Ditching the diets and going it alone

[bingsulaflop]

Hello all,

I'm stuck in a bit of a starting Slimming World, restrict, binge cycle.

Please don't tell me how to do SW I've been doing it on and off for years I know the ins and outs.

Has anyone ditched the diets and gone it alone successfully? I feel like I need a mind set switch and to stop focusing constantly on little things.

How often have you weighed?
What have you done?

Where to start?!
I'm a bit at a loss so any advice is very much appreciated.

I'm not hugely off where I feel comfortable at, around 1.5 stone just for reference.

Thank you

I’m going it alone and started today.

Downloaded my fitness app, and set myself a calorie target.

Did Slimming World before lockdown, and lost a little weight. It’s slightly weird how you can eat as much as you want of certain foods with SW, but with calories one portion sets you back x amount of calories.

Unfortunately, the diet will have a temporary blip as son’s birthday tomorrow, so may have takeaway, and birthday cake.

Yes!
I binned the scales about 2 years ago and have never looked back.
When you think about it, does it matter what number is on the scales?
Go by how you look in the mirror, how your clothes fit (measurements if you absolutely need something to compare).

I ditched all dieting and try to eat intuitively/healthily most of the time. I don't overly restrict - some days eat more, others less. No calorie counting, just home-cooked food (mostly), hardly any processed food, cut out sugary crap.

If you like to read, then read The F*ck it Diet.

I mostly concentrate on being healthy and aiming to get fitter/stronger (thinner will be a bonus) - stressing about losing weight, just stops you losing weight - I found that out the hard way!!

This was largely as a result of finding Rebelfit on Facebook. Look it up. The diet/restrict/binge cycle is SO counterproductive and your weight just yo-yos.
Good luck!

I am eating two meals a day - lunch and dinner, and fasting from 8pm to midday the next day (water, black tea or coffee only between those times . No snacking at all in between meals, but I'm allowed to eat literally whatever I like and however much I like at those mealtimes.

The benefits are... no banned foods,no weighing and measuring, no worrying about portions. No feeling deprived or craving things I can't have. I really enjoy my meals with no guilt or rules. I don't weigh myself either, but am feeling slimmer already.

See I have my partners 30th coming up and I have just booked us in for a good market event this weekend, we've been before it's great does lovely food etc.

Usually on SW I would have thought to hell with it no point in being "on it" if I'm having a treat (one meal in 21 is it) but that's just the way I thought.

Now I think brilliant looking forward to it but what am I gonna have for today, instead of fixating on that one meal that would have "ruined" my week

Forgot to say, dh has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic,so also trying to reduce carbs. Mainly this means switching from cereal to porridge, and foregoing potatoes in the evening (apart from Sunday roast).

I know everyone hates this saying on here but losing weight is literally just a case of eat less, move more. Burn more calories than you eat, that's all it is. Slimming World, fasting, low carb, low fat etc etc are all based on this basic principle.

Have a look on team RH on Facebook. You don't have to join (I haven't so I can't comment on their plan) but watch the videos. The guy on there talks so much sense, it really opens your eyes.

I know everyone hates this saying on here but losing weight is literally just a case of eat less, move more. Burn more calories than you eat, that's all it is.

It's not really all it is though. Because the vast majority of calorie deficit diets don't work, because hardly anyone manages to stick to them long-term. Most people who diet don't lose weight permanently or even for a long period. Many end up heavier than before. So the so-called simplicity of 'calories in vs calories out' turns out not to be simple at all. Also, all calorie deficit dieting methods are not equal!

I’ve been thinking about this. I have learned a lot through trying calorie counting, low carb, 5:2, a very brief go at Dukan, Fast 800, 16:8, the No S Diet, Team RH and a mixed attempt at no-sugar and lower carbs/less processed food (which felt like it was working until I fell off the wagon in Dec and haven’t managed to restart) over the last 10 years.

Things that worked for a while: counting. Calories or macros, I cannot keep counting all my life. I especially hated stuffing myself with protein for Team RH.

Low carb did work, but I missed carbs so much.

Fasting made me so grumpy. 5:2 felt like purgatory on the fast days and I ate like a pig on the other days. Fast 800 I couldn’t stick to. 16:8 I tried for a while but I didn’t weigh myself so I couldn’t see if it was working or not, and I love tea with milk in the mornings.

So after all that, I’m back at trying to come up with simple rules. I think my rules ought to be no sugar apart from fruit, eat three home cooked meals with lots of veg, and make one meal low carb a day. Snack only on fruit, veg, or something low carb, and only if I absolutely must.

Two good books - neither diet books.

Loose weight feel great by Ranjan Chatterjee and The Last Diet by Shahroo Izadi. The first one is about the principles of healthy eating and how to get them into your life so they become habits, the second more about emotions and habit forming. I think they’d both be helpful for building your own path.

I'm 7 months in to my diet and have lost 4 stone.

I use MyFitnessPal to log my food and stick to my calorie allowance which is 500 less than my TDEE. When I started I was 233lb and had a daily allowance of 1690 calories. Now I'm 177lb and have a daily allowance of 1440 calories.

