How on earth do I lose weight? How did you?

[JustTheLemons]

Apologies for starting an AIBU but I have posted before in weight loss chat and not got much response.

I need to lose about 60 pounds, and I'm determined. I've recently got a binge eating habit under control, and for the last two weeks I've been sticking with 1500 calories a day as well as an hour long walk every lunch. I've gained 2 pounds!

I really don't understand how I can go from bingeing loads of calories a day to cutting them out and walking and gain weight! What am I doing wrong? I had been told that CICO was the easy way to do it but it's not seemingly working for me- I am now considering Atkins but I worry that's too restrictive for day to day.

Any help much appreciated!

I'll tell you what I did (but it's not for everyone).

I am rapidly approaching 60 and my weight was creeping up continually. I'm 5'6" and I weighed over 11 stone. So I entered a 10k race with four months to train, started eating two meals a day only (muesli for breakfast and a 600 calorie evening meal) and took up running. I started off gasping my way for 2k, went up to running 4k then, as it got easier, ran further and further. I can now run around 8 miles and weigh just over 9 stone.

So for me, at my advanced age, it was simply up the exercise (a LOT) and cut the calories (also a LOT, I reckon I eat around 1000 a day).

I have lost weight on LCHF.

I wouldn’t lose weight either eating porridge, sandwiches and lasagne, even on 1500 carbs. I also notice that you had no drinks yesterday except a latte - does that mean you only drank water apart from that ? Your coffees need to be black with no sugar to not count.

Exercise made no difference to my weight loss. I mean none at all, even when I was running 25 miles a week when I was training for a half marathon. This is not very logical I know but that’s what happened. Apparently you can’t outrun a poor diet.

I read that when people train for a marathon, 80% stay the same weight, 10% lose and 10% gain. So cardio doesn’t seem much good for many people for losing weight.

If you are the same as me, then you need to give up hope that the gentle walk after lunch will make you lose weight. Although exercise is good for your health and even more important if you are obese .

I can only assume that running plus calorie counting didn’t work for me because I have an under active thyroid and I’m post menopausal. I don’t know much about science but I think it’s something to do with the constant high carbs making your body produce insulin so you don’t use up the fat stores or something like that.

The only thing that has worked for me is LCHF with some intermittent fasting . You don’t have to do the fasting if it scares you. I lose about 2lb a week pretty steadily.

It works for me because I can eat a LOT of foods that I like and I’m not hungry . I would be STARVING on all these carbs that you eat OP.

A typical day for me would be

Coffee with cream for breakfast
Lunch and dinner are usually a huge plate of salad or veg and some protein and fat.

Treat is Full fat yoghurt with nuts or berries

I drink water and black herbal tea only.

That’s basically it. I have a dozen versions of the main meals that I stick to but there are hundreds if you need more variety.

Salad with bacon avocados , halloumi and walnuts . This is my fave but I have lots of yummy salads

Stir fry veg with pork or fish
Fried meat / fish with cauliflower cheese or broccoli
Roast veg with meat
Courgetti and pasta sauce
Veg omelette
Stews made with veg and meat
Rice dishes made with cauliflower rice
Hummus or baked Camembert and veg

I never eat bread ( except paleo bread which is nuts and seeds only ) .

Or Cakes, pastries, biscuits, rice, pasta, potatoes, porridge, oatcakes, crisps - I don’t really miss them.

I only drink alcohol on holiday and don’t miss that either which surprised me.

I LOVE chocolate and ice cream and will be adding these back into my diet along with fruit once on I’m maintenance.

HTH

God I feel depressed reading this thread.

I can't understand how no one has picked up on the fact that OP has only been doing this for 2 weeks. I don't know about everyone else but my weight fluctuates by a few pounds within the month depending where I am in my cycle.

Personally, if 1500 is manageable OP stick with that longer and then reevaluate. Stop chasing quick fixes which probably haven't helped with your binge eating issues either.

2000 calories a day for an adult is just an average. If you’re not very tall and aren’t exercising then around 1500 might just be what you need to maintain your weight.

I am really short and would definitely put on weight on 1500 calories a day. I lose really slowly on 1000. It's a pain.

