To have lost hope of losing weight

[somesetmeadow]

I have always had a tendency to lean towards plumpness. I put on a bit of weight in my early teens but lost it at 15/16.

I then out on a shitload of weight at university but lost it afterwards and maintained a reasonable weight after that although it was a battle.

But somehow the last three years and I’ve lost it. I’m 14 stone and at my height that’s big! I stick to a diet really well and then lose the plot and binge eat Pringles and chocolate and cake. I do exercise but it’s not enough to counter the amount of crap I know I’m eating.

Has anyone been in this position?

Where there is life there is hope OP. I started 5:2 drive weeks ago and have lost 10 pounds so far and am keeping going. Like you I need to lose a lot. Good things about this diet, easy to follow and you only need to focus on it for 2 days a week and I can still drink wine at weekend. Hurrah... I recommend it. Don't give up.

Also agree focus on average weight loss and don't look at scales too much. I like Zumba to get moving.

''Low carb simply requires less willpower because it changes your appetite not just your diet. ''

no it changes YOUR willpower, do not make the mistake that this universally works. It doesn't, everybody is different. Low carb diets are very hard work and they do not eradicate cravings-that is a myth.

I can ragged but can’t stick to it is the problem!

I enjoyed low carbing and interestingly my personal trainer said he felt I wasn't eating enough so I've started having more protein which fills me, still carbs but a little less, apples with peanut butter etc. It's up to you OP but it is doable

I was intrigued about the claim that low-carb suppresses appetite. This is looking true on studies done so far, but with the caveat that most the studies are kind of small, the average tells you nothing about individuals, and it's hard to measure size of effect on these scales. Also, the anecdotal evidence is that you have to last at least 2 weeks on low carb diet for the appetite suppression effect to kick in.

The abstract is rubbish, tells you nothing, but you can figure out from the tables/figures that they had 12 studies and one study even had > 100 participants.

I feel your pain op. Been gaining and losing the same couple of stone for years. I actually think I could do with counselling to find out what's going on in my head with regards to food but can't really afford it. I have just signed up to team rh fitness though... I'm sceptical but it's cheap enough to be worth a try.

How does a person go from 3000 kcal binges to 800 kcal day? confused?

BSD fans had better give OP a lot of tips how to do that (emotional tips

I'm not a BSD fan but I have recently started on the Cambridge weight plan, the calories are about the same. And I binge eat, just like the OP, I could easily get through 3000 cals in one binge. It's actually relatively easy to go on a plan like BSD or Cwp as once you have done 3 days, your body stops craving the shit. I found sw and ww much harder as they encourage you to eat loads just different things. For me, I needed to take food out of the situation for a while in the hopes to 'relearn' about food as I start introducing it back into my diet.

That's how Overeaters Anon works: they give you simple rules so you make minimal decisions about food, then you can better concentrate on what's upsetting you so much that self-destructive behaviour seems like a solution.

Low carb diets are very hard work and they do not eradicate cravings-that is a myth.
It's worth trying low carb high fat (LCHF) in order to understand first hand how it reduces appetite. It is challenging to sustain if you don't cook from scratch in my opinion. I had to become a better cook and plan ingredients to not get bored and give up. Before, I relied on ready-meals and snacks/toast/sandwiches heavily. Now I eat more veg and fish than ever before. More eggs too and my only desserts are berries in cream or yoghut and 85% dark choc. But they are enough and quite delicious. Sweet Cadbury's choc lost its appeal. Biscuits taste awful. Bread isn't attractive. But I still miss and sometimes have the odd almond croissant

''It's worth trying low carb high fat (LCHF) in order to understand first hand how it reduces appetite.''

yep i do not dispute the fact that they reduce it but there are so many claims that such diets will totally eradicate cravings-even the famous keto diet people say they struggle to maintain yet or fall off. Yet its promoters will say it totally dissolves cravings which is impossible. Our bodies will always crave bad foods as it is our biology and our primitive brains-drugs can reverse this[but you have to stay on the drug and with this will come side effects] but diet alone can not. That is why i find such claims highly fraudulent.

''I was intrigued about the claim that low-carb suppresses appetite. This is looking true on studies done so far, but with the caveat that most the studies are kind of small, ''

they do help but they have their limits, people have to remember that the human body does not want to be slim, it wants fat for survival purposes. Even the best planned diets will result in cravings especially the longer you do it and the leaner you get, it baffles me how experts sell diets on the idea that it will lead to a eternal bliss. Dieting itself brings a new set of problems.