I'm not perfect so have some days when I go over but I try to make those the exception rather than the norm.

Some days my food diary looks like something from a health magazine, full of veg and healthy grains. Other daily I use 3/4 of my daily allowance on Mac n cheese followed by cake and make up for it by just having veg and wafer thin ham for lunch.

I aim for a minimum of 3 x 30 minute exercise sessions a week, either a brisk walk/slow jog or a video like the Our Parks couch to fitness programme on YouTube. I have a vitality health insurance policy through work and if I do 3 workouts a week I earn enough points for a free Caffè Nero coffee every week 😁

I've gone from size 22/24 to size 14/16, from obese to overweight and less than a stone till I have a healthy BMI. I also feel much fitter, so it is possible.

The great thing about going it alone, whether you use mfp, IF, LC or any other tool or technique that works for you is that it makes maintenance easier, long term, so long as you don't go straight back to eating like you did before but learn how you need to eat, at the weight you want to be. It's not disastrous if you gain a few pounds over Christmas or on holiday because you can jump back on the wagon for a few weeks, rather than put off dealing with it because of the faff of meetings and subscriptions.

Yes. Calorie counting works fine for me, although what I eat definitely makes a difference (wholegrain carbs, lots of fibre, protein, fat and I try not to eat sweet foods more than one day per week). I find that by not trying to shoehorn chocolate and cake in every day I can avoid the miserable low fat substitutes that have always made watching my food so depressing. I can give myself a bit of wriggle room by doing a long a few times a week, and I also do weights twice a week.

I don’t own scales. I exercise most days (Courtney black app) and eat healthily.
I’ve worked out which foods bloat me (ibs) drink 3 litres of water a day and I walk lots (thanks doggie).
I have no idea about calories but eat for health rather than to slim.
I want fit not skinny.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

I'm 7 months in to my diet and have lost 4 stone.

I use MyFitnessPal to log my food and stick to my calorie allowance which is 500 less than my TDEE. When I started I was 233lb and had a daily allowance of 1690 calories. Now I'm 177lb and have a daily allowance of 1440 calories.

I'm not perfect so have some days when I go over but I try to make those the exception rather than the norm.

Some days my food diary looks like something from a health magazine, full of veg and healthy grains. Other daily I use 3/4 of my daily allowance on Mac n cheese followed by cake and make up for it by just having veg and wafer thin ham for lunch.

I aim for a minimum of 3 x 30 minute exercise sessions a week, either a brisk walk/slow jog or a video like the Our Parks couch to fitness programme on YouTube. I have a vitality health insurance policy through work and if I do 3 workouts a week I earn enough points for a free Caffè Nero coffee every week 😁

I've gone from size 22/24 to size 14/16, from obese to overweight and less than a stone till I have a healthy BMI. I also feel much fitter, so it is possible.

Sorry, whats TDEE?

No the poster but it's Total Daily Energy Expenditure :)

It's basically a calculator that calculates your BMR and you can also choose activity levels to adjust your calorie budget.

Most people though tend to use the BMR and either add their own activity levels or stick to that. BMR is basal metabolic rate, the amount or calories your body needs to be alive.

It's a useful tool for sure. Obviously you would need to take the calorie figure it gives you as a guide and check if you are actually losing weight. If you're losing too much or not enough it needs adjusting.

I personally don't know how people can diet without calorie counting. It gives you so much more room to include foods you may want to eat!

Thank you (off to Google my TDEE)

Great and sorry if my phrasing is confusing, when I say "add their own activity levels" I mean add their own calories from exercise they have worked out :)

@SilverDoe

No the poster but it's Total Daily Energy Expenditure :)

It's basically a calculator that calculates your BMR and you can also choose activity levels to adjust your calorie budget.

Most people though tend to use the BMR and either add their own activity levels or stick to that. BMR is basal metabolic rate, the amount or calories your body needs to be alive.

It's a useful tool for sure. Obviously you would need to take the calorie figure it gives you as a guide and check if you are actually losing weight. If you're losing too much or not enough it needs adjusting.

I personally don't know how people can diet without calorie counting. It gives you so much more room to include foods you may want to eat!

Exactly my thought @SilverDoe by tracking my calories I can still have the foods I want to eat by just making a few different choices.

For example I love bolognaise, my favourite bit is the meat sauce, by switching the pasta for greenbeans and sugar snap peas or baby corn, or mushrooms I can have leftover bolognaise for my lunch, feel really full and it comes in under 300 calories so I can still have a decent dinner, snacks and not feel at all deprived.

This week I've discovered quark which was always just a weird sounding thing in the yoghurt section but I decided to give it a go because they had a white chocolate flavoured one. 85 calories a pot, thick, creamy, sweet, tastes just like cheesecake but without the biscuit base. There's a couple in the fridge now so I can have pudding if I fancy it.

