AIBU to know diets don’t work but also need to lose 3-4 stone

[MoirasWigStand]

I’m the fattest I’ve ever been. 5’6” and weigh 14st 11. There is a reason, I had health issues last year which meant no exercise (even walking) for almost a year, as well as a period of time on steroids (which made me pile on weight).

I really, really, need to lose it now. I can exercise (although my efforts are pretty pathetic so far!). I started calorie counting and lost 6lbs in January, but it’s gone back on after a few stress do l weeks.

And I found it so hard. 1500 calories is so little food 😂. I clearly have issues with stress eating and bingeing. Also when ‘bored’ at home when wfh.

I need a massive kick up the arse. I know diets don’t work, I’ve read those books. But I really need to lose some weight, I’m disgusted in myself.

I do struggle with sleep, I always have. I always struggle to fall asleep, pretty much and I’m always tired. I was a terrible sleeper even as a baby! I have periods of insomnia. My medication hasn’t helped with that either.

@Quincythequince

And you’re on a public forum. You can expect people respond to what you type, otherwise why are you here?

And if your way of eating is so good, why do you need to diet at all eh?

I had my third child last year, I was really ill during pregnancy and after, I ate far too much shit and could hardly move because of the pain. I've lost over 2 stone in around 10 months and hoping to lose another stone in the next 6 months or so. That's also what worked for me after my second baby (I wasn't as heavy after that pregnancy though).

I’d get back on your running if I were you @MoirasWigStand I’ve found it really useful in terms of weight maintenance, because a couple of long runs a week burns enough calories to mop up any over eating

This. I can eat pretty much what I want now I run long distances. And the bonus is that I don't want to eat shit food or drink alcohol, because it affects my running - so there's a double benefit there.

Of course you have to run very long distances for this to be the case, and most people aren't prepared to get to that point, but even three or four miles 3x a week will burn 1000 ish calories, which helps. Combine that with weights and yoga as well and you'd see a huge difference.

I was very overweight and a typical yo yo dieter until I realised that temporary diets won't work, and what I needed was a permanent lifestyle change - less food, better food, more exercise and no booze. I'm now a size 8 and have kept it off for several years.

@Quincythequince

And you’re on a public forum. You can expect people respond to what you type, otherwise why are you here?

And if your way of eating is so good, why do you need to diet at all eh?

Was that your "gotcha" moment there with the goady "eh?" At the end 🤣

Running is awful. I exercise 5 times a week but you couldn't drag me out for a run.

If finances allow it, look into getting a couple of PT sessions at a gym. Lifting weights (as daunting as that can sound) is life changing.

@QuirkyTurtle

Running is awful. I exercise 5 times a week but you couldn't drag me out for a run.

If finances allow it, look into getting a couple of PT sessions at a gym. Lifting weights (as daunting as that can sound) is life changing.

I have weights and a barbell at home and do workouts on YouTube. I love running, well I always did. I loved the freedom, it was amazing stress relief for me, almost like meditation. I just wish I could get back into it and back to a place where I could run 8-10miles.

It’s actually quite hard to do something you used to be good at, and now be so awful at it! I don’t have much spare cash as I am a one adult household.

As numerous pp have already said eating less calories than you burn will result in weight loss. However as many pp have also said the problem is keeping the weight off for good. The key to that is breaking deeply ingrained habits around food. Treating yourself because you had a bad day, treating yourself because you had a great day! The pile of biscuits that go with your cup of tea out of habit or the evening tv or movie snacks that started as a treat and turned into habit.
What are your triggers? For some it's stress or boredom. For me it's tiredness. If im tired i crave sugar, especially sweets and chocolate. So I need to prioritise sleep and try to avoid getting so tired if I can. So look at when you are eating not just what it is. For example, when i had my first baby he had colic and cried a lot! I lost so much weight because I never found time to eat and spent hours walking him in the pram in an attempt to settle him. As soon as he finally fell asleep I would make sure i ate something. Now at the time this was rhe right thing to do. I needed to look after myself and was losing too much weight. But the habit of as soon as he was settled i ate became very established very quickly and right up until the children were into primary school I would instinctively reach for food as soon as they had gone to bed. It was so ingrained that a break from the children meant time to eat even though I wasn't hungry at all.
Look at the bigger picture op and good luck.

