Can someone help me please...?

[mumat39]

Ok, so I am overweight, by about 3 stones and really want to lose weight and be slim for the first time in years.

I have always loved food, but especially sweet stuff.

I am on anti depressants for depression and anxiety and also on levothyroxine for hypothyroidism.

I have tried

Low curbing - but found it too expensive and difficult to stick to for various reasons. Lost 10 lbs but then lost interest, I think I lasted 7 weeks.
Rosemary Conley - lost interest soon after starting due to lack of desire to cook. Lost 10lbs in about 10 weeks
Slimming world- long time ago, again the cooking thing got me again.
Weight watchers - just got bored.
Diet chef - very expensive and lost a stone in three months. Didn't really like the food, apart from the sweet stuff, and couldn't afford to carry on, even ifi had wanted to.

So I have lost weight and the minute I stopped I put it all back on. I live on ready meals, which is expensive too, but really don't have the inclination to cook for myself. I cook for my dc, but not very well, and they often won't eat what I try and make and then I set off into a negative spiral and go for chocolate or other sweet stuff. I have been k ow to go out at 11pm under the pretence of needing something urgent but just to get my sweet crap fix.

Every time I stop dieting, my sugar cravings hit me like a speeding train and I can't stop myself. My weight then creeps up and up and before I know it I see a fat middle aged woman in the mirror. I'll be 45 soon. I just can't seem to stop myself. The more I try the quicker I seem to fail.

I feel really crap about this all. I hate how I look in or out of clothes. I caught sight of myself in a shop window yesterday and really hated what I saw. I am surrounded by lovely slim well dressed people. I feel like a bag lady and wonder around in dark jeans, yes in this heat, and I'll fitting tops.

So, she said getting to the point, what would be the best diet for me? I lose weight very slowly, so when others are losing their second stome and i am on my first 10lbs, i seem to hit a wall and just think oh whats the point and reach for something sweet, even if it's a spoonful of sugar.

There are loads that I see mentioned, on here, but I am so so confused, so thought I'd ask for help. I hate how I am, and feel pathetic, so please can someone help me. All I know is I want to lose weight quickly, but something is wrong with me. Why can't I just do this?

Thank you for reading.

I would suggest the 5:2 aproach. For 2 days a week, eat less than 500 calories. That's it. No special foods (in fact it should save you money), no need to cook if you dont want to, and because you have 5 "normal" days, you shouldn't get bored.

Try it for a month and see how you get on.

Thanks Melanie.

I was going to have a look at the 5:2 threads today. Is it really as simple as that? Wow. In my head I'd imagined it was much more difficult.

Do you know how/why this works? Does it work for everyone?

Thanks for the tip. I'll go and read up on it now.

It works for MOST people, and the average loss is a pound a week.

The actual weight loss is probably just due to lower calorie intake over the whole week, but the other health benefits claimed result from making your body repair its existing cells rather than making new ones all the time.

Low GI has been working well for me. It was recommended by a qualified sports nutritionist and personal trainer.

I don't like a lot of brown carbs though so my diet is a bit lower in carb than a regular GI diet.

A typical day for me would be high protein yoghurt and a banana or porridge with peanut butter and crunchy breakfast topper (mainly nuts and seeds) or museli, yoghurt and berries.

Lunch would be baked with sweet potato with cottage cheese or crab meat, sweetcorn and mayo or a crab salad or 2 roast chicken thighs with with salad and homemade coleslaw (I find a lot of the shop bought stuff has sugars, extra oils and sweeteners added to it )

Dinner would be a homemade curry with mashed cauli instead of brown rice, spinach or mushroom omelet or chicken and veg satay without the noodles, or salmon with new potatoes, sprouting broccoli and asparagus.

I've lost 3 stone over 3 months with this diet plus regular high intensity exercise.

Apparently the low GI controls your blood sugar and stops you craving. He recommends avoiding all sweeteners and processsed foods and drinks and lots and lots of water.

Thanks again.

The weightloss sounds slow. I know that that's the best way to lose weight but that's the thing that really gets to me, and probably why I self destruct fall off the wagon.

It sounds doable so will give it a go. agin.

D0oin, wow, that's amazing weight loss !!! Congratulations!

Your food sounds lovely, but I know I wouldn't be able to sustain cooking and preparing food like that every day. When I've tried cooking from scratch, I find I tend to just eat the simplest thing to make day in day out. I really am not a good cook and there have been too many times where what I've made is basically inedible and just not worth the effort. I'm sure I sound lazy. But I'm just trying to stop this yo-yo cycle I've found myself in.

You've done so so well.

They are my simple meals I've been working a lot lately, if I'm not working I get quite inventive at making 'healthy' pies and dumplings and stews etc.

Baked sweet potato - bung in the microwave on high for 8 minutes, turn it over and stick it in for another 2 minutes, salads are simple, roast chicken thigh - wrestle dogs away from the chicken , brush with oil and garlic paste ( I buy this, not make it) cook on 180 for 25 minutes, homemade coleslaw, stick some onions and cabbage into the food processor and blitz, change food processor blades to the grater and grate carrot into it, add a good quality mayo, you can make your own mayo pretty easily with a food processor but I normally don't bother.

Homemade curry, stick sliced carrots, diced chicken breast, halved mushrooms and tinned marrowfat peas into the slow cooker with half a tub of maykway curry powder, add water to just cover all the ingredients, mix and leave on high for 5 hours, add chicken bisto if it doesn't thicken.

Salmon - brush with oil, cook skin side up on 180 for about 15 minutes.

I love sweet stuff, and rate the 5:2 too but do other things.

