To not go on another bloody diet?

[OneFattyMcMuffinPlease]

I'm very overweight and unhealthy. I weigh 14 and a half stone and I'm only about 5ft. I don't eat very well either, in fact my diet is terrible .

But I am sick of constantly going on diets and falling off the wagon after a couple of days. I feel like I've put more weight on by trying to lose weight than if I had if I hadn't bothered. I've tried low carb diets, meal replacements shakes, soup diets...you name it and I've probably tried it at least once but I can just never stick to them.

So I have come to a decision. I'm not going to diet anymore. Instead I am going to change my life. I am not going to live off takeaways, cheesy pasta and chips, sausage rolls and chocolate any more. I'm going to start improving what I eat instead and make it long term. I'm not going to cut out any food groups, I will simply eat less of some foods and more of others.

Is this a crazy idea? Has anyone lost weight this way and if you did, was the process slow and did you keep it off?

[hungryradish]

A good choice not a crazy idea. Diets don't work & no one can stick to them forever - a healthy, balanced diet is the healthiest option!

[Catscrat]

Have you heard of intutive eating? It's not strictly about weight-loss but it's an anti-diet approach that basically teaches you to 'unlearn' unhealthy diet behaviour and eat well. Yo-yo dieting, as you've described, does make you put on more weight than if you didn't diet. The theory with intuitive eating is that when you tune into your hunger signals and give yourself full permission to eat, your body will settle at the right weight for you. I really recommend reading 'Intuitive Eating' by Evelyn Tribole which goes into it in detail - it makes sooo much sense in understanding why diets fail. Also, not a cheap option, but Laura Thomas (a registered nutritionist) runs an Intuitve Eating course online (through facebook) - I did that and it's really helped me to think more positively about food and ditch the diets! She also has a great podcast which is free.
www.laurathomasphd.co.uk/intuitive/

[dontbesillyhenry]

I'm not on a diet. I now weigh less than the last time I went to a slimming club

[User36367292]

If you have tried various diets and failed so quickly, what makes you think you will stick to this one?

The only diet that works is the willpower one. Without that it's a waste of time and money.

[McPie]

Check if your Drs surgery runs a nurse led programme called Counterweight, I started following it 5 1/2 years ago at 15 1/2 stone and I'm now 11 and have been for ages. If not This plan has been adapted from the Counterweight programme.
The whole thing is based on serving sizes and does take a bit of weighing out but its based on a healthy balanced diet. My energy is normally through the roof when I fully follow the plan so I can do the exercise I enjoy, today I have ran 2 miles, done 2 1 hour body pump classes (with heavy weights) and 45 mins of body balance.

[SweetChickadee]

I am not going to live off takeaways, cheesy pasta and chips, sausage rolls and chocolate any more

Good - you don't need a 'diet' you need a permanent overhaul of what you eat.

DH and I found Jamie Oliver Superfoods a fab way to get us to rethink what we were eating, upped our veg, lowered our fat and added lots of fibre.

Two years later we are still eating much better, and kept the weight off. I'm currently working through a Mediterranean cookbook. It's fab.

[LaGattaNera]

Slimming clubs DO teach good habits for maintaining actually once you get to your goal weight. I have been at goal with WW for 6 years. If you go more than 5 pounds over your goal you have to pay for meetings again. I have never had to pay. Once you get to your goal or target, the trick is to keep going to meetings - which are then free if you stay with a certain range - so that you still keep track and stay focused. It is those who get to goal then stop attending meetings, who tend to put the weight on. I love WW, it changed my life. I think SW is great too and when I joined I just happened to choose WW though can't recall why as it was 8 years ago.

[Allthebubbles]

Have a look at the Supercharged club.
superchargedclub.co.uk/

They tackle exactly the kind of life changes you are proposing and give you support to do it. I've done one of their programmes and really benefitted from it.

Good luck making changes. It's not easy but it's worth it.

[Missstickinthemud]

I don't know about you OP, but I'm obese because of emotional overeating. I suspect that many overweight and obese people are.

I'm trying to lose weight, but as well as a diet I'm trying to tackle my habit of emotional over-eating, because I don't think anything will work in the long term until I stop relying on food as a crutch. That is the habit that has got me into difficulty in the first place.

If there is a chance that this is an issue for you too, it might be wise to consider looking at the emotional side of why you over eat.

[Dozyoldtwonk]

A previous poster has already mentioned it but definitely check out Rebelfit on Facebook (he has a blog too, I think). Their mission is to expose the diet / slimming industry for what it really is - a profiteering money making machine that needs people to fail and return and buy their shit products in order to survive. I genuinely don’t know a single person IRL who has lost weight with a slimming club or diet and kept it off, long term. This could just be me though.

Your idea is sound, OP and really is the only thing that will work for life. Combine it with exercise you enjoy and can keep up doing (because you want to, and because you enjoy it) and you’ll be winning.

[Papafran]

[WhatwouldOliviaPopedo]

It took a total mindset change for me to lose weight and what helped was reading this book, Never Binge Again. It's a bit extremely bonkers, but the message has incredibly sunk in and since reading it I've given up junk food, lost 10lbs and I don't have any cravings – I haven't eaten a single crisp (my trigger food) since 3 August. But I echo what PP say about keeping a food diary - I track everything else I eat using the MyNetDiary app, which I find is more user friendly than MFP, just to keep track of portion sizes.