Best WOE after weightloss

[Allgoingtopot]

Please can anyone recommend a way of eating long term that will help a woman in her 50s to maintain weightloss whilst feeling full of energy and living an active lifestyle? I lost the weight too fast, if I am honest, and it has had an impact on my broader physical and mental health.

For me it’s low carb, i am fifty two, am in the gym five to six times a week, am a size ten and five eight. I don’t feel hungry my appetite is regulated and I have lots of energy.

Thanks Bluntness. How low? Can you recommend a specific programme or book? I am really struggling to allow myself a more relaxed approach to eating without collapsing into a full scale binge, and

I cant continue dieting as I was because I am feeling weak and starting to lose hair.

Hi Allgoingtopot Congratulations on your weight loss. How did you lose the weight? I would recommend eating healthily from now on, so no ultra processed food, very little sugar, low carb (or at least low refined grains) maximise vegetable intake (try and eat at least 30 different types a week) and try intermittent fasting from time to time.
I'm 55, run and/or cycle most days and never eat until 1pm, I'm 5'8", 60kg and never hungry even when I run 10 miles in the morning.
I hope you find a woe you can stick too. You need to keep your insulin level down which you can by eating more fat and protein and fewer refined carbs. Good luck!

I completely misunderstood your title and thought you were asking for people to share actual post-weight loss woes, like loose skin or having to buy an entire new wardrobe or people telling them they look ‘gaunt’.

No advice, but good luck, OP.

Thanks Sam,
I dont recommend the way I lost weight. Basically, it was a very low calorie diet that became more and more extreme. I lost the weight but look and feel rubbish.
"Everything will be better when I am slimmer" is not always true.

Well I stay under twenty grams of carbs to loose weight, then when you reach target you can start to increase, and then experiment, to reach the level you maintain at. For many that’s approx 50 grams a day

Are you bingeing on sugar and carb shit? If so then I’d recommend low carb

Have a look at biwi and stunt nuns threads, there’s a section on here dedicated to it.

Sorry? biwi and stunt nuns?

Yes. Sugar and crappy carbs are my binge poisons.

Ah - found BIWI and Stunt Nun. Thank you I will have a read.

@Allgoingtopot I'm sorry to read that you are feeling rotten. Have you heard of the human being diet thehumanbeingdiet.com? I've been reading about this (I haven't done it) but it sounds like a basic healthy eating education course. I thought it might be of interest.

I’m in my 30s but hopefully my comment will still help you. I lost 3 stone last year and found it impossible to maintain it. I felt ravenous all the time and had huge binges, including one period of bingeing for 10 days straight. I knew the weight was going back on as I was eating but it was as if I was possessed as I literally could not stop. I’d lost the weight doing calories counting but in hindsight, I was eating a lot of sugar and carbs and relying on doing a lot of exercise.

Fast forward to about 2 months ago. Half the weight I’d lost had gone back on and I felt miserable and like such a failure. Why the fuck could I not just stop eating when everyone else seemed able to? Then I started reading about the Fast800 diet, Jason Fung, insulin resistance and low carb. That was my answer. I’m now just 1 kilo away from my lowest weight I was when I’d lost it all last year. I’m going to try to lose another 5 kilos to get to a weight I know I’m comfortable at. I eat loads of delicious food and never feel deprived. I have loads of veg, salads, meat, fish, eggs, cheeses and nuts. I don’t have sugar, grains or junk food and I don’t miss it at all. I used to crave it all the time and I could eat 6,000 calories in a day, I kid you not. My stomach was a bottomless pit. It was ridiculous and really scary actually. I simply couldn’t control myself when trying to maintain the weight. So I am going to do this for the long term I think. I would have ended up with diabetes if I wasn’t careful and I have no desire to do that. I may add back more fruit and maybe the odd root vegetable but I know I can’t go back to eating a standard UK diet without dire consequences.

I still exercise - go for long walks and do a bit of weight lifting. But it’s not something I obsess over any longer because my eating is under control.

