... to tell you that diets don't work for everyone

[Wroxie]

Today is my 9 month anniversary of tracking every bite of food that's gone into my mouth, with the exception noted below:

My birthday (one day in which I had, as I remember, pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, no lunch, and fish and chips + a couple of donuts for dinner).

And that's it. I don't drink alcohol. No takeaways. No restaurants. Nothing that I didn't weigh, portion, and track faithfully. Even when I bake or make something from a recipe, every ingredient is weighed and the calories per serving calculated. I skip breakfast during the week and have normal, healthy food and smallish portions for lunch and dinner.

I eat, on average, 1,100 calories per day. I have a desk job but I walk for 30 minutes to an hour nearly every day.

Before this, my diet was pretty bad - takeaways 3-4 times per week, pastries for breakfast, sandwich with crisps and chocolate at lunch, biscuits whenever I felt like it- probably more than 2,500 calories most days (I'm 5'3" so that is A LOT).

And now, nine months later, I have gone from 13 stone to 12.3 stone. That's a grand total of ten pounds lost on an extremely restricted diet- and it was all within the first two months.

Please don't give me diet advice - no, I'm not in 'starvation mode' (because that's a complete myth). No, I don't need to 'cut carbs'. Seriously, I do not want your advice. What I want is to point out that, the next time you're tempted to say something asinine like 'it's just about calories in vs calories out' or to dismiss or vilify or judge someone based on their weight, to realise that the human body is not a two-stroke lawnmower engine and weight, food, activity, hormones, age, genes, and a million other factors are at play. Losing weight isn't simple and even with all the willpower in the world - which I have demonstrated - it isn't always possible.

I'm not giving up. I have gotten used to eating this way and I actually feel like my blood sugar is more regulated (no 'sinking feeling' a few hours after eating a big lunch, for example) and I know that as I get older, it will be better to, at the very least, not get any fatter. That, at least, I can probably do. But nothing short of eating less than 1000 calories per day or surgery or medication are going to get me to a 'normal' BMI.

I agree with you, op. My dh and I have both followed the same fitness and diet plan since April. I have lost 2 stone, he has lost 8lbs.

Op it IS calories in calories out BUT and it's a huge but, MOST of the calories out are not directly within our control. All these people preaching about cutting calories and upping the exercise are all well and good but the vast majority of our calorie usage is by the autonomous nervous system. Heart rate, sweating, tear production, sexual arousal, skin regeneration, hair and nail growth etc. Heavily calorie restriction can slow all these down and backfire. Ideally you want to be eating a diet that is only slightly under what is needed and have one day a week where you eat a LITTLE more. To keep those functions running at normal levels. Try for a month.

Wroxie people who have surgery for weight loss are on 600-800 calories a day, some slightly less initially.
People who have eaten more calories than their body needed over a prolonged period of time, have a larder of stored calories, which are stored as fat. If you carry on eating even slightly more calories than is needed, those additional calories will be added to the larder, think of it as biological stockpiling by your body.
If you stop eating too many calories, but eat just enough, your body doesn't need to reach into its larder, so it stays fully stocked.
If you start eating less calories than it needs, and you have a fully stocked larder, it will have a rummage and grab some calories from the larder instead and your stockpile reduces.

I think we are really hard on our bodies and biology, we get cross and frustrated with them, when all they are really doing is saving for a rainy day or potential famine.

But I guess that's better than being a bit fat, eh?

@Wroxie

Unfortunately, you're not just a bit fat, though op. The NHS would class someone of your weight at your height obese - whether you look it or not. It's worth getting to the bottom of this, for your health, if nothing else.

As I said upthread, if you've a high fat percentage, you need to eat less calories, in the Ryder to lose weight, than if your body fat percentage is lower at the same weight. Put simply, your body needs to be getting some of its energy from utilising your stores of body fat.

You can actually ensure that happens by doing light exercise, fasted (slow running, brisk walking) . This helps your body become better adapted at burning fat. Look up the science behind MAF training, this has been tested.

Unless you have an underlying issue then loosing weight is calories in vs calories out. I don't believe in the word diet because any form of diet, be it keto, the fast 800, Herbalife, are all about restricting calories. They all work on the same principle just different formats.
If you only walk as your form of exercise, that's great for your cardiovascular system if you are walking at a challenging rate. However it's not a fast method to lose weight. In reality if you are looking to lose weight then you will need to up the exercise.
If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you eat fewer calories and burn more through physical exercise you lose weight. Regardless of where the calories come from they are converted into physical energy or stored as fat.

Heavily calorie restriction can slow all these down and backfire.

The operative word being can. MAF training helps the body become more efficient at burning fat for energy. MAF stands for Maximum Aerobic Function, if I remember correctly. Optimum fat utilisation means that the body has plenty of energy available from its fat stores.

But i walk much faster than 2 miles an hour...thats really slow isn’t it?

@SchrodingersImmigrant I honestly don't know, it might be ?

