AIBU regarding my ‘diet’

[LoopyLou1981]

I need a kick up the arse! I’ve been ‘dieting’ since February. I have lost the sum total of 1lb. I have lost and found the same 4lb more times than I care to remember!
I starting to think I should be locked in a room and fed calorie controlled meals through a hatch like they do in high security prisons!
My willpower is crap. I can have a lovely healthy dinner prepared by my dh. Thoroughly enjoy it then I’m hanging out of the snack cupboard within an hour.
I feel horrible and wobbly and I’m so annoyed at myself and really want to look nice for our holiday in a September but even the thought of being mistaken for a beached whale isn’t enough to keep me on track!
Rant over...any firm (but kind-ish!) advice welcome!!

I just drink tea instead of snacking.

I’m hanging out of the snack cupboard within an hour

change whats in the snack cupboard.

try out some different flavours of tea and see if you can find one you really like.

Or how about a zero calorie soft drink?

apples and pears?

I joined weight watchers after wondering why I wasn’t losing any weight doing ‘healthy’ eating. What an eye opener! 3 weeks and I’m down nearly half a stone, I highly recommend it!

To be honest you don't sound like you really want to lose weight - more that you feel you should. Therefore it will always be difficult if your heart's not really into it. How about joining weight watchers or slimming world and attend the meetings. I think this will help with your motivation.

No no no to pasta! Even with a “homemade” sauce it’s full of calories.
Bye bye snack cupboard, no more carbs or sugar. It’s hard but even one week and you’ll lose 5lbs..

I've banned myself from eating after 7pm. It's made a huge difference to my weight loss as I'd graze all evening even if it was low calorie stuff - it all added up. And I never buy multipacks/big bags of stuff, single servings only.

Only buy low cal snacks and make a deficit with exercise.

I love food and that's why I am overweight. I've lost 3 stone since Christmas and I exercise daily but I would sell my mum for a glazed donut. Can't find one any where I've been craving them for weeks. Halo top ice cream is a life saver it's 350 cal for the full tub. I can't buy high cal snacks because I can leave it alone and I will destroy it in minutes.

I’m off to google Halo ice cream! This sounds far too good to be true! 😋

It sounds like you aren't hungry, but "snacking" is just one of the things you do in the evening.

You need to change your routines.

Clean your teeth when the DCs go to bed, it does help lose the desire to snack.

Get some books you want to read, if need be, go to bed with a book when the DCs are down, rather than sit on the sofa watching TV/MNing, so you have moved from the normal routine, which will be 'missing' the snacks.

If you have DH at home too, can you plan more evening things to do, once DCs are down? Go out to see friends (not with food!), go for a walk/run/exercise class. Join book clubs or evening classes.

You need to break the habits and the routine.

It doesn't matter how great you low carb or any other diet you follow, you will want snacks in the evening if "sit on the sofa with a snack" is what you do in the evening, regardless of hunger levels.

Change the routine around food, break the bad habit.

So general consensus seems to be less carbs. The kids are getting treated to a salad and fish shopping trip tomorrow...they’ll be thrilled 😒

Oh my god! They do a sea salt caramel low calorie ice cream!! 😋

The thing is, I really do like fish/chicken and salad. I love the fact that it looks like a huge plate of food.
I just need to stop picking. I know I’d be so much happier if I was lighter. I don’t want my kids to start school and be embarrassed of me. That really should be enough motivation for anyone 😞

i agree it's about habit and routine - can you find a gym buddy and go to the gym of an evening? Most are open til 10. Or a long bath.

It's hard, but the only times I've really loved my weight are when I've stuck to no snacks after dinner, it's that end of day reward alongside a glass of wine that's so hard to say no to. Really must do something about my snack cupboard of shame too :)

Going low carb will only work if it's hunger that's making you snack.

Is it that you are hungry, or is it that 'snacking' is what you do in the evening, so it feels a hardship not to snack? If it's routine snacking, no diet in the day will work, because it's not hunger that's making you eat. You have to fight the habit, not hunger.

It’s not just about what you’re eating but the habit. I highly recommend Brain over binge by Kathryn Hansen. I’ve been a binge eater for years and this book helped massively. I’ve lost weight with SW but this book was really key to challenging my binge eating habits.

Try exercising regularly. A slightly challenging type. If you do it regularly your body won’t crave junk food so much and it’s eaiser to make healthy choices.

Snack cupboard needs to go!!