No gotcha moment from me.

But Excellent, you’ve found a diet that works for you. Really well done - it isn’t easy, at all.

I have been very complacent and have put on a few kilos - been far too liberal with the cheese and chocolate and barely moved at all given new puppy, and also had very little sleep. All of this has resulted in a noticeable gain.

I started my diet today 😫 and will use a combination of calorie counting, MRPs, and i personally find making myself eat 8-10 portions of fruit and veg a day. Means you simply run out of room to eat other things.

Good luck with your next attempt weight loss!

Tiredness and stress are triggers. But at 41, I’ve not yet been able to make myself sleep better. I’ve tried pretty much everything. Good sleep hygiene, lavender everything, sleeping tablets, ear plugs, darkness, meditation

Good sleep hygiene is so important. I too am bad at this!

I don't understand the "diets don't work". A diet is just what you are eating. If you eat the right things, you lose weight. Otherwise fat people just stay fat forever?!

@fluffythedragonslayer

I don't understand the "diets don't work". A diet is just what you are eating. If you eat the right things, you lose weight. Otherwise fat people just stay fat forever?!

I think people mean extreme diets of less than 800 calories per day. But 1500 is a lot to play around with. I could have 3 meals and 2 snacks a day on that.

@Quincythequince which MRPs are nutritionally complete? This is not a goady post, but a genuine question. I’ve read a lot of Michael Moseley and friends, and know research leans towards fast initial weight loss being a marker for success rather than the slow and steady we’ve come to believe it the right way to go, so am interested. I think Saxenda etc are generally only prescribed for people who already have metabolic disease.

I think trying to work on improving sleep and managing stress and anxiety sets you up well for weight loss. For me I've been trying to maintain and finding out what I enjoy eating at maintenance so I can then just find some small ways to cut calories. I always think any diet starting with a fridge full of food I wouldn't normally eat is doomed! I think the physcological aspect is huge and really is totally neglected by obesity management professionals. There is a really good book called normal eating and it's helping me to stop eating when I'm not hungry. That is my current goal rather than calorie counting - to stop eating when I'm not hungry and to stop eating when I'm full!

I have explained further up. But essentially I’ve read a lot like Susan Aarnodt book. What it means is that most diets to lose weight aren’t maintained after 5 years. They do work, I’ve lost weight before. But eventually you stop or worse the restriction makes you fall off wagon and your disordered eating leads to gain and you end up e heavier than you were before.

I’ve pretty much been on diet since I was 13. I’ve done slimming world, calorie counting, slim fast, no sugar, 5:2 etc. and each time it works. But isn’t sustainable. I’m not blaming the diet, of course it’s my fault to r giving up. But the evidence shows that most people fall into that category.

And long term yo yo dieting causes disordered eating, changes to appetite etc. add in some steroids and other medications and I’m where I am now.

I would say the main issue with the meal replacement or very low cal diets is they are probably not appropriate for those with food issues such as binge eating where restriction is a massive trigger.

A lot of the stress is out of my control, although I have to is week managed to stop something that has caused a lot of stress.

I actually love food, including vegetables and healthy stuff. I tried Huel once (ex husband did it) and it was gross. I couldn’t even finish one portion.

[quote ChuckBerrysBoots]@Quincythequince which MRPs are nutritionally complete? This is not a goady post, but a genuine question. I’ve read a lot of Michael Moseley and friends, and know research leans towards fast initial weight loss being a marker for success rather than the slow and steady we’ve come to believe it the right way to go, so am interested. I think Saxenda etc are generally only prescribed for people who already have metabolic disease.[/quote]
Many are Chuck but as with most product types out there, cheap rip offs exist.

