Why is it so hard??

[CaramelLatte]

To keep the weight off? I seem to find it fairly easy to lose weight but keeping it off is another matter entirely. I recently lost three and a half stone and felt amazing, but have managed over the last six months to put a stone of that back on. How stupid is that! I can't let all that weight go back on yet again. I always fo this, lose weight then put it all on again. I am bloody determined it will NOT happen this time. Sorry fot the rant but I am so cross with myself and think that maybe putting it out there as it were might help.

Oh dear, gotta crack this as half the battle is won! How did you lose the weight? Was it too extreme to keep up?

Because we need food to survive.

It isn't as easy as quitting smoking or drugs - as we don't need those. But food we do.

I hear you - it does seem like it's a constant battle.

Recently I sat back and thought about it - and realised that I had been watching my weight since about the age of 12. What a waste of 33 years. Waste. Sigh.

I did it mainly with WW's online so no extreme dieting for me. I cut out unnecassary snacks and other rubbish. Ate lots of fruit and veg and mainly cooked meals from scratch. Its the rubbishy snacks sneaking back in that is the problem so I have stocked up on healthy ones in this weeks shop. Thanks for replying, and it often crosses my mind that dieting is so hard because as you say we have to eat. But no more excuses, I need to.do this for my.health if nothing.else( never mind the complete new wardrobe I bought).

Please feel free to ignore this because its only my theory but... I feel very strongly that programmes like WW don't work in the long run precisely because they're not meant to work in the long run. If they did, how would WW continue to make money? Everyone would keep the weight off, so no re-joiners. Plus, if it really did work, everyone would do it without having to even join, so eventually no customers at all!

I know that sounds a bit conspiracy theory ish! But IMO (again) WW doesn't teach you anything about how food works in your body - what different types of food do to your system and how they
might affect your levels of hunger, need to snack, etcetc. So it's easy to slip back into eating poor foods because you've been set up to still 'need' them, iyswim? You've not broken the cycles/habits that led to overweight in the first place.

It might be worth you looking at other ways of eating - most specifically low-carb or primal/paleo. These ways of eating are a real education! Plus, and probably most importantly, they curb hunger by keeping blood glucose steady and insulin low. This may be the thing that makes all the difference for you. Snacks will cease to be an issue, healthy or otherwise! Loads of info on this board, see what you think. Most people find it a very effective and satisfying way to eat.

Thanks tea that is worth thinking about. I have in the past been a bit wary about low carbing but I think the time has come to maybe give it a try. My brother does the primal diet and swears by it. Off to do some research.

It's definitely worth it. There is a long running low-carb thread on here and I believe they're starting another Bootcamp at the end of the month - you'd be very welcome to join! Or you could try the paleo/primal thread for advice. It's great that you would have family support on that WOE!

I truly believe that moving away from the conventional wisdom of calorie counting, low fat, high fibre and so on would do wonders for the majority of us. I think what we've been taught about weightloss, nutrition etc is mostly wrong, and it's damaged us. You might want to get hold of a book called Escape The Diet Trap by John Briffa too - it is the complete opposite to most of what we've been taught over the last 30 years but makes so much sense... Good luck!

I can't recommend the low carb bootcamp threads enough. They really help and get you into a good mindset.

One thing I have noticed is when I have weeks of madness (say holidays or Christmas or something) is that by eating processed carb rubbish makes you crave even more processed carb rubbish. Eating low carb or paleo means that you don't have those frenzied hungry lows where you feel like demolishing four packets of crips in a row.

There is a website called Marks Daily Apple which gives some good info.

Escape the Diet Trap is very good. Gives a lot of scientific explanation without being boring,

I think it is really helpful to look at it as a way of life eating plan, not a diet per se. So now I really avoid wheat and processed stuff most of the time. Of course I have times where I really crave some pasta, jam tarts, massive bag of chips or whatever, but these are reAlly in moderation. I would ever ban anything, but the vast majority of my dinners are meat and two veg based now.

Also if you keep away from processed stuff you are less likely to have sugar lows where you crave snacks, so you end up being able to drop snacks entirely. S you will altogether eat less anyway.

Thanks everyone, really helpful. I will definitely get that book, do you know if it is available on Kindle? One major stumbling block I have with low carbing is the thought that I would still be hungry iyswim.

You need not fear that, Caramel! The exact opposite will be true. When you eat low carb it means that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, as the body isn't producing such massive quantities of insulin. This means that you will not be hungry. Hunger is not just about how much food is/isn't in your stomach, it's about your hormonal balance. When we eat too much sugar (i.e. a lot of carbs) your body produces a huge amount of insulin to deal with it, which means that your blood sugar levels are constantly spiking and dropping. When they drop, this tells your body that it needs to eat again.

This explains why on a 'conventional' diet, your day will go something like this:

Breakfast - cereal, toast and fruit juice

11.00 - hungry, but it's not lunchtime yet - go for the biscuit tin or have another slice of toast

Lunch - sandwich, packet of crisps, possibly a chocolate bar for 'pudding'

3.00 - hungry again - time for a biscuit or a piece of cake or some such sugary treat

Dinner - pasta/rice-based dish

9.00 - hungry - get out the crisps

Those hunger points in the day are because your body has just had to deal with huge dump of sugar from your breakfast/lunch/dinner.

When low carbing you will actually find that you simply aren't hungry between meals. In fact you will probably be amazed that sometimes you forget to eat.

Thanks everyone. I have downloaded Escape the Diet Trap so here goes .

Bon chance!