To think I’ve found the secret to losing weight and keeping it off!

[Mummybo88]

Posted in weight loss but don’t know if anyone read it, so posting here for traffic.

I feel really passionate about this and I’m hoping it might help some of you the way it helped me.

I’ve had problems when it comes to food since about the age of 12 or 13. Up until then I was very slim & very active. Anyway, by the age of 15, I found myself very overweight. This prompted a cycle of me trying to cut a million & one things from my diet, having some small successes but then falling off the wagon, giving into my bodies cravings and feeling like a failure. Cue the self loathing, subsequent binging and weight gain.

I went through years of this. I tried everything. At one point, I even lost 3 stone but, lo and behold, I eventually gained it back and then some.

Anyway, one day it dawned on me that what was destroying me was all the rules. I never listened to my body, I didn’t trust myself to listen to my body. Days when I went to bed hungry felt like a success. In all honesty, I had sort of lost the ability to listen to my body. I’d become a slave to this diet - binge cycle.

Anyway, I decided to try something which felt very, very daunting. I decided to forget all the rules and try to learn to listen to my body again. I was terrified that I’d find myself living off chocolate brownies but guess what, it didn’t happen!

My initial focus was to really start concentrating on stopping eating at the moment I started to feel full. This wasn’t as hard as I thought because I felt safe in the knowledge that if I felt hungry again, i would just eat something else. Overtime, my cravings for all these “forbidden foods” lessened because they were no longer forbidden. When I used to diet, I’d spend my days fantasising about all of the foods I wasn’t allowed but now the everything was allowed, I’d find myself craving porridge for breakfast or a banana for a snack.

I also vowed to get out of the habit of weighing myself everyday. Initially, I’d do once a week and now I’m probably once a month (or whenever I remember to!!). The thing is, my weight on the scales each morning was dictating how much I ate that day. That’s just ludicrous when you think about it.

The other thing I realised is that some days you’ll eat more than others. If you have a day where you are more hungry and you find yourself eating more, don’t beat yourself up about it! You’ll find yourself eating less another day and it’ll all balance out.

I broke the diet/ binge cycle and I’ve weighed in the region of 8stone 10 - 9stone for the past 4 years. Other than my two pregnancies and both times, i lost the weight following this way of eating.

I eat cake, sweets & chocolate, but I also eat fish, vegetables & fruit. There’s a reason why 95% of people who go on a diet regain the weight within a year.

This has really worked for me and I hope it can help some of you. It’s by no means an overnight fix. The weight won’t just disappear in a few weeks, but it will come off and stay off. I know everyone’s different and what works for one person may not be so good for someone else but this has really changed my life and I can now enjoy food in a way I never could before.

I hope this can be of help smile

This doesn't really work if you brain doesn't recognise the signal that you are full. When you are full your brain produces an enzyme called leptin, if it's not recognised you don't feel full. Most over eaters get this to some extent, but some people never ever feel full and never had.

The best way I've found was to get a frozen shoulder, for some reason this kicked my leptin reception into gear so for the first time in my life I can say no thanks I'm full

I mostly do this with occasional over-eating when necessary.
By that I mean if id paid for a meal in a restaurant, id eat it, rather than leave half of it and be hungry an hour later having wasted half of an expensive meal.
Mostly I eat when im hungry, which today seems to be all day

It isnt about what you eat but how much. If you have found a system that works for you, well done. Long may it continue.

Well done you, and for wanting to share. I personally have no idea of the Paul McKenna plan so you just sound helpful, and if it’s similar - so what!
I always try and fill up on veggies and low fat protein, but always like hearing of a successful health story - well done

Thank you for sharing, OP, this regime sounds straightforward and interesting. And it works!

Good for you OP for encouraging others and we'll done on sorting your food issues out

We’ll done OP. That’s amazing. Being overweight is such a complex issue. Denying yourself food just makes it more desirable. So then you weaken and maybe binge. And the emotional issues with it, comfort eating etc. I find if I’m starving. I will eat far more than I need to. Then feel uncomfortable for hours. So better to eat less but more frequently.

Sensible eater but rather smug! As others have have said, this isn't new, it's called Slimming World. At the end of the day, we all choose what we eat or don't eat so I'm not sure any of us are any more clever than the next person! People simply make their own choices.

Well OP I'm inspired and will give it a go, thanks for posting your success story.

I need to lose a stone so feel this is doable by your method. And I'm fed up with dieting. I was always slim, that is until I gave up smoking when I had kids ten years ago. I know I won't ever smoke again, no interest at all. I guess that's the same as for you knowing you won't overeat. Hopefully that'll be me soon then! .

I can totally relate to the forbidden foods thing. When I was growing up my parents were very strict and completely banned any junk food, chocolate, crisps, gum, fizzy drinks & sweets so when I did get them, usually at other peoples houses, I’d eat as much as I could because I didn’t know when I’d get the chance again. As soon as I was able to buy my own food I started eating rubbish because I thought of it as special and I’ve piled on weight, I can’t have multipacks of crisps or sweets in the house because I’ll literally eat them all in one sitting and I haven’t lived with my parents for decades! I just can’t seem to get out of the mindset of wanting the forbidden foods.

