To think that losing weight shouldn't be this hard?

[whoknowsmeinreallife]

I just can't stick at being healthy. I will do a few weeks and then have a bad day and then just think 'fuck it one more day' and so it spirals out of control. I am about two and a half stone overweight for my height, and am so uncomfortable in all my clothes and in myself. However I just can't muster the willpower to stop eating! Please help! Any advice gratefully received.

@userlotsanumbers - You could be me! Asthma, lactose intolerance, allergy to nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, chillis, aubergine, potatoes etc), IBS. I had bowel surgery last year which indirectly caused me to fall pregnant, and then last week I got a nice gestational diabetes diagnosis and now have to cut right down on all carbs. Lovely. On the plus side, I have no excuses now - it's critical for my baby that I control my eating, so I'm going to do it. And the weight is falling off already. :)

@OP - you need to find 2 things:

1. The right diet for you. It might be low fat, low carb, low calorie, intermittent fasting etc. Decide what foods you really can't resist and eat around them. Going cold turkey when you have no real motivation is a recipe for giving up.
2. Find someone to be accountable to. Whether that is your partner, a friend, a Facebook group, SW or WW... or in my case regular blood sugar uploads to a nurse.

Pre plan meals, once you have nothing ready it is easier to slip up. Batch cook healthy but filling meals.
Try to keep meals within 10hrs and eventually an 8hr window.
Preparation is key, sit with DP make a list of what you fancy, see what you make with less calories and get the ingredients.
Fry lite is good, grill what you can, you can still have a great breakfast mushroom tomato egg bacon and whole meal toast.

5:2 diet is really working for me..over a stone down in over four weeks.
I have no will power so I like that I day I can have it tomorrow.
But if I am honest I am really enjoying beating healthy, I am feeling the benefits everywhere and I really see. Five two as a lifestyle change!

The only thing that works for me is calorie counting. Nothings off limit. And the constant reminder that 1lb is 3500 calories deficit. That way a bad day off the wagon can always be caught up on on with exercise or less calories for the next few days. It’s all very depressing and boring

And, yes, 5he no S diet mentioned is good because it's very sustainable.

Is it possible to send a PM using the MN app? I know a great website for low calorie meal planning and wanted to send it to you OP.

I've done every diet going - you name it, I've tried it. They've all worked to varying degrees. The problem is that a diet is a temporary fix, so when you stop the diet - either because you've run out of willpower or you've reached your target weight - then you'll gain weight unless you have addressed the root cause. This is normally a combination of portion control and better food choices.

The only thing that has - and is - consistently worked for me, is calories in and calories out. No such thing as a 'bad food' so if I really want something then I'll have it. But I am meticulous with recording everything - and weighing it so that I'm accurate with my calorie count. Seeing the impact of a bar of chocolate or a cream bun has helped me to think very hard about whether I really want it or not. The point being that I am trying to address my bad habits and make a long time lifestyle change.

The good thing about calories in/out is that you can do it yourself, it doesn't cost anything or have any complicated rules to follow. All you need is a way of recording your food (phone, pen and paper) and a set of scales.

Any reason why you can't post the link publicly, sandy?

Is it super secret or something?

Probably classed as advertising. @SandyY2K - the whole point of responding to threads publicly is that the responses don't just help the OP. If you're offering help, do it publicly or risk looking like a snake oil salesman.

As someone who has battled with my weight for nearly all my adult life, I think you have to understand why you overeat.

I could always lose weight, if I stuck to the diet. At the end of the day, every diet works, as you are reducing your food intake one way or another. However, it never lasted because I never tackled why my relationship with food was a bit dysfunctional. I didn't have anorexia, bulimia or any other diagnosable food disorder but I was mixed up about food.

I ate for all of the following reasons: boredom, sadness, stress and loneliness and because I rebelled against being told what to do (i.e. being on a diet). None of them had anything to do with actual hunger or nourishment.

Counselling for other issues has resulted in an entirely different relationship with food!

Well worth exploring if you can - otherwise I think you just end up repeating the same old patterns.

Some of the reasons we eat in certain circumstances are physiological. Michael Mosley goes into this in his Fast800 book. It's an easy read backed by the latest scientific research. Sorry if I sound evangelical about this, but it's really interesting and dispels some of the myths about why we overeat, etc.

I am struggling as well but can’t seem to be consistent. Keep having good days then a bad day and so on; but having more bad days now!! I’ve been blaming it on stress at work but really just using it as an excuse :( so annoying as I lost 2 stone in 3 months last year, and just want to lose a final stone - it shouldn’t be this hard!