Is anyone else just sick of being a bit overweight?

[Pastarasta1]

I'll preface this by saying I thought about posting in weight loss chat, but I'm actually not after weight loss advice..

Is anyone just sick of being a "bit overweight?"

I'll define that by saying I'm 1.5 stones overweight but not in the obese category. I have a nice face, albeit a double chin, ample chest, small waist and long and shapely legs from the calves downwards.. however I have a belly, wobbly thighs and my upper arms are built like a wrestlers.

I love food. I stick to a diet for a few days or a week then usually ruin it by having a takeaway.

I do lack will power and also find it time making time to exercise as a busy working single parent.

I think its just knowing if I lost that 1.5 stones I'd be in a healthy weight category, but I just can't seem to engage my brain by doing it..

Does anyone else feel fed up of it all when you're a bit overweight?

I started simply by pushing breakfast back to 10am and really cutting down on sugar. Getting to 10am was a struggle until I dropped milk from my coffee. I wouldn't have believed I'd cope with that but I'm now so used to it I don't even buy milk anymore.

Now I eat between about noon and 7pm. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. I generally have two meals and if I'm hungry I'll snack but that's pretty rare. Even 2 all inclusive holidays haven't knocked me off track - I lost any gained weight in under a week once I got back into pattern.

I know people get boring about this subject so I don't generally tell people unless they ask me - which happens a lot at work because people can see a big difference in how I look. Calorie counting and daily cardio absolutely did not work for me. Tim spectors books are really helpful at explaining the scientific basis as to why. I was so miserable, tired and hungry for a long time and couldn't understand what I was doing wrong.

Am in the same boat. Nearly in the BMI overweight category. Weight crept up over lockdowns/wfh/life stress. Am heavier than when I was pregnant 15 years ago! Now large size12 and refusing to go up a size. So I have started IM fasting and lost 4Ils over the last month. So that’s 7meals a week fewer. I do have tea /coffee with milk in the morning as that gets me through the morning. Have stopped mindlessly snacking & only having the odd alcoholic drink which is a bit boring but booze leads to me eating unhealthily the next day. It’s rubbish getting on the scales when you haven’t lost anything but such a buzz when you see that you are lighter. I definitely needed to reset my eating patterns though as so much was boredom/ habit/ wanting to ‘treat myself’ rather than true hunger.

@hurlyb do you allow yourself to drink wine after 7 or a dash of milk in tea before 12?

I’ve got about a stone to lose. I had gestational diabetes in both pregnancies and I did the low carb thing really well and was diet controlled throughout. But it made me so miserable.

Yes I found a few nice replacements like sweet potatoes but I missed all those comforting foods that I love; crusty white bread, pasta bakes, roast potatoes. I missed all those more than cake.

I know I could lose weight if I gave up those things again and consistently stayed away from them but I just can’t face it long term.

I’ve been doing Noom for a while and have lost a few lbs so am down to the lowest I’ve been in 9 years but still have a stone to go and struggling to find motivation.

Ok here's my advice, coming from experience, which I know none of you will take 😂. Stop dieting! Focus on a healthy lifestyle and accept your current size. I'm 55. 30 years ago I was also a bit overweight. I've also started a diet every few weeks for that entire 30 bloody years. Literally. I've also never found the magic formula for staying on track. And I've always lost control and put back a pound or 2 more than I lost. I'm now 16 stone and size 22. It's shit! Everything about a life of dieting is shit!

I hate being fat. But I'd hate my life more if I had to restrict all the things I would need to in order to be, and stay, slim. So... fat it is 😁

This sums it up for me @NorthWestThree

@GreenMarigold I'm definitely having potatoes now ... it's mainly the reduction in wine (compared with pre pregnancy)crisps and sugary drinks and also walking /getting up and doing washing up etc straight m after meals

I realised this year, at 58 and post menopausal, that I weighed 2 stones more than DH. He has always been fit, slim and exercises regularly.

I found out about Intermittent Fasting and, since April, have been doing that alongside daily exercise and have now lost nearly 3 stones, bringing me back down from obese to healthy weight. I hate calorie counting, so don't do that and just watch what I eat. I still allow myself treats - biscuits and cakes but just not every day. I don't snack constantly, and make sure that I've had enough to eat at my meals so that I don't feel tempted to eat more than I need. It works.

Could you exercise with her? When she's home from school put an exercise video or something on and she can either watch, join in or play with her toys. It's really good for kids to see their mum exercise.

I do what hurly does. I have milk though. Dont eat until early lunch. No carbs for lunch. Then normal dinner but on small plate. Cut back on snacks. Cardio most days just my routine now. Relax at weekends.

am not Elle McPherson but nearly 50 bmi 22 and maintaining size 10/12. Can’t go lower as like my weekend wine and have sweet tooth!

Yes but it’s my own fault for allowing myself to go off plan in terms of my weight management programme. I know that it’s not forever though and I am back on my plan and even if I have put on a little weight I am not where I used to be.

I’m with @Hellostrawberries on this.