TheRebel, maybe you should make gum your unlimited food then -as much sugar free gum as you want (and it must use up calories chewing it too, so a double win!)

surely this isn't news?

As others have have said, this isn't new, it's called Slimming World
But it isn't! Slimming World has lists of what foods you can have unlmited amounts of, and by implication tells you to limit others. And it lists plans of meals to eat.
The OP said she eats whatever she fancies, til she's full. Its not the same.

@xmas I would but I’d probably go through 20 packs a day! I just buy as and when I want something now, so if I want a packet of crisps I have to go up to the shops and buy an individual pack, they’re a lot less appealing if I actually have to put the effort in

Brilliant post OP. You really should be proud.

You've inspired me to dig out my Intuitive Eating book. Ive tried it in the past but "The Fear" always stopped me from completely trusting myself and I hop straight back into the diet-binge-last supper cycle.

Thanks for sharing! 💐

And this is absolutely NOT the same as Slimming World. A plan that categorizes foods such as avocado as "Syns" (we all think of it as sins dont kid yourself!) But let's you eat fat free yogurt full of sweetener till you're stuffed, is not about intuitive eating- in my experience its about seeing what you can get away with.

Shared-I’m old enough to remember when they actually were called Sins, not Syns, back in the day. 1997.

I love the fact you are completely ignoring the rude comments! Well done OP!

mintich - I was expecting a few of those. They’re entitled to their opinion as am I. I definitely won’t be arguing with them ☺️ Thanks.

TheRebel you sound exactly like how I used to be. The only way I got out of that again was throwing the rule book away. Initially, you might eat those foods but like I’ve said upthread, really try to tune in to your body’s signals of being full/satisfied, safe in the knowledge that you can go back to the crisps/chocolate/sweets later if you want to. As time progresses, you’ll find yourself craving other things (at least I did, much to my surprise). You have to remove the guilt from the whole process for this to work though, if you’ve eaten half a multi bag, then you’ve eaten half a multi bag. Just continue trying to listen to your body’s cues. You’ll get there, I’m sure of it

I call it a 30 day program that actually works. I was bulimic/anorexic since I was 16. I found freedom last year at 44. Dropped two dress sizes in 7 months and kept it off. So much bad stigma surrounding shakes but do your research like I did, and you
Will find the right one for you, with no chemicals etc. If it hadn't been for what I am doing now, I may well have died, leaving my two year old daughter without a mum. I also have a mini gym/rowing machine which I sometimes use but I have found that high carbs, for me, was my bad. Having a 240 cal shake twice a day with a normal meal with all vits and mins etc has been a godsend to me. Not everybody's float your boat but it's what worked for me after trying every diet under the sun and failing, even piling on pounds on some of them.

I'm really pleased for you that you have found something that works for you.

As has been said it won't work for everybody. I read "Fat is a feminist issue" almost 30 years ago and, while I can see the logic in it and really wanted it to work, it didn't for me. I love food, enjoy eating it and found it far too easy to overeat. I am still overweight today

well done op.i feel very proud of you!and I'm so glad you've seen this way of listening to your body.and I think your hundred percent right.
our bodies aren't complex until emotions get in the way.they will be hungry and not yearn more one day than the next need a boost from one thing to the next be full and function on so much and then need more to carry on.
your way of thinking also seems very similar to how the lovers of food French say to eat.just everything and anything in moderation.
when you stop restricting.when you start enjoying you then want to look after your body, you then want ur veggies aswell as ur cake.ur salad one day roast the next.it about balance.
I think your post is inspired.good on you.

Fab you have found something that works for you! I'm going to give this a try and listen to my body! I constantly crave rubbish 😩
And also I can't believe how horrible some of the comments on here are! It's not like you're ramming it down their throats! What happened to supporting each other and being nice!!! Jeez!!

Thanks OP - very useful post. I was the slim one in my family (read stick insect growing up) but gained weight in late teens due to developing rheumatoid arthritis and for many years being very sedentary. My DSis was born to my Type 1 diabetic DM and these babies are known to be big from the start. She was delivered early at 8 months and was 10lb! You can imagine there were some interesting dynamics around food in our family.

However DM passed on some useful pearls of wisdom such as no seconds until you’d sat for 10 mins to allow you brain to register how full your stomach was, half your dinner plate should be covered with veg, a quarter with protein and the other quarter carbs, and that water was all you needed to drink with your meal.

I’ve also resisted the trend to go for huge plates. It’s quite hard to find 10 inch plates - they are usually sold as side plates .

I’m now sort of following your way and only weighed myself recently because I had an operation - my weight is returning to a normal one and I’m definitely not counting calories or denying myself food when I’m actually hungry (rather than bored). But I am eating smaller portions and cooking more food from scratch.

However my DSis still has a problematic relationship with food, is obese and has been a Slimming Wirld attendee for years. I’m always shocked at what she eats when she or I visit. Additional sugar on top of a huge bowl of sugary cereal, chilli and rice with chips and pita bread, sugar and cream on strawberries ... the list goes on. All of DMs guidelines have completely gone out of the window and although DSis attends SW I’m not sure she’s even following their plan at all.