Where did you get your motivation for weight loss from? Want to be able to eat intuitively - for life!

[mycatoscar]

Hi everyone

I have been on and off this board for what seems like years. I am 32, have a 6 year old and am approx 2 stone overweight and have been since dd was born (and a bit before if I am honest).

I KNOW I need to lose the weight and I WANT very much to get into my slimmer clothes. But time after time I fail at diets. I really dont want to do anything which involves shakes, soups, meal replacements etc and I find that calorie counting makes me either miserable because I am eating foods I dont like or I end up binging on "free" foods on weightwatchers or eating my last 4 points simply because I have them left over, not because I am actually hungry.

Having read the Paul Mckenna books I wholeheartedly want to follow this way of eating, I want to eat for the right reasons and enjoy my food.

But, I have this little voice in my head which stops me eating intuitively. I am really asking for some inspiration or some advice about how to get my head in the right place. I probably am a bit depressed (had PND and was on anti d's but came off them after 18 months) I function fine from day to day but just dont have much self esteem and I think that is what is stopping me from achieving my goal.

Sorry, really did not mean this to be so flippin' long!

I have never really had to lose weight but have put on a bit probably due to menopause. I try to eat for health rarther than losing weight. I have given up worrying about the way I look but am now focusing on eating well. This has a positive effect not only on my physical health but just as importantly on my mental health.

Do you do any exercise?

I cannot do much exercise at the moment due to a knee injury but I normally like to walk quite a bit and occasionally swim. I really am not a gym or classes type of person.

when yating well what do you mean, what would a typical days food look like for you?

Could you do something like the south beach diet? (no calorie counting, no fruit in phase 1, so you'd have to binge on non starchy veggies or similar).

Also recommend Adore Yourself Slim by Lisa Jackson.

Eating well for me is eating things in their most natural state. I'm not saying I don't ever eat a pizza but maybe only once a month.

In the mornings I have been making a smoothie with probiotic yogurt and banana, honey and maybe mango or strawberries.

For lunch I will eat some turkey slices and fruit today though I may have a wrap with humous, salad, red onion, and tomatoes or an omelette with spinach and tomatoes. I also have a juicer and will be making a carrot, apple, cucumber and ginger juice. I shop at the local market and can buy veg cheaply.

Last night I just had one of those innocent coconut thai curry pots but normally eat stir frys, lots of salmon, fresh tuna, lean meat. I use lots of flavourings such as ginger, lime, lemon and spices. I steam or stir veg to go with it.

Swimming is fab, especially as you have a knee injury, are you getting treatment for it?

I am waiting for a referral at the moment for possible surgery on the knee and I thinkt hat is making me feel a bit down. Simple things like walking to the post office yesterday (10 mins max) left me in pain for the rest of the day

I really like your approach sailorsgal and the food you've suggested sounds lovely and tasty. I just really need to believe that I am worth it, whatever approach I do.

Thanks for the suggestion foreveronadiet, but I really want to approach this in a way where I retrain myself to not binge - whatever the food is, it is simply not healthy to binge on anything.

I know I need to eat when I am genuinely hungry, eat good healthy tasty food (which, shock horror, may not always be the low fat version!) and stop using food as a medication for my emotions. Sounds easy doesnt it

For me it is not about giving up carbs, or giving up chocolate. It's about giving up eating for the wrong reasons

oh and foreveronadiet that book looks fabulous, and a new approach might just be what I need so have ordered a copy. Didnt mean to sound rude about the south beach diet, I think everyone needs their own approach to eating and I know south beach works for some.

I obviously don't mean you should binge, just the south beach diet is very healthy and if your diet was based on that you would eat well and never count calories. I was making the point that the only thing to binge on would be veggies.

But yes need to eat for the right reasons and deal with binging, TBH I haven't found anything better than Paul Mckenna for that.

But its sounds like you need new approach and Adore Yourself Slim might help.

I never thought I would be an emotional eater but I know how you feel. It can be a vicious circle though. I have done some exercise today and have eaten well so am feeling good which then makes me feel more confident but its very easy for it to go the other way. Eat crap, don't exercise eat more crap to cheer myself up, feel crap.

I hope you get somewhere with your knee problem. Did you have CBT for your PND?

I got my motivation from looking at my thighs one day and thinking they looked like something alien, they certainly didn't look human. I lost 5 stone-ish several years ago and they still look rather rubbish but the rest of me looks better!
Personally I found a big (BIG) bowl of muesli the way to start the day, it then shifts the time back when I next want to eat anything. When I started losing weight I also found diet caffeine free coke helpful, not a long term solution maybe but it made me feel full-up.
Good luck!

Thanks sailorsgal no I never had cbt with my pnd. I had 6 sessions of counselling where the counsellor told me I needed to cheer up and appreciate the fact I had a healthy baby so not particularly constructive.

Thats not very helpful at all. Not sure they should be counselling anyone.

Well no, not very helpful but to be honest I just have to get on with things and make the best of what I've got is what I think she was saying. I am really upset with myself because I binged on some biscuits today and really don't know why.

I going back to work full time in a few months and think that might help because I will just be ridiculously busy and won't have time to binge. Having said that I would just love to have a lovely new work outfit in a size 12 for my new class so maybe that's my motivation right there! At the moment I only teach 3 days a week and am sooo fed up in my job that I dread going in after my days off - that obviously does not help my motivation either.

Sailorsgal is right; if you focus on weight loss you are setting yourself up for failure. Try to focus on getting the maximum number of nutrients in at every meal or snack. You will feel so much better and pretty soon your body will not crave the yucky stuff anymore. For example; having a big bowl of oatmeal or muesli with some fruit and a few nuts in the morning will keep you going much longer than something like special K (or any cereal for that matter; it simply doesn't fill you upeven the healthy ones are full of sugar). Try to focus on real, healthy foods and avoid processed ones. Sugar is NOT your friend. Cakes and biscuits are for children's parties; not grown women. Think up some new healthy treatsapple and peanut butter, a few squares of good dark chocolate, a berry smoothie made with yogurt. Make a big pot of veggie soup to have throughout the week with half a sandwich. Throw in every vegetable you can think of.

I think it helps to loosely plan out what you're going to eat, focus on lots of fruit and vegetables and get the bad stuff out of your house. Kids don't actually NEED treats anyway so you can't use them as an excuse to have them in the house.
There are some fantastic healthy food blogs out there that can give you lots of inspiration for what healthy meals and snacks look like. Try to remember that bad feeling you get after a binge and the nice feeling you get when you eat something that is good for your body. It helps with your mood too.

Good Luck with your return to work. X

One book that I found very helpful was Optimum Nutrition for the Mind by Patrick Holford. It may be available in the library.