AIBU to want a gentler health/weight discussion

[argumentativefeminist]

Want to interact with others and get support/motivation for getting healthier and active, and in the process losing weight. But I absolutely don't want to hear any "diet culture", calorie counting or unhealthy disordered eating promotion. Surely I can't be the only one? Sometimes it seems like every thread I click on is just full of upsetting, unhelpful comments that sound like they could have been lifted from a thinspo website.

I find it liberating not to be stressed about what I should be eating.

I'm trying to be careful about only eating what I need. That's always been my struggle. Drilled into me to eat vast portions and to clear my plate cos the poor starving kids in Biafra couldn't.

I did have 3 chocolate chip cookies with my cup of tea last night and was annoyed with myself as they were big and one would have been plenty. It's not like I was actually hungry. Falling back into old habits of feast or famine, there.

I am trying to focus on eating the tasty parts of food and recognising the stuff that's just bland filler (mash, I'm looking at you), and not piling it in just cos it's there and it's habit.

So far it's been a very tasty couple of days, I'm surprised. Much greater variety.

Really happy to hear from you Elspeth 💕 I'm working on stopping when I'm full. Properly full, but not eating so much that I feel sick and need a lie down 😂 What's been your favourite meal you've had? Tried anything new and funky?

Nah still on the Beetroot and feta train!

Elspeth I ate a whole bowl of chocolate icecream in bed last night after it take aaaaages to convince the baby it’s ok to sleep even though it’s hot and light! 3 biscuits is not the end of the world, it really isn’t.

I still need convincing of that Verbena and I'm a grown up! Our bodies need ice cream and biscuits sometimes, and our minds do too. It's all okiely dokiely 😁

It was fab, no shame here!

Just had a very sunny walk and am about to indulge in total self-care by heading to 2 hours of drawing in a beautiful old art gallery where it is totally silent and cool and there is proper coffee in a cafetière at break time

I always eat when I’m stressed or tired (or both). so always
Just had a rough morning with DCs and came home and ate biscuits and crisps while they played with Lego.
Ah well, one day at a time....

Snarty I’m loving apples straight out of the fridge for quick crunchy goodness in this weather, if you’re after a no effort grab-and-stuff-I’m-face snack idea. They’ve got to be crisp and a bit sharp; Granny Smith or Braeburn.

• in - my autocorrect wants me to loose my grip on grammar today

Verbena I actually just made a little noise of jealous pain at your art gallery trip. I am absolutely pining for my university library and coffee shops over this long, long summer - I love my family but I need my space and I need the cakes they have there 😂

Snarty I agree r.e. stressed and tired eating! But it is good advice to try to find substitutes based on texture - I dont want to sound like a Cosmo article ("crunchy food cravings mean you're angry, soft foods mean you're in loveeee etc etc") but I think it does work for me 😂

Saw an advert today for multigrain sunbites which I definitely want to try!

Thanks for the advice! I do love fruit so that is an easy fix! Haha, I was probably at little annoyed and crunching my crisps (which I didn’t even taste!).

Just finished a wee restorative yoga session on the down dog app, and I feel much better. Thanks so much for that recommendation.

Glad you love it Snarty! Restorative gets me so chilled, definitely my favourite.

Verbena I love a Macintosh apple straight from the fridge but they are proving difficult to find these days... Aldi we're doing them but haven't been in any of my local Aldi's for a few months now

Have tried yoga app... may need more practice... 🤣🤣

whiskey it is really hard at first! But it'll definitely get easier if you do it more times. Try restorative maybe if you did beginners? (I can't remember whats in the free version and what's not, so obvs if I'm suggesting paid features and you dont want to pay then just ignore me 😂)

Can you find an alternative library? Even our little local one, whilst distinctly lacking in scholarly writing, is a lovely oasis of calm! No cake though .

Had a lovely time (sorry!) drawing a gorgeous woman who was so comfy in her skin; really lovely having time to just quietly draw and life classes are so great for reminding you what bollocks conventional beauty standards are, I find.

Am now at home wondering whether yoga nidra might work on a 10 month old as he’s currently zooming around the bed giggling?! Daredn’t try it as I think it’ll work on me and I’ll end up asleep while he continues his one-man party.

I nearly posed for life drawing once Verbena! Hopefully I'll get another opportunity this year, and I'll definitely do it. Maybe you should zoom round the bed giggling too until you both fall asleep 😂

Haha, that’s pretty much what we did (I’m sure the baby books don’t approve but, frankly, fuck them).

I used to life model all through uni. Its money to daydream in a pile of cushions but it’s also so refreshing to see your body as a series of shapes and tones rather than something that defines your value as a human being. Don’t do it any more as I teach art and encourage my A-level kids to seek out life classes, and I really think that’d be more awkward than bumping into a student at the supermarket!!

Hello, what a lovely thread. I do mindful eating and am slowly slowly losing weight. It's so easy to feel bad about our bodies and that we should diet but then I only end up bingeing. Ive started walking and doing light weights and yoga. Like lots of you, trying to be kinder and more loving towards myself but it's not always easy.

My new favourite snack at the moment is yogurt (I use soya yogurt mostly but any plain one would do), a handful of frozen berries straight from the freezer and a generous teaspoon of peanut coconut butter.

Great mix of textures and the nut butter goes satisfyingly solid on the frozen berries like Ice Magic used to do on ice-cream...

My great problem is that I hate all yoghurts. And lot of diet plans revolve around snacking on yoghurt. In WW and SW they are obsessed with Muller Light. So I always felt there was 10% of the diet I couldn't do, and was thwarted before I even started.

If I had a penny for every time someone suggested I try Greek yoghurt! I feel like saying "wow I never thought of that. MY GOD YOU'VE CHANGED MY LIFE!"

But now I don't care cos I'm just doing my own thing.

Hey Jemmima! 🌻 We're getting much more of a following here now than I expected! 😂 Hopefully we can help you to feel more loving about yourself, it is really hard but it's definitely worth it, it's absolutely changed my life.

thecurtains I will definitely be trying that! Need to get on with some breakfast but I've only just woken up and I'm still knackered 😴

Elspeth - We'll keep our Greek yoghurt discourse to a minimum here, I promise 😂 I hate butternut squash which seems to feature heavily in everyone else's healthy eating!

Hmm yes it's finding what our bodies like that's also good...

I have a recipe book that features quinoa and other things like it.

But quinoa has has its last chance with me... don't think I'll ever learn to like it!

Thecurtains Quinoa is just like watery, nasty couscous - but maybe I'm making it wrong! I'd much rather have couscous with loads of spices and dried fruit.

I joined a thread where the OP didn’t want to use scales but it pretty quickly turned into people talking about how many pounds they’d lost which I don’t really want to read, so I may jump ship to here if you’ll have me? I’m overweight but have done c25k and now run 3 times per week (not far, somewhere between 3 and 6k usually), and do Pilates, BodyBalance and Zumba, all of which I love. I’m vegan, which people are usually surprised by as they expect all vegans to be skinny 😉 Am currently on holiday and enjoying eating without having to wash up 🤣