Intuitive eating or normal diet - 8 stone overweight

[Ovenina]

I’m 8 stone overweight, really really unfit. Get shin splints when I walk any longer than 5 minutes. I gained 3 stone since lockdown and I also over eat due to depression. I’ve read so many conflicting things, so I don’t know whether to do intuitive eating or to do a diet ? I’m scared I’ll put more weight on, when really I need to lose weight ASAP. I’m so exhausted all the time.
Thanks

@FourTeaFallOut the habits work both ways yes. I am now building previous good habits again.

@Dixiechickonhols had it spot on with "I say this as someone who was obese - 5 stone overweight just pick a diet and start."

Any healthy eating will work AS LONG AS YOU STICK TO IT.

I lost 3+ stone with Slimming World.

Put it all back on as soon as I stopped paying attention to what I was eating.

I'm now 2 stone down with Fast800.

I much prefer it to SW for the fact the weight loss is so fast, I feel so healthy and energised, and it's not full of chemical crap like sweeteners and fry light.

Also I learned how bad my insulin resistance was after doing my blood sugar after eating rice.

So although I lost weight on SW the "unlimited pasta and rice" I now realise is not healthy at all for me. I've fucked my body with years of processed carbs.

For my own health and future I've had to bid them farewell. White bread/white pasta/white rice for me will now be eating out/holiday foods.

I think thought has to go into it, so some form of diet is needed. I've lost 5 stone (w to go) and it's had to be consistently making the right choice and making effort to think about it. To do that I've learned a lot about how my body responds to different food types. I also thought I didn't eat that much but look back now and can't believe the volume of food I ate everyday just with normal meals. I think this is because the bad habits we develop over years become normal, and then our understanding of 'normal eating' changes. Being intuitive is then really quite difficult because our frame of reference is so warped. You have to relearn how to eat well.

By diet I mean awareness of macros and calories, consistently. Not eating only a shake everyday, or only bananas, or slimming world. It's about honestly evaluating where you are in terms of how you eat and consciously shifting that.

@PurpleDaisies

Habits more like. With me it was "aw. That's just bit of extra rice made, It's not full portion to keep so I will just add it".

Me too! If I’m cooking intending some for leftovers the next day or for freezer, I dish those into tubs straight away so we don’t just eat the whole lot. I hadn’t realised how massive my carb portions had got until I started measuring them. That was an easy win. I now just keep a scales on the counter all the time and it’s second nature to weigh rice/pasta/cous cous etc.

Stupid question, but Ive never weighed out portions and cook for the family altogether, so do you weigh the food raw or cooked? I imagine you do it raw but then how can you be sure when you portion it out how much you have. It wouldn't all be even portions as kids eat less. My carb portions are way off Id say as its my favourite part of every meal

I know this wasn't the question asked but buy some support socks for walking. The footless kind are a bit easier. If your shins are better supported you can walk a bit more otherwise you are stuck in a vicious circle

Intuitive eating really only works if you can say hand on heart, that emotions do not fuel your eating decisions or that you don't consider food an addiction, as those ideologies are in conflict with being able to assess your needs intuitively.

The simplest thing is just reducing your calories, and trying to be a bit more active. Best of luck OP!

small I weigh pasta dry but often just me or just me and teen DD. You can weigh cooked if easier.
For recipes I portion up so it does actually serve 4 like it’s supposed to. With young children you might find 3 portions Is enough for 2 adults and 2 little children leaving 1 portion for lunch day after/freezer.

@Smallfry79 I weigh everything raw, if I didn't I'd either be cooking too much or not enough.

I know how much stuff like pasta weighs cooked so j then weigh out my portion so I know I'm eating the right amount.

I track everything on MFP too, it really helps me to stop snacking (my downfall) if I have to go through the rigmarole of scanning/adding every little thing.

I can't eat intuitively because I'd be snacking all the time, I've had to get used to feeling hungry

Stupid question, but Ive never weighed out portions and cook for the family altogether, so do you weigh the food raw or cooked?

Not a stupid question at all! I weigh things raw and then guesstimate how much is right for me. Once you’ve go used to what a portion looks like, it’s much easier.

I love carbs and could never give them up. It helps me to know I’m eating the right anount!

MrsWP
Even though I do SlimmingWorld like you I don’t eat white pasta/rice. I very much found lean protein and veg suits me better. I eat measured portions of wholemeal bread and pasta or rice sometimes.
Protein been a game changer for me. I genuinely used to marvel how I wasn’t hungry when I first started losing weight. Lots of eggs, 0% Greek and skyr yoghurt etc.
I used to eat a lot of white carbs - brioche at desk, sandwich on white bread lunch, biscuits and cake etc.

I joined Noom in January and have lost a stone already, it re-educates as well as giving useful tips.

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash

I joined Noom in January and have lost a stone already, it re-educates as well as giving useful tips.

How does it work? I keep seeing messages on Facebook but it’s all a bit vague. Is it a diet plan?

Thanks for replies. Its definitely time for me to take out the scales. I might be in for a shock!
No harm to get rest of family used to eating proper portions too.

