If you constantly fail at losing weight

[lennie6]

Do you want to give it one last go? I constantly start a diet, I am really good for three or four days, then it all goes wrong and I stuff my face and then I give up.

I'm going to give it another go, starting from now really. Anyone want to join me. I'm so fed up with this taking up so much of my mind space.

I've been on diets on and off for a year and a half now. Even if I stick to it perfectly for several weeks I normally only lose 2 or 3lbs that I can easily regain in one or two 'off' days. I'm so short I don't have many calories to play with. I really have to do something and I've now moved to trying to exercise it away instead but that's not doing much either yet. If anyone had some good ideas I'm on-board!

I'm trying to but soon as something bad happens or I get so tired I eat crap to prop myself up and once started I think what the hell I might as well not bother.its s vicious cycle of trying and self loathing

Morning @Dontknownow86 it is so depressing isn't it. I am 12 stone and 5'4 so every pound shows.

I really have to deal with it and stop this starting and failing routine. This time I am going to start walking everyday to see if it puts me in a better head space.

@Haditall this is exactly what happens to me. I've joined these threads in the past but as soon as I balls up I just stop posting. Maybe the answer is to post if I've fallen off the wagon and hopefully get support to get back on track.

Also, everyone else on a weight loss thread just seems to get on with it and lose weight. It makes me feel such a failure that I can't do it. I really hate being overweight.

I really recommend joining a group. Even if you were saying you wanted to improve fitness by running, drawing skills, whatever, I’d saying join a group. When you’re learning something new, I really believe that as social beings we need other people to support us to be motivated, to remain focussed. You want to learn something different so why not do it with the support and inspiration of the other people?

Is it about the 'wrong' diet?

Do you need to be looking at intuitive eating, rather than doing without?

Or a positive diet where you list all the good things you are going to eat- loads of veg- rather than all the things you are 'forbidden'?

@31133004Taff thank you, that makes sense.

@picklemewalnuts you are right, a different approach sounds good to me. Thank you.

Op I lost a lot of weight over 10 years ago after having my children.
This year I took a good look at myself and knew something had to change. 2 stone overweight and similar height to you.

Having tried no less than 5 diets over the years I read about the Mediterranean Diet (Michael Moseley) because diabetes runs heavily through my family.,

The weight loss in 4 months has been staggering. I have exercised hard alongside it but only 3 days of the week. I measured myself yesterday as although I could see the weight loss on the scales I was curious. 2" off my hips and 3" off my waist. I've dropped a dress size in some shops!!

It has given me a confidence I've not had for a while and made me so much happier.
Have a read and see what you think.

I am a serious yo yo dieter. I've been 7 stone 12, and also nearly 15 stone ! Once I get into dieting I can stick at it, but it's really easy just to think - I've had a ' bad' day so I'll eat everything today and start again tomorrow, except that tomorrow never comes, or we have a blip and think the same.
I've started another diet during lockdown and have lost at least a couple of stone so far .
I'm short and have set myself a realistic goal of getting to about 9 stone my trouble in maintaining it

@OhCobblers thank you, I will have a read of the Mediterranean diet. I have actually heard about it, I will go take a look.

@VictoriaBun well done losing weight through lockdown. I think I just need to pull up my big girl pants, stop feeling sorry for myself and just get on with it.

@lennie6 it's all about the protein and little carbs which works well for me. I've never been a fan of breakfast so not having it is easy as is the 16:8 intermittent fasting that is encouraged.

Being in lockdown allowed me the time to cook both my meals. Salmon or some grilled chicken, broccoli and mushrooms for lunch was quite common!
The key was not being hungry as when that happens I go "searching" for food 😱

@OhCobblers I'm furloughed at the moment so I do have time on my hands to cook from scratch. I think where I am going wrong is I get so hungry and then lose control and stuff my face.

@lennie6 we have all been there!!

If you can cook everything that's great, it makes a real difference and with the 2 litres of water you need to drink (believe me I find this hard but still do it mostly!) I was not hungry.

Or if I was I'd drink more water or drink tea! The fact that I had to stop eating by 8pm helped too. Happy to DM you with other tips! X

@OhCobblers yes please, I would love to hear your tips. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me, I really appreciate it.

What do you do to diet?

@hamstersarse when I diet, I cut out everything like chocolate,cake etc. Basically I am addicted to sugar. I also only eat tiny portions of food and am constantly starving.

I think the answer is never to diet lol. Just eat healthy the majority of the time and if you want an occasional drink or piece of cake then do it but don't make a big deal of it. When you severely restrict your eating you're more likely to 'fail' and give up. Small changes.

@Looneytune253 I think that you are right. I'm going to look at this in a completely different way.

@lennie6

"I am basically addicted to sugar"

You and half the population! You are right that this will sabotage your dieting efforts...sugar creates cravings and genuinely is addictive for many people.

BUT, to just go for the obvious sugar misses a trick in breaking the habits. Ultra processed food ALWAYS contains high levels of sugar - so anything that comes out of a packet and contains more than 5 ingredients.

Forget calories for a week or so, just go completely whole /natural food. This will break your sugar addiction and start to reduce the horrible cravings that sabotage your diet.

So cook from scratch, only. Absolutely no processed foods at all. Nothing. Nada.

I personally would include pasta and bread in the category of ultra processed foods. If you want carbs go for potato.

Also, absolutely 100% make sure you have no processed oils in your diet. So no 'vegetable oil' or 'canola oil' or 'sunflower oil'. They are absolutely sabotaging of diet, make sure you only use butter or olive oil. Sounds counter-intuitive to use butter over that bloody lite spray oil crap, but I promise it is better for you if you want to lose weight and not be a slave to your cravings.

I also only eat tiny portions of food and am constantly starving.

Also, EAT A PROPER MEAL!

Think old fashioned diet - bacon and egg for breakfast, meat and 2 veg for dinner. Three meals, spaced out by at leasyt 4 hours - you will be able to do it if you actually have a proper meal with NO processed food. They are literally designed to keep you hungry.

@hamstersarse thank you so much for taking the time to post, it is really helping me to feel a little more positive. You talk a lot of sense and I have taken it all on board. I'm going to do a good food shop later.

No jars, no packets, no crap

The only aisles you need are the fruit and veg aisle, the meat aisle and the dairy / egg aisle

Everything else in the supermarket is absolute crap designed to make you fail.

Think butchers and greengrocers. That is all we used to have....when none of us struggled to maintain our weight.