Published data shows that LighterLife (sp?) was identified as the only nutritionally complete kind available in the UK. This was some years ago now, but was presented at an obesity conferences

Not the cheapest, but they are nutritionally sound.

Not sure if any others meet requirements; I’d be surprised if Cambridge didn’t, but who knows.

[quote ChuckBerrysBoots]@Quincythequince which MRPs are nutritionally complete? This is not a goady post, but a genuine question. I’ve read a lot of Michael Moseley and friends, and know research leans towards fast initial weight loss being a marker for success rather than the slow and steady we’ve come to believe it the right way to go, so am interested. I think Saxenda etc are generally only prescribed for people who already have metabolic disease.[/quote]
Saxenda is hard to get.
You can buy it online and they should do appropriate checks, it’s safe but you for it.

NHS prescribes it but only in tier two (secondary care) and so it’s very underused as no tier two sec care centres for obesity really exist.

Semaglutide (WeGovy) is the newer version of Saxenda - injection only once a week with superior weight loss too.

You pay a lot for it

Diets don't work for me either. I find restricting food makes me irritable and nauseous. I tried myfitnesspal and it worked for a while, but then I started getting obsessed about food which doesn't help me. The only times in my life that I've been 10 stone (I am 5'6 too) were when I was a poor student, when I've been too ill or too upset to eat, or when I've done extreme exercise (I'm talking about 20 miles a day walking with a heavy rucksack!).

A couple of years ago I had a brush with cancer. I was 14.5stone and decided I needed to loose weight. I'm now around 13stone. I started running again, now run 4-5 miles 3 times a week, and I've mostly cut out alcohol (which wasn't too hard as I'm not that bothered about drinking) and tried to cut down on portion sizes. I would still like to loose another stone or two, but I feel a lot better than I did. I need to find things to trick myself into eating less rather than saying to myself I'm going on a diet. I'm not trying to make sure I eat my 5 a day, so trying to train myself to reach for fruit or veg for snacks rather than biscuits but it's hard. I also eat a lot in the evening watching TV but haven't managed to crack that yet.

@Quincythequince

No gotcha moment from me.

But Excellent, you’ve found a diet that works for you. Really well done - it isn’t easy, at all.

I have been very complacent and have put on a few kilos - been far too liberal with the cheese and chocolate and barely moved at all given new puppy, and also had very little sleep. All of this has resulted in a noticeable gain.

I started my diet today 😫 and will use a combination of calorie counting, MRPs, and i personally find making myself eat 8-10 portions of fruit and veg a day. Means you simply run out of room to eat other things.

Good luck with your next attempt weight loss!

Well I find that drastically cutting calories makes me obsessed with food. I get extremely hungry, then eventually binge, and as I said before, I had an eating disorder which still takes over sometimes so I have to be careful. Sometimes your subcontious hunger just takes over. I can't speak for everyone, but I think a lot of people with disordered eating will agree that 800 calorie diets and meal replacement plans don't work for them. My best friend (who is very over weight) spends a fortune for months every couple of years on Cambridge. It works, she loses weight fast, feels great then within a year or so she's heavier than she was before. I've watched her do this 3 times in the last maybe 8 years and she's bigger now than she's ever been. Also someone who did the a meal replacement with shakes. Lost loads of weight fast. Now heavier than before. My partner (who isn't overweight but has a terrible diet) loves a new fad diet. He tried keto, did it for around 3/4 months, lost about 2 stone but couldn't stick it as its too restrictive. Again he ended up heavier than before he started the diet. Fasting, I was under the impression you had to keep it up for life to maintain. I'm afraid I couldn't even manage 800 calories a day, one day a week never mind 2. I have a job that requires me to be happy and very patient and being really hhungry does not help with that.

Lose not loose! Opps

Good luck with your meal replacement though. Hope you manage to maintain the weight loss.