To think diets don’t work

[BitterSweetSyn]

I’ve just come out of a Slimming World meeting, the biggest I’ve been ever been in my life.

Pre DC I always maintained a normal weight but joined WW after and lost all the baby weight but became a bit obsessed. Gradually gained back the weight plus another 2st so joined the gym, did PTs and got an eating plan. Lost the weight quickly, looked amazing but became obsessed with cheat days and if I messed up and didn’t stick to exactly what the plan said, I binged. Something I had never done before. I’d find myself sitting in the car after shopping, devouring crisps, then because I ruined it I’d eat nearly a whole loaf of bread with real butter at home because I was “starting again tomorrow”
Eventually I realized this was too restrictive so joined Slimming World, threw myself into the group, the online support etc and lost 1.5 stone. Still being about 3stone overweight this didn’t happen quick enough and I hated my body and my relationship with food was destroyed, still binging when I went over my syns.
Ended up coming off and deciding to do the Cambridge Diet. Somehow gained back 2stone before this but then lost 3stone but my relationship with food and myself was at an all time low. The binging was off the scales and I even started using laxatives to have results on the scales if I had overindulged.
Realized this was messing me up more than anything. Quit. Tried to repair my relationship with food and be normal. Binged straight for over a year and today I’ve went back to slimming world weighing 16st and worse still, the same people are there. Either the same size or bigger than ever.

I was normal before I tried to diet. I ate when I was hungry, I enjoyed cooking, I loved baking, food was an enjoyable thing to me.

I cant be the only one? I wish I had just walked and swam more after DC instead of entering this toxic abusive relationship with food.

Eugh

Nice

Countdown.The who point is that diets make you loose sight of 'normal eating' ,also that normal is different for all of us.It varies by age,height,daily activity and sex.
As a menopausal woman I am dieting for the second time in my life so I am luckily not on the dieting cycle.I am on the we app(can face group things and didn't want SW 'syns' as I have a teen DD,).
This for me has to be slow and habit forming and to retrain me onto suitable portion sizes without depriving myself just taking out unnecessary calories.This means DD gets all the garlic bread,grated cheese topping but she is burning it off.
I've tried all the only eat when you're hungry things but work shifts so it's more eat when you can so we works for me as long as I preplan.
I'm half way through to my (realistic) goal and have adjusted my mainly piscatarian diet and recipes accordingly.
I'm hoping this is my second and last diet.Life was simpler when there was less processed food around and when plain food was enough for us.
I don't know what the answer is,we have a lot of high calorie snacks that leave us hungry,lots of cheap sugary food,,hidden suger in foods that have no business having sugar in in the first place.
Diets don't work because as OP says it fucks up your relationship with food and most people go back to eating what they had before but still feeling deprived so eating extra on top.

countdowntonap Do read the thread properly before spouting nonsense. The OP knows she's eating too much and needs to learn eat normally. That's the whole point of the thread!

I just mean that the word diet needn’t even come into eat. The first three stone could most likely be lost by still eating with what would be over maintenance for a healthy weight and so not really restrictive at all. The ‘eugh’ is at the all consuming diet culture that seems to entice and effect women much more than men. Why is SW/WW directed at women, not all overweight people? Weight loss needn’t be difficult unless you have a very specific (low body fat) goal.

I lost about 3+
Stone of pregnancy weight in 6 months by using the slimfast “principle” - eg that one meal a day would be a meal replacement. Usually a slimfast drink. But sometimes if I prefer, a latte. And sometimes, like today, instead of my usual breakfast I had a fucking piece of cake! Swapped calories for calories. But usually my breakfast is healthy and my lunch is healthy but stuff I actually LIKE so I feel like i am enjoying myself - sweet potato fries, minced lamb, tzaziki etc. I’m back at my pre pregnancy weight. At the weekends I have a bit of a blow out but miss lunch if I know I will have a big dinner. I’m not sure how healthy any of it is but I find it effective and it’s not too soul destroying/can’t be bothered with reading books or calorie counting too much.

It sounds like it’s more mental than physical OP . I think you know that ? I think exploring your head space and exploring that is the place to start . Loads of blogs and websites around

OP, I know you’re getting your head around it all now but I’m adding another vote for Team RH.

They teach you how to properly fuel your body, the required levels of exercise and they have a binge eating support group.

You’ll probably find you won’t need to binge though if you eat the calories they set you (I’m eating 400 cals per day more than MFP set me).

It really is worth a look and a quarter of the cost of SW which is a load of bollocks

I've recently started an eating plan. Not a diet - my calorie intake has actually increased! I'm losing weight. My problem is I don't feel hungry (underactive thyroid). I would eat once a day. Not good for you. I knew I needed to eat more, but needed a plan to get me organised. I picked this one as it is basically whole foods and no food group is cut out. I've worked with the consultant to get substitutions for things I hated and have a good, varied diet, eating 5 times a day.

