To get annoyed with people regarding diets?

[Arya2017]

I'm 5ft 10in and have struggled with my weight for the past few years. Ive never been overweight clinically but just much fatter than I was used to being and fatter than I wanted to be. I tried numerous diets but because I'm a fussy eater and notorious salad dodger I could never stick to them. At my heaviest I was 12 stone. Past few years I've hovered around the 11st 7lbs mark.

Anyway I eventually got sick of looking for a magic cure (Atkins, akai berrys, 5:2 etc etc) and decided to go back to good old fashioned calories in vs calories out - basically eating less and exercising more. A few months of this and I was down to 10st 11lbs. The rest wouldn't shift so I started macro counting too (limiting fat, protein and carbs in recommended amounts). I'm now down to 10st 5lbs. My goal weight is 10st.

In addition to this, I've drastically reduced my alcohol intake which has obviously had a number of benefits (including increased weight loss!)

Anyway, point of the thread, when I see people now they comment on my change in appearance and ask how I've done it. I explain the above only to be told "oh I couldn't be arsed with all that, why not just go on slimming work?" Or "so you're starving yourself?". These people then continue to constantly moan about being fat and comment on how "lucky" I am to have lost mine "so easily". It's not easy! It's fucking hard! I was bordering on being an alcoholic so the alcohol reduction alone has been torture. Everyone wants a magic cure and when they can't be arsed to put the effort in, they say those that have have basically been lucky.

AIBU to think more education (starting at school level) needs to be implemented so that people don't grow up thinking unlimited amounts of pasta for example will help you lose weight? Then maybe people will realise there is no magic cure - it takes hard work.

Macros just help you get the nutritional balance right. Now that I'm more aware of how little exercise I do I put much more effort in so now burn around 2000 calories a day. I intake around 1400 calories a day. If I was to eat 1400 calories of pure fat, I'd still lose weight but for obvious reasons, I can't do that.

It is CICO but to be healthy and have a balanced diet, those calories have to be split between a protein, fat and carb ratio.

Plus, if someone ate 1400 worth of fat in a day, they'd soon start craving the other macros which would then lead to over-eating. Keeping a macro balance helps to prevent over-eating.

I haven't done slimming world for a long time, but when I did you could eat some proper rubbish and it be classed as on plan..mug shots, packet pasta and sauce, Asda tins of chickpea dahl, and the ever present muller light...I'd much rather eat normal food and just watch the calories/exercise...it's infinitely more sustainable for life.

The "it is/is not just CICO" argument misses that diet is more than just arse size.

If you eat 1600 calories of sugar but burn 1800, you will still lose weight, but you'll look and feel like shit.

Healthiness does not always equal thinness. I want to be slim, but I also want good skin, nails and hair, I want to have steady energy levels, and not to feel hungry, and so what those "calories in" are made of matters. although generally as long as I'm burning around 200 calories more than I'm eating in a day (averaged over the week), then my too tight summer wardrobe will be fitting by the time I get on a flight.

I agree with that invisible. For people that are massively over weight CICO can kickstart a sustainable diet which will trigger weight loss. Macro ratio often comes into its own once people start realising they're losing weight, but look and feel like shit.

AnnieAnoniMouse

OP says she has been making some changes as she was not at her ideal weight. You said:

You've never been overweight, so frankly, you've got no bloody idea what you're talking about, so stop the sanctimonious preaching

My point was - who are you to say she wasn't over her normal weight?

If you don't like people s opinion on your posts, why did you say it on a public forum? Why didn't you send the OP a private message?

And why are you being abusive by calling me a twat?! 😇

Amazed that nyone still used BMI.
Like... the WHO? Or the NHS?
Strangely enough the group of people who are not overweight and for whom BMI genuinely does not work (=professional athletes of certain sports, like weight-lifting, body-building and wrestling, where "professional" is defined as someone who trains 8+ hours a day) do not tend to complain about BMI still being in use...

Also: if you watch Supersize vs Superskinny, the skinny half of the pair often lives on junk food: pizza, McDo, milkshakes. They just eat less. They often suffer from malnutrition (obviously, since junk food is low in nutrients), but they are still underweight. It is CICO.

Agree OP. It's taken me 3 months to lose 12lbs, doing it very slowly by just restricting calories slightly and eating more protein and fewer refined carbs.

But it's like people want you to have applied some woo arcane art in order to lose the weight.

Many years ago when I was able to exercise, I used to do about 1.5 hours per day and people would say to me they wouldn't have time for that. The same people who watched hours of TV every evening. I got up earlier and didn't watch soaps but apparently 'nobody should live like that' if you want to lose weight just get on with it!