A weight loss thread for just eating less

[Lorelei76]

hello all
short version

have tried to lose weight a few times!

going for the "eating less" approach. Had a long weekend break, now starting in earnest with the hope of a boot camp style month.

I don't eat a huge amount of junk, but nonetheless want to tackle my sweet tooth as it certainly doesn't help with anything. I only have sugar free jelly in the house to eat now if I have the urge for something sweet - I've learned from experience that if I have no options at all, I will just start eating anything.

I am also trying to eat less - smaller meals, in some cases not 3 meals a day because I don't always need that.

it is a casual approach but I find calorie counting etc really boring. I walk a lot and do some weight training and yoga so all good on that front.

anyone fancy joining me? I think it would be nice to check in once a day just to say "I haven't overeaten" and share it with someone!

Just done a weekly weigh in. Lost 1 1/4 pounds. Have plateaued for ages until now. But we shall see. One swallow doesn't make a summer!

Can I join you all?
I want to list around 1stone. I've lost 2 1/2 stone already. 2 myself and 7lbs with SW.

I'm sick of being on a diet. I want to learn better healthier habits, rather than feeling like a failure.
I think I need to cut down on bread but I always go a bit blank about what to have for lunch if I don't have a sandwich. What do you have?

I had the same prob with bread, it was the staple part of most of my meals (and toasty snacks!). Try some homemade coleslaw half mayo and half yogurt. Boiled eggs. Soup etc. I have a couple of oatcakes too so I feel like I've had something breadish. Lol. Well done losing 2 1/2 stone. Thats brill!

Yes, me too re sandwich! I thought maybe going to porridge for breakfast then sandwich for lunch (?!) or making the sandwich using a cold two egg omelette instead of bread. I googled low carb quick lunch and it suggested using lettuce as a wrap, or even sliced beef, ham or chicken iyswim. But maybe you could try getting the things you'd put into a sandwich into the contents of a tin of mixed beans, chickpeas or whatever? These are just theoretical for now, I've not tried them, lol!

Yes, indeed congrats on the loss sparkle.

Eating less made me lose 10kg since I started towards the end of April/early May, and that includes one week of camping holidays where I had neither access to scales to weigh myself nor my food portions. I've got around 25kg left to lose before I get where I want to be

I felt quite hungry the first two weeks but now stick to 1200kcal a day most days ( sometimes I go up to 1600 at a weekend with drinks) without feeling like I'm depriving myself. If I want a treat I'll have it ( I just account for it and make up in other ways so the overall energy balance stays the same), luckily I really like salads and fruit. With stronger herby leaves I also find that I don't really need/want dressing and less bread and sugar means I now get fewer hypos that used to really make me stuff my face.

Writing everything down that I eat helps, as it makes me think about if I really want it. If I don't want to log it I won't eat it. The other thing that really helps is daily weighing (every morning, before breakfast).Whilst I'm on a continuous downward trajectory I can have fluctuations up and down of up to two kilos. If I weighed myself less often I'd probably feel I was stagnating or even gaining when I'm not. Knowing that 1 kg of fat weight gain equals 7000 excess calories also helps me rationalising when I'm going up - my food diary then easily evidences that it must be water retention.

Widow, do you not find that takes over your life? I am full of admiration for your determination, but could not do it!

I have not had very much bread at all in the past two weeks, for lunch today i had half a bagel, toasted, topped with scrambled egg. Over the past fortnight, I also had a home made chapati with a curry i made and a whole meal pitta bread stuffed with grilled chicken and salad, but that is the extent of my bread eating, and that is from someone who was eating 3 slices of toast for breakfast, a sarnie every lunchtime and could get through half a tiger loaf with a salad!

I weighed myself today (2 days short of a fortnight) and have lost 7.7 kilos (1st 3lbs) since i started😊 i am so pleased. I feel better, less bloated, less knackered at the end of each day. I think it has simply been eating properly. The amount of bread, potatoes, chocolate and biscuits, as well as wine i was getting through was quite disgraceful. I am saving money too😉😉

Well done all
I have had an okay day
Tbh nearly a whole week with no chocolate is an achievement for me

I'll weigh in on Monday but as I know I lose slowly I was wondering if a weekly weigh in isn't right for me, but the habit changing is more important

Tooold, when did you start? I'm a bit confused.

