To ask how you lost weight and kept it off

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I go round and round and round and round in circles. Then round and round and round some more.

I know the science. Eat less, move more.

I’m lazy. I have little time to do a workout. I love junk food. I am my own worst enemy.

I know where I go wrong. I know my excuses too...

I’m wondering what worked for YOU.

Just clean eating? Slimming world or weight watchers? Going vegan?

Barbara:
"LCHF is fantastic for losing weight but completely unsustainable as a way of life for most people. I lost 2 stone low carbing and the put it all back on the second I started eating normal food again."

That's the thing isn't it? You can't go back to how you ate before. You Need to find something that works as a maintenance.

Michael Mosley always has a pair of trousers that he tries on - and if it is a bit too tight he reigns it in a little bit - so he doesn't go for more than say three weeks without addressing the situation.

I haven't ever lost all the weight I wanted, so have never got to maintenance.

But finding a maintenance is particularly hard.

When I did WW the group I was going to - it was a workplace lunchtime one - folded just as I got to my target weight. There wasn't a local group I could go to that met at a convenient time so I never got to the maintenance bit.

All the diets ive tried SW, LCHF, WW, lighterlife etc all have a variety of success but for me it’s when you stop and return to your old habits that cause the weight to gain.

For actual weight loss I find LHLC diets especially BLood sugar diet amazing for losses.

I have been in a complete yo-yo cycle for many years. I have managed to break the cycle and have lost 6 stone and kept it off by adopting 5:2 combined with 16:8. I was a size 24 and am now a 8. I have lost the same amount a few years ago on SW but it didn’t address the one major issue for me and that’s portion size and control I still ate everyday like it was my last meal and regained all the weight.

This time I used blood sugar diet to loose the 6 stone and as it’s 800 calories per day it’s helped me gain that crucial portion control. I am now in control of my food and have naturally adopted a lower carb eating plan. I don’t fear hunger.

5:2 has saved me from myself as it’s flexible and if you do overeat one day I fast the next day and basically undo the damage I’ve done.

At home I eat good meals, lots of protein and veg with a small amount of carbs. When I go out I order whatever I fancy and dessert if I wish I just fast the following day.

Sometimes I feel a bit miserable having to watch what I eat but it doesn’t compare to the being miserable from being fat. They are both hard, but I’ve chosen my hard.

Reading with interest. Am five stone overweight and have been for a while. Have tried everything, WW, SW, Atkins, LCHF (waves at BIWI!), Herbalife etc etc. I lose on LCHF but don't feel good on it. I have done well on WW in the past but really struggle now mentally with both WW and SW and the pushing of utter crap chemical shit storms as weight loss aids. I have done well in the past in a low GI diet. Basically no crap carbs. No sugar, no bread, flour, pasta, rice etc.

For me th biggest thing is mindset. It feels like such a long road to lose what I want to lose. So I start feeling motivated. Get some results. Feel good. Then fall off the wagon for whatever reason and feel a failure and hate myself and give up completely. I'm a bit all or nothing with it. Mostly nothing at the moment!

My big downfall is alcohol. Wine and far too much of it and then the resulting munchies. I'm fine if DH isn't here but he drinks every night and I feel left out if I don't. I have done well with white wine sodas with low alcohol wine in the past and will start that again.

With LCHF and losing the weight but then putting it back in when you start to eat normally - the original Atkins plan has a maintenance phase where you gradually add carbs (healthy carbs not crap) back in at a measured pace to find your set point at which you will maintain and not lose.

cleoowen - last time I went to WW the consultant said something that stuck with me about 'treats'. She said if you have a treat every day it's not a treat it's a habit. So chocolate every day is a habit. Chocolate every Friday for instance is a treat.

I'm feeling motivated today - god knows how long it will last! Am planning to just eat nutritious healthy foods. No crap. I read an article about an American woman who lost 40 pounds by focussing on nutrition rather than the scales so am going to make sure I'm eating lots of veg and a portion of fruit a day. Lots of water. Lots of herbal teas. And I've ordered one of those diet plates that has the portions marked out and a food planner.

