To think I'm destined to stay bloody fat?

[Batwomanrisesagain]

I would really appreciate some help on losing weight. On paper eat less and exercise more should be simple but I'm getting fatter by the day and it's making me miserable. I really could do with some ideas on how to get going and even lose a pound!
I have 2 stone to lose. It's not happening on my own, I've been trying for over a year and have just got heavier so I think I need some kind of accountability/structure.
I have tried slimming world and weight watchers in the past. I found slimming world encouraged me to eat lots and I couldn't bear the meetingsand all the muller light talk. Weight watchers conversely made me think about food all the time!
I think low carb may work for me.
I love exercise and run half marathons but this does not help my weight loss but I want to continue and up the exercise.
I'm thinking some kind of online plan where I have to 'check in'?
AIBU to think I'm just fat and forty now or is there something I can do?

I recommend The Body Coach. Balanced nutritious meals as well as exercise. It's working wonders for me.

I had 2 stone to lose after having my youngest dc last August, I've lost all 2 stone since the new year.

I didn't cut anything out. I just looked at portion size for example;
1/2 a pizza with salad instead of a whole pizza
2 glasses on wine on Saturdays only
Smaller portion of rice and a bit extra chilli
1 standard size chocolate bar instead of a "share" bar

Doing exercise can be very helpful when losing weight as it does give you a little bit of flexibility with calories for the day.

I log my food in my fitness pal as sometimes the calories on things really do surprise you. I always find it good to log and see what a portion size actually is.
Log anything you drink as well, drinks can add up just as much as food.

Typical day for me, today is

Breakfast Porridge (made with whole milk) & berries, 2 black coffee no sugar

Lunch Salad ( rocket, spinach, lettuce, baby tomatoes, yellow pepper, sweet red pepper, cucumber, grated carrot, radish, 30g cheese grated) Apple

Snack, handful of walnuts OR I might have a rice cake

Dinner is sweet potatoe mash, BBQ pulled turkey, cabbage, peas
Dessert, 1 scoop of sorbet

Quick meals when your working late

Jacket potatoes ( sweet or normal potato) can be cooked in the microwave with beans/tuna/batch cooked chilli/ 30g of cheese

Stir fry ( any veg, meat of you want) serve with noodles or rice

Buy a ready cooked chicken and have with salad

1/2 pizza & salad

Omelette

Wrap Salmon fillet in foil with black pepper, chilli flakes and in the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes, steam some broccoli, carrots, mange tout, asparagus to go with it.

Drop your wine to 2-3 nights a week instead of 7 nights a week and stick to 1-2 small glasses.

Do you drink tea or coffee with sugar? If you do really the sugar needs reducing if you have a few cups a day as that adds up to

16:8 worked for me...It's a fasting diet where you eat all of your food in one 8 hour slot a day...So healthy choices obviously help but it looks at when you eat more than what you eat. Supposed to be great for cholesterol/longevity etç. I dropped over 2 stone in 6 months without changing what I was eating, or my exercise habits at all.

I've been every weight from 7 stone and anorexic to 20 stone. I've had disordered eating all my life. A couple of months ago I had a light bulb moment and realised that I had to sort it out or I'd end up like my mum, dead by 60 from health problems brought about by yo-yo dieting and obesity.

I downloaded myfitnesspal after seeing people here talking about it. I started logging calories and hooked the app up to a pedometer app to see how many calories I was burning from exercise. I generally eat a hundred calories a day under my allowance Mon-Fri so I can have a glass or two of wine and a big bowl of my favourite pasta on Saturday nights (a weekly treat but it's covered by my calorie allowance). I'm not dieting - I'm educating myself on how to eat properly, portion sizes etc. It's not a fad, it's just eating 'normally'.

I don't weigh - EDs in the past make having scales in the house a bit dangerous - but I know that in about 8 weeks I've gone from a size 24 to an 18/20. Still a way to go - I'm happiest and look best at about a size 14 - but for the first time in my life I feel like I'm doing this gently, sensibly and for good.

Good luck OP 💐

I think a mistake a lot of people make is to think that dieting should be easy - it's not! It makes you think about food a lot, there's no getting round it. A recent study found that people who expect dieting to be dull are much better at losing weight than those who don't.

Sounds like you need a disciplined plan, that you must stick rigidly to. Miserable, yes, but it will definitely work.

