One year into my Unsuccessful diet (food diary included)

[weightloss21]

I'm looking for advice on where to go next as I feel I have hit a brick wall and not sure what else to try.

I'll try and make this as short but informative as possible.

I have always struggled with my weight. From last January I decided to track my food more carefully and start intermittent fasting by not eating breakfast and having black coffee instead. Within this time I have done the strict keto diet but didn't lose any weight.

Instead of going over every diet I have tried etc I will just write down my food diary more recently. Snacks can be from 0-3 per day and / means or.

More recently:
Pre - 2nd lockdown - work full time 5 days a week, on my feet all day job.
Breakfast = black coffee
Lunch = nothing/apple/babybell
Dinner = soup/stew/jacket potato/salad/meat&veg
Weekends = roast/spag bol/pasta etc - higher carb food

2nd lockdown - wfh sitting down most of the day. Upped exercise to 2/3 days a week (at home) either exercise bike or HIIT.
Breakfast = black coffee
Lunch = Salad/omlette/soup
Dinner = meat & veg/ fish & veg/ salad/ soup
Snacks = fruit/cup of tea,coffee,hot choc/babybell/boiled egg

Since last Monday (25th Jan) - reduced eggs as was eating a lot before.
Breakfast = black coffee
Lunch = Protein shake
Dinner = meat,fish & veg/ salad/soup
Snacks = apple,orange/sugar free jelly/teaspoon of peanut butter/cup of tea,coffee

I have a cheat meal once a week which usually consists of something like = lasagne/cottage pie/pizza/pasta and bowl of ice cream and a choc bar eg twix, mars bar etc

Since last January I haven't lost any weight. The first lockdown I didn't have a cheat meal but it didn't seem to make a difference (or I was losing it and then putting it back on).

My current meal plan isn't working so I am not sure where to go from here. Please do you have any suggestions/share your food diaries as I am at my wits end!!

So there’s lots of scientific research on intermittent fasting. But you say thats wrong because it leads to binging and your evidence is an opinion video on YouTube. Is that right ?

In all fairness the scientific research I've seen references is either small group or short term or animal based so there aren't any long term human based sample groups.

Either way it is not really relevant to the OP, although the message I personally have got from IF is all about a healthier relationship with food, which the OP needs before looking at IF or any method of weight loss

@DE8ORAH I said fasting is not bad but weightloss can be achieved without it. That video is just an example and the information is pretty balanced, with pros and cons and comes from a general practitioner. Of course it's not the only source of information on the internet.
Fasting is not suitable for everyone and that's fine because ppl can still lose weight and have a healthy diet.
I apologise if I offended you in any way, it was not my intention at all.

You're eating too little and you're fasting too long.

You need breakfast. It should be a protein rich meal.

Lunch should be a mix of protein and carbs, more protein than carbs. You should eat a lot of veggies at lunch, plus cheese.

Afternoon snack can be fruit / yogurt / even a little cake / toast, and cup of tea.

Dinner should be light - soup, salad.

Space your meals and afternoon snacks 4 hours apart - 8, 12, 4, 8, for example.

Make sure you're not drinking calories.

Op,

Nutracheck, as mentioned before, is a brilliant app. It contains the UK barcode database so anything with a barcode you scan and it helps calculate the portions so you know calories.

You need to weigh and measure everything you consume - once you get used to it its easy and doesn't take any extra time. You need digital scales, a measuring jug and measuring spoons.

Also, your GP. Get a phone consultation and arrange a blood test. There are a number of medical reasons that can be leading to some of the symptoms you mention - not just thyroid but various vitamin deficiencies.

You might also want to ask if PCOS could be a factor? It makes it much harder to lose weight but there are medications that can help.

Do you currently take any medications? Some can also affect weight so a review with your gp would be helpful.

Your gp will be happy to help and you have nothing to feel shy about - you're trying to take control of your health - that's brilliant and the sort of thing doctors love.

Up the walking you do each day if you can. Good for weight loss.

I have 4 stone to lose. I've just started with Noom - its working well for me and is making me address the causes of my previous failed diets.
With Noom you record calories and I have been quite surprised at how many calories there are in some of the "healthy" things I eat. Humous is very calorific, cheese portions should be very small. I've made some adjustments and don't really feel I'm eating much less but I am losing weight. I think my problems were really mostly down to healthy eating but large portion sizes. I also tend to snack when I get home from work and one of the techniques Noom has taught me is how to distract myself away from that. I'm now doing yoga at the times temptation is most compelling.
It is all about establishing new habits which bring better health and a lower BMI with them. One thing that certainly won't work is having cheats days as this will encourage you enjoy eating too much and the wrong foods.

Well everyone is different. I have day off counting and it's fine. I am aware thought it wouldn't work for everyone. I don't call it a cheat day though because thats a bullshit term created to cause feelings of guilt and I refuse to feel guilty ovwr having pizza once in a while and wine. It's normal, nkt cheating.

. I think my problems were really mostly down to healthy eating but large portion sizes.
I had the same. I laugh that I got fat on salads😂 I gather that lots of people are surprised when they see how actual portion of things look like.

Good progress!

