Feel utterly broken - another diet failed again

[nameeCha]

I’ve just done 3 weeks of solid Atkins, not cheated, really tried a d lost nothing! Not even a measley 0.1 kg! I actually weigh slightly more than I did when started. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m fed up of all these “diets”. Can someone please advise me? I stayed away from fruits even! I had such a craving. Just spoke to my sister whose managed to lost 10lb since start of summer eating all the foods I was told on atkins and keto boards that were to be avoided - bread, fruits, pastries. Where am I going wrong? Any advice please.

I use weight loss injections to kerb my crazy appetite.

People saying just stick to 1400 cals - yes fine that will 100% work… but what if that makes you obsessive, weak, ravenous and miserable? Waking up at night starving. Dreaming of food. Unable to focus at work. Feeling shaky and snapping at your partner. What then?

This was me 15m ago. A couple of years of trying keto, fasting, SW/WW. Sometimes it worked for a few weeks with an initial water/glycogen loss, but increasingly nothing. Before kids/menopause etc could lose a couple of stone easily when I needed to but nothing worked.

In the end I started Ozempic, moving to mounjaro after 9m. Have lost 5st. I still hit plateaus from time to time, but moving up doses gets me there. It’s not fallen off - probably averaged 1.5lbs/week over the whole period. My sister and son are now using it and it has really helped understand my relationship with food.

I would seriously suggest investigating it, or asking your GP for a dietitian’s referral.

I’d also ask your GP to run a check up to make sure your thyroid and related blood tests are normal.

It’s strange how people refuse to accept that the simple formula to losing weight is to eat less and exercise more. I fail to see how gorging on sausages (or whatever the latest Atkins thing is) is meant to help you lose weight. Just eat 3 reasonably healthy, normally portioned meals a day, drink lots of water and go for a jog.

If that is really all you have been eating and assuming you don’t drink alcohol, then you should be losing weight. Doesn’t sound a huge amount of calories that. You doing any exercise?

Talking to you as an obese person.

Keto and atkins are a waste of time, totally unsustainable long term. Weight goes straight back on as soon as you eat carbs again. Took me a year to lose the weight I wanted, it was back on in 2 months. Plus I hated everything. It made me hate food and be so grumpy.

Same for VLCDs.

Weightloss injections - Again, when you stop doing them the weight goes back on, plus there are the added risks of increased chance of thyroid cancer and organ damage. Wouldn't suggest unless you're highly likely to die of something else first, like diabetes.

Eating less - Advice given by people who have never been obese. Our stomachs are bigger, can hold more, takes longer to be full. Our fat cells are bigger too, as they've been stretched, so weight goes on more easily and harder to lose.

A fat person who slims down to a "normal" weight will still have to eat 10% fewer calories than someone the same weight and height who has never been obese.

Intermittent fasting - Honestly it stopped my brain working, I couldn't think straight, couldn't function or do my job properly because I was being starved of energy. Even worse first thing in the morning until I was "allowed" to eat, at which point I was often unable to stop myself bingeing.

What's working for me currently is seeing a nutritionist and going back to basics. i knew I shouldn't be eating chocolate and diet coke for breakfast and having someone I had to report to really helped. I am also logging calories on myfitnesspal as it's so easy to go over or not realise the size/weight of your food.

I plan ahead, try to be more conscious about food, eat more regularly (so no "excuse" to get something naughty), only have healthy snacks at home, and drink/track my water intake. the weightloss is slower, but it feels much more sustainable.

when I'm thinking about eating something, I think "can I make a good decision right now" and usually the answer is yes. then I just do the same thing the next time. instead of thinking "I can't eat x" or "I'll never eat y again, how depressing"

I have lost 2 stone on mfp but nearly every day is like this. Still feel it’s worth it as I’m a slim person now, but god it’s hard

In my experience the only thing that works is eating less and moving more. Being in a calorie deficit.

A little bit of everything is fine, just have much less of those things that are known to pile the weight on.

I feel you @Theolittle some people have no clue what it’s like.

“Just stick to 1400 cals”.

I can’t pal. That’s the issue!

It may be that you are eating too much, eating the wrong things, or your body is taking a while to adjust - or a combination of all 3. Here are my tuppence worth:

• healthy Mediterranean style diet
• lots of vegetables (see link), moderate amount of lean protein, small quantities of healthy fats (EVOO, nuts) and dairy (yoghurt)
• cut down/out UPF, sugar,, refined carbs.
• aim for 1400 calories a day (assuming you are overweight rather than obese - otherwise this may require adjustment)
• intermittent fasting - 2 meals + 1 snack a day; you'll get used to it - learn to sit with 'hunger' for a while before taking the easy grab some food option.
• exercise at least half an hour a day - not for weight loss but to kick-start your new healthy lifestyle; try Lucy Wyndham Read and/or Heather Robertson, as well as Yoga with Kassandra.
• walk, walk, walk, and walk some more - including up and down stairs.
• above al, fill up with nutritious fibre instead of carbs (but go easy on the nuts):

https://zoe.com/learn/vegetables-high-in-fiber

Or just two meals a day and an early lunch.

