What made you FINALLY stop over eating?

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I am struggling to lose more than 5 stone.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

tia

Following. I'm under 10st now, but stuffing my face at night is my downfall. I'm 5'4 and have a small frame, so any extra weight makes me look huge. I just can't carry it well. Then my confidence really takes a bashing.

Wow, there are some great success stories on here.

My motivation to loose weight was to do something positive to make myself happier. I'm generally a content person but it bugs me that my clothes are tight. I've half a stone to loose so not a huge amount but I still find it difficult. I've started using MyFitnessPal and I think it's going to work well as it stops me having those little extras.
My meals are fine, my portions are ok and I like healthy food but all the little extras add up. I'm doing 1200 calories a day but I think it's ok to go over it a bit. I thought my diet was quite healthy but MFP has highlighted the fact that I don't eat enough protein and nutrients such as iron. I love green veggies so I thought I was ok for iron.

I've started taking vitimen pills.
I walk a lot.

I have several stone to lose and have joined SW. It's helped me to eat properly and I've lost 10.5lb in 5 weeks so far. Because bad food is synned it stops me overeating but I still need to have the willpower to not snack which is hard.

I lost two and half stone last year and the amazing part is its stayed off, yes I have more to lose but I had two big holidays and two big birthdays for DH and I and while I had small increases after those events within a few weeks I was back down again... after 25yrs of yo yoing that is a bloody miracle for me, only a few years earlier I stacked on one and half stone during a three week holiday and then another stone in the month or two following!

I did the 5:2 but struggled and found 4:3 with the three days on 600/700 cals very doable, I eat carefully / sensibly for the other three days and the fourth day I have a takeaway / wine / chocolate. I have the mindset on the fasting days that I don't eat today, just soup for late lunch and meat / veg for dinner, its not so bad 95% of the time and if I muck up a day then so be it, get back on it the next day. During the week I avoid sugar and alcohol and treats in general, pretty much an 80% healthy 20% not quite so healthy.

I now need to really knuckle down and figure out the combination of behaviours that will get rid of this last stone, will mean reigning my eating in a bit tighter again but it will be worth it.

Marathon not a sprint!

Gah diets! I've had success with SW and WW and the Hairy Dieters cookbook - losing 2-3 stone on each, but slowly fall back into my old ways and the weight creeps back on again.

My problem is I like food, so does DH. So our approach this year is just to change the way we eat. Mon-Fri we try and work to a 1250-1500 calorie diet every day, so porridge for breakfast, healthy dinner and then lunch/snacks (usually veg sticks and hummous, or chicken wraps/soup for me). Saturday we can eat whatever we like and Sunday we are allowed a roast dinner with pudding, but no other treat foods.

It seems to be working, we are both steadily losing 2 pound a week and don't feel like we are dieting. I have a real sweet tooth but I find eating like this, because I have cut out the sweets, cakes and biscuits, I actually don't crave it. And when I do have it on a Saturday I really enjoy it.

For us a lot is the psychology - if we are on a diet we are deprived, if we are just healthy eating then we can eat what we like, as long as we eat it in moderation or compensate for it in other ways.

I've also upped the walking, which makes the dogs happier and thinner too! :)

MrsScoobs, i think you are onto something there!

I've been trying to reign in eating myself. I gotta admit, I find it easier if I use a food tracking app. They're annoying - I find it a pain in the butt to log every last little thing I eat, and I've yet to be consistent with it. But when I am on top of logging my food and drink, I can see where the calories are going. I can see that my coffee-with-milk habit would add fewer calories per day if I learned to like black coffee instead. I can see that my first glass of wine with dinner was fine, but I probably shouldn't have had the second one. I can see that the pitta bread and hummus snack I had during my TV binge after dinner added a lot of calories, and was I really that hungry? Would I have been fine without it? So, the apps help me to be a little more mindful of what I'm taking in. So long as I set a realistic goal for calories and weight loss (2-lb weight loss per week sets me up for failure, so I've had to reduce that goal...), I've found the apps helpful.