Babypigeon
Interesting points on IF. I will watch the video.

I agree it comes down to calories but for some eating at breakfast may cause a desire for further snacks before lunch. When I previously ate breakfast it was a struggle not to eat again until lunch. Now that I fast until lunch, there is no struggle. I have a routine of drinking only water until 1pm - it is ingrained. Also if I ate breakfast, I would need to reduce my calories at lunch and dinner. I would rather eat well at two meals than eat miserly at three.

Thank you for everyone's advice I do really appreciate it.

I have been intermittent fasting for a year (approx. from 8pm -1pm) and not lost any weight but I have done my research and it is meant to be really good for you but not necessarily good for weight loss ( that's just a bonus for some people).

I assumed if I gave up breakfast then I would automatically lose weight as that's 300+ kcals less every day! What I have read talks about how important it is to give your body a rest from eating/drinking calories so at the moment I am trying to eat 3 meals a day and not eat after a certain time.

Mentally I am struggling to eat breakfast but as I am WFH most days I can have it later than usual anyway. I did a morning workout the other day and felt really dizzy and half fainted which has pushed me to start eating breakfast. I am finding when I do, I have more energy for my workouts and throughout the day so it is definitely something I am going to try to keep up - I daren't weigh myself though!

Another thing I will try is having smaller portions especially as I am trying to have 3 meals a day now, so I am not overeating on healthy things.

One thing that certainly won't work is having cheats days as this will encourage you enjoy eating too much and the wrong foods.

What do they suggest you do instead of a cheat day? Avoid the wrong foods completely or have smaller amounts more often?

When I previously ate breakfast it was a struggle not to eat again until lunch. Now that I fast until lunch, there is no struggle.

I found this too.
It was so easy giving up breakfast as it meant I just wasn't hungry all day and I would often skip lunch and not eat until dinner time or force myself to eat something at lunch even though I wasn't hungry as I would have to wait until after I finish work to eat something else.

Schrondinger
How do you manage cheat days? You could go well overboard and undo all your efforts put in the week before. I would rather plan for say a larger evening meal or take away by removing all snacks that day or having a lighter lunch.

I don't go overboard. I just have everything like normal except dinner which is usually something what wouldn't fit into normal calories day (carbonara pasta, pizza, turkish grill, takeaway....), drinks and some crisps. There is only so much I can fit in. Plus after a while I realised I make better decisions because I don't want to undo any work. I keep some calories off for it as well from the week. I have no idea how many my day off is. I don't want to know. I will be honest and say that that day is probably one of the biggest reason why I stuck to this😂 The normality helps a lot.

I also strongly believe that because I don't call it "cheat" but "off" day it gives a different mood.
Do you call day off work "cheat"? 😁

Myfitnesspal isn't always very accurate as much of the info is user generated. I put in the nutritional information of everything I eat taken directly from the supermarket website or packaging (or at least check if mfp is matching it). It's also best to put in per 100g then just do everything by weight so if you have 70g of something your portion on mfp is 0.7 of 100g. The portion calculations people make can be way off so you're not getting the right numbers. There's all sorts of errors like that in there.

It's a lot of work to start but now I have most of my most common foods in there that I know are accurate so it's easy.

Also weight of food matters are you eyeballing or weighing? Lots of meat for example the nutritional info is based on cooked weight so you need to weigh after cooking not before. Dressings like mayo are hundreds of calories for a small amount, even low fat, so you need to weigh. If I do a salad for example I'll put the bowl on the scale and weight each ingredient as I add it.

A bit of cheese or dressing on your salad can add up a lot on a low cal diet. Unless you're weighing religiously I'd imagine you're underestimating. It's easy to do.

Finally when lchf stopped working for me I moved to the p.e. diet which leans more heavily on protein than fat and helped. I buy liquid egg white so an omelette is now one whole egg, several egg whites etc.

It's hard.

I also didn't lose weight for months. Tried everything and swore blind I was eating 1200 a day. Turns out my portion sizes were far too big. You should feel pretty hungry for a least the first week. I never felt hungry and therefore didn't lose a pound. Now I'm hungry I'm losing steadily and my portions are now the same size as my 3 year olds. Small bowl or side plate size. Its 1200 calories and it's really not much food but it works!

It's crazy. DH is super fit and can eat whatever. Out of interest we worked out the calories of his jacket potato with tuna mayo the other day and with the size of the potato, butter on it, amount of mayo in the tuna it was so so many calories. Yet people choose that as a healthy option then wonder why the weight isn't coming off. The messaging on what is good for weight loss is skewed.

The messaging on what is good for weight loss is skewed.

Absolutely agree with that!

"Cheat days" I think the difficulty is that if you have these you begin to look forward to them. The overeating on that day becomes a reward and you are heading to the situation where eating lots of calorie heavy food becomes a treat and instead of programming your eating away from this pattern you are reinforcing it.
Try another sort of treat? change to some exotic fruit or a healthy meal with low calories but quite expensive. Or you could have a treat like a bath with a bath bomb or buy yourself a book or magazine or something new to wear. Not that I'm advocating drinking but one thing I was surprised had relatively low calories was champagne (!)

