... 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.

Whitney168, just try the one which you like the sound of the food you'd be eating. Then look at tweaks if it doesn't work. You can put anything through a fitness tracker which tracks food and exercise. Then methodically tweak if you experience any plateaus.

To all the smug skinnies out on this thread why don’t you try doing your exercise regimes with a 6st backpack on. See how easy it is then to do more than a half hour/hour walk a day. Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

Being skinny doesn’t make you a better person, maybe some should consider working on their soul rather than their size.

Sarahandduck18

To all the smug skinnies out on this thread why don’t you try doing your exercise regimes with a 6st backpack on. See how easy it is then to do more than a half hour/hour walk a day. Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

I don't know if I am one of the posters you have aimed this comment at as I have certainly talked about exercise regimes. However I am definitely not smug! If you read through my posts you will see I have been 4 stone heavier, albeit not 6, when I started my exercise regime. I frequently suffered from sciatica and I was recovering from breast cancer treatment.

If you get a fitness tracker you would see that exercise intensity is relative to your size. It feels harder when you are heavier because it is more intense. You don't need to do as much for the same calorie burn. I increased the length of my runs to account for this. I even experimented running with a weighted pack for a while.

I don't use a gym. I started doing home exercise regimes from YouTube videos and then came across a clip which detailed running technique and discovered I could run. Previously, it caused me to get breathless very quickly but my technique was just all wrong.

There is an awful lot of bitterness about from people who are obviously unhappy with their weight, health and fitness, however aiming that at everyone they seem as 'skinny' is misplaced. I only post because I feel someone might see themselves in my story and find solutions through it.

Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

Another smug fucker here. A huge factor in weight loss is diet. No number of closed gyms and dark nights would affect that.

Ive never lost any weight by excercising

It was very good for toning in my case

Some people on here seem to take it personally that people who are slimmer than them exist. Even on this thread where lots are trying to help. And they seem to think that they had/have it easy. Losing weight is hard work...so called skinny people might just know that from having done it.

Gyms being open has little relevance on going for a walk or jog or cycle. Even in the dark. And as a previous poster said, gyms, commuting and work patterns have little bearing on diet.

I exercise and track what I eat RufustheSniggeringReindeer to ensure calorie deficit. Nothing else really was working for me so I decided to bite the bullet. Started off gradually and built up adding tweaks to ensure continued fat loss. As I said, I was overweight and not in the best of health. To discover I could run felt like a real gift as I knew running's reputation for burning fat.

@namochangoro following on from the slow jogging video you helpfully posted earlier, can I ask - i assume you've increased your pace over time, is that correct? But you use the same sort of technique? I was just wondering how it worked.

IDontMindMarmite, I still use the same technique. Forefoot landing, fast cadence but yes my speed has naturally increased. You find as your leg muscles get more powerful, you can push off with more force and your stride lengthens which increases speed.

@namochangoro

I exercise and track what I eat RufustheSniggeringReindeer to ensure calorie deficit. Nothing else really was working for me so I decided to bite the bullet. Started off gradually and built up adding tweaks to ensure continued fat loss. As I said, I was overweight and not in the best of health. To discover I could run felt like a real gift as I knew running's reputation for burning fat.

Ive never been able to run...im like the rhino at the end if jumanji

I basically can’t breathe...ds1 was the same, turned out he had a conjenital nose defect, he absolutely couldn’t breathe 😀

I did try running but was also put off by the fact that if i missed a session i had to start again, didn’t progress at all

Always enjoyed cardio machines and the gym and loved weight training

Basically, I personally, find I tilt more forward when I want to go faster (like the chi running video thumbnail) and am more upright when I want to go slower.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer, well there are lots of good exercises out there. Lots of sports and athletic disciplines. Just pick the one you can do and like best.

Thanks, did you buy thin soled trainers like in that video?

Well, I started off bare foot inside and very basic trainers outside. But then I tripped and did twist and injure my foot (strained toes which I'd broken years ago). So now I've got a cushioned shoe with a stability feature which stops misplacement of the foot. They are zero drop though with a roomy toe box which allows the toes to do their work and natural foot positioning. (Paradigm 4.5 by Altra)

I simply don't believe you

But good luck with whatever else you try (if you even do)

@Sarahandduck18

Being skinny doesn’t make you a better person

Nor does being bitter.

To all the smug skinnies out on this thread why don’t you try doing your exercise regimes with a 6st backpack on. See how easy it is then to do more than a half hour/hour walk a day. Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

Being skinny doesn’t make you a better person, maybe some should consider working on their soul rather than their size.

Based on your "smug skinnies" being fat doesn't make you a better person either. Maybe you should take your own asvice about the sould work.

I take your 6 stone backpack (ehich is anyway not working as an analogy properly because it's totally different things) and your commute and work, and raise you another 4 stone and tell you that even as someone still in morbidly obese section even i knoe and pointed out that 30 min of walk a day just isn't an adequate exercise for able bodied adult.

And honestly, the name calling is just not on.

Damn typoes!

Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

Lots of people commute, the nights are the same dark for everyone adn the gyms are closed to everyone, and there are still a lot of skinny people.
You're just making excuses. Since when has dark stopped exercise, fgs? You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but pretending its impossible is just irritating and stupid.

To all the smug skinnies out on this thread why don’t you try doing your exercise regimes with a 6st backpack on. See how easy it is then to do more than a half hour/hour walk a day. Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

This sort of approach is why you’ll never be ‘smug skinny’.

There are plenty of ‘smug skinnies’ who have busy lives.

Really depends what you prioritise.

@Sarahandduck18

To all the smug skinnies out on this thread why don’t you try doing your exercise regimes with a 6st backpack on. See how easy it is then to do more than a half hour/hour walk a day. Throw in 2 hours of commuting by car, 8 hours stuck at a desk, dark nights and closed gyms and see how skinny you still are.

Being skinny doesn’t make you a better person, maybe some should consider working on their soul rather than their size.

what an awful attitude. Stop being a martyr in your own head, everybody else has the same hours you have, the same daylight (at least in this country) and most of us have a job and kids to look after.

You just make excuses and it makes you angry and bitter. You come across as lazy and resentful that others are less lazy than you.

If you are so unhappy about yourself and so annoyed by others, it only means you need to make a change. Get off MN and do something instead, it will be better for your mental and physical health.

What makes you think “smug skinnies” aren’t working stressful jobs with stressful lives? @Sarahandduck18?

I really do believe that the more you exercise the more you want to do and therefore you'll fit exercise into your life and squeeze it in. a session before work by getting up 40 minutes earlier and then showering straight afterwards, a 20 minus brisk walk at lunch time still leaves time to eat lunch.

I really struggle to go to anything after work and therefore know that Ill feel better, sleep better if I have a morning session.

I organise everything the night before so my lunch and breakfast is ready to take with me to give me extra time in the morning.

I slip off the wagon at times, but I know that this long term effects my mood and so its better to keep doing stuff

I treasure my sleep too much to do anything in the morning, which I hide behind the fact that OH leaves at 5 or 6(depending on site) and I can't leave DD home alone to do it.
I do go for a daily walk every lunchtime , unless it's absolutely pissing down.