What makes us gain weight? Is it the amount we eat or what we eat?

[HappyGoGoLucky]

This is a silly Q I know. I just can't figure it out! When I followed SW, I was eating massive portions and lots of "free" foods and losing weight at the same time. However I've not stopped SW because it was getting too expensive so I've started using common sense, eating homemade foods and just cutting down on snacks. My weight has started to slowly creep back up again. What I've had to do now is cut down on my portion size significantly. So if I have made lasagna with full fat milk, oil, non-lean mince etc., I will only have 1/8th of it & bulk out the rest with salad. I feel like I'm having to eat a lot less than what I did on SW otherwise I will gain weight. Is it my portion sizes I'm going wrong? Calories? Carbs? I checked my metabolic rate and it says for my weight and height and lifestyle, I only need to consume 1700 calories a day to maintain and I was eating way more than that on SW.

Nuts are so easy to over eat due to the way they’re presented. Salty, convenient, in packets. Ditto dried fruit - Nature’s candy.

But avocados aren’t a problem for me SoftBlocks because they’re fatty so quite filling and one is enough. I don’t find they trigger over eating, they’re low in carbs and dietary fat doesn’t make you fat.

I find with fat on its own my body naturally regulates itself-I can only eat so much fat and my body says “no frigging way stop now or you’ll puke”. But fat mixed with carbs is a different matter as doing this seems to over ride the “full up” signal. So nuts are a bit dodgy as they are fat plus carb. And carbs on their own, gosh I can eat forever

I think you're in denial. If you wish to maintain or lose weight go back to the SW methods as they were clearly working before.

I think it’s about 75% calories and 25% what you eat.

Many people report great losses on low-carb diets, so there’s probably something to be said for trying to avoid things that lead to huge fluctuations in blood sugar levels, especially as that tends to make you feel hungry!

I’m not a big fan of the idea of cutting out all carbs though. It wouldn’t work for me and I’ve lost a fair amount of weight just eating a healthy diet with whole grains, but without lots of sugary crap.

It’s also been found that full fat dairy can make a significant difference. There’s a study that compared two groups that ate the same amount of kcals, but one group ate a lot more dairy and they lost significantly more weight.

So clearly there is a bit more to weight loss than just calories. But cutting calories is still a great start

I bought a dress and it arrived today. I absolutely love it but I reckon its a good 10lbs off fitting. I could have got the bigger size but I'm hoping that would be too big soon. So it'll hang in wardrobe taunting me until I can wear it.

Sorry, I posted that on the wrong thread.

I also think there's a lot of to be said for genetic coding (or something like that) or your ancestry when it comes down to food.

I just cannot eat bread, pasta, rice, white flour, sugar etc, it's totally toxic.

Meat and two veg, potatoes, thick lentil soups and loads of veg is best for me. Eggs, cheese, dairy, fruit, all fine.

Pasta actually makes me hungry!

I agree managedmis. Pasta/wheat makes me starving too. I’ve given it up for good along with rice and corn. I find these worse than sugar.

I did read that coeliac is more common in those of Irish heritage (possibly due to the dependence on potatoes? Sadly, despite being of that heritage myself, potatoes are a no no too) and lactose intolerance in Southeast Asians.