To ask how I can lose weight?

[2024NewStart]

Please can someone advise me. I’ve got 4 stones to lose. I’ve just been piling on a stone and a bit since lockdown. I’ve tried keto, weight watchers, slim fast, calorie counting but can’t stick to anything for more than 2 or 3 days. I don’t want to do drastic cutting out food group diets like Atkins / Keto. I’ve tried walking everyday but that actually makes me more hungry! I’ve joined gym but again that makes me hungry. I’m so lost.

Stop drinking soft drinks and alcohol, give up sugar in tea and coffee no more lattes, cappuccinos or hot chocolate. Don’t drink your calories

Try letting yourself have a little treat every 5-7lbs you lose so smaller targets to work towards. Could be a nice coffee or a new top or anything that you enjoy .

I don't drink tea or coffee but couldn't exist without my 2 hot chocolate each day - 40 cals each is hardly over indulging.

I follow calorie counting. Use my fitness pal to log food and work out your calorie allowance on a TDEE calculator (then knock off 500 a day for 1lb a week or 1000 a day for 2lbs). Nothing is off bounds within allowance

Upping my exercise doesn’t work for me as I get more hungry and overestimate the calories I have burned.
I know you don’t want to cut food groups but I’ve lost 2 stone 11lbs since July by cutting down on carbohydrates and not drinking any diet sodas.
I have reintroduced a limited number of carbs and my weight has been stable for the last month as my appetite has shrunk and I’ve got so used to eating healthy foods.

There’s a forum for weight loss on MN - if you respond well to encouragement and people being all in it together :)

Yes you need a calorie deficit but omg, the idea of weighing and measuring everything I eat and writing it down sounds so demoralising it makes me want to stick the pencil I'm writing it down with in my eye. For many, if not most people, it's completely unsustainable.

You need to make lifestyle changes that you can actually stick to. You do need to understand calories, know what foods are calorie dense and eat less of them and have them less often but you don't need to be obsessed with them.

Essential eat a balanced diet; MOSTLY PLANTS. Try to eat whole foods and avoid 'fat free' or 'low calorie' labels. The less processed food in your diet the better.

Calculate your weight loss calorie target on the James Smith Academy free calculator. Then log everything religiously on the my fitness pal free app, including butter, ketchup, oil, etc.

You can eat any food, just stay within your calories. Lean protein is good to fill you up, also veg. Don’t cut out carbs. Eat plenty fibre
Follow the Fitness Chef and Jordan Syatt PT for tips and support

Calorie counting is so useful, even short term. It really opens your eyes to the calories in foods.

Not exactly true. Many people fall into the trap of eating whatever they want on their non fast days, leading to no losses or even gains. You still need to stick to 2000cals per day.

OP - all the answers are here: calorie deficit, use MyFitnessPal, increase protein, move more. I find I need to get just a little bit obsessed with weight loss to get in the swing. So I track on MFP obsessively, love watching the exercise calories burned mount up (but I never eat them back), look at healthy switches for fave foods etc.

So my advice would be to make a plan of action: get a notebook, research easy healthy recipes, try out lots of exercise til you find one you like.

My final tip would be - lift weights. I’ve been doing Caroline Girvan since November but not watched my diet til this week. When I weighed on Monday I was surprised how much weight I’d lost in the 5 weeks before.

Accept that you will feel hungry.

I think expecting to lose weight while never being hungry is fairly naive and I'm always surprised when people say it.

Perhaps take a look at Intermittent Fasting - go onto the Mumsnet board which has lots of posts for this (5:2 n fasting)

For me, it is the first time I've dieted and not felt hungry and indeed often feel deeply satisfied with a medium/large meal.

Yes the first 2-3 weeks can be tough but since then for me it's been a dream... actually hugely enjoyable.

ps I'm not saying you dont need to think about what you eat, just that when your body adapts it feels full and satisfied... I am fairly low carb, high protein, lots of veggies ie very healthy food

@2024NewStart how are you getting on??

@loveyouradvice tbh not good. I started diet on 2nd, was really good and even managed to weigh myself yesterday and in a matter of days I lost 2lb! But I got really sad yesterday and stuffed myself. Weighed myself today and I’m back to original weight. I don’t know if it’s self sabotage or just my depression. I’ve continued eating unhealthy today

It is hard but everything people have said on here is good advice. It seems like you need to shift your mentality. If you do have a day where you revert back to old habits just make it one day. Don’t fall into the trap of ‘I may as well wait until Monday to start again’. Don’t beat yourself up and get back on it the next day. If you did this it might mean that out of 7 days you had two ‘bad’ days but 5 ‘good’ ones. If you did this over a sustained period you would lose weight.

Great advice from @PSEnny and so agree. For me, things turned around and I lost weight when I let go of the " broken it, might as well continue doing so". I used to have 2-3 days of bad eating - and don't forget sugar and unhealthy carbs are designed to keep us craving more...

Now I find as soon as I become aware of eating unhealthily, I talk to myself (out loud - as it's slower and my brain hears myself better - and I try for gentle and kind as well, like a really good friend) about what i want to do next. Sometimes it is to eat another 3 chocolates, sometimes I'm not ready to hear myself but most times I make a more sensible decision than if I haven't stopped and thought it through... such as okay, I am sad nad really hungry so want something big and filling but I'll make sure its really healthy ... that's the best I can do now.

Don't forget that everyone breaks diets all the time, and the secret is how to find a way of keeping on moving forward.

If you think you might be depressed, please please please make an appointment with your GP - I think its around 20% of UK women are on simple antidepressants that really work...lifting them that little bit which means they can be proactive about weightless and other good choices in their lives.

And do consider Intermittent Fasting - for me its hte only time Ive dieted nad not felt deprived... I love how full and satisfied I feel.

My name is Priya Dogra and I hail from a small hilltown of Shimla, India. I have suffered silently for years with weight gain. Then I got introduced to Keto. I saw some incredible Keto weight loss transformations. and I was zapped. But I was not sure if it will work for me.

Finaly, my Keto journey started on 1st January 2015 with a focus on losing weight. When I started, I was 100 kg. Today I am in a healthy weight range, and successfully maintaining it for the past 6 years. My trials and failures with the Keto diet have led me to a transformed version of me.

I haven't tried any other diet other than Keto, so I can't comment about any other diet but this one works. And I say so on basis of my personal experince and my weight loss journey. You can chech out my weight loss transformation here.