One thing I read recently and really liked was to have a three hour reset. Meaning if you binge / eat crap / for me - don't eat etc, you get a reset in three hours time and can start back eating well again. In other words don't think I've stuffed up, I'll restart tomorrow and go wild. Just stop looking back and pick up your good eating habits next time you eat.

Personally I think dieting fails as you are aiming for a point. Once you get there, you think yippee I'm thin, thin people don't diet. So slowly you go back to previous habits. Rare sweets become daily sweets etc

What I'm doing is fixing my disordered eating. I'm aiming to eat 5 times a day. Meals are fresh food that I cook or fruit and nuts. I had cake on Friday, I ate chocolate at Easter. Didn't feel bad. Didn't overeat. But the majority of my eating is good whole foods.

Of course diets work. It's just that you've applied the word 'diet' to a particular regime with written rules, and not to living a healthy lifestyle.

I've lost a stone and a half since Christmas by cutting out crap and doing more exercise. My 'diet' doesn't have a name, or cost anything, nor is it part of an 'industry'.

So many times the narrative you hear is 'I've tried every diet under the sun but I only kept the weight off when I changed my lifestyle'. So, your diet then.

"Diet" tends to be accompanied by deprivation, which is why they tend to break down either at maintainence or long before that point.

Healthy eating needs some kind of balanced structure of food groups. The likes of SW do have that which is why there is some degree of sucess on them, but they do it in a level of detail that is cumbersome to maintain, and quantifying "syns" adds value judgement to foods. People who go for loopholes such as "limitless pasta" or endless mullerlights will also fail in the long run.

I like 5:2 because my diet is largely decent, I just run a slight surplus through the year, so a bit of restraint a couple of days a week reins that in. I'm not prone to binging, and can hold off on "not today", and I find it less restrictive than restraining my calories every day. After several months, I am finding I'm getting less snacky, particularly less morning and I have realised that being a SAHM I do boredom eat.

There are many reasons why people have an excess intake of food, and it's addressing your causes and relearning to eat in a way that meets your needs that is important for long term healthy eating and weight management.

Portion control plates are good for encouraging filling up on additional veg or salad and moderating the rest of the meal.

Smaller plates help portion regulation.

Exercise to boost metabolism is important. Rapid weightloss can compromise muscle mass which slows metabolism making weight rebound more likely.

Food is fuel (albeit tasty and pleasurable) and it is helpful to think about what it does for the body (even if it is a piece of dark chocolate for the magnesium content )

Fuck food - it can fuck the fuck off. Litterally. Fuck three meals a day, fuck cake, fuck coke, fuck chocolate, fuck all of it.

Sounds very messy.

I hate diets but I love vag so I've just upped how much of that I eat. If I have it with lunch and dinner I consume far less calories, its the bulk of my daily food consumption and it's helped me begin to lose the inches. Something you could try?

I hate diets but I love vag so I've just upped how much of that I eat.

Wow, I never tried it! Even in college 😅
But hey, it’s worth a try!

Shipley wins the thread :)

Oh Shipley. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

VEG VEG VEG!

Can't stop laughing.

Weight loss is the sprint that everyone focuses on - unpleasant, but can be done for a short time and has temporarily highly reinforcing rewards (praise, positive body image etc.). Weight loss maintenance is the marathon where no-one's lining the route cheering for you, but if you don't keep running you lose. No wonder it's the bit we struggle with.

Maintenance is bloody hard. The only things that have a possible evidence base for helping with weight loss maintenance are increased physical activity (PA much more important for maintenance than loss, interestingly) and regular self-weighing to catch small regains and make small alterations to eating / activity to adjust before there's a large amount of weight to lose.

Once you have gained weight then lost it, your metabolism conspires against you to regain it. Finding ways to 'hack' your own particular metabolism seems to be key - for me it was regular exercise (stuff I love - pilates, resistance work), scaling back on carbs, increasing protein and veg (not vag) and not counting calories, syns or anything of the sort. I think the solution is likely to be slightly different for everyone though and I would second the Michael Mosley recommendations on this thread.

I'm using Nutracheck to log all my calories. I've lost over 2 stone and have 2 more to go.
I'm also doing a lot more walking although nothing massively strenuous.
I bought a Fitbit and try to increase my step count gradually. My first goal was 8k a day and I've slowly increased it so my average is now 12k so I'm improving slowly and dropping about 1-2lb a week which suits me just fine.
My biggest problem was unhealthy eating, scooping up leftover junk foods, chips etc. I didn't actually want to eat them but it seemed a waste to make a separate meal just for me but I've changed that mindset now.
I batch cook curry's and veggie stews and freeze in small portions then I'm not cooking 2 separate family meals. I also eat lots of simple unprocessed salads and beans which are quick to prepare.
It was pure laziness on my part that led to my weight gain as I'd been average sized 12/14 for years then gradually grew to a size 20 and decided enough was enough.
Because I'm counting my calorie intake, I'm still eating what I want so no banned foods.
Yesterday for instance, I had a small portion of Guinness chocolate cake when I was out with a friend. I'll eat the other half tomorrow probably.

I love vag too ! Joking aside a mainly veg diet is my go to . And it works