I don't want to feckin diet!

[Jerseyknit]

I'm really anti-dieting. I want to take a moderate and sensible approach to losing weight but I'm seriously pissed off that all my efforts have achieved nothing. Not a bloody pound. In fact, I've put in another two pounds. Ffs. I just want to scream. I'm two stone over weight. I was eating what I wanted, when I wanted. I was drinking lots of alcohol. I've stopped eating rubbish. I'm trying to keep to three square meals a day. I'm having fruit for breakfast. Home made soup for lunch and a sensible meal in the evening. I've significantly reduced my alcohol intake. I allow myself treats but don't go mad. I'm definitely not as active as I should be but short of serious dieting I'm really not sure what else I can do. Please will someone help me

I wish I could help you, but I'm the same - although I need to loose 4 stone.

I'm very anti-diet. I've tried everything. I've got a young dog who I need to walk miles everyday. I thought that might help things a little, but nothing.

This week, I'm having a go at (I think it's called 16:8) where I don't eat anything after 8pm and nothing again until past 1pm the next day. One of the fasting diets. I managed it yesterday but today I'm already starving!

Hope someone gives you a 'diet' lightbulb moment somewhere. I'm still looking I think.

I've been doing slimming world. I don't go in for artificial sweetners that some people do on it and other than avoiding bread it's mostly about the proportion if vegetables on your plate and cooking from scratch. Lost three stone since june

A lot of it is portion sizes as well. How big are yours, do you eat until you are full?

Slimming World is definitely for people who don't do diets!

I love it! I eat loads and lose loads. Try it for a week and see how it feels for you. They have a sample 7 day menu on their website.

Have you considered 5:2? It's not for everyone, admittedly.

But also it may be that you need to give your healthy eating routine time. Those 2 pound may be water retention or TOTM.

Having said that it's easy to underestimate calories, particularly if your think overall you're eating quite healthily.

How long have you been on this healthy eating kick?

Also remember that eating healthy food is not and should NEVER be purely about weight loss.

Aargh... These are mostly diet recommendations. I really don't want to diet. My portion sizes are honestly ok. I guess my point is that as I've significantly reduced my food intake. I was snacking loads. I thought I would naturally lose weight if I cut out these extras. For example, I was eating biscuits, crisps and drinking at least a couple glasses of wine most days. I'm only having wine once a week now. Im eating nothing in between meals unless it's fruit. Im having fruit for breakfast. I've cut out dairy. I rarely eat bread. This morning I had a banana and a tangerine for breakfast. Im having scrambled egg for lunch and maybe pasta for tea. That's not a huge amount if food and that's what my diet looks like almost daily. I guess exercise might be the key?

Hello- maybe start tracking your calorie intake on something like myfitnesspal - if you do this for a week (without making any changes to what you are currently eating) then it will help confirm how much you are eating, and whether you are eating 'right'. Also- it helps track your water intake. Pasta can be v high in calories and it is easy to load the plate high (boo!)

How long have you been doing it for?

And pasta might sound healthy, but how big is the serving and how much protein, how much of what you eat is vegetables?

What you describe potentially sounds very unbalanced to me.

Exercise is great for lots of reasons but rarely results in weightloss on its own. That's more down to diet.

Have you gotten your thyroid checked? If you've been doing this for a few weeks and you aren't losing weight, you may have a health problem.

Don't forget that everything you eat is your diet. Diet doesn't necessarily mean healthy eating or weight loss or any of that. It could also mean unhealthy diet, poor diet; do you see what I mean?

And SW is one of the only things I've done that doesn't refer to itself as a diet (and I've done lots). It's more of a healthy eating plan. Get the idea of diet out of your head as it appears to have a very negative affect on your psyche.

And remember, as someone upthread said, what you're eating might be small portions but it might not necessarily be healthy. And your metabolism will react to you cutting down on the amount you're eating, too, especially if it's mostly carbs. Write everything down for a week or use one of the apps, as someone ^^ suggested.

Don't know where the italics came from!

Fruit and pasta are really bad for me weight wise as I'm prediabetic.

I think it might be worth doing a few days of mfp to see how many calories you are eating. It may be more than you think even if it's less than before.

fitfatty makes an excellent point. If this has been going on a while it's worth checking to see if there's an underlying medical condition.

I do have a thyroid disorder. I'm having bloods done next week. I know pasta is calorific but I try not to have too much. I'm a pescetarian and eat fish regularly and veg every day. I use soya milk and meat substitutes. I eat fruit every day. I try to use very little oil in my cooking. I'm not sure where I'm not being healthy or balanced. Maybe I'm missing something? Mfp is a great idea. I used to do it. I'll start again.

