So if nearly all of us are going to put the weight back on again, is there any point in trying to lose it in the first place?

[Fingalswave]

Caught brief glimpses of TV progs on this subject recently. Apparently, only 20% of dieters succeed in maintaining their weight loss? If this is true, why are we encouraged by doctors to try and reduce our weight? Does anyone have any links to the science pls?

And as I was going to start trying to lose weight in Lent, is there any point?

kneesupfatty there is hope - we absolutely can relearn to get in touch with our body's natural hunger/fullness cues. And we can work with any emotional eating and bingeing issues too. It's a relationship with food issue, as you say, and there is a different relationship we can have with food. We are not born this way and we can all change. I wish you the best of luck.

Only 4 months - not long enough to generalise, I realise! However, to take up kneesup's point, a naturally slim person eats in moderation without needing structure/rules. I have proved to myself over the last 10 years that I can't do that. And as far as 'rules' go, counting how many plates I've eaten is a damn sight easier than weighing food and logging it on MFP, or trying to believe that I can just never eat toast for the rest of my life. And having weekends off fits in nicely with most people's lives - most social stuff happens at weekends, when you're more likely to drink/go out for meals etc. And let's face it, having 3 square meals a day isn't exactly restrictive, is it?

Yes SMWild OW people were not always that way, it's down to unhelpful habits which can be changed. Positivity is important

Hi ppeatfruit there may be an element of learned habits around food and eating, I agree. For example, if you were brought up always having to clear your plate rather than being allowed to stop eating when you were full. But mostly it is dieting that messes up the body's natural ability to feel hungry and full and to desire nutritious food. And you can be any shape or size and have a dysfunctional relationship with food.

Sadly I actually think as a result of our culture of glorifying very slim bodies and dieting mentality, it's unusual to find a woman who doesn't have some kind of dysfunctional relationship with food! Many wouldn't necessarily recognise it as such though

(men have one too, but it is less common imho).

I'm not sure what a 'functional' relationship to food would be like, except to an unweaned baby.

The whole of society not only worships slim bodies, it worships all the foods that make us overweight, like alcohol, sugar, salt, pies, cakes, etc. Think of the television adverts.

Interesting ppeat...I'm not sure food is even simply functional to an unweaned baby, it comes along with all the lovely feelings of being held and loved after all...it shouldn't be a surprise that we continue to make that association later as well? The problem arises when, later in life, food is our sole source of those feelings so we become overdependent and overdose?

Can animals even self regulate though? They have no concerns about body image etc but if presented with unlimited food availability do they become over weight?

I know that you have to be careful not to overfeed goldfish......

That's true sleep, breast milk is sweet too! I don't know about formula it does smell sweet. I like a bit of dark chocolate (not highly sweetened) after lunch and I've noticed it's difficult to stop at just 2 squares!

I think it's a biological need for sugar and salty foods, we seem to crave the one and then the other. A dieticienne (sp?) told me that.

I tend to think of our appetite for sweet and salty foods as a survival mechanism, which would probably have been very useful, even essential when food was less plentiful. Since then, manufacturers have discovered that they can make 'food' (maybe we need another name of these near food substitutes) from very cheap ingredients, which appeal to these tastes. If we try to limit their intake, our body fights back thinking 'We need to survive, eat more....', setting us up for a lifetime of yoyo dieting.

The way out, for me, seems to be to eat real foods, mostly green vegetables with fat and some protein. Food from the ground, rather than from a factory. Any food which is heavily advertised, so that someone is prepared to pay money to encourage me to eat more of it, is making them a fortune. No part of that cycle is anything to do with my health and all about encouraging me to overeat.

The LCHF way is working for me, after an initial couple of days when it felt that all i could think about was sweet, sugary, pappy foood. Drinking a lot of water, after a couple of days, these urges just fell away and a feel so much better for it. Waistbands are getting looser and I really don't feel deprived.