To find eating so bloody, utterly confusing?

[stevienickstophat]

Right, I've come to the belated conclusion that I need to lose a lot of some weight.

I don't want to do WW or Slimming World, or Atkins or any lo-carb stuff. Been there, done that, fatter than ever.

I find MFP far too time-consuming and confusing.

I just want to make sustainable changes and learn how to make good choices so that the weight comes off slowly and naturally and stays off.

But the advice these days is all so confusing, I end up staring in the fridge like a bunny in the headlights, and give up before I even start.

Eat fruit. Don't eat fruit, it's full of sugar.
Eat protein. But not too much red or processed meat.
Eat veg. But not carby veg.
Eat cheese. Don't eat more than a matchbox sized amount of cheese, it's full of fat and salt.
Eat full fat everything. Full fat everything is full of calories.
Fill up on brown carbs. Don't eat carbs.

I don't know which way is up any more. I've got to the point where I feel guilty for eating an apple.

So, how should a 41 year old, 12 stone 4, size 14 woman eat in order to lose weight long term, please?

I need unequivocal advice in words of one syllable.

TIA

I've had weight issues for over 40 years - I started to pile on weight when I started my periods. No diet ever worked for me - it might work temporarily but when I stopped the weight came screaming back on. Cutting out cakes, biscuits, crisps and alcohol only works if you want a joyless life and you have unrealistic expectations of self control. I started 5:2 3 months ago and can honestly say it has changed my life, eating wise. I am slowly losing weight, and it is easy. I feel great. It feels like my relationship with food is rebooting - I no longer crave sweet things and I don't want to binge. I wish I'd found this WoE 30 years ago.

Rosemary Connelly no fat Diet? You lose inches.

Going meat free for half the week?

Using lentils instead of mince or half half?

Drinking green tea or Jasmine to get your digestive system moving more.

How much alcohol do you drink? That can pile on the pounds.

I don't do weighing or self-denial and have to feel properly full after a meal so that I don't then snack mindlessly an hour later.
I have dropped two dress sizes in 6 months doing regular Jillian Michaels exercise 4/5 days a week.
I eat whatever I like, most of it is home made, plenty of friut and veg but I have crisps and chocolate too when I crave them.

Alcohol - one or two glasses of wine or G&Ts only on Fridays and Saturdays.
I am religious about the regular exercise though and I feel amazing, which is the main motivator for me rather than weight/numbers/what I look like.

Another 5:2 fan here. For nearly 3 years I have restricted myself to 500 calories on Monday and Thursdays. Except when on holiday! Other days I eat what I want. I stay under 10 stone. I love the freedom of not counting calories except 2 meals a week. Also I'm hopeful it will increase my healthy lifespan.

I've never been able to stick to anything before but this is for life.

Looking at your food, it's not bad but you are not eating enough so you might have cravings. You need to eat more, probably vegetables and more protein, fewer carbs but not much fewer as you need energy. Focus on more veg and a bit more protein to keep you fuller longer.

I tried 5:2 but found the fast days really, really hard. Was grumpy as feck.

Thanks flop

It's a bit difficult at the moment as we have no cooker

When I remember which box the electric steamer's in it might get easier...

I highly recommend 'The Harcombe Diet' - it's changed my life!

It sounds like you are on the right track...
Stay away from 'diets', and adopt your own sensible lifestyle changes instead?

Eat nutrient-rich food so that you need less of it. In these parts of the world, we all tend to overeat because our bodies are craving - not more calories, but more nutrients
Eat mostly plant-based. Ditch the processed stuff.
Carbs are important, but no white/refined ones ever as they are literally just empty calories, stick to wholegrain.
Enough fat super important too, and keeps you full - nuts, seeds, good cold-pressed oils, seed butters. Lots of research showing that a diet high in healthy fats aids weight loss. That does not include animal fats (meats or cheese), except fish.
Eat a high proportion of raw foods
Oh and drop the cow's milk if you do drink some - really not meant for human adult bodies.

And vital to kick metabolism into gear by being active, not just an hour at the gym here and there, but a proper lifestyle shift. Ditch the car and cycle everywhere, walk lots, play football with your kids, get moving...

All depends if you want to lose weight or inches.

If you want to lose weight, then it's all about food. If it's inches, then exercise. Both = both.