Always have veg chopped up in the fridge ready to snack on or slices of cooked chicken

Have more salad or veg with dinner at least 1/2 to1/3 of your plate

Milky coffee or sparkling water, diet cola can help you feel full if you know you’ve eaten enough bug think your hungry

Once the dc are in bed busy your hands to resist snacking adult colouring book, knitting, cross stitch, word search puzzle, read a magazine. Buy an exercise bike and cycle while you watch tv?

You either want to lose weight or you don’t! When your tempted to snack ask yourself do you want to be the size you are or bigger forever becuase if this snacking every 5 minutes doesn’t stop you will be the size your are forever or get bigger.

Thank you faith I’ll have a look. It’s definitely more a mental thing than a hunger thing. There’s no way I should be hungry after a bowl of pasta.

Tip that might sound ridiculous, but...

find something to do with your hands in the evening. It's so easy to snack because you're bored. Something like knitting, sewing, or crochet is ideal - both hands are involved, you have something to concentrate on, and you get so into what you're doing that you don't want to get up, because the temptation is to finish 'just one more row', and before you know it, you're three more rows on.

I lost a fuckload of weight a while back without really trying (yes, I know that's bloody annoying) because I was too stressed to eat. My appetite's completely shrunk since then, because I'm just not used to eating so much since then, which has kept the weight off. I'm quite amazed at how much I used to eat then, and how little I eat now. It's not an overnight thing obviously, but once you do reduce your food intake, you stop having the hunger pangs that I always had before.

And I probably won't be the first one to say this, but it's not just about diet. You need to exercise too. I walk everybloodywhere. Average 15,000 steps a day. That's it. No gym, no swimming, no classes. Just a lot of walking, which is free. It gets me where I need to go, and tones up the bits of me that would otherwise be wobbly

Second third and forth watching carbs but don't fully cut them. They say start your day (ie before breakfast), with an apple and a glass of water and your body prepares itself to be healthy. I have honestly found this to work!! Frozen grapes are lovely, nice salads, seeds, apples, low fat low sugar yogurts, popcorn (the healthy ones, the calories in some popcorn is shocking!) when you feel like snacking (it takes a few days before you find them lovely but you will!). Plenty of water (not over doing it of course, but you will feel less like eating) When you feel like eating at night start knitting, colouring, anything that keeps your hands busy. Personally wouldn't (and haven't) binned the snacks as I don't like the whole deprivation thing. Once a week do have treats just don't get carried away.And I honestly believe in the boredom thing, I used to butter sneaky slices of bread or crackers every time I was sitting with the kids overseeing homework. Also how are you on excercise? In Ireland we have Operation Transformation, a programme where they show healthy foods (some I'd never eat, some that are nice), but they have a daily exercise plan that you can do at home for free. And don't be so hard on yourself, it's tough!

I've been eating very healthily since January but very slowly losing weight. My skin and hair are looking much better though.

The last month I've been having two high protein shakes per day instead of breakfast and lunch. I've lost half a stone.

My friend has been only having 3 shakes per day for about 2 months. She has a few healthy snacks/soup and a Sunday dinner. She has lost just under 2 stones. She'd drinking loads of fruit teas too.

It doesn't sound like it's hunger that's the problem, so changing to low carb, or picking healthier snacks won't really address the problem, if the problem is habit, not hunger.

Getting rid of the snack cupboard won't help in someone who'll get a sandwich as a snack.

Agree you need other things to occupy your hands, or just break the habit of 'sit on the sofa once DCS are in bed and snack' by not sitting on the sofa.

Start with a long walk on a nice evening. Or run if you feel up to it.

Ignoring the food side of things for the moment, can you look at doing a hobby that will keep your hands busy in the evenings after dinner? Knitting, crochet, beading, papercrafting or if you're not into crafting, what about doing a puzzle or crossword/sudoku etc? You can do all these things in front of the tv. If you can do something else to keep you busy it will take your mind off the food and stop you eating out of boredom.

Oh my goodness, OP, that’s exactly my situation too!! I lost about a stone last year, then since Feb, I’ve been gaining and losing the same few lbs. Too many carbs is my downfall too😩. I manage to avoid the snacks most of the time, but any small lapse (eg a weekend glass of wine), and I’m back to square 1. You have my sympathies.

I think I need to try low carb too, but it’s so hard. I’m a single mum to 2 tweens, and they love rice, pasta, pizza. Tonight we had curry, they had rice, so I made some cauliflower rice, hope I can do that a bit more frequently, my hols are in Aug and I need to buy a new swimsuit soon.