A cry for support

[TheAgeofAnxiety]

DS has just turned 2 and I have never lost the baby weight (34 lbs). I am weaning off antidepressants which I think blocked my metabolism - I don't think I have been eating much AND I have kept running but nothing.

So after the Manchester HM completed at 180 lbs and an obese BMI (30.5) I have started low carbing. Lost 6 lbs up to now (2 months) which I again don't find much for the effort I'm putting in. Never touched a piece of bread, biscuit, pasta, pizza or potato since then.

I'm on holiday now, DH wants to go for a pizza tonight and I'm craving it desperately. DH and DS are sleeping and I have keys in my hand ready to go out for 15 km. Will take me two hours. Hoping that I could have a first break tonight with no little guilt. What a cruel fate. please tell me something that I can read on my return

Of course you can have a break tonight. You have worked very hard to lose the weight and you come from very far.
Losing weight is far more complicated than we imagine and so often it is described as a simple equation and not the very complex chemical reaction it actually is.
Go for it tonight. Enjoy the pizza and have a wonderful evening.

Long term weightloss is a lifestyle change. Unless you put some pleasure in it, you can't do it longterm. Give yourself an evening every month in which you enjoy the food you love.

Thanks a lot! I have done 15.5 km in the two hours. Hope this will be enough - with my weight, it should be more than my daily calorie allowance

It's just so sad that I have to work so hard for something people can enjoy without even thinking. I can't really understand what's wrong with me

Sorry to hear you’re having such a tough time losing the weight. It might be worth talking to your GP about this to check that there’s no underlying health condition? (e.g. under active thyroid). It’s just that your weightloss does sound very slow.

For what it’s worth, I think that any diet that feels like torture is unlikely to succeed, and this diet kind of sounds like it’s very hard going. Have you tried any other diets?

I can personally recommend 16:8, where you eat during an 8 hour window and fast the rest of the day. It’s pretty easy once you got used to it and has the added bonus of taking away a lot of the potential worrying about whether or not you can eat something.

I have done low carb a few times. I did sugar free September last year and I was still going strong in Oct. Myself and dh went away for a night and we were staying in one of those bubble domes. They had left a jar of freshly baked shortbread cookies on the table and I just couldn't resist. I had one and that was it I was back stuffing carbs into my face. Low carb is great when you are on it as you lose the cravings as soon as you have them they come back sometimes stronger. It's like being off cigarettes, it is very hard to just have one. I'm not saying this to put you off your pizza, I would definitely end up eating one myself but just be mindful that it probably won't stop there but as pp said you could always try 16:8 when you get back home.

Thanks, I will read about this 16:8, never heard about that before. I'm definitely slow given the starting weight. I did a blood test one year ago and my thyroid hormones were in the lower range of normality and nothing else came out. But yesterday DH tried to buy me a necklace off a stall and couldn't fasten it, so something might have arisen? I must definitely go back to GP to discuss how to deal with the lowest dose of my pills and will try to convince him that I need further investigation. Hard to persuade people that I'm not just eating too much...but I'm definitely not

Discovered via Google a private lab for blood tests at walking distance from where I'm based. In the queue now. €110 to try and put my mind at rest ASAP let's see!

(Got the pizza and a pint yesterday. Both lovely. Didn't weight myself today!)

I second intermittent fasting.
I think we're pretty similar. My kids are 1.5 and 3.5 and I'd been carrying an extra 40lbs since I had them. I decided OMAD (one meal a day) was the one for me. I only do it 4 days a week and basically on OMAD days I just drink water and black coffee then have a normal evening meal. On the other days I have 3 meals of whatever the hell I want. At least once a week I will massively overendulge and have still steadily lost that extra 40lbs. It works for me because I can handle being hungry during the day a few days a week but I can't handle being hungry all the time, which is what happens with every other diet I've ever done. The evening meal on fast days can be whatever I want. I don't count calories but I reckon it's probably near a 1000 some days, I'm always adding cheese and cream to things, so I feel nice and full after. I just don't have the commitment required for counting calories or carbs or syns or anything, I find it tedious and give up within days. With OMAD it's very simple, I can either eat nothing or whatever I want, no grey area.
I'm a runner too and it's a hell of a lot easier now!

I recommend reading the Obesity Code by Jason Fung. It helps explain the science and research behind fasting.

Great, will do my research once back in a few days to try and find out which pattern is best for me. If I have to choose OMAD, it would probably be brunch (or very early lunch) as it's the time when I could eat for England, don't care much about afternoons and evening! A 16:8 should be probably morning based as well.

Tests results came out and I have absolutely nothing wrong

According to GP I should be done with meds by end of October too.

Atm I'm just trying to salvage these last few days by running a lot