It's not particularly exciting to weigh, measure and log your food, but it really does work. Adding in exercising that build muscle helps too as the process your body goes through to build and repair the muscle actually causes it to burn more calories.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo white chocolate quark sounds amazing!! I will have to try it :)

I totally agree. I have a life long emotional eating relationship with food so going to that to eating plain chicken and salad day in day out is never going to be sustainable for me.

A combination of calorie counting, intermittent fasting, high protein diet and conceding that I'm not going to be eating an absolutely optimal diet is what has made this a workable lifestyle rather than just a diet.

@lazylinguist

I know everyone hates this saying on here but losing weight is literally just a case of eat less, move more. Burn more calories than you eat, that's all it is.

It's not really all it is though. Because the vast majority of calorie deficit diets don't work, because hardly anyone manages to stick to them long-term. Most people who diet don't lose weight permanently or even for a long period. Many end up heavier than before. So the so-called simplicity of 'calories in vs calories out' turns out not to be simple at all. Also, all calorie deficit dieting methods are not equal!

Tbf I should probably have stated my opinion on "diets". IMO all these fad diets (slimming world, fasting, low carb etc) are not sustainable. People try them, lose a bit of weight and then either fall off the wagon on finish the diet and go back to eating the way they did before. And could even, like you said, end up heavier than before. I think that "diets" are pretty useless.

The point I was trying to make is that losing weight is simple, just eat less and move more. Obviously its not so simple if you have emotional issues with food or have spent most your adult life yoyo dieting because your relationship with food will be screwed up. But in basic principle it is simple.

I think it can be easier and more successful to just strip away all the diet stuff that you have learned. Check the calories of what you are eating, think about what you are putting in your body and make an effort to get more exercise. You don't need to go on a specific diet, but you do need to think about what you are eating and make big changes to your lifestyle. And to think of it as improving your health for the rest of your life, rather than a temporary diet to lose a set amount of weight.

@Shelovesamystery

I know everyone hates this saying on here but losing weight is literally just a case of eat less, move more. Burn more calories than you eat, that's all it is. Slimming World, fasting, low carb, low fat etc etc are all based on this basic principle.

Have a look on team RH on Facebook. You don't have to join (I haven't so I can't comment on their plan) but watch the videos. The guy on there talks so much sense, it really opens your eyes.

It really isn't a case of 'eat less, move more' though - I hate that mantra with a passion. There are so many reasons a person is overweight (stress, family life, mental health, access to good food, education, wealth, past emotional trauma to name a few) and losing weight requires looking at all/any of the reasons that causes the excess eating/lack of exercise and addressing those first.

Making small changes week by week and focusing on HEALTH is a good start. Never counting calories or restricting (dieting) is also good. Much better to build a better relationship with foods without always worrying about 'syns' or 'falling off the diet wagon' because it's somebody's birthday etc. and to find exercise you enjoy.

I agree with the comment that fad diets are unsustainable. Diets that get results by offering extreme calorie deficits or low quality macronutrient meals replacements are almost never ever going to be sustainable, so what's the point? It's the cause if yo yo dieting IMO.

I would say anything that is a sustainable lifestyle change and something you can genuinely maintain and more importantly want to maintain.

For me, intermittent fasting is something I can do forever. It's also adaptable enough to change without quitting if my personal circumstances or schedule changes. Splitting calories across 2 meals instead of 3 plus snacks is just so much easier and enjoyable for me.

I think the crux of it is taking the time and research to find what fits you as an individual, taking into account what caused your obesity in the first place, your lifestyle, physical and mental health and any underlying conditions.

I have no idea how a crash diet would ever even begin to address those issues. You're both right - it is a basic equation of burning more than you consume, but there are many many ways to fail or succeed at that, and sustainability is a completely separate but equally crucial part of a weight loss and maintenance journey.

Also there's nothing wrong with counting calories. It's the path to truly being able to include any food you want really. If it doesn't work for you and you can lose weight without counting that's also fine! But there's nothing inherently unsustainable about calorie counting, especially with all the apps for it these days. I pretty much guarantee anyone who uses one for around 12 weeks will have logged the bulk of foods that make up their everyday diet and by that point it is very quick :)

There are so many reasons a person is overweight (stress, family life, mental health, access to good food, education, wealth, past emotional trauma to name a few)

True, but it's not even just people with specific issues around food who find it far from simple to 'eat less move more'. It is completely and utterly normal to find it difficult to lose weight. That's why such a high proportion of people are overweight!

We are pretty much programmed to like and seek out calorific food, and no longer have to expend lots of energy and effort getting it or making it. Food companies put a lot of money and effort into making foods that specifically push our reward buttons. Far fewer of us have physically demanding jobs that require a lot of calories, or need to walk long distances etc. It's not surprising that it's practically the norm to be overweight.

I loathe calorie counting. And I have decided I am never again giving up a food, (or especially a whole food group) for weight loss purposes, even temporarily. It annoys me intensely how much head space I have given to weight loss and dieting over the years. And for what? Am I the size I wanted to be? Nope. So what did any if it gain me? It is intermittent fasting or nothing from now on. And eating lots of good stuff rather than avoiding 'bad' stuff.