Also, back in the days when I had little to do after work, I found exercise helped keep my appetite in check. A 60-minute session at the gym or an intense fitness session in my local park straight after work, and before dinner, helped me not want to eat, and eat, and eat. If I ate straight after work, forget it, wouldn't do a thing after that. Except watch TV.

I allow my self a dessert or similar on a Saturday too. That way I really savour it rather than scoffing it without thinking as I know it's the one time that week I'll eat something sugary.

I would second the LCHF way of eating (low carb, high fat) as you get out of that cycle of being hungry a few hours after eating i.e. the afternoon slump when you feel you need something, usually sugary, to keep you going plus you eat fat (which does not make you fat) which fills you up so you naturally do not overeat

Other benefits

• no insulin spikes and crashes
• eat real and delicious food
• do not feel deprived or hungry
• no weighing, measuring (of food that is), or collecting points, syns etc
• you don't need willpower, you will lose your sugar cravings quite quickly
• have more energy, better sleep

I joined the MN lowcarb boot camp last Jan and at 44lb off and counting it was by far the best thing I have ever done, why not come and join us?

I'm the same as you, longdiling - can lose a stone, stone and a half and then I sort of congratulate myself by eating.

It's so annoying - my commitment lasts about 3 months at most.

I filled out an NHS health tracker thing - was shocked at how little exercise I do. I'm busy ALL day, never stop, but, my job is sedentary and I lack time - so, I take the car. Once I get this month done work wise I'm going to schedule in more walking time.

I feel pathetic, I want to be fitter, I know how to do it - I just don't stick to it. Pathetic.

Cutting out sugar via a low carb or paleo diet will stop the blood sugar rollercoaster that makes you want to dive head-first into the hobnobs.

I did it via the Whole30 regime and while I've relaxed my eating since that first strict month to include dairy and some legumes I don't snack any more because I don't feel the urge.

I don't eat wheat and sugar therefore I don't crave wheat and sugar. This coming from someone who used to mindlessly scarf down a whole pack of pink wafers

Bloody works!

Last year I realised that I needed to sort myself out. I wan't desperately overweight, just unhappy with my body. I have always avoided 'diets' be they faddy or commercialised. I just decided to think 'natural'...

Breakfast - stick to wholegrain cereals, or a cooked protein based bacon & eggs etc. Avoid toast.

Mid morning snack - fruit

Lunch - salad with meat, cheese or fish and lots of carrot sticks celery, cucumber, radish, tomatoes etc

Afternoon snack - more fruit

Evening meal - home made food, nothing special just make it yourself, no pre-made sauces or microwave dinners.

Try to reduce sugar rather than fats. I don't go for the low-fat option, I go full fat (yogurt, coke etc...) but I just have it as a treat.

Don't go on a diet.
Don't calorie-count.
Don't weigh yourself (go by clothes size).
Do cut down on bread.
Do drink water
Do treat yourself (I eat chocolate, bread, cake, drink wine at weekends only)
Do be prepared! Make your lunch the night before. If you are out for the day take some healthy natural snacks with you (raw veg, fruits).

The strangest thing that motivated me into was getting a new bra... I know it's a bit weird but I had a proper fitting and the lady said to me "see how slimming it is now that you have a properly fitted bra" - and it was true! It really gave me a boost to start. I am now down from a size 14, to a size 12 - many of which sized clothes are loose (ish) on me!

Good luck - think natural!

Not me personally, but the only two people I know who have conquered lifelong overeating and maintained significant weight loss have done it by cutting out sugar and refined carbs and increasing fat. I'm really starting to question CICO orthodoxy.

wow my head is spinning so many different eating regimes has anyone taken bits from each one to tailor one for themselves...? I think I might try to take some of the tips above and make up my own system from the different diets to see how it goes....

I did a sort of detox holiday with a few friends, it included all of your meals and snacks prepared for you, activities to keep you busy all day and meditation in the evenings.

I never thought I had a problem with eating until I realised how much better I felt after that detox. I could easily sink a huge bowl of pasta then move onto an even bigger pudding and snack on crisps a bit later on but I never noticed the link between feeling sluggish and heavy the next day or my skin looking shit cos that's how I'd always eaten. I think once I realised that the right foods could give me more energy, help with sleep and overall mood, that's when I bought into it all and subsequently lost excess weight. The main thing for me was enjoying the process in the first place, making tasty meals and snacks rather than dieting or fasting cos I would never in a million years have stuck to anything that felt punishing.

