Is it even worth trying to lost weight?

[toolatetoloseweight]

I am currently in the obese range and about 4 stone over my healthy weight. I basically put on loads of weight in my first pregnancy (6 years ago) and I've never managed to shift it.
I was previously a healthy weight but was a fat child and have always struggled a bit with putting on weight very easily.

I keep reading stats saying how unlikely it is for an obese woman to ever lose the weight and keep it off without bariatric surgery - and it is making me wonder if it is even worth trying at this stage...

For context, I am relatively active - walk the dog twice a day, swim twice a week, run around after kids, occasionally go for a run (3-5km so not massive distances but just to put in context that I'm not so big as to be struggling to get around). I dont have a terrible diet (though obviously could be better!). i know from experience that small changes don't make a difference to me- I need to eat under 1200 calories to lose. I am terribly unhappy with the way I look and dread going out and being see by people. However not sure if it is all just a losing battle at this stage...

Low glycaemic is probably easier than low carb, though if you like eggs and meat, low carb is easy and sustainable long term. It doesn’t feel restricted in any way. I have actually lost the taste for things like pizza and chips, never thought that would happen, but I no longer want to eat them when there are so many tastier and healthier options out there.

We really need to step away from counting calories- that really is restricted and encourages the use of artificial additives which do our gut health no good.

I suggest spending a couple of hours going down the rabbit hole if fasting and keto on YouTube. It will blow your mind and change your way of thinking about food.

My sister in law has lost just under 5 stone (over 4 years) with Slimming World. She has been obese all her life, but said she never felt hungry and has more energy now than ever.
You can do this, and it is worth it. For your physical health, mental well being and for your future.

We don’t need to step away from calorie awareness, because losing weight is about energy in vs energy out. You only lose weight when you are in a calorie deficit. If you have no idea what a portion size really is, how can you know you are eating a reasonable amount? Unintentional over eating can be the cause of difficulty losing weight, people see chicken as a lean meat but too much of it could mean you have eaten way more calories than you needed to. it’s very calorie dense

The issue is people having calorie deficits way too low. It’s WW and SW that use low calorie foods with sweeteners in them without even teaching people about calories in real terms.

I hope everyone eating cheese eggs and meat for all their meals with 20cals of veg gets their cholesterol tested

As pp suggests, check out Rebelfit. I joined up in 2019. Followed the social media and I’ve done several missions now. I was a yo-yo dieter and got to be obese. Now it’s no quick fix (but those are the ones where you lose the weight and gain it back) but I’ve changed my outlook on food and my body. I stopped dieting. My weight increased a bit then stabilised. I increased my activity, started weight lifting and reduced my stress…suddenly people are commenting that I look trimmer. I don’t weigh myself often any more - that was a hard habit to break! - because I know that there’s other more important factors like body fat %, how my clothes fit, how I look in the mirror. Weight is not always helpful especially when you’re gaining muscle. Actually, Rebelfit is the only thing I’ve stuck to for over 2 years thinking back.

check out the post from last night which talks about what you’re worried about and the best approach. I can’t link it but it’s on Facebook.

Yes I get my cholesterol tested annually. My numbers are fine, particularly LDL and VLDL which are both in the extremely healthy range.

Cant polish a turd but can definitely cover one in glitter ... own it! 🤩🤩🤩

'All you need is a calorie deficit to loose weight'.

Recent evidence suggests this isn't always true. All calories are not created equally. If you eat 500 calories of processed chicken nuggets and processed potato smiley faces your body will burn energy quite differently to 500 calories of baked chicken breast, booked potatoes and veg.

I recommend a bit of reading around ultra processed food.
Good luck op.

OP if you just want to give up and not try, nothing will ever change. If you're good with that, then fine.

If you're not, you need to try really hard. Sort out your diet, eat a lot less, exercise every single day. It'd very hard OP, if it was easy we'd all be a size 10 and eat donuts for breakfast. But if you want the change you need to put in that work.

The good news is that you could buck the stats for sure. You can do it.

Go for more runs, at least 2-3 a week. They won't make you lose weight but in my experience a good exercise routine makes you want to eat better food, so it's a psychological lift.

Try doing the 16:8 thing a few days a week or mon to fri if you can. It’s easier than you think. Just don’t eat after 8pm (or 7) and have have lunch about 12.30 or 1pm. Eat only in that 8 hour window. It really helps. (I loose weight when I do this and I don’t count the calories just be sensible).

Also fill up on things like raw carrots as snacks.