Also need to get back to exercise as I do feel so much better when I do it.

I lost 6 stone doing 5:2, slowly teaching myself to eat better and building in exercise where I can. 4 years later it's all still off, i don't fast fully anymore as I have no need to but still can have a blow out now and again.

Disclaimer: I last lost weight about 25 yrs ago & that wasn't very much (15-20 lbs?)

I wonder if it's useful to drop the habit of thinking you're supposed to eat. Many of us follow social cues like "it's lunchtime" which really is not a good reason to eat at all. I DO NOT want to promote anorexia. Instead what I mean is more like thinking that the default is to not eat, or to eat only a minimum and the healthiest choices you still find tasty. Only planning to eat after you feel hungry, and every time you eat you're quite aware of stopping as soon as you stop feeling hungry.

bonus: food tastes much much better when you only eat when hungry. Delaying a meal makes it so much nicer. I always think that people who say they overeat b/c they "love food" - they can't love food at all. You don't overeat if you want food to taste great every time.

In my twenties and after having children, my weight went up to 14 stone. I'm only 5ft 2 inches so that was massively overweight.
I tried all the diets but always put it back on.
You really do have to be prepared to look at what you eat. If you diet then go back to your usual habits it won't ever work.
I changed the type of foods I eat for life by learning about nutrition. I stopped eating junk foods, apart from very occasionally. I eat lots of vegetables, lean meat, fish and fruit. I also walk as often as I can.
I've never been overweight since.
If you aren't willing to change your eating lifestyle, you won't ever keep weight off.

Someone on this forum once said that if your great-granny wouldn't recognise it as food, don't eat it, which is a saying I quite like! For me it is all about eating nutritious, clean food which hasn't been mucked about with. Limiting processed sugar as much as possible ( I aspire to never eating a chocolate biscuit ever again, but that's as realistic as Robert Downey Jr leaping over the fence and declaring undying love for me).
Reintroducing the idea that food is fundamentally fuel for our bodies.
And the usual move more...

oh and not being afraid of hunger! I DON'T need to eat the minute I have a pang; I can hold on a little bit longer.

Haven't read thread so could be repeating. I lost 3.5 stone doing slimming world over the past year and half. Got to my target weight last June and still at that weight. I keep generally to the slimming world plan I also started running when I started losing weight and stick to that religiously. I generally do two 40min runs a week. I don't think there is any easy options here or magic wands, it takes discipline but once you are in the right frame of mind and once you see what you are doing is making a difference it is pretty easy to stick with it. I am back at the weight I was at in my 20s. Love clothes shopping again and with my fitness and healthy eating really feel I am setting a good example for my 3 daughters

Good luck

All the diets ive tried SW, LCHF, WW, lighterlife etc all have a variety of success but for me it’s when you stop and return to your old habits that cause the weight to gain.

But that is if you see it as a temporary diet. it is about a lifestyle change. I used the slimming world plan but it was really just about cutting out crap, eating less processed food, less sugar more veg and so on. Also exercising. I don't think any healthy living plan can just be about food you also need to move more and once you reach your goal you cannot return to how you were you need to keep doing what your doing

The combination of MyFitnessPal and the 5:2. I make sure I take regular exercise too.

I think the other thing to recognise is losing weight isn't fast. The weight didn't go on in a few days so it's not going to come off in that either. Any diet also needs to include a mindset that once the diet is over you can't simply go back to how you used to eat.

The mind set of "I've met my target weight so I'll have a huge meal to celebrate " isn't good. Or "I've met my target weight so can eat what I want know" also isn't good, you'll just pile on the pounds.

Recognising that it's going to take time, it's ok to fall off the wagon very occasionally if you get right back on it , and that you need to change your eating habits for life, is the only way. Because your eating habits is what led to the weight gain in the first place. I think that's where a lot of folks fall down. The time it takes and then the ongoing change of eating habits.

