To ask what diet worked for you

[springtimemoon]

As two years later I am still hugely overweight.

Please don't be offended if i don't rhink it is for me. I am just trying to work out what might help me as I am despairing!

I think this is obviously emotional for you. You need to get some help with the root of it.
Can you afford some therapy? Have you looked online at food addiction? Do you binge eat?
How is your mental health?
Because if it’s more complicated than just sticking to a diet, then every diet you try will be some sort of self sabotage.

I have tried therapy before and didn't find it helpful.

Thank you, though. It is hard for me. Food is an escape and safe place and "home" but also makes me so unhappy.

Calorie counting on My Fitness Pal works for me. I don't ever really eat chocolate or biscuits though, just don't have a sweet tooth. My crimes are all savoury e.g. thick white sourdough toast with butter.

Low carb. I could seriously eat nothing but bread, potatoes and variations of them forever. The only way I lose weight is to have none at all and loads of veg, nuts, seeds, fruit. Don't eat meat but I eat fish and quorn.
Some days I want to bathe in melted chocolate while eating twenty loaves of bread but it's worth it.

Some days I want to bathe in melted chocolate while eating twenty loaves of bread but it's worth it.

Ha ha! I know that feeling exactly, but yes, it's definitely worth it.

I would get the Blood Sugar Diet book and Fat Chance by Robert Lustig.

Fat Chance has a lot of science in it which is easier in the blood sugar diet but is very good at explaining why basically, it isn't your fault you are fat and why it is so hard to lose weight - it isn't just that you don't have will power like the thin people or all the other myths we are led to believe.

I found it very helpful and compassionate. It doesn't give a simple solution but it did make me feel a whole lot better about why I am the way I am and knowing what bullshit the diet industry is peddling me.

I could seriously eat nothing but bread, potatoes and variations of them forever.

Me, too!

I am a binge eater, I have found that calorie counting works for me along with exercise. I allow myself some of my ‘old’ food but try to increase the exercise to allow that. Years ago I lost over 5 stone calorie counting but over the years the weight has crept back on. I have a ‘fuck it’ mentality, if I have one ‘bad’ thing I think I have ruined it and then binge. I have tried low carb. It’s awful. You are cutting out a whole food group. I have tried just eating normally but that didn’t work. I don’t have low fat products any more. I would rather have, say, full fat cheese but less of it.

I recently bought myself a smart watch, a Samsung gear sport, you have the Samsung health app. I record all the food I eat for the day. So I plan it in advance so it is recorded. My watch tells me how many calories I am over what I need to lose weight but as the day goes on that reduces as you burn calories, even at rest. It has a step counter so I have been going to walks to get the steps up. If I am hungry and fancy a packet of crisps I put it in the app and as it tells me if I have eaten too much, if I have to I can have a bag of crisps and still be within range which stops the ‘fuck it ‘binge mentality.

Losing weight is the easy , less calories in than out, but it’s also the hardest as emotionally it I should difficult to let go of bad habits if you don’t address why.

I will say I feel so much better now that I am eating better and exercising more, it took a while and a bit of perseverance but the energy I have now is so much more. It is also addictive so the more you do the more you want to do.

SW worked for me OP. I have kept the weight off that I lose and you can still treat yourself daily if you save syns etc for them

I'm a little about how defensive you have been since someone suggested cutting out cake and crisps, you came here for advice but don't seem to want to take it?

My fitness pal worked for me

That’s really tough op. I think it’s the same for a lot of people. Did you go for therapy about food or about other issues?

I went to therapy for a year and it was rubbish, but then went to another therapist and it was much more helpful.

There is always a root to a problem, and sometimes we are just not ready to deal with it, lots of people never deal with it. But it seems that you want to, which is the first hurdle.

Food and alcohol are the same for me. I can just about keep food under control, but the alcohol not so much. Sadly

*it is difficult

you came here for advice but don't seem to want to take it?

I am increasingly getting the impression that the op wants to complain about her weight rather than look for suggestions on how to lose it.

OP, if you are serious about losing weight then the first thing you need to do is to change your attitude toward food.

Eat less move more works for me.
I have my own methods, which are -
Use a smaller plate (mine's about 9" diameter)
Don't buy crap, ie multipacks of sweets, biscuits, crisps, cakes, etc etc. If I want a bar of chocolate or a cake I walk to the shop and buy one. Just one.
Minimal or no alcohol (it's none at the moment)
Eat 5 a day at least, mostly veg rather than fruit
I eat bread, pasta, potatoes, etc but not in unlimited qualities.
I measure or weigh things that are high calorie - pasta, cheese, cooking oil. I follow the recommended portion size on a packet, which seem tiny at first.
When Christmas, Easter or birthdays come round, don't use them as an excuse to go on a month long binge, or eat your own weight in cadburys cream eggs or mince pies. By all means have a few treats, but keep them in proportion and limit them to a couple of days or so.
Exercise - it's mainly walking and swimming at the moment. In the past I've done wii fit, some DVDs, and some free weights. Push yourself and don't make excuses not to exercise. It will improve your body.
Hope this helps OP, and best of luck to you.