I have lost around 2 stone over the past year by giving up booze and reducing portion sizes. I haven’t cut out any foods or skipped any meals, just will have one slice of toast with one egg for breakfast instead of two.
I found that not drinking (wine especially!) means I don’t snack and don’t crave stodgy carbs and sugar the next day. I just have a hundred cups of tea instead!

Levothyroxine is the only thing that worked for me. I had hypothyroid and never knew and the gps said it was always normal as it was 'within range'. My endocrinologist called bullshit and told them to treat me like they're supposed to under Nice guidelines.

You need to go get your bloods done and make sure tsh is below 2.5 and ideally around 1 with levothyroxine and you'll lose weight as normal.

Two weeks is nothing. Weight loss is one of those things were you put in hard work at the start with out much visible result, but it will pick up. Obviously you can get quick results but you already know that won't be sustainable, and is just another version of disordered eating habits.
So many pronouncements on this thread - I am losing weight on around 1700 calories a day, because that is a 1000 calorie deficit for me since I'm doing lots of exercise.
I want to eat more so I'm willing to exercise more.
Not giving up is probably the most important thing here OP.

What I dont understand about cutting out carbs is... Lots of countries that eat tons of rice have very low obesity rates... Carbs have been the staple of most diets historically without causing obesity. I'm confused

@Fatted two weeks is long enough to see some effect, even if not much. If there’s no change at all or even weight gain after that time then the diet isn’t working.

Don't cut out Carbs - the body needs them. It is all about moderation

It sounds like you're doing the right things. Personally I'd avoid fancy "diets" and go for gradual lifestyle changes, which lead you to eat healthily and move more.

If you're walking more there's a good chance you'll be building muscle. If you're very overweight, then you're carrying that weight up a bloody great hill so it stands to reason that you would be building muscle by doing that. This might look like a weight gain but you're most probably burning fat too.

Are you on FB? There's a really good group on there called Rebelfit and it's really good at just good, healthy weight loss and there's lots of community support. You can sign up to fitness and fat loss programs if you want but you pay for them - start with the community and then see where that takes you.

Also James Smith - also on FB - is great for no nonsense advice and information.

Maybe find an activity that you really enjoy doing. Have you always fancied dance? Martial arts? Rowing? Whatever. A good salsa (dance) addiction will see you loose weight pretty fast. lol.

In the meantime, focus on eating healthy, moving more, feeling better and just enjoying the changes your making in your life. Also, look at it as fat loss rather than weight loss. It's not that weight is totally irrellevant, but people get fixated on the scales - focus on how well you feel and how your clothes fit.

Drink loads of water.

Also, if you're a woman, be aware that your weight changes through your monthly cycle so you need to compare week 1 of your cycle with other week ones; week 2s with other week 2s etc. We retain water and stuff and that all affects what we weigh but obviously not how much fat we have.

Good luck. You'll start feeling better in no time.

Most successful diet I ever did (kept the weight off for ages though came back eventually due to bad habits.

Breakfast every day: poached egg on a slice of wholemeal toast. Marmite no butter. cals 200 approx
Lunch: sandwich with no butter or mayo: only a smear of any other dressing, so for example granary bread with rare roast beef, a smear of horseradish, rocket and sliced tomato. A satsuma or apple. 450cals
Dinner: chunky veg soup (50 cals) followed by grilled chicken or fish and veg 250cals.
Make sure you drink lots of water every day: I know that I pick when I'm thirsty, mistaking it for hunger.
maintain your protein levels. an egg has the same calories as a Jaffa cake and will keep you full for longer.

Fats are necessary for health but are so calorie dense you can make significant inroads to your calorie intake by making comparatively small changes to your fat intake.

I disagree pixie if those two weeks coincide with your period you could easily not see any loss or even a gain.

Cut down on carbs. Really works

@PixieLumos I disagree. Two weeks is nothing. I can easily put on a few pounds of water weight in the week prior to my period. Eating later in the evening can make a difference of a couple of pounds on the scales the next morning.

It is much more sensible to do something for a month, accurately observe the results over the entire month and then make changes based on that information.

And by carbs I mean bread and pasta. Brown Rice and potatoes are fine

Breakfast: porridge with seeds and a banana, 297
Lunch:Tuna mayo sandwich on wholegrain with veggie crisps and galia melon, 464
Dinner: Lasagne with salad, 499
Snacks: Latte, 71. Yogurt, 99

I’m not a calorie expert but these seem really low to me.