I had one week exclusion diet, which ended last Sunday night, so, from Monday onwards, just eating sensibly.

You are doing brilliantly Lorelei, you are doing like me regarding chocolate, so well done you😊 once a week weigh in is not too much, but like you, i am trying to change my eating habits as a priority, the weight loss will naturally follow.

Cooking Sunday lunch for ten tomorrow. I usually lock myself in the kitchen with a bottle of wine and some pringles whilst cooking, so will see how i get on with lime and soda and celery (i love celery)!

So Toold, you've lost a stone in 2 weeks? I must still be confused...
I was in the supermarket today, even avoiding the sweet section, there was offer chocolate around. When you think how much there is to ignore, it does seem better to ignore it and not attempt moderation. Well it works better for me anyway.

Tooold - the first few weeks it was a bit intense in my thinking but now the logging of food has really just become second nature, and it feels pretty good as it allows me guilt free snacking, as I just know to adjust whatever I eat in other ways. What really helped was a brilliant book which I don't think has been translated into English called "Fettlogik überwinden (lit "overcoming fat logic") - which talked a lot about diet myths. I don't worry about syns or points or other weird ways of controlling what I eat other than looking to keep my overall kcal intake below what my body burns. I had cheese cake for breakfast today. I didn't feel guilty, just had a really light lunch to make up for it

I've lost about 20lbs doing this - it hasn't been quick, it has been since the end of Feb and I seem to have hit a wall a bit at the moment - well more I gain a bit at the weekend and loose it again in the week.

I cut down dramatically on coke and snacks - esp chocolate, but some 'bad' habits are starting to creep back in (I blame the heat) I have about another pound to go till I am at my target and another 4lbs to go to where I (hope I) will be happy.

Crisps are my nemesis, and it is them that I should really cut out all together. I probably break every diet rule going though.

I weigh every day too - I am not sure if this is good or not.

Well I still only lost half a pound this week
But that's better than nothing.....

Can I join please? I've booked my wedding for end of May next year and bought a size 12 dress! Estimating I'll need to lose around 3 stone by then. In the last 3 weeks I've lost 7lbs by eating a lot less and just healthy foods. My portions are far too big. I had a baby 9 months ago and have lost 2.5stone since she was born but I gained a huge amount of water weight due to several al health problems, that's not all fat loss.

Am sick of being fat. Good luck everyone on your journey.

Lorelei - half a pound definitely is better than nothing, well done!

I'm stuck on 12.5 stone for the last week or two. This was the weight I was about a year ago before I put on a stone. It seems to be my 'sticking point' so I need to power on through. Crisps also my downfall (and toast). I have had to cut them out altogether. Feeling grotty today (headcold) and feel the urge to comfort eat but will try and resist. The longer you resist the easier it gets kind of. One thing I have found which I'd be interested to hear if others do to is that if I am bad and pig out then the next day I am really hungry? But if I am on a good phase and eating less I dont fell hungry in the morning? Learning the difference between hunger and craving is a very useful tool. Ask yourself if you are actually hungry before eating.

Agree Humble.

I know everyone bangs on about how important breakfast is, but I found that when i was having toast for breakfast, come eleven o'clock, i was hungry for lunch, so would have a sandwich, crisps, biscuits. Dinner time would roll around and after a glass or two of wine i would have a large meal.

I realised that i was not hungry in the mornings (i walk for miles with the dogs, and habit dictated that i got home, stripped, showered and had breakfast), so i stopped eating it. I have my first food at 10:30 ish, today it was a bagel with cottage cheese and pineapple. That will quite happily see me through until dinner. So not only have i lowered my bread intake, i have lost the sarnie, crisps, biscuit routine at lunchtime too, and i am eating because i am hungry!

