Just stood on the scales and nearly threw up.

[blackberrypickinginaugust]

15 stone 7.

15 and a half stone. I'm not even 5'3.

Like many overweight people I've been on the diet circuit.

Gastric band
slimming world
weight watchers
myfitnesspal

The only thing that ever worked is a VLCD so as from now I am back on it. I just can't believe how massive I am.

Aly I sometimes do that as well, I "save" calories in the week (ie cut an extra 200 per day from the diet) so I can have a blow out meal and drinks on a saturday, it's never effected weight loss tbh and some weeks I've done that I've noticed a slight increase in weight loss so I totally agree with you, it is a good idea and it does help knowing you have that day off coming up!

Parachute I knew what you meant It was a good article eh?

There is a mixture of advice here. The truth is, different things work for different people. So if you want to do low cal, then do it OP.

It's the only thing which really works for me, I've tried low carbing but found it too restrictive, I like bread and potatoes and I've lost weight, eating these, but only small portions of them.

My Fitness Pal is amazing for helping you keep track, when your doing low calorie.

The problem with VLCD is not whether they work while you are on them - of course they do (if you stick to them). It's what happens afterwards. They are not a sustainable way of eating, so inevitably people stop them after a while. The evidence is that the overwhelming majority will end up heavier than before they started the diet. The OP is a perfect example - she thinks VLCDs 'work' for her yet her BMI is over 35.

VLCDs have their uses when there is a medical reason to lose weight urgently, e.g for an operation. But they are not effective for most people if your goal is to maintain a healthy weight. For most people, they seem to make that harder.

Sorry mrs I worded it badly ...and no if you are overweight you need more calories as well.
Go to the NHS BMI calculator and put in a weight (overweight/obese) and it will tell you how many calories you need to eat a day to get to a healthy weight - then do it again with a smaller weight (still overweight) and it will tell you need to eat fewer calories - a bit depressing really!

@JiminnyCricket

Thank-you for the explanation.
I have never experienced that so it's an eye-opener to me.

Please have a look at Rebelfit before embarking on another "diet"
People who diet (of any kind) put their body into starvation mode and when the diet "ceases" which it inevitably does the weight gain will be up to even more than before. The body is programmed to gain weight when in "starvation mode" and it will keep going until it's at least back to where it was.
I'm not going to say anymore just have a look

Twatchops, is Rebelfit essentially eat good food while doing lots of exercise? I like the sound of that! Next sign up isn't until Oct, though.

JiminnyCricket - thanks for the book recommendation, will download it asap. Ive seen it before, but steered clear of it, not sure why. Denial?
I'm liking this thread a lot, there are some different approaches here & a lot of info. Its also the first time Ive actually been honest about my weight, usually too ashamed to put the numbers out there.
Every year I get on the scales at New Year & tell myself "this is the year, this time I'll do it" but Xmas arrives and I've put another stone on. It feels hopeless, it truly does.
Good luck Blackberry, Thanks for starting this thread.

@hatsoncats do you just weigh yourself only once at the start of every year? I've posted up thread that I've never had a weight problem but had lots of sympathy for the OP and suggested counselling as there might be an underlying cause causing her to overeat. I weigh myself most days just to see what I'm like (even now when pregnant i still weigh myself every few days). If it starts creeping up I'll cut out potatoes for a week or something. But by always stepping on the scales (I've been doing this for over a decade so it's almost second nature now), it's always present in my mind.

The worse thing you can do is be in denial and push your weight issues to the future saying "this time next year" or "one day I'll do this" or "diet starts Monday".

I found the only thing that helped me lose weight and keep it off was changing my entire thinking around food, moving from the idea of disgust at myself/punishment for getting fat/denying myself what I really wanted and into giving my body what it really wanted (delicious, healthy food) and retraining my tastebuds to like it.

Food, eating and fatness/thinness are rarely psychologically straightforward in a society like ours I think. Two books that really helped me were Fat is a Feminist Issue (An oldie but a goodie - talks about the root causes of compulsive overeating and how to address them) and First Bites (more contemporary look at the dame, with added advice on training your tastes away from damaging food).

