Single most effective change you made to lose weight?

[SunshineChatter]

Hi there,

Just in search of real-life ideas on how to shed a few pounds. I'm a size ten, hourglass, but I'd like to lose some weight. I've done the working out (I went five times a week and did a combo of aerobic classes and weight lifting with a PT) and didn't see much difference. I have tried dieting, same result.

I lost a ton of weight a couple of years ago (I'm 48 now) but I think that was stress as I had started thinking about leaving my husband.

I have fasted for a week long, twice, but again due to stress, and still the needle didn't move. I don't eat junk food and, as I don't cook, I tend to have a HUGE salad (leaves, one tin of tuna, balsamic vinegar, horseradish sauce) at lunch or dinner and then I graze on fruit. Lots of it.

So I'm not really sure what to try next. Any ideas? TIA.

The jury is still out on sweeteners.
I've been drinking dietCoke for several years now and for me it replaces the desire for sugary food .... as others say, it hits the spot. When I replace with water I start to crave sugary stuff again.

I'm past menopause but bone density is still good though I do a lot of impact exercise which presumably helps.

I had to ditch the liquorice tea as well as the diet drinks. The diet drinks raise your insulin and I'm sure the liquorice does too cos it's so sweet but it was messing with something else hormonally that I was never able to pin point.
Thought it was a great sub and a little sweet treat with no calories but I can't drink it. Also can't have black liquorice as it triggers me to binge, I seriously don't know why and I love it so I'm sad.

Everything you've written screams to me that you have an eating problem, if not a disorder.

I'm a size ten, hourglass, but I'd like to lose some weight

Why is this? What on earth is wrong with being a size 10, hourglass shape?

My OH and friends laugh that my fridge is full of carrots (for the dogs) and condiments rather than proper food. When my OH comes over I have to pop to the shops to buy proper food (chicken, eggs, milk, etc)

Do you not think this is an indication that you're not feeding yourself properly?

I just graze on fruit all day though. So this could be the issue. I never said I don't eat (apart from those two one-week episodes). But I find it odd that fruit could have such an impact. On a daily basis for example I can have a punnet or two of plums, four apples, two punnets of grapes, some berries and maybe a banana. That's on top of my massive salad. I do have the oil in the tinned tuna. And the balsamic vinegar has sugar, right?

All of this is a massive amount of sugar. Yes, you'll be getting the fibre from the fruit, but apart from that it's all carbs. And balsamic vinegar is also hugely sugary.

I don't drink fruit juice BUT I drink up to two litres of caffeine-free Diet coke a day

I'm glad you don't drink fruit juice on top of all that fruit! But 2 litres of Diet Coke?!. This is so, so bad for you. It's not the caffeine as such, although that can't be great, it's the artificial sweeteners, as PP have said. It can provoke an insulin response by the body as if you were drinking sugar. Why on earth have you got to drinking this amount of artificial chemical stuff?!

Fruit-wise I mostly eat pink ladies apples and grapes. Lateley I've been snaking on microwaved corn on the cob. A couple of cobs a week. No salt, no butter

You'd be better off eating the salt and the fat! Again, sweet corn is hugely carby - the clue is in the name 'sweet' corn. As a snack, along with all the other fruit (sugar/carbs) you've been eating, this is way too much.

Having pointed all that out, as things that will be impeding any kind of weight loss, I still think that you have an issue with food which you need to deal with before you consider weight loss.

There was a similar thread recently and the one that I nodded at the most was:

Go to bed hungry

Pretty depressing huh?!

Read James Smith’s book. It’s calories in, calories out.

Ketogenic diet

Ketogenic lifestyle/low carb high fat.

Posters may find the following links of interest, they show the equivalent in teaspoons of sugar of common foods, it was created by a GP in the north of England.
phcuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Common-Foods-21.05.2020.jpg
phcuk.org/sugar/

All of that fruit easily adds up to a lot of calories plus a full tin of tuna with oil - it all adds up!

My PT also put me on a protein diet. Just protein, and some fat-free dairy for five days, then one day like that and one day adding a few vegetables. I was supposed to go into ketosis but didn't. I was then told some people don't find it easy (I wasn't straying - not one bit. When I commit to something I stick to it 100%). So then I went to intermittent fasting - only eating between 12 noon and 6pm. Still no ketosis. Then Covid happened...