I'm ravenous now

How long have you been eating like this Jersey - and what would you describe as a 'sensible' dinner? IME the best way to eat healthily is to make sure you always include good fat and protein at every meal - your breakfast and lunch look like they are lacking in both of these . All calories are not equal and pasta in itself isn't fattening (though too many refined carbs aren't good of course).

If you switch your thinking around from cutting stuff out and think about how well you are feeding your body - good fat is essential for good health, how much oily fish, raw nuts, avocado, cold pressed oil are you getting? How much protein do you have? If you aren't getting enough of these then your body is likely feeling deprived (starving) and will hold on to fat reserves - some people's bodies are much more effective at this than others. And veg? How often do you eat whole food carbs such as lentils, chickpeas, beans, lentils (much more nutrient and fibre dense than white carbs and also IMO better for you than manufactured meat substitutes). Also if you get enough good fat, protein and veg then you are less likely to crave the less healthy stuff. I would use MFP not for the calorie count but to look at your macros - fat/protein/carbs. Without getting hung up on numbers, but to guide and inform you, I would aim for 0.8g of protein per 1lb of body weight and 30% fat from good sources - see how your day compares to these at the moment and fiddle with it to see how you can adjust meals. Try and get your carbs from veg and whole food whenever possible without banning beige food completely, which almost always backfires spectacularly at some point.

Honestly - I would try tracking calories religiously for a week or two, weighing everything. It's a pain but when I did this I realised I was significantly underestimating how much I was eating. A portion of pasta is not very much really and the same with meat.

I bought a Fitbit to get me moving more, use myfitnesspal to track calories to help me eat less and the weight is coming off at about 1-2lbs a week which is sensible amount. I have 4 stone to lose, so it's a long road but I am confident.

Thank you sleep. That was really helpful. I've been cutting out rubbish for over 6 weeks. A sensible meal for example last night was trout baked in the oven with no oil. Small baked potato with fresh roasted carrots and red onion with fresh rosemary and a drissle of olive oil. All baked in the oven. Yesterday I also had a fruit cocktail for breakfast. Home made lentil soup for lunch. I had a soya coffee with a friend and an almond biscuit at Costa yesterday which is not something I do regularly. Today I've had a banana and tangerine for breakfast. Two skinny soya Americano coffees, a large glass of water and just scoffed a scrambled eggs with no oil and vege bacon for lunch. For tea tonight I'm planning quorn sausage casserole. Again, I probably won't use any oil. I'll just shove it all in the oven. I've just started using mfp today. I'm trying not to worry too much about calories more focus on being healthy otherwise it feels like a diet.

Thanks socks. Maybe a Fitbit is a good next move.

I would get less tied up in tracking numbers/calories tbh. Are you hungry during the day and willing yourself not to eat? Are you 'judging' foods? If so that is a dieting mindset . It's crazy that we try and ignore hunger, if someone told us to ignore the feeling that we need to drink, sleep or pee then we would think they were insane. Trouble is too much sugar/fast carbs/junk can hijack our hunger cues and dieting makes us lose the ability to perceive it accurately. So if you feel hungry, ask yourself what your body might need (only in about 2% of cases will it actually be cake ).

Damn! I'm sure my body is crying out for sticky toffee pudding. I guess I'll avoid that though. I feel most hungry at bed time. I felt hungry before lunch which is why I had my scrambled egg early. I'm trying to keep to scheduled meal times. I suspect I'll be hungry again before five but I'm determined to retrain myself to stop snacking. I'm not doing badly at all. I'm just not bloody losing any weight as a result. I'm seriously annoyed about it. I have significantly decreased the frap I eat which begs the question, why the feck am I bothering!

Looking at what you are eating...

Slow down, relax when you eat and savour and enjoy the food.

I'd add some coconut yoghurt to your fruit in the morning, or have a couple of eggs, maybe on buttered spinach or with smoked salmon.

Keep your Americano coffee but use ff milk (the calorie difference with be negligible but the sense that you are restricting will be much reduced). It's true that small changes add up but this is really so small to be not worth it .

Have a jacket potato at lunch (drop it from dinner), with some tuna in olive oil to fill and a pile of veggies/salad.

Have smoked salmon instead of veggie bacon with scrambled eggs.

Add a dollop of yoghurt and seeds to your lentil soup.

See how you go!

Oh and while no snacking works for some people it doesn't for everyone and it can also mean tweaking meals like I've suggested above so that they are substantial enough to keep you going, before you can eliminate them completely. Why don't you have an apple spread with a little nut butter, some crudités and a dollop of houmous or half an avocado perhaps?

You may not be eating enough! The calorie counting can work both ways

Sleep has come up with some great suggestions. You should not have just fruit at breakfast (which is only carbs), you need fat and protein in there too. So have some fruit with a couple of tablespoons of full fat greek yoghurt, or have scrambled eggs (no toast) followed by fruit.

If you introduce a little regular exercise to it all you will definitely notice weight loss.