@Calmdown14

I know this wasn't the question asked but buy some support socks for walking. The footless kind are a bit easier. If your shins are better supported you can walk a bit more otherwise you are stuck in a vicious circle

Maybe not, but it sounds like excellent advice.

I'm currently not well enough to work and permanently exhausted, so I really need to get my arse in gear and lose a load of weight. I have read Fast800 but I'm a bit scared about putting it into practice.

Speaking as someone who has a lot of weight to lose and has spent some time thinking about this - I think intuitive eating can be great if you have issues around food - but if you eat too much for emotional reasons, it doesn’t necessarily do a good job of helping you re-learn how to eat appropriate amounts.

Couple of books I’d recommend - neither of which is a specific diet - Ranjan Chaterjee’s Loose Weight, Feel Great and Shahroo Izadi’s The Last Diet. Despite the titles they aren’t diet books - the first is the basic principles of healthy eating, the second more about emotions and habit change.

They will both help you build a sense of what will work for you, which is important so whatever eating programme you follow you can adapt to yourself rather than slavishly follow rules. If you do eventually want eating plan advice - if you want to devise your own then the NHS has good guidelines, and a pinch of nom good recipes. If you want a bit more structure then the low GI diet or Second Nature are good at just teaching better habits. I would avoid WW, Slimming World, The Fast Diet and anything involving meal replacements as they teach you their system, rather than a programme for building your own, and can lead either to obsession, or giving up when you - inevitably - fall off the programme.

Honestly, @Ovenina whatever you choose, do absolutely make sure it helps you build good habits so you don't just end up back where you are. Lots of people finish diet and go "back to normal". But that "normal" was what caused the weight gain.
If you learn good food habits, you will not have to doet again. Portions, portions, portions. Swap bit of that and that for veg. Drink enough water. Think before putting it in your mouth. Think ahead like if I plan on having larger dinner I will have lighter lunch and so on. It's not obsessing, I actually realised that's how I eat naturally before! It doesn't have to be deprivation for ever. Just being bit mindful.

@Smallfry79

Thanks for replies. Its definitely time for me to take out the scales. I might be in for a shock! No harm to get rest of family used to eating proper portions too.

Good luck🙈 I still remember my shock

@Ovenina

I’m 8 stone overweight, really really unfit. Get shin splints when I walk any longer than 5 minutes. I gained 3 stone since lockdown and I also over eat due to depression. I’ve read so many conflicting things, so I don’t know whether to do intuitive eating or to do a diet ? I’m scared I’ll put more weight on, when really I need to lose weight ASAP. I’m so exhausted all the time. Thanks

Hi @Ovenina I'm in a similar boat with 8 stone to lose. I er the years I've done SW a million times and the Cambridge Diet and I just ended up heavier than ever. 6 weeks again I started with Team RH (they're on FB and have a Web page). It's calorie counting and includes carbs, fats and protein. It's not low calorie, it's caloric deficit - eating less calories then your body uses.

I've gone from 2000 steps a day to 10000, drink plenty of water, eat plenty of good food and in the 6 weeks I've lost 18lbs. It's re-educating me and I'm undertsing what my body needs. It's not a diet, it's a maintainable way of eating.

Good luck whatever path you choose x

I reckon you need a quick win to get you going, so I would suggest two weeks of keto. After that, calorie control. Intuitive eating is a great idea but you need to do the reading and the research first, which will take time. You can prep for IE while you do a quick keto to make yourself feel better.

@LittleGwyneth

I reckon you need a quick win to get you going, so I would suggest two weeks of keto. After that, calorie control. Intuitive eating is a great idea but you need to do the reading and the research first, which will take time. You can prep for IE while you do a quick keto to make yourself feel better.

It may work for some, but some (me ha) do not work well with deprivation of food groups. It absolutely can work for OP, but just in case it doesn't. It's fine! It happens! Try something else, don't just say "no point" like I did when I tried numerous diets including keto. Just saddle some different horse. And if it works and you stick with it! That's great!

watch the lose a stone in 21 days with michael mosley, it has some fantastic advice about the right foods to eat to keep you full whilst not raising blood sugar.

with that much to loose i would suggest fast800 without any added michael mosley stuff.
just the 3 suggested meals a day and the exercise suggested.
online, worth every penny.

I was exactly the same, 8 stone overweight at Christmas. I'm now nearly 2 stone down but I'm also toning up a lot. It's took me a while to figure out what exactly is right for me but I started counting calories and using a meal replacement shake twice a day. Once I got to grips with portion control and calorie counting I started adding meals in instead. I use mfp to track everything although I know I'm an emotional/boredom eater so I can now account for that. For example if I know I'm due on, I'll skip the protein shakes before/after my work out and have chocolate later instead because I know I'll be craving it.

Also with exercise, it took me a month to build up to it and just started out very slowly and gently. I can now plank .
I think just starting out is the hardest part but do whatever you think you can maintain

What I dont like about slimming world is all the people both on here and IRL who start the conversation with "I lost 6 stone with SW but I put it back on so I'm going back to do it again"

Just why?

Not that I have a solution. Paul McKenna was the only thing that worked long term for me. Put some of the weight back on but not all

Not just you, I too saw potential dinner