The general Joe Public trying to loose weight need not worry about macro's to begin with.

They need to learn to reduce overall intake and make healthier choices. Nobody wanting to loose weight thinks I know I'll smash out a MC chicken nugget meal at 800 calories twice a day.

But that they need to learn is what is a visual of 150kcal of rice (white or brown) how many calories are in one slice of bread so I don't have 2 slices of toast for breakfast and then a sandwich for lunch. And use up 400kcal on 4 pieces of bread.

Macro tracking and using energy in and energy out for beginners is overcomplicating the process for them.

Eat less move more. Start there. If you then want to go on to shred and macro nutrients then perhaps further down the line.

But we are talking about people wanting to loose 3 or 4 stone or more, and stick with it. Make it simple, make it enjoyable and make it realistic.

The point about eating whole foods and avoiding processed foods was already made. Obviously eating highly processed foods is not advisable if you want to lose weight or be healthy - I am saying you do not need to cut our entire food groups to lose weight, you need to create a sustainable, balanced diet to lose weight in a calorie deficit.

You would actually still lose weight if you ate only chicken nuggets within a calorie deficit. You would just feel like shit. It’s scientifically still a calorie deficit. You would still lose weight, right? Or are you saying that thermodynamics don’t count 🤣

and my point about cholesterol - exactly, you are advising people online to do the Atkins diet (just renamed something else) without knowing anything about their health or whether it’s safe for them to do so, if they have a history of heart disease or already have high cholesterol or that it’s even something that needs to be mentored if you eat a high fat diet!

OP if at over 4-6 stone overweight you are not able to lose on a diet of about 1800 cals a day then I would suggest there is another issue at play.

it could be hormonal, or could be that your metabolism is shot. Or it could be that you are not sticking to it as long as your body needs - you’d think after dropping your cals for a week you’d see a change on the scales right? And most people will but some people won’t. Some people have other factors which make the calories in / calories out not as simple as you’d like.

I obviously don’t know your body as well as you do but based on general nutrition and science which applies to the majority of people - you can drop your average calories by just a few hundred a day and you will see a difference if you stay consistent.

Staying at a low calorie such as 1200 for more than about 12 weeks will cause metabolic issues - meaning you then need to reverse diet to get your body used to burning more than the measly amount it’s been getting.

it is all totally personal of course but I would be willing to bet you not a small amount of money that you are wildly eating over your required calorie amount - let’s say for arguments sake you are fairly active and quite big at this stage so you might need 2000 cals to maintain. I would suggest you’re probably eating 2700/3000 a day.
cut that to 1900, stick to it for 2 weeks. You will lose weight.

All of this is highly personal of course but the key thing is consistency and being honest and accountable. If you’re not loosing weight at 1500/1800 cals when you’ve got 6 stone to lose - you’re not being honest sorry

This thread is why I struggle. So many different suggestions, which one do you do?

I don’t know your age but I’m in a FB group “intermittent fasting for women over 40” and there have been some big losses.
IF is a lifestyle though and most women tend to go for lower carb options during their eating window and avoid “fake food”.

I got into it by reading Taubes’ “Why we get fat” and Dr Jason Fung’s books. I don’t believe calories in/out is the full story. We are biology, not physics. Fung and Taubes explain how weight gain is all about hormones, particularly insulin. Have a read about how insulin is the fat storage hormone.

None of the ones that sound ridiculous, restrictive or unrealistic

you work out your TDEE, start to move around more, and then learn about what calories actually look like in terms of food portion sizes. You eat less (but not none at all) processed foods and more whole foods. You address your issues around food and your body image. You set realistic goals for yourself. Ultimately you need to balance enjoying your life and whatever your goal is of being healthier/losing weight/gaining mobility back. You could get advice from a qualified professional

Pick what you think would work best with the way you want to eat. Fasting doesn’t suit me. As a veggie, low carb is really hard. I enjoy cooking so I just measure carbs so the portions don’t get out of hand and base meals mainly around veg.

There isn’t only one way to lose weight. Whatever you choose has to be realistic and sustainable over a decent amount of time.

the reason (and the only reason) people put the weight back on is because they start overeating again. Ask me how I know!

Yup.

Diets don’t fail - people do. I get fed up of people saying “diets don’t work”. All diets work. They limit the calories you take in. But people don’t want to do that, they want to eat whatever they like, due to SO MANY issues.