I did boot camp for 3 months last year, twice a week and lost 4 inches from my stomach and 3 from my hips, but pretty much weighed the same. Unfortunately I ended up with a shoulder problem and had to stop, so have started SW. I love it. Still eat lots of food, but just healthier food. The food diary and being weighed once a week has really helped me.

I like mindful eating. I've been doing Paul McKenna's programme on and off for a good few years. My problem is I binge eat. Usually I use food to alter my mood.

The Paul McKenna programme gets my appetite back to it's normal state i.e. I eat when I'm genuinely hungry not as a buffer when I'm bored, stressed, disappointed, sad etc. Then I eat slowly and mindfully and stop eating when I'm full. On this programme I can eat anything, I just need to feel my natural full signal and stop eating at that point. That doesn't mean I can take the piss and live on junk food. Part of the programme, and I'm a bit sceptical about this, is he encourages the eating of natural only lightly processed food. Does this mean carry on with your diet just respond to normal hunger signals. Don't 'self medicate' use food.

The hypnotherapy part is to boost confidence and install a desire for exercise. Which is exactly what happens.

I did well on Rosemary Conley's, 'Hip and Thigh diet'. I bought the book and she freely admits that no one can spot reduce fat from certain areas, the title is a marketing ploy to get people's attention. I feel old now !

I still follow a low fat diet in the main.

I've got loads of weight to lose, I mean 5 stones or more. I'll just have to keep chipping away at it bit by bit.

I lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for a few years but it's back now and as a result I'm need size 20 clothes again.

I weigh myself on the first day of every month to take the pressure off the weekly weigh in. That's how I did it last time. I miss the scales at Boots that gave a discrete little print out of my weight etc. I live overseas. I still have my Rosemary Conley scales at home which give my weight and body fat percentage.

This thread is so me ATM.

I was trying to lose weight. Not by following any particular plan, but by making a few manageable changes here and there.

Ive decided Im never going to be a size 10 unless I do things that I really dont want to do and that will only lead to me being unhappy. (I dont want to cut out pasta, I dont want to count calories, I dont want to join a slimming club. etc)

After denying myself chocolate or biscuits my craving just got worse and worse and worse until I eventually gave up and ate a bag of minstrels (it was only small)

Now I have decided that while I am a size 14/16 and my BMI puts me in the overweight category I am no longer going to try to lose weight. I am going to be happy that there are a lot worse things I could do. I dont smoke, I hardly drink (just a couple of beers on a Sat night - not enough to be drunk, but probably enough to be over the legal driving limit),I drink plenty of water, I enjoy exercise also most of the time I do eat fairly healthily (grapes and banana for snacks, salad for lunch and smoothies for breakfast)

Yes there are lots of areas in which I could improve, but I just dont want to. I want to eat the odd chocolate biscuit, I want to enjoy my evening meals with the family. I also want to enjoy the odd can of coke (it has been known for me to have a can for breakfast) on occasion too.

So for me Im giving up on the dieting side of things. Im going to concentrate more on doing what I enjoy, which for me is exercise. I realise that it takes a hell of a lot of exercise to burn off a small piece of chocolate so Im not one for thinking that because Ive run a mile I can therefore eat a huge slice of cake. I enjoy running. Unfortunately I stopped for a bit due to a knee injury, but now Im back in it again. In fact I have my first 10K race lined up in a couple of weeks since my injury over a year ago. Im so excited.

So my plan is now to not be so hard on myself with food and just go out and run, run and run some more (though no more than 7 miles at a time) also including my weekly kettlebells class. Id also like to take up pilates, but unfortunately I cant make the times at my gym so need to look for another class somewhere that I can make.

Sorry it was long, I just wanted to give you my plan in which I will either gain weight and become obese, lose weight and be the ideal weight Id love to be or more likely stay about the same (within half a stone each way)

3 years ago, I was 10.12. I was told by WW, twenty odd years ago, that my ideal weight was 10.10 and I tried to stick around that weight.

Then I read about Intermittent Fasting and, a few months later, watched the Horizon programme, 'Eat, Fast and Live longer'. So I began IF using the 5:2 method - purely for the health benefits. The articles I'd read mentioned that it was useful in warding off prostate cancer - a cause dear to my heart, since I'm a bloke of a certain age!

8 months later I was just over 9st - without even trying to lose weight! I had 5 extra holes in my belt and I felt absolutely amazing (I still do).

