Diet failure theory

[isthatthesummerover]

I would love to be at a point where I could say I'm not on a diet .. I think this diet word plays a part in me being. continually unsuccessful
Let me explain ...
if I am on a diet .. it could be any of the many available - SW -WW -CWP- IF I could go on .. as soon as I eat something that is outside of that plan .. even a banana ! I immediately see it as a failure and then will blow it and eat my weight in crap
So , I wonder if I said I am not on a diet and just ate what I wanted being findful of what I actually was eating then surely I could lose ?
So for example if I had BLD
Poached egg toast avo
Meal deal with crisps !
Salmon chips peas broccoli
On a diet I would see that as a failure as if had bread or crisps or chips depending on which diet discouraged that
If I ate all that and hadn't failed at anything maybe I'd not go and finish the multipack and then the ice cream out of despair
I'm going to go shopping today and do a
I'm not on a diet week and see how I get on
Does that make any sense or am I just waffling ?

I did that and gained weight. I wish i was stricter and just kept persevering with ONE DAMN DIET. My mantra now is its not magic its months of eating like this and that its ok to be hungry.

@Mathbath that would be me lol
I'm thinking that if I tell myself one chocolate is ok that would stop me eating the entire pack
I fear you are correct and it may not work but I have to do something as I'm so tired of felling like a failure

I think that cutting huge groups of food out is bound to result in failure. It’s also not a way you will be able to eat forever. The only thing I have found that works is to track food and make sure that I am in a deficit. I try to be healthy but I don’t panic if I eat cake or biscuits because I just fit them in my daily allowance or eat marginally less the next few days. Something like low carb wouldn’t work for me because any step off-track ‘ruins’ the diet by taking you out of ketosis.
I’m not at the intuitive eating, not on a diet, stage yet but I hope I will be at some point.

The only thing that really worked for me is keeping a good diary, worrying down everything I eat, I find it a good way to keep myself accountable.

I use mfp as its convinient, don't pay attention to anything else, just the food input, occasionally take a look at the nutritional value /macros. But as I'm only interested in seeing what I'm eating over a week, those extra bits aren't of interest.

Food diary.
Writing down everything.

Teach me to proofread 😂

Totally get you; I was exactly the same; one slip up and I’d decide to just start again tomorrow. This time round at the start of lockdown I decided to focus on health and not the scales. I try to eat food first that are nutrient dense (so for example I had salmon with veg and sweet potato for lunch) but have definitely lost weight over the last few months of this. I’ve decided to get off the rollercoaster of diets now. I find if I tell myself I can have anything but only if I really want it I’ve stopped the binge/starve cycle.

Paul Dermody podcast called don’t press the f**k it button. Might be about number 72/74. It’s a good listen about what you describe

Well today I've eaten porridge with semi skimmed milk
I had a Sunday lunch out with all the usual , no dessert
And home now ... stuffed do not going to have anything else
I had 2 roast potatoes, ate all the veg and most of the turkey
Gave the yorkie pudd to the ex and the piggies in blanket too lol
Felt great
Glad to see I'm not alone and yes it's the deficit that will make the difference
Have a great evening all

This approach definitely works OP. I’ve been on a cycle of SW and WW since lockdown and have put on weight. Whereas the preceding year I followed your approach and ate what I wanted - which was quite sensibly as I wasn’t cramming in all the shite before starting the next diet. I think the issue with that is it won’t show quick weight loss, but there will be a loss over time. Unfortunately my lockdown binge, diet, binge has me almost back where I was a year ago.

Maybe read 'Not a Diet book' by James Smith. He advocates the small changes to lifestyle approach, using calorie deficit, sensible eating, not giving up food groups, having what you want but monitoring calorie over a week so you could have a roast on Sunday but have less calories on a Monday to make up for it.

Thank you for that @Fourmagpies I'll definetly have a look for that
@MikeFromSpaced that's my thinking
Won't be quick but I just want to eat normally and hope if I can have a roast on a Sunday I won't go to the coop on the evening and buy chocolate sweets and Ben +Jerry's which is what I would have done at other times
Keeping the faith lol