I don't think I'm an overeater in the 'traditional' sense, my evening meal portions are too big and I binge on chocolate occasionally but don't snack at all most days and still need to lose about 5 stone. I genuinely don't understand how I got here so it's difficult to see how to put it right, I know I'm too sedentary but since the general belief seems to be that it's 80% food and only 20% exercise I use that as an excuse not to get up and do something.

using a smaller size of plate has reduced how much i eat. Plus the candy store not having my fav candy for weeks now is helping. I do not keep chips, cookies or snacks in the house-but then i get desperate and make them myself. Spending more on veggies which i then have to eat as do not like wasting.Always having a water based drink to sip on thru-out the day.Building exercise =cycling and walking, into my daily life. Talking to myself does help for many things-will try it for eating,thanks for reminder ^^. Not losing weight tho as my body seems to have decided i am starving it and has to conserve?!

Not losing weight tho as my body seems to have decided i am starving it and has to conserve?!

This really doesn't happen. If it did it would be impossible to starve to death. There is such an effect as metabolic reduction but its effects are hugely exaggerated. If you're in massive caloric deficit over a long period your weight of loss will slow as the body reduces non-essential functions like temp regulation, but as long as you're in deficit, you will lose. (NB I'm not saying massive deficit is ideal, just that it's impossible to stop losing due to eating too little, contrary to popular myth).

I got to the stage where I really wanted to lose weight. I wanted to lose weight for years, but could never stick with anything for more than a week or two. Something changed mentally about a year ago.

I also found the support of like-minded people helped too. Not everyone in my circle is doing the same thing to lose weight and get healthy, but everyone is supportive.

On the practical side, listening to the 'I Can Make You Thin' app and doing 5:2 has helped enormously. I know listen to my body and don't eat just because it's meal time. I only eat when I'm hungry. I also find I am rarely hungry between meals, so don't snack anymore. 5:2 has also taught me that it's OK to be hungry sometimes and I will not die/faint/experience something terrible.

I'm only halfway there, but I'm OK with that because I finally realised it's about the long term.

Sadly (or perhaps not) ilove is correct. The metabolic effect of dieting is 1% or something. Extreme metabolic slowing only happens in people who are literally about to die of starvation and who have exceptionally low fat reserves - it was first observed in people who survived the camps at Belsen.

The best success I've ever had with weightloss was through Slimming World, but I put it all back on and an extra stone when I slipped back into old habits. It's just not sustainable, and while it did teach me to be more critical of what I was eating, it didn't help me address my huge problems around portion control or snacking when I'm not hungry.

Very recently, I finally felt like I was in the zone for sorting out my eatings habits again, so I downloaded My Fitness Pal. The calorie counter is useful for making me think very carefully about what a healthy portion looks like, but more than that I use the nutritional guidelines to understand what I'm eating too much of, and to make sure I get a good balance rather than cut out everything but lettuce.

Between that and just drinking masses of water, I'm starting to see a difference. I wanted to lose 5 stone, and half a stone has come off so far with what feels like quite little effort. I've set myself smaller short term goals to keep me going, so it doesn't feel like one almighty stretch to my target weight. My first goal is to get below the next dreaded stone, and my treat for that will be investing in gym membership to boost my weight loss further.

Smite are you me? All the same!

I think personally it's about one SMALL change at a time.

Pick one thing and do less of it.

When that habit is fixed, do something else.

Over time small incremental changes really add up.

The key is to regard your changes as PERMANENT.

For me, I like what I like so going cold turkey on sugar or whatever was never going to work as eventually I'd cave and eat like a horse.

So I plan my treats. Two biscuits in the evening if I've been good all day. A packet of crisps at the weekend. A lunch out. Wine on a Friday. That kind of thing.

A little of what I fancy helps me keep disciplined the rest of the time.

ps despite all this I still have to weigh my dinner or I overeat there

Reading the book 'Potatoes not Prozac' and following it's guidelines. Attending Overeaters Anonymous (although I don't any more).