Can’t stop eating

[Cantloseweight83]

I started the gym in January and have lost only 1lb so far. The problem is I cannot stick to calorie counting. The days I have managed it I then ruin it by eating a couple of slices of toast before bed. I hate feeling hungry. I only have 1 stone to lose to get to a healthy bmi but most of it is tummy weight and back fat, like a spare tyre. I did well today, porridge for breakfast, a protein bar for snack, a ham roll quavers grapes for lunch, then ruined it and ate an Easter egg after work then got fish and chips as the oven broke. I’m so deflated. I don’t really enjoy salads or eggs or fruit etc. I’m starting to feel miserable and that there is no hope for me to lose weight. Any advice welcome.

I'm having similar issues OP so here to see what advice/suggestions come your way. I've been stuck at the same weight for 2.5 years now which I suppose means I'm maintaining but I'm a stone more than I should be (BMI 26) and weight is around my middle and back.

Suspect we need to change what we eat rather than rigidly sticking to a set amount of calories. My diet is probably too carb heavy if I'm honest.

I think my diet is carb heavy too. An average day is porridge and fruit for breakfast, peanut and chocolate protein bar for morning snack at work, bread roll crisps and fruit for lunch, I try and aim for an apple in the afternoon but usually end up giving in to biscuits, then a normal dinner like chilli con carne and rice or sausage pasta or salmon rice and veg etc then a piece of dark chocolate after dinner. Then I usually end up eating cereal or toast before bed. I just hate feeling hungry it makes me feel miserable.

I’ve been wondering if slimming world might be better for me but I hate meal prep so I think it might be too much of a faff.

I found SlimmingWorld much easier than calorie counting. I'm someone who could just eat and eat all day long so SW is ideal for me. I pretty much eat the same breakfast and lunches every day so only have to plan my evening meals, I have a magnetic planner board stuck to the fridge so write it all on there.

I have this issue too. The days I do well with managing hunger is when I eat a protein heavy, (around 30g) breakfast (skyr or fage yoghurt/eggs/protein shake). High protein definitely curbs hunger, it's just a bit boring!!

I've broken the cycle before by having really fixed meals, porridge or a boiled egg and slice of wholemeal toast for breakfast or even a low fat protein shake. Lunch soup, or salad, or a bagel think and a low fat yoghurt and fruit, dinner a m&s fully for longer ready meal, can't have a bigger portion. Pudding something under 100 calories maybe an aero mousse or halo top I've cream stick.
Drink loads of water or fruit tea. Stick to it religiously have nothing else available. It's hard and it's boring if you can make it two weeks or even three, suddenly steamed fish and a plate of veg is heavenly! Your appetite decreases and you get off the carb/sugar wheel much easier to eat smaller portions of lean healthy food.

You might suit slimming world
basically it works out expensive and you need to batch cook and prepare but you won’t he hungry

I tend to have a lot of eggs but if you don’t like eggs you can fill up on beans and so on

I don’t eat carbs on it really and have lost nearly 2 and a half stone

What I eat in a day

boiled eggs x 2

lunch is something like a Turkey burger and veg

dinner is salmon or Chicken and Lean beef and veg or salad

I do enjoy a g&t and sometimes a light snack (low cal crisps)

I still drink coffee and have a sugar in it a few times a day but will knock this on the head soon as I still have a way to go

I do better on slimming world,
much better and I’m losing weight too quite happily. The moment I start counting calories it all goes to shit.

Maybe I should try slimming world but try and keep it simple. Maybe I can adapt some of the evening meals that I already eat. It does appeal to me that I can eat whenever I fancy something. I think I will struggle with lunches I’ve thought of maybe buying an M&S salad from next to the office as I know they do a salmon one and a few others that could be slimming world friendly. When I take my own lunch I end up making a roll of sandwich in a rush x

You can only lose body fat by burning it.
Your body uses two kinds of fuel, sugar in the form of glucose and body fat, which are stored calories.

Your body will ONLY start burning fat once it has used up all the available sugar in the liver and muscles.
Interesting, eh? When you eat you are suppplying your body with energy. Your body uses that energy first. It is not going to access fat stores for energy if you are eating.

Your body can only access fat to burn if insulin levels are low. How do you get insulin levels down? By not eating.

When you sleep, you are not eating. You do not die. The body starts using the extra glucose it has stored, and if it gets through that, it starts buring fat.
An issue is that most people have a days worth of energy sitting as glucose stored in the body. And when that starts to get low, you get hungry. So you eat, and never touch the energy you have stored as fat.

I find this stuff fascinating. I might not have got all the science down yet, but have a look on youtube for jason fung, intermittment fasting, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance.

On SW I would never eat sandwiches, lunch would be soup but no bread, or salad with lots of protein.

I think I need to cut out the sandwiches and biscuits. Even if I replace with a ready made salad and a fibre one bar maybe

The salmon salad from m&s would be perfect but be careful with the dressings. could you batch cook a load of meals (be far cheaper too)

eg cook ten chicken fillets, peppers, carrots and light amount of sweet chilli and freeze. There’s ten meals

2 packs of less than 5 percent minced beef - grate carrots and courgettes and onion and cook - add a tin of tomatoes and herbs - that would make 8 meals

this wouldn’t take long and you would be set up

I do buy stuff to batch cook but always end up too busy or too tired and fail. I’m thinking maybe if I’m realistic and buy something the 3 days a week I work that would be a big help as it’s the preparation that I fail at then I just make a quick sandwich

If your problem is a large appetite you may find intermittent fasting works well for you - I’ve found it life changing in terms of really reducing my appetite. I don’t eat breakfast and lunch is something light like soup or a salad (some days I dont even fancy lunch) dinner is something cooked the SW way (ie low fat) but I eat normal meals:spaghetti bolognese, curry, stews - things I can cook for the whole family - I use my slow cooker a lot as I find it works well for SW recipes as it makes them more flavoursome.

I have fruit & yoghurt for dessert, drink loads of water and sugar free squash - I don’t really limit my tea/coffee intake either as I couldn’t do without that! I have a “cheat” day on the weekend where il either have a nice meal out or if we stay in I have my normal day but then have some ice cream/chocolate or whatever in the evening so that I have that one day where I can have a treat so I don’t feel deprived. I would say I have about 1000-1200 calories 6 days a week and then up to around 2000 on the cheat day.

Ive lost 20lbs since mid-jan. I also try to walk or do an exercise tutorial for 30-60mins each day - but it’s true what they say about abs being made in the kitchen. You can hammer the gym as much as you like but it won’t make much difference to your weight if you’re not in a calorie deficit.

Sounds like a far more complicated explanation of calories in calories out.

I suggest listening to the zoe podcast on sugar spikes.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7l9T7BaYtjQ9PQrZf134Qi?si=t1bh-VhsQQy2l688TC9pgA
The porridge for breakfast although seemingly healthy will be causing a massive sugar spike which will be causing you to reach for the mid morning snack. You need to swap it to something more protein based (not a proceessed bar though) or even just ensure you are pairing it with fat to reduce the spike.

I would then cut out the processed snack. If you need to snack have some nuts, veg or other whole food. Again your lunch is very high on processed food, ham, bread, quavers. I would try to up healthy protein e.g unprocessed chicken, cheese, fish. Eat any carbs last as the glucose spike will be lower.

If you do the above your evening cravings will dramatically reduce.

Well worth a watch. Will have you re-considering calorie counting and what you actually eat.