Actually, to me it looks like you aren't eating very much at all. Especially for a fit person who runs marathons. Do get your thyroid tested, it really could be a factor. I wonder if the 5:2 diet would work better for you than anything else? Having two days where you don't eat much at all looks as though it might work for you. I find it suits me if I get into the rhythm of it, as being "on a diet" just makes me constantly starving, I end up eating more than I would not bothering to diet at all. I am planning to go back on the 5:2 as it seems to suit me , I have frugal days and then don't think about weight loss the rest of the time. I also think it seems to work better for someone like me with an underactive thyroid, dieting for days on end seems to just slow me down more.

When you are actually trying to diet, what problems occur in a typical day that prevent you from meeting your goals? I'm a big believer in tailoring health goals to individual minds and bodies. For instance, I sleep poorly and am usually up at 5. Consequently I'm hungriest in the morning and eat most of my calories before noon. Then I don't eat at all until the evening and just have something small then. My colleague is trying to diet and was saying she'd 'blown it' because of eating x amount mid-morning and believes you are 'supposed' to eat 3 meals per day of x y and z number of calories each. I don't think that sort of programme is helpful.

Ive finally got to grips with my weight this year after decades of on and off weight watchers/slimming world/counting calories. This year I decided it was ridiculous to keep throwing money at diet clubs when I'd lose a bit, then fall off the wagons then guilt trip myself and lose a bit more - and it became a never ending cycle. This year I've worked on what I think was a sugar addiction. I've cut out everything sugary and processed for 99% of the time! I've lost a steady stone and a half since mid January, and still feel happy on it. I've esten large portions, pasta, rice, bread, been out for meals and had what I want, had alcohol, had the occasional sweet treat. I've found it easier with it being so simple - no calorie limit or points to go over, so no beating myself up for failing that day! I spend a lot of time in hotels and travelling, and it seems to work better than other diets on this front too. I always thought I was a person that just couldn't do it on my own, but I seemingly can. I just think I was controlled by my sugar addiction.

You need to do weight training. Running during uni made me gain a stone because I was hungry all the time, and running doesn't burn calories when you're not running. It can deplete your muscles.

As soon as I started lifting, a stone dropped off and has stayed off...and bear in mind I spend all my work day sat down scoffing biscuits and crisps as well as having carb-based meals. My BMI is 21 and when I did cardio I was nearly overweight. Seriously, get your gym to give you an induction training regime with weights. You'll look great and lose weight effortlessly, while still being able to eat. (You will have a different muscle group ache every 2 days, but it's a good pain!)

I think you have to believe you can lose weight, stick with the exercise and have smaller portions and drink more water. That's how I lose weight.
Also don't get upset when you feel hungry. See it as a sign that your body is functioning normally and thet you are burning off fat stores and your stomach needs to shrink so it wants less food. You will feel hungry whilst you lose weight. Drinking less cofee tea and alcohol means I get fewer hunger pangs as well as sometimes it's just acid working on an empty stomach that makes you feel hungry so producing less acid reduces that, and drinking water when you feel hungry dilutes the acid.
I don't do calorie counting or really restrictive diets, just eat less and up the veg and salad to meat and carb ratio.

A muffin and a baguette for lunch sounds a lot as baguettes are big. 4 glasses of cava contain a lot of calories.

It was a mini muffin and a half baguette but yes very carb heavy (to counter my hangover!) but this is what I need to change.

You don't need a diet, but you might find a new way of eating useful

https://www.waysofeating.com

I signed up maybe six weeks ago and am amazed by how easy it has all been.

There are also low carb bootcamp threads on MN https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/lowcarbb_bootcamp/2899651-Our-last-week-Spring-Low-Carb-Bootcamp [here]

I felt Just like you till I discovered the 8 week blood sugar diet. 24 llbs in 6 weeks. Read the reviews on Amazon, loads of info.

Good luck

I think it's the alcohol - i never lose weight unless I cut back to only drinking 2 nights a week (and then just 1-2 glasses). Not so much the calories but the knock on effect from a sleep that isn't as great and that mid morning carb craving.

OhYes you sound a bit like an advert there...

"I was just like you till' I discovered...."

