Where is my diet going wrong and keeping me obese?

[BoobsGalore]

I am mid 50s. Weigh 94 kg.
Always been curvy, have lipedema (heavy diet -resistant legs) on HRT.
Spent years on low fat artificial sweetener type diets, now for the last 5 years eat less UPF, no low fat anything. Try to be reasonably low carb.

I am doing intermittent fasting (16/8) since early Aug and have lost 4.5 kg but it's painfully slow.
Tried mounjaro back in Spring but had to come off it after it triggered terrible panic attacks.

I am photographing my meals for my intermittent fasting app. Here is yesterday's food - spinach omelette for brunch and a bean and courgette stew for dinner. I had 2 slices of home made bread, a handful of mixed nuts, and an apple as well as what is pictured. Will add a couple of other days as well. Is it the carbs?

I have noticed I don't drink enough - about 1.5 litres a day of tea, coffee, diet coke (1 can a day, I think it's an addiction) and squash or water. Would that make a huge difference?

Hi Antibiotics
I should change the title of my thread really, I know where I am/was going wrong and am now losing weight again, nice and slowly. I don't think my diet is very carb heavy though. The rice on yesterday's plate is cauliflower rice and the bread on the days before is a high protein low carb bread mix. Also not had a diet coke for a while now.
Always nice to have someone new on the journey with me.

I'm tempted to start photographing my food as it seems a good way to eat better

Yes, it keeps me on a reasonable path of accountability. I wouldn't want to be putting up pictures of piles of chips every day.

I tried konjac noodles! They weren't too bad at all, I had them with some mushrooms and garlic. I cannot believe how low in calories they are!! It said 8 calories which just seems amazingly low (in a good way! As it was nice to feel full)

Just been googling finger millet porridge 😋 will have to get some of that as it's gluten-free! This thread is great for new ideas 😁 do you eat yours just like normal porridge?

I remember when DCs were born there was a poster up on the wall in the hospital saying that a newborn baby's stomach is the size of a cherry 🤯 it always struck me just how tiny they are. Xx

Daily plates
Lunch was 2/3 of a m and s quinoa, avocado and feta salad with extra green leaves. I will have the other bit tomorrow.

Had a handful of peanuts and 5 olives too.

Dinner was Brussels sprouts and bacon and some skyr.

My daughter has made a cake as a special treat for us all so I will have a small slice in a moment. Can add a picture if you like...

Cake. My slice and DH's slice. Guess which is which.

Is it carrot cake? Looks yum.

It's a red velvet cake.

I had
Porridge with a banana and protein powder
Sourdough with avocado and feta, 2 pieces of chocolate
Prawns in pesto with 125g of rice and a bag of steam veg
125g Greek yoghurt and an apple

Pretty happy with that for a start

"Just been googling finger millet porridge 😋 will have to get some of that as it's gluten-free! This thread is great for new ideas 😁 do you eat yours just like normal porridge?"

Yes - it's a bit of an acquired taste, it's slightly earthy but I love it. I only have it rarely because I rarely eat breakfast but it sort of warms you inside. I understand you can use the flour to make chapatis too.

Fab, will definitely try this!! X

How is your dog... feeling better I hope??

Lots of interesting meal ideas... thank you!

The poor dog got an infection in her stitches and still has a cone on but is feeling better in general, thanks for asking :)

Maybe you need smaller portions and some more exercise. Water to help starve off the hunger?!

At some point we need a picture of the dog, with an egg for scale.

I'm baffled by this obsession of no or low carbs. I don't anyone who does this. Is it a MN or social media thing?

I think the OPs food looks fine. So many posters have different views on what to change and its all pretty meaningless. I mean, whose right? All of them?

Head down OP. You're doing well. Just continue.

Sounds good. If it were me I would probably up the veg on the prawns meal. As you see I like to chuck a salad or veg on most foods.

I find that not eating breakfast or after dinner is a good discipline - for me.
I realize I was always grazing late at night (before I started intermittent fasting in August) and now I don't - and I think that probably saves at least 500 cal a day just with those 2 simple changes. Importantly, I feel like I can keep going with it too - with just breakfast occasionally.

@BoobsGalore definitely! It was the last meal before my food shop came
They didn't have any salad in Tesco apparently so I'm going to have to go out for that tomorrow

I’ve just read all your posts @BoobsGalore and what stands out is that in almost all of them you’re writing - can of coke, packet of crisps, slice of cake, a biscuit etc.

Whilst your meals look great to me, you’re snacking on junk almost daily and it doesn’t matter if it’s a small slice or healthy crisps, it all adds up. I also only found out recently that even if you eat really healthily, the bad stuff wipes out some of the benefits of the good stuff.

I’m overweight myself and I know it’s very easy to underestimate or forget how much we eat. We’ve got to keep on trying though x

Thanks Apollo

I could have lied but I am holding myself accountable.
I am doing ok with small amounts of junk though :) I have lost 1.8 kg since starting this thread. I know what you mean, and it's easy to let lots of cheats sneak in. I am trying to balance doing something sustainable and accepting that this means my weight loss will be slower, versus doing something drastic for quick results. I have done SO MANY drastic things over the years - shake diets, VLCD using sachets you mix with water, fast 800, blood sugar diet, Jane plan....as well as longer term things like keto and slimming world and Zoe. None has been sustainable.

This not eating before lunch or after dinner, and ensuring I drink 2l a day, seems to be sustainable and I am losing weight despite the crisps etc.

The crisps I should explain I don't usually have a whole packet. I have some out of one of those big packets of tyrrel or similar high end brand crisps. In one of my small bowls.

My key tactics - keep meals decent quality and low UPF 80 Percent of the time. Don't eat before lunch or after dinner. Don't go mad on carbs, esp white carbs. Do allow small quantities of "treat" foods so I don't end up chucking it all in because I ate a bag of crisps and "ruined everything anyway". Do plan for danger times (I need to get better on this) and do drink more water.

Tbh I didn't really want cake but my DD was so proud and excited I couldn't really say no I don't want any of the cake you slaved over!

Absolutely of course. The thing is (and believe me, I’m telling myself this as much as you) by definition of it being a ‘treat’ something shouldn’t be eaten every day.

I have at least one packet of crisps a day and really want to stop. I think they have a negative effect on my weight that goes beyond their actual calories. I don’t fully understand why because I need to read the book properly, but I think it’s something to do with glucose. ‘The Glucose Revolution’ is an interesting read.

For what it’s worth, I think your portion sizes look fine.

I’ve got two slim daughters. One eats absolutely loads of food, but only occasionally (once a week maybe, is that occasional?) eats a biscuit etc. She also exercises a lot. The other one eats a plentiful, excellent diet and practically never eats crappy snacks.

I eat about a third of the amount of food they do and am very overweight.

Op

well done

you know these threads bring out a horrible bunch - those saying you are lying, those saying you ought to eat smaller portions even tho your portions are small already!

they are hardly kind and helpful and probably have their own disordered eating!

@Apolloneuro

This is exactly what happens n my house - I eat the least but I’m not the smallest. My body clearly doesn’t burn calories as efficiently as the other members of my house

I think the op is also suffering from the same

weight lifting would probably boost things