I was very fat until I was 22 becuase I ate my way through a bad childhood and bullying. Then one day, I had enough and lost ten stone in just over a year by not eating my body weight in crap all day.

I kept it off until I was 36, 6 years ago when my life fell apart and I ate to get through it again. I gained that 10 stone back in 2 years.

A year ago, I had enough again. I’ve lost 5 stone now, 5 more to go. I have to limit the calories I eat as I would rather not eat much than exercise. I just make sure what I do eat is nutrient dense.

The amount of people who knew me when I lost weight at 22, who said “I told you that diet would fail!” Even though I had been a stable weight for 14 years inbetween is insane.

The diet didn’t fail. I hadn’t been on a diet - I just ate normal, small portions of healthy food and didn’t eat sugar or carbs (being coeliac helps as I can’t stand gluten free carbs or sweet food).

I just started eating all day everyday again and so I got fat again (even ate all the gluten free bread and cake that I usually hate, I just ate and ate to try and help my misery).

Are you saying that biology and physics are 2 unconnected types of science and only 1 of them relates to the human body? Are you saying there is no physics or chemistry in the function of a human, just biology? Just to be clear.

I genuinely do get what you are saying and some days when I've been really careful with what I ate, to then discover that I haven't lost any weight does get me down. Plus working at a desk either in the office or WFH doesn't help with this.

BUT what does keep me going is the knowledge that if I'm careful with what I eat then at least I won't put on any more weight.

The trouble with a lot of diets is when you reach the end point, there’s not a lot of advice on how to maintain that weight loss. That’s why I think doing something you can envisage a less strict version of being a long term way to eat is usually a good option.

Now I just do intermittent fasting as I fell so good on it, eating no processed food (but like I said, being coeliac is a blessing in that department as I don’t like any of it, processed gluten free food is the work of the devil!!).

People will come on here and say cut calories to 1200, cut out carbs keto, fast etc etc don't bother with any of this. It is unsustainable. You might lose a few pounds initially but you'll put it all back on. Losing and maintaining a healthy weight is a lifestyle. No diet in the land is going to become your forever lifestyle.
You need to walk more, get over 10k steps in a day, reduce your portions and feed not fill. Listen to your body. Don't eat just because its a meal time, eat because you are hungry whatever time that is and eat well. If you feel hungry eat a reasonable portion of protein and veg. Stop when your full don't finish the plate just because. The weight loss won't be quick but it will be sustainable.
It is absolutely worth doing no matter what your size and it is doable. I have lost the two stone I put on in pregnancy. Two of my friends have gone from size 20s to 12s. They and I have had to change our lifestyle. I no longer eat crisps as a 'treat' on a Saturday night for example. I don't need it, im not hungry its just a habit. Stop seeing food as a reward and treat.
I'm not saying its an overnight fix and easy to get into this mindset but its doable.
Your size dosnt define you of course but your health does and despite the exercise you do your health will be affected at 4 stone overweight. Also your confidence does define you too and its very very difficult to feel confident when you are larger. Its almost impossible change the mindset to loving yourself larger despite what others say. You are modelling a healthy relationship with food/body/exercise to your dc too and they deserve to see healthy choices and that eating well and exercise and staying a healthy weight is important.
You can do it op. Good luck.

If you look back to peoples diets and eating habits in the 60’s and early 70’s (when the majority of people weren’t overweight or obese) it’s very different to today.
In the past people had structured, smaller meals with very little snacking in between. It was mostly home cooked.
I remember Milky Ways usp in the 70’s was “The sweet you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite”. Fudge had a song in the advert that said “A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat, a finger of Fudge is just enough until it’s time to eat”. They were pushing overeating.
Back then it was normal to be hungry and be told “You’ll ruin your appetite, wait until dinner” but now it’s almost like there’s guilt if children say they are hungry so it’s snacks here, there and everywhere.

Food companies have been thinking up ways to get us to eat/spend more with great success. Supermarkets are strategically set up to tempt us and to make us buy more. Companies even make their food addictive so we “have” to have it. Couple that with an array of takeaway delivery companies and quick and easy fast food places.

I disagree with the PP, it is sustainable to exist on fewer calories.

I have found the Fast800 diet has worked really well for me, although I don't manage to eat 800 calories a day. But sticking to higher proportions of protein together with having a fasting window each day works. Then to maintain you do need to stick to a cal limit of (say 1500) cals a day. That enables you to have blow out days, or even blow out holidays. I find that it has become a way of life to me now I know about calories in/calories out. I just don't want empty calories anymore.