Some compassion would be nice people! It’s not as simple as just going on a diet for some people.

I sort of see where you are coming from. If food and treats have been a way of coping then it's really scary to take that away. Also previously when reducing snacks/ calories I had got cravings, shakes, migraines and I can cope with that on top of all the other stress in life.

I thought I would try the Blood Sugar Diet and staggered to find 1. I could cope with it and 2. It worked. The food is nice and mostly normal not weird powders. I have just finished the 8 weeks and lost a stone. I would really recommend trying it.

I don’t have much to lose but really want to be much skinnier and feel totally as you do at the mo OP. Protein doesn’t fill me up at all (I actually think this is some weird conspiracy people know just take as a given) and with low calorie I have absolutely no problem until after 4-5 says when the deficit seems to build up and I turn into a monster!

Since NY I have been prioritising fruit and veg which works but again sometimes you just get really hungry

I read Gary Taubes' 'Why We Get Fat (and what to do about it)' - OK, his conclusion is that a high fat, low carb diet is a good way to lose weight, but it was the way he explains the hunger urge and why we find it so difficult to lose weight that resonated with me. He takes away the guilt and self-loathing, the feeling that you're just too weak and don't have the willpower, and that's why you've put on weight. He explaions the metabolic process and the hormones involved - and once I understood that, it was much easier for me to lose weight successfully. Worth a read!

I also think OP that your head needs to be in the right place. It's taken me 25 years of being overweight to address it, I've tried every diet known to man over those years and always stuck to it for a few weeks...... and ended up weighing more and more. I don't think anything will work for you unless deep down inside you're ready for that change . It's crap being addicted to food.

It's true that it's not just as simple for some people, but OP came on to ask for advice - she has received lots of good suggestions.

I wonder if Lighterlife might be good for you OP. Takes food out of the equation but offers counselling support to address the emotional issues attached to eating

(disclaimer: haven't done lighterlife myself - only thing that works for me is LCHF and cutting out alcohol)

Overeaters anon isn’t Christian but it is very tough going so I’m not sure it would be my first port of call (actually tbh I’d rather have a bypass)

I think the 5:2 might be good for me because I will only be hungry 2 days rather than 7. Must get back into it

*Calories in and calories out.

It is a maths problem, burn more than you take in.

Reducing calories and increasing activity worked.*

This. It is essentially the underpinning of every single type of diet out there.

There are equations to work out your BMR (basal metabolic rate - basically how much you burn solely at rest i.e., the bare minimum to keep your body going e.g. breathing etc.). In saying that, however, you'd be better taking measurements first thing in the morning, after you've been to the toilet but before you've ate or drank anything (stomach, hips, thighs in cms) and weight - note them all down. Then use myfitnesspal for tracking daily for one week. Be honest and log everything you eat & drink. Weigh out your foods if you can. At the end of the week re-take your measurements. If you've lost then your daily calories are already in a deficit. If you've gained, they're higher than you expend. You can work from this to lower them (by 500 cals max/week) until you find your sweet spot so to speak.

Once you've found your calorie deficit number I'd recommend building your meals around protein. Choose protein source first & then complement with carbs and/or fats. Protein keeps you fuller for much longer.

I like iifym style as I've no restrictions on what I eat. If a donut fits in to my macros for that day I eat it 😋

I also find meal prepping a day in advance helps me stay on track as I can track it all in MFP ahead of time & see what I'll be eating ahead of time. Can also tweak meals to meet my calories for the day.

Make sure you're also drinking plenty of water (2l per day minimum) as sometimes we feel hungry when we're thirsty.

A VLCD gave me a very rapid loss (1st in 1 month) and then the same diet on/off for 5 months took off another 10lbs, but I didn't keep it off despite making changes to portion size etc. so wouldn't recomend. I have been eating 1200cals a day for 5 weeks now and it's the first time my weight loss has been steady and consistent, but its fast enough to keep me motivated. I have been losing 2lb a week, and though I try to eat healthily, nothing is really off limits as long as it fits my calorie count. I will never bother with low carb again because I cannot stick to it forever, but I have tried to look more at seeing protein as the main part of a meal, e.g. picking two eggs and one piece of toast over one egg and two pieces. The most important thing is that I can and will eat this way permanently. If I have a treat on Saturday that takes me up to say, 1900 calories, that just puts the weeks average to 1300, and I don't beat myself up about it. It's taken a long time for all of this to click in my mind but now I've seen it working there's no going back

Make sure you’re getting enough sleep - 8 hours a night, for example. I always end up stuffing my face the day after I’ve had a bad night’s sleep.

Looby I did express my hope that no one would be put out if I didn't take their advice.