Another one fed up

[AllNineLives]

Hi, I’m new to this topic so hello all.
I have recently started trying to lose a few pounds (again). Historically, I have lost a lot of weight two or three times but gradually it creeps back on. I’ve joined most of the well know clubs more times than I can remember and while they do work initially, I get fed up with the lack of support when you’re really struggling, feeling like they just want your money, which is probably true!!
So I decided to go it alone and about 3 or 4 weeks ago started really cutting down on eating in between meals and began trying to be healthier and make good choices. I have cut snacking, stopped adding dressing to salads etc and just recently started increasing exercise to 3 times a week from none!!
I have lost around 4lb over all that time.
Now I know that 4lb is a loss, not too bad etc but I can normally lose that in a few days (admittedly I put it on again after a weekend of a few drinks 🤣) but I feel demoralised!!
Any wise words?

I know how you feel about being demoralised.

I suppose with the 4 pounds loss (which is good) you need to view it as an overall trajectory. Maybe record your weight loss and dates of losses?

The repetitive nature of losing and gaining weight, having to restrict is tedious. I suppose that's why people say make your new diet a lifestyle but easier to say than done.

Probably 4 weeks in is when the current diet has started to become "old" for you. There isn't really a magic solution with calorie counting unfortunately.

I lost about 4 pounds in a few days when I had covid last year and then gained it back pretty soon. So now I feel is this a proper weight loss or not? It would be great if one could lose weight in increments. Half a stone over a few weeks. Normal eating & maintaining. Then back on it for a few weeks. But it doesn't seem to work like that.

@tobee That would be really good wouldn’t it!!
i know it’s on the right path but I have been trying really hard and lost weight previously when eating loads more “bad” stuff than now!!
I'll just have to plod on!! :(

It is demoralising when you don't see instant results but you need to get into the mindset of making sustainable and permanent changes to what you eat rather than looking on short bursts of dieting for a quick fix.

Are you weighing and measuring all of your food because you can still eat 'good' food and not be in calorie deficit?

If you lose 4 lbs in a few days it is probably mostly water loss, and, as they say, you can't out-exercise a bad diet.

I’m logging in my Fitbit app and weighing anything other than veggies and even calorie counting those.
I have only been doing that for a few days though so maybe I have been kidding myself 🤣
it is amazing how calories add up!!

1lb a week is a good loss rate, try to feel pleased with that and not demoralised!

Have you felt deprived in what you've been eating, because if not then you're probably on a sustainable plan and hopefully you'll keep losing 1lb a week. 3 more weeks and you could be at half a stone lost :-)

May I ask why you don’t weigh and count veggies? If you eat a healthy amount of those they can easily add up to 50-100 kcal per meal.

True, but I’ve been dieting for so long where veggies are “free” that I just accepted it!! I’ll start weighing and counting instead of guessing but I think I’d need an awful lot to stop me losing any weight at all 😁

I’ve lost weight on a very small deficit (-200 kcal) but lots of exercise (6-7 trainings a week) that I didn’t always factor in. It was a very slow process so please don’t give up! I also learned to count everything, including milk for coffee, veggies and so on.

So the ww/sw approach where you suddenly cut firm and start drinking more water tends to result in lost of water weight, glycogen and bowel content volume, happens very suddenly and is seldom fat loss - you won’t have created a (roughly) 15000 calorie deficit in 3-4 days. Whereas what you sound like you are doing is nothing going to result in any of those things and is causing a genuine small calorie deficit instead, which does result in fat loss. You’re also sounding like you’ve made positive changes like increasing exercise which has loads of health benefits but not a huge amount of weight loss benefit unless you go crazy. Sounds like you are creating healthy habits which is what is needed for losing weight and sustaining it over time, rather than the traditional ww/sw do.

I say all this from the point of being able to put absolutely none of it into practice for more than about an hour and a half, so jolly well done!

Thanks, that’s good to know, I’m going to keep going and measure everything!! 😁

Thanks, that made me chuckle, that’s so like me. I know exactly what to do, most of the time I just don’t do it!! 😁

When I’ve done that before I’ve still been eating a fair few calories. The only way I can do it is track everything and be strict.