As others have said, IF is simply the easiest and most pleasurable way of losing weight. I've eaten more cake and biscuits whilst losing and maintaining weight over the last three years than I did in those twenty odd years of being overweight (courtesy of WW!).

stevie, I really sympathise with you and the way you're feeling right now. But you owe it to yourself to read the OP of the current 5:2 thread, and check out the amazing support and friendliness freely offered on that thread - and then come and join us.

Finding this thread useful. I'm doing the 5:2 and finding it pretty sustainable; DH has joined me and has also lost on it. I'm about 6ft and now weigh about 86kg (BMI about 26). We have both lost about 5kg so far in about 10 weeks I would say. It's slow progress but it is staying off for the most part and it feels like something I can stick to.

Over the past couple of years though I feel like I am very preoccupied with food and what I look like. I just wish I could stop thinking about it. I know I am not huge, but I feel it and feel like people are looking at me and thinking that I need to lose weight. I can't stand my tummy; it is stretchmarked and has an overhang from 2 CS. Not sure that anything but a tummy tuck would fix it though. I just wish I could be happy with how I looked

Quit sugar
Move more

Do you get enough sleep, are you stressed? These have a huge impact on your ability to lose weight. We burn calories when we sleep and when we are stressed our body releases cortisol which makes us store fat on our stomachs... I have read a lot about this! I also find when I successfully diet its because I make an effort, see some weight loss and that encourages me to stick with it. Counting calories works for me and my garmin says how many I use up a day so as long as I eat less than that I should lose weight...!

Start on The Harcombe Diet. It really works! I have lost 9 stone in 12 months. No calorie counting, no starving - just eat real food!

I tried 5:2 but found the fast days really, really hard. Was grumpy as feck.

Sorry, stevie, I missed this.

I used to get really ratty if food wasn't available at certain times during the day - now I'm completely zen about food, and I can easily miss a meal or two without worrying about it.

Everybody's different, and it does sometimes take a while for the body to adjust to fasting. This is where the support on that thread comes in - someone has always experienced whatever problem you come up against, and posters are very quick to offer advice and support - and encouragement!

It is LCHF btw

I have only read the OP's opening comments, IMHO, rather than dieting you should follow my slim and elegant aunt's maxime, which was "stop eating before you get full"

For health reasons you should of course eat a good round diet without too many processed foods.

OP I'm struggling with the C25K too; I suffered with shin splints. Have recently restarted it & I'm running alternative runs (so run the 1st one, walk the 2nd at a slightly brisker pace than the walk section, run the 3rd & repeat.) As my OH says, "at least you're doing something, not sat at home doing nothing" I'm also trying to reduce the amount of junk food & processed foods I eat. (Struggling here too as I seem to have developed a sensitivity to gluten & finding it difficult to adjust) I sincerely hope that you achieve your goals.

OP for what it is worth, I think any kind of miracle fad diet isn't the solution you are looking for. My recipe to stay slim is:

Eat recognizable food. If I can't look at my plate and name every ingredient that's on it, then it's probably too processed. Your day's meals that you set out earlier definitely falls foul of this.

2/3 of your plate should be fruit and veg (more veg).

Eat protein and fats to fill up not carbs (although carbs are fine in moderation following the rule above about recognizable good - so rice = fine, oatmeal = fine, pasta, not so much). But don't be afraid of fats. Personally, I never eat skim milk etc because it just does't fill me up and I get hungry again quicker.

Reduce portion size. Buy a smaller plate and smaller bowl. Then fill those small plates full. Much more satisfying than a small amount looking lonely in the middle of a big plate.

Know your own weaknesses. I know that once I start something I can't stop. I find it easier to resist e.g. one M&M from the bag in the first place than I do to stop at one.

That's my approach. Won't be everyone's cup of tea. But I am nearly 40 and it works for me.

know you own weaknesses

Yes to this I've trained myself to not have even ONE corn chip or crisp because then it's hard to stop

Sadly dieting doesn't work- I remember learning that at my eating disorders training. As you've already said the problem is u put it back on plus more. I became disheartened by my slimming world consultant- she had a blog showing her food intake. She is very very healthy- her treats are quark with an options hot chocolate or similar. No pasta but things like forgetting noodles- she is on a very restrictive diet every single day in order to stay slim

Courgetti not forgetting noodles!