Some people still believe the myth that they must eat breakfast even if they're not particularly hungry.

I agree, it’s the only sustainable and sensible solution.

Forget the fancy diets and intermittent fasting, for a start just simply analyse what you are eating and how much? (use/get a cheap kitchen scales to check portion weights/sizes).

A simple spreadsheet( or large piece of paper) and look at the labels on the boxes, packets and input the values.

You will be surprized where the calories, fibre , fat etc are and easiest places to to reduce/remove the bad stuff. Pick a target calorie intake and compare with current intake. Dont forget 1 lb in fat is 3500 calories, but a reduction of 500 a day will mount up in a week

I have lost +20 lbs in last 6 months, slow but steady but it has stayed off. I never thought I could do it.

You have to have a calorie deficit. So if you're eating too many calories, which you are if you're not losing weight, then you need to cut back or do exercise daily.....exercise which makes you puff a lot

Could your thyroid be out of whack? Might that be why you can't lose weight?

It’s not the diet that makes a difference OP, it’s the calories. I could eat a big mac meal everyday and still lose weight as long as I was under my calories each day- granted I’d not be able to eat much else each day and would be hungry, but I’d lose weight.

Calculate your total daily expenditure (TDEE Calculators online for rough guide), minus say 200 cals to start with. Eat whatever you want but within those calories.

@notanotheronenow So what you're saying is that eating less does work, whether obese or not.

OP, calorie counting is absolutely the way forward. Every diet essentially comes back down to calories in vs calories out. Yes, there are differences in how much work your body does simply digesting certain foods (therefore making them "better" choices), but noone can deny the simple science behind that. And yes, it is harder once you've been obese because psychology plays into the whole thing, too, which is one of the reasons why losing weight fast rarely ever works long term.

Other things like exercise help tone the body, up your daily calorie needs, but you cannot outrun too much food.

So your diet hasn't failed, you just need to adjust it and make it more sensible. Less of the calorie-dense food, more of the veg. And for heaven's sake, add some carbs, your body needs them, too.

Calorie count OP. Find out your daily requirements for your age, height, weight and lifestyle and reduce it by 500 a day. Count accurately and you can't go wrong.

You absolutely have to track calories op. Eggs in butter for breakfast is madness. Butter is pure fat nobody needs that in their diet.

Weigh absolutely everything and triple check “portion sizes”.

So often a packet will be a tiny amount but say “contains 3 portions” or something and you’ll accidentally read the calories as being for the whole pack not 1/3.

Or you’ll pour out “a bit” of milk or juice or cereal and assume it’s “about 30g or whatever.

Do the maths with a realistic defecit goal and you literally cannot not lose weight.

Agree with PPs, the only thing that has worked for me is calorie counting, and you have to stick to it scrupulously - weigh things, measure things, record every mouthful.

The thing is a it's a right pain in the arse for several weeks but actually you soon get a proper feel for how many potatoes/how much yoghurt/how many snacks (yes really) equates to how many calories, and you soon build up a regular repertoire of meals you know are lowish calorie 500-600 is what I aim for.

I did this combined with the 5:2 which helped on two levels, firstly it's a good way to cut weekly calories and secondly it reduced my appetite so even on non fast days I didn't want to eat so much.

I am at the start of a weight loss journey. Have gained 4.5 stone in about 4 years and desperately want to shift it as look and feel awful.

I have lost 8lb in the last two weeks. I have just had to massively reduce the amount I eat and have cut out alcohol entirely. It has been very hard, but I feel like I am adjusting to the reduced portion sizes and lack of snacks now.

I love food and I'm definitely an emotional eater, so I am addressing that too.

Sounds like a miserable existence if you're feeling like this every single day.

Mounjaro.
The only 'diet' that has ever worked for me. 4 weeks in 16 pounds down with little effort.
I totally sympathise.
I could never stick to a doet- my willpower was zero and I'd get weak and shaky when trying to cut down then have an almighty binge.
I am type 2 diabetic BTW. This has just removed the sugar craving noise for me. I can hardly believe it.

How much water are you drinking? Keto / Atkins rely on lots and lots of water to help break the fat down. Someone did explain it to me but I can't remember exactly why now!

If you haven't increased your activity levels then try that (if physically able to). And not just weights, that seems to be too trendy at the moment, ideally you need cardio and weights and something else.

I started moujaro on the 8th of July at 17:9 and I'm 15:13 now. Go for it!