Overweight and can't stop eating

[Patbutcherismyhero]

I've put on over a stone and a half in lockdown but I didn't realise just how bad I look until my dp took a photo of me yesterday. I really feel mortified.

I lost quite a lot of weight on slimming world a few years ago and intend to go back when groups reopen properly but I think the issue is with my new working arrangements. Being at home I constantly snack and prepare more food than I would in the office where I'd just have my packed lunch. I'm also doing a lot less steps.

Does anyone have any magical weight loss tips or meal plans they could share? SW inspired ones ideally.

I really do feel mortified with how much I've let myself go.

What about making your lunch and healthy snacks in advance, like you would if you were going to the office? That way no leeway for mindless eating.

The steps thing is hard. I do a 30-minute walk every morning before work, but we have a cheap treadmill so it does make it easier. To me, it's about finding something you enjoy so it doesn't feel as if it were another chore to get through.

The last time I lost a significant amount of weight I found it was more to do with diet than exercise. Exercise definitely helps but I think changing what I eat has more impact. I just wish I could summon the willpower. I start every week with good intentions but as soon as I get a craving I just give in.

I keep looking at the photo for motivation. I don't want other people to see me like that. Even when I prepare lunch ahead I still end up gorging on extra things. I feel so cross with myself.

Yes I do! First off what can’t you stop eating? Lost the trigger foods and we can go from there.

*list

@justanotherneighinparadise crisps, cheese and crackers, carbs, buttered bread, biscuits, chocolate, I could go on!

My meals themselves aren't too bad but it's what I eat in between that's the problem.

For me the key is to be prepared. Get the food in you are planning to eat. I have done the Fast 800 and it works. It’s good for me when I am feeling awful as you see fast results so you feel motivated. But you need to be prepared mentally and also with the food ready to go - it’s hard when you are cooking for / around others.

You have done it before so you can do it again think of how amazing you are going to feel by Christmas - so confident and all your clothes will be hanging beautifully

I have put on weight in lockdown and have just started to lose after weeks of trying and failing. You can do this - it depends how much you want it. I want it, but it’s an effort for me not to eat I keep imaging how I will feel when I am at my goal weight. It spurs me on.

I’m the same with the snacks in between. Also late night eating is my downfall. It’s like I think everything I eat after 9pm has no calories

I think when I can get back to slimming world it will help. I remember how the knowledge that I was going to be weighed every week kept me focused last time. I didn't want to go there and see a gain every week. I have looked into it and it seems that groups are starting again from this week so I will drop my old consultant a message today. I know some people don't believe in the ethos of slimming world but it has worked for me before.

Stop buying those snack foods?

try to develop positive emotional responses to the sensation of feeling a little be peckish and choosing not to eat - that is the sensation of getting healthier, so feel proud and valiant through it. obviously do eat when it grows into genuine hunger but evolutionarily we are adapted to start feeling a little peckish long before we really need to eat, in order to give us the drive to go out hunting or gathering that could take a few hours to yield the food for a meal. if in a situation of affluence we sate that sensation immediately with a snack, we are over-eating.

Thank you @KihoBebiluPute that's a really interesting way to think about it and I think a total overhaul of mindset is what I need. I eat out of boredom a lot of the time too.

Have you tried OA?

@Palavah I don't know what that is...

Try hypnotherapy - it is safe and so relaxing. Research shows people who use hypnotherapy can lose twice as much weight and are very successful at keeping it off.

If you look at the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists website there will be a list of students whose services are free until they reach the end of their training.

Many will offer online sessions. Give it a go - after all - it is free and you can do it from home - it will change your mindset! give it a go! what do you have to lose! Good luck!

What worked for me was drinking loads of water AND stuffing myself with veg. Always having salad on hand, chopped veg, veg soups, clear broth (Marigold powder only 12cals/cup as a hot drink). I take an anti-depressant that's also an appetite stimulant so had to really watch out. I would not allow myself to eat when I felt hunger unless I'd first drunk at least 200mL of water and/or a cup of broth or veg soup, and then I'd eat, say, a carrot chopped into sticks.