Good luck xxx

Yes. It's about optimal nutrition and paying attention to macro and micronutrients whilst running a very small calorie deficit for gradual sustainable weight loss. It avoids "starvation mode" seen with diets. It encourages fitness, healthier attitude to food and leanness rather than being overly focussed on the scales.

How much exercise do you need to do? Would 30 mins HIIT DVDs do?

mrsovertheroad And I thought that only pertained to bigger people of a healthy weight?

Absolutely not just bigger people within their healthy weight range. The bigger you are, the more calories you need. That applies to height and width.

The type of width matters too- extra body fat increases your calorie needs by 2 calories a day per pound of fat tissue, whereas extra muscle increases your calorie needs by 6 calories per pound of muscle tissue. And this is before we consider that the extra bodyweight (fat or muscle) is analogous to performing all your day-to-day activities with an army knapsack superglued to your back, which you can never take off.

Following on from what WeiAn says...
When DCs were small I didn't add salt to anything - eg I'd always boiled pasta with salted water so stopped etc. At first things tasted really bland but after a while I got used to it and things started tasting 'salty' not disgustingly so but just I could taste the salt in things I hadn't been able to before and it wasn't that nice.
Recently trying to cut down a bit/shift some weight I've reduced the amount of high calorie things I eat and, as I can't give up my nice cheeses and biscuits , this has been mainly sweet things.
Over time I've realised that things have started tasting much sweeter now ..sickly.....but also -and this backs up the 'sugar is addictive' spiel - if I do eat something sweet I find myself wanting to eat more sweet things for the next couple of days, not being able to find anything I want to eat that isn't sweet...
Now I've realised that I don't give in to the sugar 'craving' and it does pass. I am actually getting in the mind set that a bit of sweet pleasure isn't worth the craving - now if only I could do the same for cheese and biscuits...chips, crisp etc

Many people are good dieters but dreadful maintainers, especially when emotional eating is involved. It can be good that when coming to an end of a diet that is not a forever way of eating plan to look at a new diet for maintenance that hopefully will be easy to live with long term.

To lose weight properly and stay fit and healthy you need to focus on what makes you over eat in the first place. People are generally overweight because they eat and drink more calories than they need. Recognising why you do this is the key. Laziness and greed are the two main causes of obesity and it's those two that can be solved if you focus on how to do this.

I agree with that BR

It's shocking how much 'food' is out there which is simply rubbish

You can only just manage to eat out healthily.

And not many people realise how active they need to be to burn off even just the equivalent of one Apple

I'm with twatchops. Look at rebelfit. The other diets you have tried, including a gastric band, haven't worked for you because you now weigh more than ever. Saying that's because you didn't stick to them is kidding yourself. You can't stick to unrealistic or meal replacement diets forever. And presumably your gastric band is still there, so you did stick to that.
Rebelfit missions are relatively cheap and short (3 months) so you can see if it suits you. You can get plenty of free advice on the open Facebook page or the website. Please look at it before you mess your body and self esteem up further.

@hiphop people don't always want advice just a good vent it's cathartic

millsbynight I weigh myself almost every day, but New Years Day weigh in has become a ritual. Seeing how much extra I've packed on by gorging over the Xmas period, seeing how much more damage I've done. I go from feast to famine, then treat-binge eating to Slimfast, Atkins, 5/2, to craving carbs.

I've had counselling, seen my GP, tried SW.
Starve, binge, starve, feast, deny, crave.

I just can't get a handle on it. I can't.
Got the book, about to start reading.
Whilst eating lemon cheesecake (18 portion gateaux). FFS.

hats I hate to bang on like a broken record or some sort of evangelist, but go to rebelfit! It'll explain exactly Why you binge/starve all the time! Honestly, there is science and everything, which you could find for yourself but it's easier to look at somebody else's work. If you disagree you can still do your own research after. You lose nothing and might gain a lot.

Don't want to hog this thread, but there is so much info on here thats new to me. I'm going to go through each & every post slowly and make notes to follow up on, including Rebelfit. Don't think for a second that I'm ignoring or dismissing anything on here, I intend to read up on it all. And I truly appreciate all the responses - thank you all for offering your help & advice.

Good luck hatsoncats