End of my tether

[KinkyDoritoWithJingleBellsOn]

I have gone up and down, up and down, up and down for 16 years now and I am once again very up after an extremely difficult year.

I have gained 2.5st this year through comfort eating and I feel disgusting.

I have done most things: slimming world, weight watchers, Low GL, Low Gi, Tesco, am vege so I can't do low carb like Atkins/Dukan, slimfast, xenical, paul mckenna, other 'psychological' bboks about giving up diets, pfffffttttttt.

I am disaffected and convinced I will be fat forever. I need to lose 4st, and I just don't think I can gather the will.

Has dieting ever worked for anybody? I am serious. I see people from different classes that I attended all of the time and none of the big losers, like myself, have kept it off. It is very depressing.

I cannot stop eating. I sometimes consider taking up smoking again as it is the only thing that can curb my grazing.

I've also contemplated trying to eat meat again. I stopped eating it when I was 10, so it's been 22 years. I sometimes wonder if I'd be less inclined to reach for the carbs if I ate more protein.

I would appreciate help from anyone. I really would. I don't really know what to do.

Why can't you do low-carb? You are right in saying protein fills you up more than carbs. Low carbing is the only thing that works for me, although I recognise it would be nigh on impossible as a veggie.

I did the "Pig to Twig" diet, which wasn't as restrictive as Atkins etc. 18 months on I have kept the weight off, mainly because I loved the food and it became a way of eating, rather than a penance. I haven't had to give up cheese, eggs etc. Although to be fair, I wasn't particularly overweight, just needed to reduce a padded midriff.

Apart from that, I can only make the obvious suggestions - don't have crap food in the house, minimise intake of spuds/rice/bread/pasta, learn to love veggies and salads.....and don't get depressed. It isn't worth it.

Thank you for replying cointreau. I'm really wondering if it might be worth trying to eat meat again. I feel a bit odd about it, but I've struggled with food for so long now. I don't really keep crap food in the house. What tends to happen is that I get that way out and go out and get what I want, or order it in. It's incredibly compulsive. It's always carb-heavy too.

It's difficult nor to get disheartened when I don't think I've met one person who has lost weight and then kept it off; they always seem to regain, even if it was ten years later. I kept at my lowest weight for five years, had a stressful year and it threw me back into the cycle of comfort eating. I've been going up and down for the six years since then.

Can you tell yourself that losing/yoyoing is better for you than not losing any? ( here )

FWIW (I've only lost 21lbs since August), I'm finding using myfitnesspal to calorie count has really helped more than banning certain things, but everyone's different.

That's a really interesting article as I was always under the impression yo-toing was incredibly bad for you. Hmmm. I used myfitnesspal. I really liked it but it made me very obsessive. You've done really well upward; 21lbs is great.