Thats insane OP as other PP have notes-extremely low calorie. Ive lost 4 stone before by eating 1500 a day and treadmill hillwalking 4 ks daily..it literally fell off (to my suprise)and im no spring chicken.. Although the human body isnt a 2 stoke lawnmower it needs fuel for function/movement so the fact yours isnt performing adequately suggests a tune up ie. bloods at the docs..everyone can get within a normal weight range. End of.

What a strange OP, very rigid

I can’t lose weight either. I walked/ran 10k every day in September and put on a couple of lbs. I don’t eat dinner either, just breakfast and lunch. Both my parents are very obese. I am a bit overweight but not drastically. I fight against my genes every day. It is unfair.

Walking does burn fat. It's actually very good at burning fat. You burn approx 100 cals per mile. So an hour's walk will burn approx 300 cals of fat! Which might not seem much but it's a big bowl of soup which can be quite filling. Or an omelette made with one egg and some ham and mushrooms served with salad.

I so agree with you . I have the same problem and I have under active thyroid .

It’s soul destroying.

The one occasion I did lose was doing the hay diet . But it’s quite hard to maintain.

Plus slimming world red . But tried that again last year and did nothing for me .

Putting on weight by overtraining is pretty common @Mummadeeze - google weight gain and marathon training. Your muscles get no time to recover and you end up storing fluid trying to cushion your muscles. You’d probably have better success running 10k 3 times a week rather than every day.

@FitterHappierMoreProductive

Putting on weight by overtraining is pretty common *@Mummadeeze* - google weight gain and marathon training. Your muscles get no time to recover and you end up storing fluid trying to cushion your muscles. You’d probably have better success running 10k 3 times a week rather than every day.

Oh that's interesting. Is it just for running or exercise overall?

@frumpety

But i walk much faster than 2 miles an hour...thats really slow isn’t it?

@SchrodingersImmigrant I honestly don't know, it might be ?

I've started this walk at home exercise programme and we do a mile in about 15 mins, if that helps. I recommend it actually if someone is starting out with exercise and fancies speed walking: Leslie Sansone Walk at Home. It combines walking and Hiit basically. I try and do 3 or 4 miles most days (so an hour maximum)

I've lost about half a stone doing this and just cutting out crap like crisps, biscuits, etc.. (still have them occasionally, just not daily). I also walk our dog every day, but he's a lazy bastard and I feel like a motivational coach getting him to do anything other than trot 'n sniff so I wanted to do something to get my heart rate up.

I'm sorry OP hasn't got much from this thread. I've found it really interesting. If I was the OP I'd try upping my exercise a lot and seeing what happens. I'm a recovering addict so have to be really careful about dietary restrictions and calorie counting or anything like that, as I'm aware I have that addictive side to me.

I don’t know @SchrodingersImmigrant !

I only know about it from my own running - but presumably it would be true of any high intensity exercise/ training? Certainly I know with running, you create micro tears in your muscles which then heal stronger and that’s how you build strength- but if you never have rest days you don’t give your body chance to recover.

That is a shame Wroxie has left the thread. I thought it was an interesting thread. I also came back to mention that I have lipoedema - which is a condion where your fat cells get fed by lymph fluid, which over time becomes fibrous and the body can’t get rid of it. So, there are conditions which no amount of diet and exercise will shift it. (But, normal fat should be able to used for energy and dieted away).

@frumpety

But i walk much faster than 2 miles an hour...thats really slow isn’t it?

@SchrodingersImmigrant I honestly don't know, it might be ?

I didn't ask that😁 But I wouldn't think it's super slow. It's over 3kmh. Not fast though.

You’d probably have better success running 10k 3 times a week rather than every day.

Or reduce the intensity. Slow running. Look up training at a MAF intensity.

@FitterHappierMoreProductive Thank you! That's something for me to research

No diets don’t work. Nor does tracking and over thinking every morsel of food that you put in your mouth.

It’s far more important to have a healthy attitude to food. Don’t calorie count, don’t restrict food.

Keep it simple. Eat healthily. Every meal. Have treats from time to time. Keep active. Lift weights.

You’ve probably slowed your metabolism down by restricting food.

Keep it simple. Eat healthily. Every meal. Have treats from time to time.

That’s just a diet though isn’t it? Just worded differently.

@namochangoro

And doing it on an empty stomach! I started running before eating because it stopped me getting stitch, but then learnt it helps train your body to access your fat stores to use that energy.

@DorisDaisyMay do lymphatic massages help? My mum had some and really praised it. Though she doesn't have lipoedema. Just help fluid oddly at some time

Keep it simple. Eat healthily. Every meal. Have treats from time to time. Keep active. Lift weights.

Sometimes the portion control is needed. Calories honestly helped me to see why I was getting fat. 1000+ cals pasta bowl. 800 cal salad... If used wisely it can show you how much of what is good. Obviously in combination with learning about nutrition overall