Hope you find something that fits you.

Best to speak to a trained nutritionist.

Thanks @fallfallfall . You are probably right, although it may be more of a psychologist I need. Perhaps both.
I really should have worked this out by now - I'm not a teenager, I am in my 50s, but I am stuck in a very adolescent rut.
I think that I need to practise this "conversation" here, before I take it to the professionals in real life.

I think most trained dietitians and nutritionists cover unhealthy eating patterns in their education.

What conversation do you need to practice? If you went on a very low calorie diet and deprived yourself it’s quite normal to start bingeing when you permit youtself to eat again, you just need to start to find a way to feel you’re not deprived and need to eat it all now.. low carb helps many of us do that.

It depends on which type of dietician/nutritionist you pick to be honest. The official dietary advice endorsed by the NHS remains high carb food and ‘everything in moderation’ and clearly the levels of obesity in the population suggest that it’s not particularly good or realistic advice. I’m sure there are some out there that are good but your average dietician/nutritionist would not have helped me whatsoever.

@Allgoingtopot

Thanks Bluntness. How low? Can you recommend a specific programme or book? I am really struggling to allow myself a more relaxed approach to eating without collapsing into a full scale binge, and I cant continue dieting as I was because I am feeling weak and starting to lose hair.

Maybe a certain level of control actually works for you. It does for me.

I exercise hard and eat to fuel that, but the only thing that has enabled me to maintain is very strict calorie control to ensure I stay where I want to be. Don't get me wrong, it's not at the level of weighing every morsel that passes my lips, but I do record everything I eat and drink.

I also do 16:8 fasting, but I have done that since before it was a "thing" many because I don't like breakfast and if I do eat it I get ravenous for every other meal of the day. I keep carbs on the low side as that suits me also.

I'd suggest you gradually move up to a normal calorie allowance if you're worried about a binge or worried that a sudden jump of weight will freak you out (as often happens if you drastically increase intake all of a sudden). That said, if you are eating below your BMR (the basic calories needed to keep you alive) then certainly go immediately up to that. Then work out what you ought to be eating to maintain your weight and increase your daily calories by, say, 100 for a week and then another 100 until you find the balance that works for you.

Also, if you find you don't look as good as you thought you would after losing the weight (I certainly didn't) then have a think about doing some weight training and working to decrease body fat while gaining muscle.

Good luck.

Allgoingtopot I find intermittent fasting combined with generally avoiding processed carbohydrates very simple and freeing. My only strict rules are that I always have a minimum 16 hour fast in every 24 hours - times are flexible but whenever I stop eating (whether 6pm or, rarely, 11pm) I know I won't start again until 16 hours have passed, and that I only eat processed carbohydrates if they're worth it and only in company. That means I might have an ice-cream or pizza with my kids/ family but will never eat a bar of chocolate on my own again. If I really want one I guess I'll share/ buy one for everyone/ someone else and we'll eat them together In all honesty it just removes the vacant/ purposeless/ binge/ emotional eating.

I cannot be doing with calorie counting or avoiding vegetables which contain carbs, anything requiring counting or anything too inflexible is something that I'd rebel against.

You have to find out what suits your body and your temperament and also your lifestyle.

I've lost 7 stone and am maintaining by basically just carrying on with the same thing, but doing mainly 16 hour fasts rather than mostly 18-23 hours, and playing the flexibility by ear. I still do 23 hour fasts sometimes if I know I'm having a big family meal/ restaurant meal.

It suits me because nothing is forbidden, it's very flexible and I don't have to over think or obsess, nor do I ever have any need to make a song and dance about what I eat in company - important to me.

I'm maintaining near the top of my healthy BMI because that's where I want to be and where I feel good. I feel very strong and healthy and have very defined leg and oblique muscles from a lot of walking/ hiking; I still have a slightly wobbly tummy, but having had 3 caesarean sections I am very much at peace with that!

Good luck! Hope you find your way!