Can you help me find the right eating plan for me?

[neepsntatties]

I feel like my head is going to explode thinking about it all! I just had my second dc and am very unhappy with my body right now. I am just over 5ft 1" and am 9 stone. More than the weight I really hate my shape, I hate that I look pregnant still.

I have a messy history with food. My mum had anorexia and I grew up with weird ideas around food. In my teens I binged and starved all the time. In my twenties I just ate mainly and was ten stone. Then I went the other way and restricted and exercised. After my first DS was born I lost a lot of weight by undereating and over exercising. I was 6 stone 10, I felt and looked awful but found it hard to get out of. I worked with a dietician for a little while but not long enough to really rid mysef of the food demons in my head if you know what I mean.

I don't eat meat but I do eat fish. I like sugar too much. I just want to not have to think about it all. I don't want to feel hungry all the time. I don't want to eat too much either. I think I need to lose some weight but I am scared of getting to caught up in it. At the same time I am pretty miserable at this size and shape.

Any suggestions oh wise mumsnetters?

Paul McKenna? He is fab for dealing with food issues, you dont have to think about food at all and you get to live a perfectly normal life without worrying what you are going to eat. With your history, I would totally recommend it. I dont think any sort of restrictive plan is right for you :) We have a good thread going, have a wee read and if you think you could do it, jump in & say hi!

Love your name!

I will look at that thanks, something where I don't have to think about it sounds perfect to me.

In terms of diet, really recommend south beach. Deals with sugar cravings but unlike atkins/dukan not particularly restrictive, and is especially good at dealing with belly fat (thinking of your looking pregnant comment above). Its not a diet on which you go hungry more of a eat healthy for life plan. Would work well with Paul McKenna in terms of helping you make good food choices.

Paul McKenna should not be done with any sort of diet, it works best if you follow the 4 principles just as they are. Introducing a diet means that you cant follow the principles properly.

If I had your food history I think I'd focus on a diet not for weight loss but for optimal health. Maybe look into a super-nutritional diet that makes you feel fantastic mentally and physically, gives you loads of energy, makes your hair skin and nails look great, and will help you find your natural healthy weight.
I don't know of one off hand but diets based on lots of raw and steamed veg, fish, pulses, wholegrains, nuts and fruit with loads of herbal teas and water are a good start.
Raw Energy by Susannah and Leslie Kenton is good - bit old fashioned but I loved it - just add fish and grains to it.

Paul McKenna is brilliant for helping us be unneurotic about food, and if you had family food issues, read Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach which is a real eye opener about how our mothers teach us to think about food.

Thank you for the replies, I am going to try the Paul McKenna method and see how I get on. I think I need to focus on sorting out my relationship with food before I start doing anything that involves any kind of restriction.

I would love to be able to do one of those mega healthy diets one day though, right now I think it would just make me want to eat my body weight in chocolate cookies.

You've just had a baby so it's normal and natural to be out of shape. Your weight is within the healthy range. I would just eat a balanced healthy diet without any restriction, and ease yourself gently back into exercise to help get your shape back.