100g of vegetable crisps is 500 calories . A tuna sandwich is 300. So lunch without the melon is 800.

Tesco lasagne 450g is 650 calories

If that’s correct , you actually ate nearer 2000 calories. On which most women will NOT lose weight and I would in fact gain weight.

I think skipping breakfast is a good plan OP

I do this and is like intermittent fasting, would bring you down a bit to around 1200 cals and it can help with managing appetite. Good luck.

I dropped two dress sizes by simply quitting high-sugar food. So, anything with more than 5% of sugar (under carbs on the label, but not necessarily the carbs themselves as some can be beneficial) is not allowed. Remember that sugar lurks in many savoury things, like ketchup and hp sauce and many ready meals - these are simply loaded and might as well be dessert. No calorie counting, not punishing exercise regime. The weight simply drops off.

Then, once your palate adjusts you would simply stop craving sugary/sweet things altogether, which makes it easier to maintain your weight and not slip up again, which is what usually happens on the majority of diets where you are constantly calorie counting - I couldn't think of anything more tedious than that. Calories on the labels are never accurate (sometimes widely inaccurate actually), so you are likely not getting the amount of calories that you think you are anyway.

Everything said above also works, eg eat a balanced diet. Small portions/don't go for seconds, restrict carbs, no high sugar fruits (melon, bananas, oranges are the worst), no soft drinks or orange juice - drink water, nothing fat-free as these are all loaded with sugar to compensate for the lack of taste. Full fat but smaller portion is much better.

The basics to weight loss is that you need to burn more calories than you consume

You either need to eat less, or move more, whichever you choose it up to you.

What made a big difference to me was going to gym classes. I used to go for walks like you, and I would get a bit hot and sweaty but nothing too strenuous. I now go to gym classes on average 4 times a week and the workouts I do there go far beyond anything I could ever do on my own.

I used to be paranoid and scared of joining the classes as I go very, very red and sweaty after exercise and I was slightly larger than most people there, but honestly, nobody gives a shit. Everyone is there for the same reason and there is not an ounce of judgement, there are people of all shapes and sizes there and nobody bats and eyelid. I would highly recommend going to gym classes

Another thing that kick started me was buying my Fitbit Versa - it tracks steps, heart rate, it syncs with MFP, measures calories burnt etc etc and this was really useful as it turned out I was walking a lot less steps than I thought I was

Also, don't worry about putting on 2IB. I also recommend giving James Smith a search- I follow him on Twitter and Instagram and I used his calorie/macro calculator. He also has a podcast and he talks about his time as a PT and when women came in for weight loss, he used to measure them once a week, then compare that to the correlating week of the previous month. E.g. March week 1 would be compared to Feb week 1, rather than just the previous week. Women have hormones and periods etc that play with your body and your weight so this could be the reason why you put on the 2 pound

Final point (sorry I'm blabbing on!) don't see your weight loss journey as "ok I need to lose 60 pounds" because that's such a huge long-term goal and you'll become disheartened and unmotivated very quickly. Set smaller goals such as " I will eat no snacks this week" or "I will go to 1 gym class" etc. This is much more manageable and you get a good feeling inside when you complete these smaller feelings and that's what keeps you going

Good luck OP X

OP, is your 2lb gain possibly because of your period/cycle? I’m not trying to lose weight, just clicked on this thread from trending, but in the week before my period can be upa massive 5lb - I think each boob is 2lb up sometimes! Please don’t be disheartened by the 2lb or get too focussed on it.

I’ve been on holiday for the last four weeks, and meeting friends for coffee/cake, out for lunch/dinner, wine, crisps etc. I’m doing at least 10,000 steps a day, which is about half what I do on a normal workday, but even with my lack of activity and holiday consumption have only gained 2lb, which I know I will drop when I am back at work.

As you say you go out in the evenings you could just have a salad type thing for lunch then a bigger dinner. I snack on apples sometimes they are filling

Oh and occasional fasting hasn't done anyone any harm

Smaller portions, cutting out snacks, and running. Running burns off so many carbs.