Those food are all ‘processed’ regardless of calories. Tins of soup aren’t great regularly, scoops of artificial protein shakes.. etc just eat normal food.

There’s a very interesting dietian I once heard who says something like ‘ eat anything you like, anything at all, but only homemade’. So if you want bread, eat it, but you need to make it yourself. If you want ice cream, have some, but homemade.

It basically guarantee you naturally eat more whole foods as they are quicker and easier to prepare and eat. If you have a snack it’s a lot of effort to make homemade ice cream compare to eating a banana, so you will naturally eat the banana 9/10 time.

So in regards to your ‘cheat’. If you want pizza you need to make the dough and toppings. That way you know exactly what’s going into it, and that it’s not processed and stuffed with additional crap.

Personally I don’t think it’s healthy to calorie obsess or count. Just eat average portions and healthily, with a variety. The same thing every day isn’t great health wise.

My ‘diet’ is bog standard I would say. I try and change it up a bit, and nothing is restricted. I am currently 52kg, 164cm. Breastfeeding still so sometimes eat more , but generally I don’t snack.

Example for you, yesterday:
Breakfast: piece toast, x2 scrambled eggs with chorizo and grated goats cheese
Lunch: baked potato with sour cream, chives. Tomato/ red onion salad.
Dinner: roast sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and sausages.
Snacks: probably 3 teas, some dark chocolate in evening

Schroginder
Thanks for the update. You have the right idea.

Jenala
I have a teaspoon of condiment with salads to keep calories low. It is ridiculous to think that your 100 calorie salad can easily turn into four/five hundred if you add a lot of condiments. I also avoid salads with crutons etc.

I have not eaten a jacket potato in years. The calories lay in the filling. Even worse if mayonnaise is added. I am sure it is the equivalent calories to a meat, potato and vegetable meal. It is just not worth it for me.

caspian You eat carbs with all your meals. Whereas I eat them with lunch only. I would be bigger if I ate as many carbs as you do. I am a lover of rice but restrict this to weekends only.

Is the breast feeding aiding you to maintain your current weight?

@Faith50 - no idea. I don’t think so. I have been the same weight roughly forever, always around 50-55kg. Was 70kg+ when baby was born last summer, but the 20kg came off fairly quickly. I have rarely every snacked, but with breastfeeding had been snacking 1-2 times per day the first 6 months, now less as baby eats less so don’t feel the need.

I don’t think carbs are the enemy. Processed carbs constantly probably aren’t great, but eating carbs from grains, veg, decent bread. I don’t eat carbs at every meal, every day, necessarily, that was just a one day snapshot.
Today was more like:
Breakfast: green smoothie, with 2 egg omelette
Lunch: cheese and ham toasty. Banana
Dinner will be: goulash with dumplings
Snacks: satsuma. Likely to have some homemade cake dh made later also.

Caspian I eat grains, lots of vegetables and wholegrain bread.

I do snack too - fruit, unsalted nuts, nutty bars, chocolate.

Thanks @Faith50
I tried dieting before with no leniency, but crashed. So I decided that I don't care that I could lose 2 kg a week with my size. I rather lose 1kg but know that not only I will stick with it for that about 85 weeks (includes extra 5 weeks for Christmas, birthdays holidays etc), but also build good habits which will stick. I am halfway😁
I lost half a kilo over Christmas and NY as well even though I had 5 days off in 14. 😱

Schronginder I agree that it is preferable for the weight to drop off steadily and maintain it indefinitely rather than having a huge loss and being unable to sustain the new weight.

@Caspianberg

Those food are all ‘processed’ regardless of calories. Tins of soup aren’t great regularly, scoops of artificial protein shakes.. etc just eat normal food.

There’s a very interesting dietian I once heard who says something like ‘ eat anything you like, anything at all, but only homemade’. So if you want bread, eat it, but you need to make it yourself. If you want ice cream, have some, but homemade.

It basically guarantee you naturally eat more whole foods as they are quicker and easier to prepare and eat. If you have a snack it’s a lot of effort to make homemade ice cream compare to eating a banana, so you will naturally eat the banana 9/10 time.

So in regards to your ‘cheat’. If you want pizza you need to make the dough and toppings. That way you know exactly what’s going into it, and that it’s not processed and stuffed with additional crap.

Personally I don’t think it’s healthy to calorie obsess or count. Just eat average portions and healthily, with a variety. The same thing every day isn’t great health wise.

My ‘diet’ is bog standard I would say. I try and change it up a bit, and nothing is restricted. I am currently 52kg, 164cm. Breastfeeding still so sometimes eat more , but generally I don’t snack.

Example for you, yesterday:
Breakfast: piece toast, x2 scrambled eggs with chorizo and grated goats cheese
Lunch: baked potato with sour cream, chives. Tomato/ red onion salad.
Dinner: roast sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and sausages.
Snacks: probably 3 teas, some dark chocolate in evening

This is perfect advice. People who eat like this are physically and emotionally healthy. People go on about nigella being disingenuous because she's a healthy weight but enjoys her food. But she's not troughing down dominoes and Mars bars, it's all homemade.