Cannot. Stop. Eating!

[Choccyaddict4eva]

So, in the last I’d say 18 months, I have managed to put on almost 2 stone 😭 gone from 9 stone 5lbs to 10 stone 12lbs 🤦🏻‍♀️ Tbh I was never fully comfortable with my weight then, but now I feel 100 times worse. I used to be a regular gym goer, going at least 3-4 times a week and spending at least an hour and a half each time. I was also going to Pilates every Thursdays. Really started getting into weights at the beginning of the year and enjoyed incorporating them into my workouts. Lockdown then completely messed up my fitness! I started working out at home for a while but on top of lockdown I had a lot of other stress going on in my life which completely demotivated me and led me to comfort eat. Even though the gyms are now open, I’m struggling to find the time to go...I’m a single mum to two children and I’ve started a new role as a trainee teacher (yay!) but I get up at 6:30am and get home at around 5:30pm most days, so I’m shattered come evening time and have zero motivation to work out in my living room!! I’m also always hungry and I have a terrible sweet tooth! 😩 really struggling to eat healthily and maintain some sort of fitness routine! I’ll eat healthily for a week and then complexity ruin it by eating junk again! I’m struggling to fit into a lot of my clothes and it’s so depressing 😕 don’t really know what answers I’m looking for on here (miracle solutions anyone?! Ha) but I’d love to hear your tips and advice/best diets that you follow that have worked. I’m really miserable at my current weight and would like to get out of this rut. I’m 5’2 and very bottom heavy 😭 anyone else going through something similar?

Focus on your diet, thats where 80% of weight loss is.
Why are you overeating?
I did out of tiredness and stress. I removed my stressor (left a horrid job) and with milder life stressors (job way easier now) i just try to apply CBT principles, rationalise it that the food is short term rest but long term negatives.
What are you overeating on? Eg certsin breads trigger me so i dont buy them. I buy my family things they like but i dont. I made low carb or bought low carb alternatives to what i like eating.
Do you have motivation or are you actually ok with how you are? I only lost weight when i felt uncomfortable. I was ok with being size 14 though felt i should diet because that wasnt good enough. By contrast i hated being size 18 to 20uk at 5ft 2. So do you actually have the desire and motivation to go through the discomfort? If not then just buy bigger clothes!

What i meant my heart wasnt in dieting so i never lost more than the same 5lb because deep down i thought i looked good, had loads of attention, could buy clothes anywhere, i felt fit enough, no aches or pains.

Like any addiction, unless the pain of continuing with the addiction surpasses the pain of going through without/withdrawal, your brain just wont see it as worth it.

Some people think its woo but visualizations and affirmations are helpful certainly better than the i Dont and I Cant and I will never type of inner dialogue.
My visualization is wearing a bikini on a beautiful beach and feeling the breeze on my thighs and stomach feeling happy and comfortable and grateful for my months of sensible eating. Or bumping into people i hadnt seen in a while and how good it feels to be proud of how good i like, i don't hide or shy away, i present myself confidently. I can control what i put in my body, its up to me whether i eat or not is a good mantra for me... you need to find your own mantra and visualization,.. mine may not hit the spot for you but the idea is the same.find your image, your future event, find a saying that clicks with you and repeatedly play them in your mind.

Don't beat yourself up about it. It's incredibly hard to do this in 'normal' times, but with what's going on in the world at the moment, nothing is straight forward.

If you can eat healthily for a week then maybe plan some junk food into your diet occasionally and then you are less likely to feel like you've fallen completely off the wagon and carry on eating junk food.

Also, make sure you are not thirsty. I heard somewhere that if you feel hungry in your stomach then you need food, but if you feel hungry in your mouth then you are probably thirsty.
This often applies to me - if I can stop and think about it before reaching for another biscuit! Also if I am craving something fruity or sweet it is often because I am thirsty.

Another tip is to tell yourself you will wait one minute before eating that biscuit, and usually you find that after a minute, you are doing something else and have forgotten about it. Or, I quite often 'save' things for tomorrow.

Its not easy though!