Sunshinechatter,
You cannot go into ketosis on a protein, low fat diet, it is fat that makes the ketone bodies for ketosis. Protein will still raise your insulin levels, just not as much as carbs.

1 when I give up alcohol
2 ‘steady as she goes’ just eating A bit less or a bit differently all of the time. Lifestyle long term change.

Whoa! Just read your updates OP

The issue is fruit

That's an astonishing amount of sugar you're consuming

All that fruit will be very damaging to your teeth OP.
I know you have tuna but you need some good proteins and fats. Avocado, nuts, eggs.
Your diet seems very restricted.

You eat way too much fruit. It's good for you, but in moderation. Most fruit is very sugary. You'll be getting sugar highs and lows all day, which is why you snack on fruit constantly, sugar is addictive.

Track everything on my fitness pal. It's a pain to start with as you need to measure how much you're eating, and it's difficult to judge by eye initially. You tend to underestimate portion size. Once you've started to build a set of frequently eaten stuff it gets easier.

eating smaller amounts but slowing way down how fast i ate and trusting i had eaten enough then taking the time to let the food hit my stomach and my mind realise actually i have had enough food. i used to be a speed eater and as i was munching away at 50 mph my stomach wasnt hable to understand amounts i was eaten or to tell me im full. alo if your worried your still going to be hungry after that smaller meal after eating drink a pint of water or even better milk then just let your body catch up adn tell you that actually you have had enoiugh. hope it helps

Cutting down drastically on the amount of sugar I consumed is what helped me. It's shocking just how much sugar our everyday products contain.

PurpleDaisies and PhoneLock are right. There's an awful lot of rubbish being touted as advice on this thread.

You have to track your calories accurately to know where you might be going wrong. That means recording everything you eat or drink.

I thought I could only lose weight on something like the Blood Sugar Diet, but I was wrong. I'm mid 40s and have lost a stone and a half this year so far eating high protein, low fat and measured carbs and lots of veg, especially leafy green veg rather than root veg. I never felt hungry. I've also been working out 3-5 times a week, mostly doing interval weight training.

@wowfudge

PurpleDaisies and PhoneLock are right. There's an awful lot of rubbish being touted as advice on this thread.

You have to track your calories accurately to know where you might be going wrong. That means recording everything you eat or drink.

I thought I could only lose weight on something like the Blood Sugar Diet, but I was wrong. I'm mid 40s and have lost a stone and a half this year so far eating high protein, low fat and measured carbs and lots of veg, especially leafy green veg rather than root veg. I never felt hungry. I've also been working out 3-5 times a week, mostly doing interval weight training.

What’s rubbish?

Low carb?

Obviously it works for many, if not you in particular

I've lost 2 stone in 2 months calorie counting on my fitness pal. 1200 ish a day with the occasional higher day.
You need to track everything in honest detail if you want results.

The bollocks about starvation mode for starters.

I drafted my post a couple of hours ago, before I read what the OP typically eats: there's about 2000 calories of fruit there. Licorice can raise blood pressure - there's something in it that has that effect. No idea if the tea would be the same.

Add every single food and drink to My Fitness Pal, eventually you become intuitive to how much your eating and can lay off the calorie counting

Ditch the diet coke and you'll notice afterwards that you were retaining water - my cellulite disappeared when I stopped. I also hate the taste now. It took 6 weeks of ditching it to see a difference. It's really bad to drink in that amount. It spikes insulin. I'd guess that you are spiking insulin constantly with continual grazing on sugar (fruit) and fake sugar.
Do you take medication which might impede weightloss?

Regular exercise (mostly weight training with occasional cardio) and a balanced diet. Definitely didn't deprive myself of anything or skip any food group.

Fat loss was slow to begin with but once it started kept going until I had to massively increase consumption to maintain weight rather than lose. Now I don't really see the scales change but my shape definitely does continue to change which I prefer.

I'd definitely give the PT time and pair with healthy eating!

OP I also love fruit (average about 6-8 pieces a day) and liquorice. Plus Sultanas are my vice!). It might be healthier than chocolate but it’s still sugar. If you put all the fruit into Mfp it’ll come with interesting results. Try to swap some of the fruit with carrots/celery and see if it makes a difference?