to be fed up of watching what I eat?

[superstarheartbreaker]

But at the same time fed up of feelibg 'fat'. Im not even that fat...im size 12/14 but if I relax my diet in the slightest and start eating bread or drinking then it goes on. Plus im on a very low dose of ads so it goes on my tum.
I love healthy food but id love to be able just to have pizza, pasta and chips without worrying about my wieght.
I hate diets but I hate putting on wieght more. Dosnt help that im on a bikini / beach holiday.

Yes, I feel exactly the same!

Just exercise more then.... That's what I do.

Wouldn't everyone like to be able to do that?

The alternative could be significantly upping your exercise or, even better, a balance of doing more and eating a bit less - but the odd serving of chips or slice of pizza won't be a disaster

most people will gain body fat if they eat freely of highly palatable foods (eg pizza/pasta/chips etc) eating these kinds of foods makes it difficult to regulate your food intake, so you eat more than you need and gain fat. Having excess body fat disturbs your metabolism such that it becomes more and more difficult to match your energy input to your energy output.

Things snowball, soon you resemble a snowball, best not to let yourself get fat at all.
Unless food means more to you than good health.
Your choice, but you cant have your cake and eat it.

The other option is to burn off most of what you eat. for example today I had a bowl of the kids cereal for breakfast #1 at 5am, toast and jam for breakfast #2, a bean and potato pie and a coffee bun for dinner, and for tea I had beef stir fry with egg noodles and a strawberry tart. I also had a packet of fruit pastels and a packet of pickled onion crisps at some point during the day and a pint of magnum choc icecream with tonights film (that I refused to share with DH).

BUT at work today I walked about the equivalent of 16 miles, ran about 4 maybe 4 and a half, rode 8 horses for 30 or 40 mins each, mucked out 10 straw stables and 4 shavings stables then came home and walked my own 9 dogs for two hours and seen to my own 3 horses and my new foal all being ridden and mucked out so probably burnt most of that off (except maybe the icecream - that's going on my ass) and you can get thingys to measure calories burnt, miles walked/ run, energy used etc. I have a reebok one which I recommend but I cant remember what you call the gadget.

Answer = Exercise

If you want to eat what you want without gaining weight find a way to burn the extra calories.

Sadly I don't have a job that involves that kind of exercise! So it's just the regular couple of km run after work, gym once or twice a week and maybe some hiking at the weekend - certainly not enough to eat whatever I like. Mind you I trained for and ran a marathon a few years back and didn't loose any weight, my appetite just seemed to keep up with the exercise.

I have a daily energy requirement at my goal weight of around 1600 cals, that's plenty for a healthy breakfast of 300 cals of yoghurt fruit and nuts/seeds, 400ish cals soup and toast or a homemade sandwich lunch, 500-800 cal homemade dinner and maybe an apple, some other fruit and/or a handful of nuts to snack on but leaves very little for a hot chocolate at the coffee shop, a muffin, a meal, a pizza night or the occasional alocholic drink unless you skip 'proper' food for it, which can't be terribly healthy.

So OP, you have my sympathies although no solutions I'm afraid. My way forward will probably be 5:2 or 6:1 long term so I can eat more like 2000 cals on the non-fast days without gaining. It's just too relentless otherwise.

I had a lovely slim aunty and she said always stop eating before you get full. I think that is the trick, as well as eating a good healthy diet. Eat what you want, as long as it isn't junk food, just smaller portions.

I fo love exercise and I do the shred but need to do more often. Am going to buy a bike soon and start running. Where do you all go running to?
I do like healthy food but i also love junk! ...and wine.

I fo love exercise and I do the shred but need to do more often. Am going to buy a bike soon and start running. Where do you all go running to?
I do like healthy food but i also love junk! ...and wine.

I know how you feel OP! Having been various sizes in my adult life I've come to the conclusion that (unless my lifestyle changes to allow for considerably more exercise) I'll always have to watch what I eat, much the same way as an alcoholic has to be careful around alcohol their entire lives. It's exhausting but I'm not sure there's an alternative as the minute I relax the pounds just pile on.

Other things you can try:

1. Check whether you have any symptoms of things like hypothyroidism, anaemia etc. as they affect your metabolism, slow you down and you have less energy so that you can't exercise as well but feel like you're doing more.

2. Eat 5-6 small healthy snack sized meals through the day rather than just one or two big meals. Ignoring hunger pangs is not going to help you get in shape.

3. Drink a lot of water and make some of your exercise Pilates/Yoga type stretches for a leaner look.

4. Try opting for wholemeal, unrefined flours and sugars/grains. Cut highly processed food out of your diet and go for wholemeal pizza bases without white sugar (make it yourself so you know what goes in it) and small portions of wholemeal pasta.

5. increase the proportion of fresh veggies and fruit you eat through the day.

(Healthiest choices for me: 5am/6am large glass water with meds. 7am: coffee or watered down juice. 8am water + portion of fresh fruit. 10am half slice wholegrain bread water or juice. 12noon small salad with oil, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, protien and orange juice. Take iron. 2/3pm half slice wholegrain toast with pate water or juice. 6pm water, then small dinner with calcium (cheese or glass of milk or yogurt after).

6. Make sure you wear the right shoes for running with orthotic supports if you need them. If you are carrying a lot of extra weight then running could be hard on your joints so other forms of exercise might be a good start. Try different forms of exercise. Try just jogging up and down stairs ×10 three times a day.

(I started with a variety of wi fit exercises of 4x 2 hour sessions a day. Then I moved on to an hour of walking, minimum half hour constant swim (30 lengths in olympic size pool) and half hour stretches/core work.) Now I run instead of walk but I need orthotics and 5km is my maximum without pulling a muscle as I'm hypermobile and still building up strength. I run on pavements, from my front door).

(Oops...*I started wi fit exercises of 4x half hour exercises per day = 2 hours. Since losing wight and looking after myself generally, I'm better able to be energetic and manage more exercise without as much thought or effort.)

I'm with you op, I was a size 10 but it slowly creeping on again, doesn't help that I've developed a heart problem and cannot exercise now which has completely thrown my exercise put the window, even doing 5 mins on my bike bought on an episode

I agree with the others about exercise. I eat what I like- although not really fond of chips or pizza. I do 5 gym classes a week- that burns approx 4000 calories, so plenty room for high calorie foods without gaining weight.

5:2 (well, now it's usually 6:1) does it for me. Get to eat a sensible amount five days a week without thinking more than 'do I really want this or am I just eating for the sake of it?'. No calorie counting or missing out food groups.And something about the fasting means I'm getting much better at identifying hunger versus I'd like to eat something but I'm not hungry. The 5:2 boards here have some brilliant advice.

I almost posted this a couple of months ago. I have lost 3.5 stone over the past couple of years and still have 7 lbs to go and I look & generally feel so much better but miss Saturday night being pizza, ice cream & bag of maltesers night, miss baking (I ate most of what I baked), miss my nightly hot chocolate (options is so vile compared to green & blacks). My solution is to have two pig out days a month just before I get my period. It is much easier to walk past a box of fudge in the supermarket if I tell myself I can buy it in a fortnight rather than never again.

Paul Mc Kenna plan.

I eat whatever I like, cake, proper chips, chocolate......I have the "I Can Make You Thin" book and CD and it is working a treat. I am similar size to you and am losing 2/3 lbs a week easiest weight loss ever!

I hear ya. I'm slim but it is hard: I think I am naturally a"fat eater" if that makes sense.

I am quite restrictive during the week but eat what I like one (or sometimes both) weekend days, and it balances out most of the time. If I start to gain I just carry on being restrictive through a couple of weekends, until the pounds go off again.

I hear you, OP!

Why don't you look into 5:2. I am sure it will suit you very well. Good luck!

Superstar - I feel the same myself. I am a 12-14 - although more 14 than 12 these days and it feels like I have been on a diet all my life.

Exercise is good, but for me not the silver bullet that everyone describes here. I have seen it written that weight is 80% what you eat and 20% down to exercise and that seems about right to me.

I don't know what age you are, but recently I have found it very hard to maintain weight as I'm in my 40s. I have started lifting heavyish weights which is quicker and easier than doing just cardio.

Argh I know what you mean! I lost 9 stone five years ago, going from a size 24 to a 10. I have put a bit back on, and settled at a size 12, as I was driving myself mad trying to maintain at size 10. However in the last couple of months I have gained a further 7lbs and am a size 12/14 now. It was due to a bad chest infection stopping me to go the gym, and then I had exams in uni.

Until now I was 100% in the way of healthy eating and enjoyed it. As of these last few months I have really been begrudging it. Hoping to get back into my previous frame of mind soon.

I have an idea of how you feel,
I started slowly putting weight on at 23, when personally I think, got a job in a call center sitting down down all day, allowed to eat at desk whilst not on a call.
I am 5ft 4in, and at my heaviest I was 12st 4lb, was a size 16 all over.
I then put on but lost 2 stone with each of my pregnancies. boobs gre and never went away..

I was diagnosed Type 2 diabetic 8 yrs ago, just before my 40th birthday and in all that time have only managed to lose a stone.
Im on Metformin, Ramipril because I also have high blood pressure, Cholesterol in very good however, But just been diagnosed with a very low B12 deficiency.

Im now a size 12 in jeans 14 in trousers and skirts (how on earth does that work?)
and an 18 on my top half.
All my weight is in my boobs and the top half of my stomach under my boobs.
Id love to get down to 10 1/2 stone.