Low carb diets are very hard work and they do not eradicate cravings-that is a myth.

Well it's not a myth for me. Yes it requires effort, but so do all diets. The other thing I like about LCHF is that you don't have to treat all highly calorific foods with caution. It's easier to bear the loss of cake and biscuits if you can still eat crispy roast chicken, cheese, butter, mayonnaise, proper salad dressing etc (with plenty of veg and salad of course).

It's also not that hard from a convenience and cooking pov. My family are all still eating carbs. I just skip the bread/pasta/rice and have an extra portion of veg.

It's not easy. But it's easier than some. My 74 yo dad has been doing it for 8 months. He was only a little bit overweight. But he has reversed his pre-diabetes and come off both his long-term meds (statins and high blood pressure) as a result of low carbing.

Boilerhouse
May I ask if you are at a healthy weight? How do you maintain that? I'm confused by your posts and what you are suggesting.

im not bad but having done diets on and off for years i cant do it anymore and eating crap ddaily now

That is why im skeptical of those who say a diet can improve everything when it can't.

Her bouquet is very disappointing though

Sorry wrong thread

im not bad but having done diets on and off for years i cant do it anymore and eating crap ddaily now

I felt exactly like that a while back and slowly put back on a lot of the weight I'd lost. It's boring and demoralising and you just get soooo fed up with even thinking about it! But I have to accept that I will not stay a healthy weight if I don't regulate my diet. There is no magic answer. There is no method that isn't hard. I won't claim that I wouldn't quite like to stuff my face with cake occasionally. But it feels more like a vague wish than an uncontrollable craving now.

I was able to eat whatever the hell I liked until I had children, while remaining whippet thin, and that habit hasn't really left me, despite my metabolism being shot. I have tried restricting calories and exercise, but not lost significant amounts of weight, and felt hungry and deprived.
A friend's health scare prompted me to drop carbs and I now feel like a new person. Seriously, no more sweet cravings (and I used to be a 'shark' like you!), no ravaging hunger and no more feeling deprived. I feel like I have left a chaotic, busy street scene behind and walked into a tranquil, peaceful room where everything is as it should be; my whole body feels at ease. I feel as if I have been walking around with a pebble in my shoe for years, constantly aware of this gnawing sensation, and now it's just not there anymore. I have lost 10 kg totally effortlessly in a few months (a couple of kg left to my target weight), and I love what I eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is a bed of some kind of greenery (lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, chard etc) with a portion of protein (boiled egg, fish, pork belly, home made mince kebab etc). I suppose I have taken much of the 'choice' I previously prized out of my meal planning and preparation (massive fan of cooking and baking), but now find that as the carb cravings have gone, I just love the simplicity and luxury of a fresh green together with nourishing, delicious protein. I'm not striving to be in a state of ketosis, so accepted a colleague's offer of home made biryani a few weeks ago and had a piece of swiss roll my sister had made the other day, just because it's nice to share things in a social way, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference. If I hadn't been so scared by my friend's scare, I doubt I would have made the effort, but I am so glad I did! And the joke is, it turns out it really is no effort.

Yes, AdultHumanFemale! You describe it well. I feel like my appetite is mostly 'in neutral' rather than always stuffed or empty or looking for the next biscuit even when I'm not really hungry. I have to make a conscious choice not to eat the carbs, but it feels like a calm choice, not a bitter struggle!

It’s not a myth that low carbing high fatting changes your cravings. I occasionally fancy something sweet or carb laden, but it’s definitely not the obsessive craving I used to have where the world would stop unless I had something. It changes your tastes. I also feel satisfied on half the portion of treat foods I used to have. Your tolerance for it changes also.

Op it’s ridiculously hard to get started on such a lifestyle change, but if you can do it for 21 days then you’re more likely to keep it. One small thing at a time - change one thing, then when you’ve got that habit established, change another. It becomes automatic after a while. It’s hard work, but the only thing saying you can’t do it is you.

If you are stuck in a binge / starve cycle the answer is always going to be in your head and not in a diet book. Have you ever spoken to anyone about this? There are some great books also about bingeing - Fat is a Feminist Issue is an oldie but goodie, and lots of good newer books too.

Try reading Cut the crap by Ruth field(s?). I found it good. Dieting is a waste of time and mental torture.

I need help