Has anyone lost weight just by increasing their fibre intake?

[underoverunder]

I'm mid 40s and nothing I do - that used to work - has any impact on my weight or body. I've stopped eating sugar. I've seriously decreased alcohol intake and I have increased my exercise and nothing changes - not the shape and not the weight on the scales.

I've always thought healthy eating is more about what you put in your body than what you leave out, and recently read about Brits not having as much fibre as they ought to and that increased fibre can change the gut bacteria and that can help with weight loss. I'm all for trying this, I just wondered if anyone else has and if it helped.

I am 5' 7" and the scales waver between 11st 10 and 12stones.

I recently experienced something similar and what really made a difference what being extremely mindful of what I was eating.
I didn't need to lose much, a couple of kilos, but they wouldn't go. First time in my life, I couldn't shift the weight.
I eat a plant based diet, so tons of veggies and fibre, yet I was stuck . What worked for me was ZERO snacking, not even a bite of celery , between meals, stopping all nuts, and a soup for dinner with no bread/pasta/rice/potatoes.

I also changed my exercise regime from the typical Les Mills classes to crossfit-like sessions. You need to lift iron to see definition, or use your bodyweight intensively.

Have u been counting ur calories? How many are u eating each day

I haven't but I know I've been eating less over the past month. It's just comparing now to how things used to be. My weight would fluctuate in response to how and what I was eating in several weeks. Now? Nothing. No change. It makes me curious about other biological processes and age.

I don't have a very big lunch and don't have big portions for dinner. If I are less food, I would be hungry. I need to change what I eat. Cutting out the crap is no longer having an effect so I wondered if doubling my fibre would.

I would calorie count for a few weeks. Honestly I had no idea how much calories were in things till I did. It would be a way of ruling out that as a problem.

Sort of. I have IBS and have recently started the FODMAP diet. There are so many restricted foods (wheat and most dairy products amongst other things) it's meant I've massively increased my veg intake. For example instead of eating ham and cheese wraps for a weekend lunch I'm now eating rice veg (2 portions) and meat.
I lost half a stone in the first month.

Thanks. Perhaps I will go back to my fitness pal and track my calories. I find it so tedious. Is there an easier app to use? Something more uk based?

Not just by upping fibre no.
I have lost a stone just by logging everything I eat on My Fitness Pal and finally realising how many calories are actually in things and how it all adds up! It has helped me make better choices and swaps. I will happily have a lighter calorie meal so I can drink my calories in wine

Sadly logging calories does work - it becomes less of a pain once you have been doing it for a while. It really doesn't take that long in the grand scheme of things (5 mins per day) and is surely worth it?

I don't eat much processed or preprepared food, only eat homemade bread etc... I found it harder trying to work out the calories of my dinner and lunch.

under how so? We don’t eat any processed food & cook everything from scratch.Have you seen there is a recipe bit on MFP? just type in all the ingredients and how many portions it made and it works out the calories. It took me a while to figure that bit out but it it is very useful.

Another logging calories fan here! I’ve lost 10lbs since Jan 1st by logging everything on My Fitness Pal, consuming around 1200 calories a day. I allow myself a bit of leeway on the weekends because I run so I eat my the extra calories burned! I also completed the C25K in the same time period and now run 5k twice a week. I’d also recommend getting a Fitbit and doing at least 10k steps per day and weighing yourself every day is useful too.

OK - you've convinced me to give it another go. Would I be able to login to mfp on a pc? It might be easier to log my records than on my phone via the app. I used to select meals other people had entered but I'd have no way of knowing if their tomato and bean soup was anything like mine, for example.

Yes you can login via a PC. Honestly if I were you I'd just use the recipe section and input your own recipes. It becomes easier over time as obviously you've then got a lot of what you eat already in there.

under I’m always wary of selecting other people’s meals too. The recipe bit means I can decide if I want to eat a piece of the cake I’ve made or just let the guests polish it off. If there are things you make often (like me) then once you have the recipe saved you just click to log you have had a portion. Takes a bit of time to begin with -only a few mins each time you make something new-then seconds to click on it to add it in the future.

And if a recipe you use is on line, you can put in the web address and MFP will import the recipe and work out the calories that way. You might need to rejig a couple of ingredients but it is a really useful feature (for me as I use on line cookbooks a lot)

Oh thank you. Sounds like mfp has moved on since I last used it.