To want to do something about my weight, before I gain anymore

[JJ213]

Hi

So basically during 2020 I lost 4 stone. I went from 13st something and got down to 9st. I'm 5'6/7 ish. I did this through 16:8 intermittent fasting, reducing sugar etc and exercising.

I managed to stay around 9st until the last few months. I'd say over the last 4-5 months I've gone up to 10st 11. I'm still doing 16:8 and the exercise. But I'm gaining weight.

I've been thinking about doing something different such as joining slimming world or doing a vlcd to get the weight off asap.

I'm not sure how I'm gaining as my diet and everyday routine is the same.

I had a shock when I tried to get into my size 8 jeans a few months back.

So I'm now thinking whether to stay at the heavier weight or do something about it and get back down to 9 stone.

Any ideas?

So a diet of vegetables and protein only? Mixed with a snack once a week?

Pretty much. Unless you're naturally very thin, to stay at a lower weight your diet should be 90%:

Fish
Meat
Eggs
Milk
High-quality olive oil
Vegetables
Berries
Nuts
Pulses, grains (chickpeas, beans)

Sometimes
High sugar or high starch fruits
Cream, butter (high quality)
Cheese

Almost never
Low quality/very processed fats e.g. frying oil, margarine
Complex/white carbs - pasta, cous cous, bread)

Never
Alcohol
Fruit juice
Cakes/desserts
Fast food
Takeaways

Just off the top of my head, and of course take it as you wish!

Here's a great video you can watch that might inform you a bit better:

If you eat by the rules above you won't need to calorie count.

i think you know what to eat, don't you?

My advice is to try to find the right mindset and why you want the weight-loss:

Why do you hate your heavier self? What is so awful about it/ why is it not good for you?

Why do you want more control over how you eat?

Why do you want to wear size 8 jeans - feels good, feels better than size 10/12?

Why does eating better quality and more suitable quantities of food feel better?

This will help you focus when you are shovelling that 6th slice of pizza or polishing off a whole bottle of wine.

i went from 9 stone to 12 stone and am stuck at 10 stone. i need to start asking myself these questions.

sorry if i've missed it but are you weighing food portions like cheese, oats, spoonfuls of pesto etc and keeping an accurate track on calories?

it's very easy to underestimate what you eat or think a little won't harm but if you do that a few times a week, then things add up.

i was 8 stone -9 stone (5ft 9 in but short torso so all weight goes on middle) for a decade and as soon as i took my eye off the ball, guess what, weight gain!

Yes I do weigh oats for porridge (40g) and usually add half milk and half water. It's what I prefer. Tried just milk (too thick). I don't add anything to it. I used to add fruit like blackberries or raspberries, but don't anymore.

As for measuring other foods I do for some things. Like I do read the labels stating what a portion is and use that as a guideline.

I did notice when having a roast dinner yesterday that I had 200g of potatoes and loads of veg (carrots, peas, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts) but didn't bother weighing those.

I have also noticed that I have been having a banana with an afternoon cuppa. Sometimes a cereal bar or similar too.

Same before bed, I noticed that I have been having a few biscuits. Usually stop eating at around 8:30pm. Start eating 12:30-1pm the following day.

I think it's the extras that might be to blame for me not being 9stone anymore.

I absolutely agree with @Chazx you might only eat during 8 hours a day but if you still eat more than you're burning off you'll gain weight. I would get your kitchen scales out and track everything you eat and drink on my fitness pal, you might be shocked! In the last 7 days I've averaged nearly 16,000 steps a day but my daily average calorie burn is just over 2300 (i'm same weight as you but weigh more, although seem to wear the same clothes size!), most women don't need anything like the typical guidance of 2000 calories a day.

My average step count is 13,000. My phone and watch says I do around 9.8km daily.

Exercise has almost no affect on weight loss. Try no snacks for a few weeks, and doing intermittent fasting properly, and then see how you get on.

@thisplaceisweird - yes, the sooner people wake up to that fact and concentrate on what they eat, the better.

I spend a 3-4 hours per week (according to Garmin and Strava based on my height/weight/heart rate) doing running, zone 2 cardio/weights and light work outs and burn about 400 calories per hour. So by anyone's analysis, i do proper exercise.

I also walk about 8k minimum -10k steps a day.

I keep putting on weight or hovering around 10 stone because i eat about 800 cals of junk daily. I'm addicted. for example 6 pack of wotsits , 3 curly wurly bars and all my normal meals each day, so total of 2700 cals every day.

I don't lose weight despite all the exercise because i eat too much.

it's much quicker and easier to chug the calories down your mouth than it is burn them off.