I had 5o give myself a shake yesterday. It is so easy to get obsessive. I had fmily for Sunday lunch and i overindulged, especially with DiLs chocolate cake 😶
Felt bloated and horrible afterwards, and guilty! As though one day of what used to be 'normal' eating for me was the end of the world! Got a grip and just suffered fat bellyness all last night😊

Lorelei, need to remember - we are doing this to eat better, healthier foods, weight loss is an added extra! And you are still losing. I think your body has gone into panic mode and is storing as much fat as it can, just in case, just keep going😊

I forgot to weigh myself this morning, so will do so tomorrow when yesterdays blowout has gone

Ihate congratulations! Very brave as well, and 7lbs in 3 weeks is a healthy way to lose weight too !

toold "Lorelei, need to remember - we are doing this to eat better, healthier foods, weight loss is an added extra!"

nope, i'm doing it to lose weight.

so did you lose more than a stone in 2 weeks, I'm still confused.

to the poster saying about breakfast, yes I have that problem. Thing is I have a long commute, so often I end up eating at home because I find eating on transport disgusting and I am also carrying lunch to the office. but at the weekend I don't eat till about 1pm and often find I eat less through the whole day as a result.

forgot to ask
some of you have mentioned spiralisers

I like the zero cal spaghetti but it's expensive. Are there any veggies that have that "no taste" so I can get the taste of the bolognese or whatever?

Lorelei, yes, I did lose a stone in two weeks.

The first week i deliberately followed a very structured 'diet' which removed all of the foods i love. It is apparently a diet recommended by doctors for patients who need to lose a lot of weight in a short space of time in order to have surgery (how true this is is another matter). It completely quashed all cravings, I found it easy to stick to ( I must have masochistic tendencies, the stricter something is, the easier I find to follow), and I lost something like 10lbs in one week.
I then reintroduced more normal, healthy food, without going back on the chocolate and wine (my two major failings).
I eat breakfast at brunchtime, have an evening meal, nothing in between and drink loads of water. My weigh in day should be Monday morning, but I forgot this morning, so will weigh myself tomorrow. BUT when I jumped on the scales on Friday (so 2 days short of a full fortnight), I had lost another 7lbs.
That would bring my total weight loss in two weeks up to 17lbs, but i would guess that my pig in yesterday might have done me in

To be honest, I think I have just shed excess excess weight, if you know what I mean, and from now on, I will not lose very much at all on a weekly basis. Maybe a pound one week and gain a pound the next, but I feel better for this new healthier eating, much more energy and my wallet is in heaven!

Does that clear up things? I am crap at explaining!

tooold - thanks

I'm just really stunned

I didn't eat much for a few weeks when I broke my back - no joke, couldn't stomach the painkillers and was in major shock so really can't have had more than about 400 cals a day for a while - and I didn't lose a stone.

I am so jealous!

To be perfectly honest though Lorelei, It was probably 'easy' weight to lose.
I am in my mid 50's and even after having two children, my weight never went above 8st 6lbs. Then I had breast cancer, then ovarian cancer, all the treatments etc., and the weight piled on. I have no one to blame but myself, I think a lot of it was comfort eating - 'I deserve this exceptionally large bar of chocolate' kind of attitude.
When I weighed myself just before starting this, I was horrified that I weighed in at 10st10lbs.

I honestly believe that all I have lost is the real excess weight that I gained. To lose the next stone would be a miracle

If you want to have a nosey, this is what I did:

www.jaduncan.com/2006/04/how-i-lost-stone-in-week.html

Tooold, thanks. I would find that food really hard tbh, it reminds me a bit of when I tried 5:2, which my doc later said I shouldn't have done on account of low blood pressure (her explanation of why I felt so rough on it).

Today someone brought a home baked choc cake in, his baking is fab and he tried to offer me a slice three times, I honestly think his brain couldn't compute my polite "oh I'm all right thanks". I did compliment him on how great it looked. Not having had choc for a week has made me lose interest. That's what I call a result

I'm on day 3, although yesterday I went a bit mad on crisps and starburst because I was feeling ill and sorry for myself.

I've discovered sesame ryvita is really nice so I'm having that instead of bread for lunch.

I'm also trying to drink more water but struggling to manage it.