I lost 3 stone very quickly by giving up all refined sugars and processed food.
I started power walking and short HIIT workouts.
I followed Paul McKenna's two rules, eat only when hungry, stop when full (not as simple as it sounds after 50 years of boredom/ comfort eating).
I kept it off for two years, but I've been living in a caravan for 6 months waiting for my new house to be ready. The cooker doesn't work properly, it's cold and damp, and too easy to get a takeaway/ ping meal, grab chocolate/ crisps/ biscuits etc. Jumping about doing my exercise made me fear I'd fall through the floor and I've been very depressed.
I've put on half a stone.
But I'm back on track now, I have a banana first thing (I'm not particulary hungry but I have GERD and helps stop acid splash), then exercise (running/walking/riding plus 10 mins HIIT 3 times a week).
When I'm actually hungry (around 1pm) I'll have a huge bowl of fruit, nuts and seeds, topped with a very generous dollop of full fat greek yoghurt.
I tend to snack a couple of hours later, more fruit, cheese, couple of crackers.
Dinner tends to be two eggs and a heap of salad, or salmon and veg.
I rarely eat bread, or drink alcohol, and try not to eat after 7pm.
The half stone has dropped off me very quickly. I'm not really hungry.
I tried MFP but it just made me obsess about food, all that logging and concentrating on what I was eating.
For me what works is almost forgetting about it!
I think that weightloss is achievable by most people. A bit of research into how calories are not all equal (I learned loads on here, both anecdotal and via links to research) and finding a way that suits the individual.

Basically you need to stop buying and eating anything that comes out of a packet ready made, or things like jars of sauces that you just add to some meat. Cook proper food from scratch. Plus obviously cut out any biscuits/cake and crisps etc. Eat at least 2 pieces of fruit a day. And try and swap out half your hot drinks a day with water, flavoured if you prefer. That is it really. I would advise joining a slimming club of some sort though if your willpower is low, at least to get you started off.

Thankyou for all thecreplies, some really informative 'food' for thought- (do you see what I did there?😉).
Can I ask for examples of meals people eat? I think I've forgotten what healthy meals are. I need inspiration.

Basically you need to stop buying and eating anything that comes out of a packet ready made

I find that for me ready meals can be extremely useful for portion control - obviously I take time to make sure I'm not buying ones full of salt or fat, but they do exist! Ready made meals get a bit of a bad press which I think is unfair. Some are excellent, and very nutritionally balanced. Even better if you eat them with extra veg or salad.

One thing I do is swap meet for a veggie alternative whenever I can - DH is veggie so it makes even more sense as we can eat the same meals. A Quorn sausage has only 60cal and is very low fat - a couple with a two poached eggs, some grilled mushrooms and tomatoes and a slice of wholemeal toast and you've got a nutritious, low calorie/fat brunch. The 'chicken' fillets are delicious cooked with tomatoes, garlic and chillies as a spaghetti sauce - they're only 80cal each. And a home made vegetarian chilli is so filling and good for you. It's a lot cheaper than meat, too!

The only thing that has ever worked for me is a moderately low carb diet, which I went on when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in my last pregnancy. I actually lost a stone in the last ten weeks of pregnancy, kept on it afterwards and 6 months after having DS was two stone lighter than when he was conceived. All it involved was eating no more than 40g of carbs at any meal, snacks of no more than 10g of carbs twice a day, eat protein every time you eat carbs and plenty of leafy green veg. No calorie counting, no restrictions on meat/ cheese, can have full-fat yoghurt etc. I was starving (pregnant and then breastfeeding) so ate loads but still lost weight. I think it really is a question of finding what works for your body. I've never got on with slimming world as I think it's just too carb-heavy for me, and I hate having to have 'light' yoghurts etc as they taste grim and don't fill you up. It might not be low carb for you but something will work! Just keep at it!

OP you sound just like me. I run 2 or 3 times a week usually 10k off road fell runs. I also do a pilates class. I feel like I hardly eat but I am at least a stone overweight.

I think the running doesn't help. It makes me hungry and because I'm gradually getting slower my body is used to it and it hardly does any good any more. I don't mean I'm going to stop but I am going to try to add more exercise.

I'm going to start doing some weights at the gym and I also have a fitbit. I'm trying to walk 10000 steps on non-running days.

Food-wise I can't really cut down during the day but I think my evening meals are too heavy. I'm struggling to reduce them but I am going to meal plan this week and see how it goes.

Good luck.

Ooh healthy meal inspiration (well- healthy according to the gestational diabetes plan above- am pregnant again anddon't have diabetes this time, but eating that way anyway at the moment as I feel so much better when I do):

Today I have had: a slice of seeded toast and butter with two scrambled eggs and an apple for breakfast.

A salad for lunch, that consisted of a giant bowl of baby spinach and other leaves, half a chicken breast fried in strips with some shallots, fried halloumi, half an avocado, a handful of cherry tomatoes and a handful of cucumber chunks, dressed with a large dollop of full-fat mayo and sweet chilli sauce.

Dinner will be this which is actually a slimming world recipe but is yummy. I have it on its own, DH and DS have it with mash or baked potatoes.

quimwilde
Nice work

quimwilde
Sorry, thought that sounded patronising one I'd posted. I meant I'm impressed, and I can see what a breakthrough that is.