Will do. Thanks hopefully I see a difference

Some types of exercise will help you burn fat. If you are already eating whole foods with minimal processed foods and sugar then lifting weights will get you into your size 8 jeans quicker than any other form of exercise. You might not see any movement on the scales but you will be slimmer as a pound of muscle looks very different to a pound of fat. As an added bonus, muscle requires more energy to maintain so you should also increase your metabolism.

If you've not already, read Fast Feast Repeat by Gin Stevens. I've been doing 16:8 for a while as well as low carb but Decenber was a write off so have gained a couple of kilos. Am now going to try clean fasting as per the book as I've always allowed a splash of milk in my tea which messes up the fasting apparently. Like you, not loads of weight to lose but just want to feel comfier. I'm 5'9" and happy at around 9 stone 4 (59kg) which for many people would be too light but still makes me a size 12! I swear my bones are filled with air or something.

What @thisplaceisweird said! Or the short version:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Plus moderate amounts of lean protein.

And whilst it is true that exercising has a limited effect on weight, it can be a powerful motivator.

Muscles are good, @JJ213 . Try Caroline Girvan.

Tim Spector is great on nutrition, watch this short what I eat in a day video

Yes, it's been known for a while that maintaining a healthy weight is 95% diet.

It's correlation not causation that people who workout a lot are thin - they usually eat well too.

I'm going to be quite strict today. Going to weigh everything I eat.

Also only drank water this morning.

You're a few inches taller than me. I guess we all carry weight differently.

At 9 stone I was a comfy size 8.

I feel there has been a real change to advice recently. It's well documented that dieting almost never results in longlasting weight loss - you might lose it but it comes back. Sometimes + more. Recently I've seen far more advice about looking at what you eat rather rather than how much. So really focusing on getting engouh fruit and, especially, veg, eating fish and lean protein, healthy fats etc.

I used to be morbidly obese and am slim.

May I make a suggestion?

I would try and really thoroughly add up my calories for a day. I'm not suggesting living like this, because life's too short, but just do it absolutely meticulously for one day and see what numbers you come up with.

Reading your posts, the 16:8 is fine, the steps are fine, but the food intake for the day you listed is a lot more food than I'd eat in a day to lose or even maintain, tbh.

With your lunch you also ate a bowl of porridge.
With your curry, you ate rice and naan.

If I'm maintaining my weight I don't weigh and measure food, I try to be pretty relaxed about what I'm eating, but I have in the back of my mind, that I need to be moderate in my choices rather than go overboard.

So If i'm having a curry, I would have a portion of rice OR a naan. Not both at the same time. Because that is the same as eating a sandwich AND a bag of chips at the same meal. Which is delicious but a lot of food and I can't eat like that very often without gaining weight.

And if I am trying to lose, I would still have the curry and if I felt like a naan, I'd look up the Kcals, weight it and eat 85g of it, which is about half a big one. This is about 280 Kcals. If I eat the whole big one, it would be 500+ kcals, which is too much for me when added up with the calories in the curry itself. Next time I wanted a naan, I probably wouldn't weigh it as I'd know if I have half a big one that's about right when I'm trying to lose weight.

Trying to eat a 'cleaner' diet is good because you get more food for your calories, (1 bar of a kit kat is more calories than a whole punnet of raspberries which would take me 10x as long to eat, for example), and I think if you are eating lots of protein and good veggies it does help you to crave the crap less BUT 'eating clean' ie only eating the good stuff is deadly, in my experience, as I can't keep it up and its just a binge waiting to happen. Trying to eat moderately, feeding your body good stuff with some more indulgent treaty food factored in is sustainable in the way that 'regime's' of any kind are not.

Yes low or no carb diets seem to be the way to eat these days.

I think I'm going to get my size 8 jeans out. Try them on and see how far they are from fitting me.

Hopefully give me some extra motivation today!!

That doesn't make the initial post irrelevant OP, it may be that your natural weight isn't 9st and the body nearly always corrects itself, even if it takes a year or two.

I'm not saying that is it, but 9st is very light and not all bodies are built to be that size. You're on the right track in terms of monitoring etc as ultimately calories and diet will be the determining factors of whether there's much you can do.

One more word of advice, I'd focus on the size rather than weight - when working in a gym our mantra was always 'inches not pounds' - you could weigh more but be a smaller size, bodies are weird like that, particularly if you have a regular exercise regime which will naturally change your body shape.

Are you logging the number of calories that you're taking in? I think a sandwich porridge, curry, rice and naan all in 16 hours of eating is quite a lot of calories isn't it? I don't know how tall you are, but what is the number of calories that you need to be taking in to lose weight?

I won't lose weight on anything more than 1500 calories and probably need to stick to around 1200 to lose weight. I wouldn't eat all those carbs (because I would get more hungry on them) in a normal day. I'd also do some proper exercise (on top of my steps) most days although I won't count the calories that I burn up doing that).