Willpower and keeping yourself (and your mind) busy and away from sources of food, so you don't eat out of boredom

Reading this thread really proves that it takes a lot of effort and discipline to maintain weight loss.

I used to wonder if some people are effortlessly slim. I really don't think so

I used to be before I had children. I’m not overweight now but it’s definitely an effort.

Lost 2 1/2 stone on weight watchers but got pregnant. Now I'm heavier than ever and have less time and money than ever to go to class. I find they work best for me but I'm really going to have to get my arse in gear because I'm carrying far too much extra weight.

I call it the toddler diet..

No food after 6pm because I'm putting DS to sleep after that and he cries when I sneak out of the room. No time to eat a full meal because he nicks all my food. Can't eat junk food because he wants some too. No booze because I'm still breastfeeding and I don't want to look after DS hungover

I've managed to lose 1-2lb per month and am close to the smallest I've ever been .. but I'm so hungry

Drink more water, lots more, if you aren’t peeing every 30 min you aren’t drinking enough!
Eat less, particularly reduce the stuff I know is high calorie low nutrition.

Choose protein and veg for every meal with limited carb.
Exercise more.
Weigh weekly - whether you are on diet or maintaining.

WW for me years ago, I maintained for three years at goal weight.
Has DS.
Tried SW - didn't work out well for me.
Now on MFP and regularly exercising. Got down to me goal weight again and then Nov/Dec happened, holiday/birthday/Christmas. 1.5stone back on. Now back to it with new determination.
Running club is my best friend.

Thanks for the info on treats. I am trying to cut down to one/two days with treats a week. It's so hard.

I think part of the problem is how confusing food is. We are told such different things about what to eat. I am trying to loose weight and be low carb. But find it confusing knowing what is best to eat. I had a goats chess and avatar do salad today- 463 calories, normally I have a ham and homous and cucumber wrap which is half the amount of calories. But I automatically assume salad is better as it's no carbs but it's more calories! I ran 5k and Burnt off 556 calories. So that salad practically put back all the calories I ve just ran to loose. However, I know I won't snack until dinner now with the salad but the wrap doesn't fill me up.

So which should I have for lunch?

I used to wonder if some people are effortlessly slim. I really don't think so

I was, in my 20s. Ate mostly processed crap and did no exercise but was probably a 6 in today's sizes. Got lots of compliments but it really wasn't down to me, just luck. Eat healthier and exercise more now and I'm 2st heavier.

I lost a load of weight low-carbing, put it all back on, then lost a load of weight again by eating very low fat (unavoidably, because of gallstones), put it all back on.

I don't want to go very low carb or very low fat again, even though I know it works. Because:

1. maintaining the willpower to do so, for all your waking hours, for the rest of your life, is just unrealistic for most people. I found 'maintaining' impossible after low carb and low fat.
2. I don't want to imply to my 12 yo dd that the only way to be slim is to give up a whole food group
3. It's unsociable, inconvenient and makes people think you're a faddy twat.

I'm not sure what the solution is. The No S diet is quite sensible. (No snacks, no sweet stuff, no second helpings except for a treat on days beginning with S). I might boost that a bit by introducing an additional rule that half my plate must be veg.

And yes I know that requires willpower too, but it's more forgiving, more convenient, more sustainable long-term and much less of a pain socially.

Low carb, body pump x 2 a week, spin (rpm) at least x 2 week. Gradual loss of nearly 2 stone in a year (then I got pregnant so eat whatever now, but I managed to keep up with pump till about 30 weeks, and now go swimming instead at nearly term)

I also didn't deny myself anything if we were out though. If I fancied pizza I had it. Same for booze. So I didn't feel like I was on strict diet, slow and steady was my goal which I found much easier to do.

I started to exercise. When I realised what I had to put myself through just for a packet of crisps it made them much less appealing. I found an exercise I enjoy and have kept with it and this has put me in the right frame mind for food too. I still have a treat if I really want one but I have that little voice in my head too.

Also I realised that it took me 20 years to get my body in this state and that it won’t be fixed in a few months. It helps me see
A longer term plan rather than a quick fix attitude.