out bread, pasta, potatoes and rice and just upped my veg intake. I'm not extreme with it, but it's stuck well and I'm now slim and have been for nearly two years.

There’s a saying…

You can’t outrun a bad diet.

It’s true. You can be exercising your tits off daily but if you’re still eating a load of shite, you won’t lose weight. Exercise accounts for something 15% of weight loss I think? The rest his all down to what you eat.

Personally I am of the opinion that low carbing, fasting, slimming clubs, shakes and all the other bizarre diets out there are utter bollocks. You might lose weight initially but they are not sustainable for life. Count the points of every meal forever? Nah.
Fast for two days a week? Like hell I will.

The most sustainable way of losing weight and keeping it off is to eat a healthy varied diet, not one of deprivation and punishment. You already know what you should be eating as standard and what you should be keeping on the minimum. Use your common sense and slowly the weight will drop away.

Nah I've low carbed and kept the weight off for years.

Yes it’s bloody hard to lose weight and more importantly to try and keep it off! Low carb for me is the way to go. And exercise, even walking is good, you don’t have to go to the gym! Drink plenty of water and walk don’t beat yourself up about it op if it was that easy no one would be overweight I’m 65 and have lost two stone by exercising and watching the carbs!

Been at this for 50 years...done all diets and yes low carb / intermittent fasting works but not sustainable for me. I cannot maintain.

I've lost 3.5 stone calorie counting and am keeping it off. Never counted my carbs just calories and try to eat more protein to keep me full. I still eat chocolate every day and don't cut out anything just have it in smaller portions, I don't feel like I'm denying myself anything