For that last stone or so it’s a lifestyle adjustment that is needed not a diet. It’s not sexy or quick but it’s the only thing that will work, but you have to commit to the lifestyle adjustment and make it just the way you live now.

I strapped on my husbands old running watch during the first lockdown and started making sure I get 10k steps/day. Not running - fuck that. I’ve weaved it into how I go about life now and it’s very rare that I don’t hit it

over the past 3.5 years (gosh only just realised how long it’s actually been since March 2020!) I’ve made other small adjustments to my lifestyle, gradually and stacking all of these new habits on top of each other, including:

Getting into a good sleep routine

Making dinner the last thing I eat for the day and trying to eat it 3 hours before bed

Eating a wide variety of fruit and (at least 30 different ‘plants’ throughout the week) and 5-6 portions per day

Basing most meals around lean protein and f&v

Cutting out almost all alcohol (but must admit I’m not much of a drinker anyway)

Reminding myself that when I can’t be arsed to cook, beans/eggs on toast and a banana is as easy/easier than a takeaway, and won’t make me feel like shit the next day or cost me a fortune.

Yes! I veer between "right, will cut down, starting today" and "ah fuck it I'm going to eat this biscuit".

This is me! I am about 10lb to a stone (varies) overweight according to BMI.

I know I can lose it, I have before, but URGH it’s just effort. I have to low carb, avoid all treats, be really committed to exercise etc. And then I get there and think ‘phew’, relax and put it all back on again.

I think my lifestyle (sedentary job, small child so limited time for exercise) basically needs fewer calories than my brain wants to eat. I’m a total foodie, not even junk food, just nice food, so it’s a bitter pill to swallow that my body doesn’t need quite as much as I’d like to eat. It feels a massive ask to adjust my lifestyle so much for the sake of less than a stone.

I was at my heaviest after having DD, about 2.5 stone overweight and I lost the bulk of it really easily just by being sensible, but that last stone feels insurmountable!

Me

Yes me too! Totally fed up of being too well fed! Fed up of people forcing to me to eat at gun point! No , seriously though I really must sort myself out. I am thinking of making some low calorie soups and I still have some of those slimming drinks. I actually like them because I love cold coffee and banana milk shakes. I could do without all the crisps, chocolate and biscuits that I ram down my gullet. I am well on the way to being Frois gras!

Meeeee - can never seem to shift that last magical stone

Are you sure you aren't minimizing your actual weight? You say you need to lose 21 lb to get to a healthy BMI - but how much to get you closer to the middle of the normal range?

If you are "permanently exhausted", chances are you are eating too much UPF, refined carbs and sugar. Try cutting down drastically and I bet you'll feel much more energetic. And you'll lose weight.

This is it exactly! It's coming to terms with eating well and healthily for the long term. It is okay to splurge and have treats once in a while but you have to have some level of restriction in order to be the size you want (unless you are genetically gifted) and do regular exercise as a discipline! I am six months pp and am lighter than pre baby but my body is not the same!

I’m the same, but I’m post menopausal. I need to lose 10lb to scrape into a healthy BMI and another stone on top to get to the middle of the range.

I’ve decided not to stress too much about it and just make sustainable changes like not eating between meals if possible, cutting down on UPFs/ready meals. Reading UPF People really helped change my habits as food I’d previously thought of as healthy choices weren’t.

I am just into the obese category and need to lose 31lbs to get into the healthy category. Maybe that's more than 'a little bit' but it has slowly crept on over a decade.

I worked out that 31lbs of fat is 108k calories too much eaten over the last decade (1lb fat is 3,500 calories). 108k calories sounds like utter gorging but over a decade it's actually only 30 excess calories a day. So one chocolate bar per week over what my body needs for a decade has made me over 30lbs overweight.

I try to remember that every time I'm out for dinner, offered a piece of cake or doing the food shop. Small changes help eg if I want chips have them with something healthy rather than a burger, take the smallest slice of birthday cake then don't beat myself up about being social and if I want to buy some soup and don't care about which then check the calories and buy the lowest cal one.

Hopefully it won't take me a decade to lose my 30lbs but little dietary and exercise changes can make a difference and still let you feel that you are 'living' rather than 'dieting'.

@Missmas no milk before noon - occasional glass of wine in the evening, especially weekends. I try to have it early unless it's a big night out. Then I eat as late as possible the following day and avoid alcohol for a few days after.

Main problem with wine is that I then also want crisps.. and dip

Oh yeah I know it's really difficult

I lose weight and feel great and am determined not to put it back on, and then winter happens

I can’t quite remember what the saying is but it’s something along the lines of ‘we only change when the pain of staying the same is worse than the pain of changing’. Basically because you’re “a bit overweight” (rather than obese) the pain of staying the same is not great enough to motivate you to endure the inconvenience of change. So you can either accept that’s the case and enjoy life in your current form or you need to find a way to reframe the current status as sufficiently bad that you are more motivated to change.

I'm conscious you said you don’t want weight-loss advice and I don’t want yo overstep (I hope I haven’t already) so I won’t wade into suggestions about how I would reframe the current situation, in case that’s not what you’re after.

Found the quote! - “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”