Start each meal with a cup of broth or veg soup, fills you up and often counts towards your 5 a day.

I also got plates that are divided into 3 to better control carbs, the largest section is for veg, of course.

Get creative with veg. Hummus is good so is tomato salsa, substituting things (I am lactose intolerant so dairy is not an issue for me).

Rice vinegar and salt and pepper on salad as a dressing, even adding veg to any carb in your carb portion - frozen veg can be added to rice whilst cooking, or pasta, etc.

OP, me too! Every day I come back from the school run and decide that I'll have a healthy breakfast, no carbs. Every day I have toast..........

@GU24Mum

OP, me too! Every day I come back from the school run and decide that I'll have a healthy breakfast, no carbs. Every day I have toast..........

Which is fine! Carbs are not the enemy; there is no 'bad' food, just lack of moderation. Go for the toast, but top it with nut butter and sliced apple or homemade hummus and salad.

The groups are open again .. it's the only thing that worked for me !

I think you need to get rid of the carbs and replace them with food which actually fills you up. This is what I am doing ATM and it's really good. You end up eating less because you aren't so hungry. You do still have to be aware of calories though and eat fewer than you can burn off. I eat mostly meat, veg, eggs and fish, with a few squares of low carb chocolate to just take the edge off my desire for sweets.
I've lost a stone in about 6 weeks still have 3 to go though

Not all carbs are bad - veg is carb! But toast does you no good,even if you do cover it in nut butter.

I really agree with not having trigger foods like biscuits in the house. I know it wouldn’t be one or two I would eat, it would be half a packet or more. So I stopped buying the normal treat food and I’m not perfect I will buy One or two single serving treats in the weekly shopping and treats for DH that I won’t eat as I don’t like them. When I say two treats of single servings I mean like two packets of a two finger Kit Kat bar not two multi packets of single serving treats.

Walking will make a huge impact on your weight loss, if I do 15k steps I burn about 500 calories more per day than if I do 4K steps. That’s another pound a week of fat loss.

Could you find an accountability buddy on SW and have virtual meetings if that helps you?

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Not all carbs are bad - veg is carb! But toast does you no good,even if you do cover it in nut butter.

It can do you plenty of good . Wholemeal bread has fibre and is often vitamin fortified and has a small amount of protein. A balanced diet is important for good overall health, eliminating or seeking to eliminate food groups when you have no allergy or intolerance is ridiculously extreme and disordered eating .

You can get fibre from natural food sources such as beans, nuts, seeds and some fruit. You don't need bread which has vitamins added to it to give nutrition, when you could eat food that already contains vitamins naturally.
Not eating bread or processed carbs is not cutting out whole food groups or a sign of disordered eating . It's eliminating food which isn't filling or nutritious, so that those calories can be used by better food, which will fill the OP up and help her lose weight.
I love bread, but if OP wants to lose weight she's better off cutting it out and getting her carbs from vegetables instead

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

You can get fibre from natural food sources such as beans, nuts, seeds and some fruit. You don't need bread which has vitamins added to it to give nutrition, when you could eat food that already contains vitamins naturally. Not eating bread or processed carbs is not cutting out whole food groups or a sign of disordered eating . It's eliminating food which isn't filling or nutritious, so that those calories can be used by better food, which will fill the OP up and help her lose weight. I love bread, but if OP wants to lose weight she's better off cutting it out and getting her carbs from vegetables instead

Grains are natural . They are nutritious and filling and have been used to sustain humans for thousands of years as such . It's entirely possible to lose weight on a balanced diet that does not include eliminating foods to which you are not allergic or intolerant. I lost 2.5st.

VERY disordered to state you have to cut entire areas of food out or you won't lose weight or feel full.

Supermarket bread is categorised as 'heavily processed'. It has far more sugae and yeast than our grandparents would have been used to.

Avoiding it isn't, in isolation, disordered eating, but cutting out all complex carbs entirely is something to be wary of.