I bake whole meal and bran prune muffins with minimal sugar and sweetened with mashed banana ... Taste better than they sound but gives me something to reach for. Get googling for healthy treats and cook them.

Eat a big bowl of porridge for brekky, sweeten with cinnamon and grated apple and the merest sprinkling of sugar on top, if you must...

Walk, everywhere and quickly... I get away with eating tons really and t because I walk everywhere. I shop in many goes walking to and from the shops, I walk the dogs, the children, we swim and bike and it all helps.

Join an exercise class it's horrific how little it burns off...makes you really question if you need to eat it.

I use low cal hot chocolate as my sweet treat...one day this will go too.

I jump off the wagon sometimes and how but am much thinner recently and slowly edging down not up.

You can do it.

Ok being brutally honest you sound like you are making lots of excuses. You can lose weight but you either get bored, don't like cooking etc etc.

Losing weight is a long term committment, there is no quick fix and you need to work at it and stick to it.

You can do it but the question is, do you want it enough? 3 stone is not a massive amount to lose if you put your mind to it. 1-2 lbs is a perfect weight loss as your skin will take it better and the weight will stay away for longer.

Good luck :)

That's how I think I sound, to myself most of the time. I really really do want to lose weight but don't understand why I can't stick at it. I've been meaning to ask on here for ages but kept thinking I sound like I want someone to wave a wand.

What I have written is based on how I've been everytime I've tried to deal with my weight. I wish I could just understand why I keep doing this.

I get all excited when I start, like it will be different this time and this is the diet for me. A few weeks in, I always fail.

I realise how pathetic that sounds. The skin thing is a good point. I've never even considered that.

Thanks for your help. I'm going to try the 5:2 approach and see how I go.
:)

Yeah just keep going, I think enthusiasm is hard to keep. Subtle changes seem to work best for me...porridge all the way:)

Good luck mumat39. A word of warning from someone who recognises a little of herself in you though: don't view the '5' days as a reward for being good on the '2' days - I know I would and I'd just binge on normal days.

I'm another 5:2er here and love it. I agree with stow that you can't look at the normal eating days as an excuse to revert to binging.

You need to change your mindset and not look at 'slow' weightloss eg 1lb a week as something negative. I've lost 5 stones in a little over a year losing an average of 1lb a week - slow and steady wins the day. I've even had mega stalls eg 4 months of gaining/losing/gaining/losing the same few lbs. But if all that slow and no weightloss had put me off then I would still be 5 stones (if not more!) overweight!

Take the longterm view and don't think 1lb or less down a week is too little. It all adds up.

Stow, Thanks for the tip. I can quite easily imagine myself doing just that so it's good to be aware of it. Thanks

MrsMunch, having read the thread on this and watched the Michael Mosley horizon program, I can see that the changes to go to 5:2 are relatively subtle. I often have days where I can go without food until well into the afternoon, so I know I can do that. It's just the hoovering up anything I see after that time is the problem. I think sometimes, I'm just not aware of doing it, iykwim? Thanks for replying.

Bssh, wow! Congratulations! That's amazing! What a great example of things adding up. And well done for not giving up! Yours is such an inspirational example! Thanks for replying.

Thanks mumat39. Sorry to bang on, but I'm quite passionate about this: I see too many dieters give up when they lose nothing or lose "just" a lb or less and it makes me despair because imagine if they'd carried on a few more months, accepting small losses, how big those losses would become... Three weeks ago I lost 0.6 of a lb, last week 2.2lbs, this week nothing. Am I giving up? Hell no! I've lost 5 stones this way and I want to lose another stone. One poster I know lost 0.2 lbs this week - but she recorded it and is hasn't given up (she's already lost 60+ lbs).

Best of luck! If you're doing 5:2 then post in the 5:2 section (especially the no. 23 thread) as there's a lot of support there.

Will do Bssh. Thanks again.

Can I just ask about the fast days? Do you do two days together or separately? I'm a bit confused about that. And do you stick to the same fast days beach week?

Thanks so much.

You can pick any 2 days you like. Back to back is a bit more difficult, but if circumstances dictate, then there's nothing wrong with doing them consecutively.

Monday is a popular choice after the weekend, and Thursday gives the max number of days between fasts. But you can switch about as it suits.

Yep, it's all very flexible. I generally do Monday and Thursday but sometimes do Friday or Tuesday.

Oh and I also heartily concur with Bssh - slow is BEST. It really is, because it stays off MUCH, MUCH longer. I'll stop shouting now (bit pissed!)

Thank you everyone.

I am going to do a fast day today.

I am already hungry, but will persevere.

Thanks so much for the recommendation. I hadn't really looked into the 5:2 option before, but am happy to be trying it.

Thanks also for the inspirational posts, and the reality check about the slow weightloss.

Good luck! Do seek out the latest 5:2 thread (no. 23) in the Fasting forum as you'll get daily (even hourly!) support from loads of fasters there (sorry, am on phone and can't link).

I could have written your post. I have a very sweet tooth and lose weight very slowly.
I can cook but hate it, can't be bothered etc. When I go on a diet I tend to buy ww ready meals as they're easy and already weighed out etc. my weight then comes off about a pound every two weeks or so.

A few years ago I went away for two weeks with a friend who is an excellent cook. She knew I was going to ww so cooked accordingly. I have never eaten so much or so well. When I got home I had lost half a stone.
It seems that the key to my weight loss was fresh food, not ready meals that are loaded with sugar and salt.
I know you say you aren't a good cook, but why don't you try googling simple recipes and take it from there?

I also found that eating a lot of fresh food balanced out my blood sugars and the sugar cravings reduced considerably. They didn't stop altogether, but occasional ones are ok and fairly normal IMO.

I'll go and say hello on that now. Thanks Bssh.