Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Long Term Weight Loss

9 replies

Bumblelion · 09/07/2003 15:14

There seem to be a lot of conversations at the moment about diets - so I thought I would start this one - not about any diet in particular (or healthy eating plan to be politically correct), but anything that anyone has found to work "long term".

Me personally, I have tried weightwatchers, slimming magazine club, slimmers world, etc. but actually found none of them worked long time.

I know that the key to losing weight with any diet is to stick at it - I suppose I have answered my own question - any diet will work if you actually stick at it.

One thing that I find disheartening about slimming clubs is the amount of people (me included) that don't stick at it and a year or so later are back weighing more than when they started initially - it is as though you get into the yo-yo dieting scenario although I have never thought of myself as a yo-yo dieter.

The only way I have ever lost weight and kept it off (more or less) was when my husband left me last year - but this is a bit of a drastic measure.

Saying that, I can feel it slowly piling back on but I am still smaller than I have been in my recent memories but don't want to slowly get biggr and bigger over the years.

My friend is currently on the "cornflake" diet but I am not sure about the benefits of this as surely once you stop eating cornflakes for breakfast and lunch (and a normal healthy meal for dinner), all the weight you have lost will go back on.

I think the hardest thing for me is the "drink". To be honest I don't seem to eat much, but I do drink every night, whether I am at home or on my one night out. I think it must be the calories in the vodka that does it!!!

OP posts:
SamboM · 09/07/2003 15:26

Hi Bumblelion, If you found the answer to this one you would make a fortune! I think that the answer is to lose weight slowly by eating virtually normally but maybe no carbs in the evening and avoiding too much fat. Also exercise is the key.

Having said this i have been on the Atkins diet recently as an emergency "shift the baby flab before going on holiday" thing. It is working but I can't believe it's good for you. As soon as I get back to my pre preg weight (another half a stone) I'm moving to a much slower sort of weight loss.

Manfwood · 09/07/2003 15:27

Hmm it is a difficult one becuase it seems you are either the type who can eat anything and not put on weight or the opposite (me!) who likes their food. Personally i go to WW and have been back a number of times and it works each time and at least i know that it will work again - it is sticking to it obviously! (last time went back was to get rid of baby weight!). The thing that annoys me about a lot of these so called 'diets' is the emphasis on eating all this skinny fat free/diet stuff which is probably really bad for you! what about stuff that is really good for you but can be fattening. My favourite example is avocado - yes there are calories in there but they are so good for you (especially women) and have loads of good fats/oils/vitamins etc

Anyway - that is me off my soap box for the moment!

Also they say you have to exercise as well to make it work. Everything in moderation is what i say - at least on WW you can eat what you want as long as you incorporate it into your daily points allowance - so you can have that vodka!

SamboM · 09/07/2003 15:40

Manfwood, I found I was starving all the time on WW and it was hard to stick to because of that. Prob because I saved 4 points a day for wine though, so my own fault! I did lose weight though.

Boe · 09/07/2003 15:48

What is cornflake diet - does it count if they are made into cakes by way of being immersed in melted Galaxy Bars???

SamboM · 09/07/2003 15:58

or melted butter and golden syrup. Mmmmmm

winnie1 · 09/07/2003 16:55

Manfwood, completely agree with you about the type of food such diets can encourage one to eat. I am doing the Slimming World 'food optimising' diet and refuse to eat things which I think are pumped full of horrible things and air (would rather have small amount of real food). I have had some success in the past but once I stopped sticking to the programme my weight simply remained stable. (Have loads of weight to loose though.) Personally, I agree that the best way to loose weight and keep it off is to loose it very slowly... and exercise and not to slip back into bad habits once again once the weight is off.

lilibet · 09/07/2003 17:30

To be really simplistic, and this is from a devotee of every faddy diet going, done them all and put weight on after them all, trying slimming world at the moment, don't mean thats faddy, i think that both SW and WW encourage you to eat loads of fresh fruit and veg, by faddy I mean the grapefruit, the peanut butter, the cabbage soup. sorry, got a bit rambling there!
Anyhow as I was saying, the simplistic way is to eat less and excercise more. Its just doing it thats the problem!!!

Twink · 09/07/2003 18:26

Like Winnie, these days I prefer to eat smaller amounts of 'real' food (As an aside many 'low fat' biscuits have more calories than ordinary ones) but in the past have done most of the standard diet plans eg Slimming Magazine, Slimming World, Rosemary Conley etc.

I really believe the key to success is accepting that you are making a lifestyle change not 'on a diet'. I've been at my target weight for around 18 months now which is probably the longest I've ever been 'stable' but that's only because I've started trying to balance my exercise versus food intake.

ALL the diets I've tried worked while I could stick to them (usually losing between 2 & 3 stone) although while doing Slimming Magazine I ended up forcing myself to be sick each evening as it was the only way I could lose weight and still go to the pub.

My method now is to eat pretty much a Rosemary/WW diet through the week, lots of fruit & veg and eat what I fancy at weekends. If I have extras through the week, and I do, I make sure I do enough exercise to counteract it. Focuses me (a bit) on whether I really want that extra can of lager if I know I need a 20 min jog the next day to wipe it out. I also try to nibble on Thai Bites or Snack-a-Jacks during the week and stick to Tortilla chips on Saturdays.

Sorry that's quite long-winded, must shut up and go and do storytime !

Tinker · 09/07/2003 18:59

Completely agree with you Twink about the 'on a diet'. If you put that weight on somehow, you can't really revert to how you ate before your diet. I do think Atkins gets a bad press because it is viewed as a short term hit to get quick results. But the philosophy is a lifestyle change in eating. I don't really think it's that bad for you (but doubt I could really stick to it, love roast potatoes and chips too much). Think it's viewed as a high fat diet when really it's a low-carb diet. And yes, low-fat food often has more sugar in it - it needs it for taste.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread