DIET FAILED AGAIN? Me too. Join me in a friendly, easy going diet thread where we can take our time and see results no matter how long it takes with positive encouragement along the way.

[poorpaws]

My story so far:
I started a thread “Lockdown stones to lose” in early June last year. I had nearly 3 stones to lose and was very determined. At times I did very well and at one point had lost over 1.5 stones.

Loads of people joined and then left and I think only four of us remained at the end. I kept plodding on. Just after Christmas I became ill for seven weeks (Covid related). I couldn’t do much or go out so my weight ballooned. I still kept plodding on. Then one of my dogs suffered an horrendous attack and whilst nursing her I just about lived on chocolate.

So here I am nearly 11 months later, most likely very nearly back to square one. I keep reminding myself that last time I said I would not give up no matter what! Will you join me tomorrow morning? I would love some company.

Good morning all

@Theredjellybean I should have read your post last night before I tucked. Into the chocolate, crisps, gum sweets etc ☹️

I know you must be sick of hearing me because quite frankly I'm sick of hearing myself but I'm really really struggling. I'm okay for breakfast, have a small salad for lunch, dinner isn't even too bad but the snacking at night is awful. I know the way to combat that is to take the dogs out in the evening but I've been so tired that I just want to sit and watch rubbish TV or read Mumsnet. I'll try harder this evening because weigh-in on Monday will be devastating.

@BeyondMyWits and @ClaraTheImpossibleGirl belated happy birthday to you both. So sorry I'm late with the good wishes but hope you both had a lovely birthday (even minus trainers @Clara).

It's raining here AGAIN, one lovely sunny day and no doubt we'll have to pay for It with many days of rain. I think Im bored with life at the moment, hence the overeating. Every day is just about the same as the previous day, I'm like Tom Hanks in Groundhog Day.

I hope you all have a good day and make the right food choices. I'm sure I'll catch up soon when this mood lifts.

Nearly forgot, we'll done @Thelongdarkteatime your stats are looking really good. I could do with you sending me some of your willpower and positivity.

Morning...

@poorpaws ... definitely with you on the boredom and just sitting watching crap on telly/internet! It is hard to get motivated to get up and do something (especially with menopausal brain fog and anxiety just continually stopping me from starting anything)

I have Dd21 home from uni for a few days so things will be "different" and "difficult" for a bit. DD19 is also at uni, but has exams at the moment, adding its own worries.

I do love that Dd21 is home, don't get me wrong, but we both have our own issues, me with hormones/menopause, her with hormones/mental health/anxiety, and I just find it hard.

So, this coming week is going to be spent telling myself not to comfort eat. Hey ho.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Morning all. I’m due back home today and will weigh myself tomorrow which will be scary. I know I’ve been over my calories but I’ve kept and eye on it and I’m hoping for not too bad a gain. In the past when I’ve gone away I’ve seen it as an excuse to eat everything I want - it’s like my brain doesn’t think something is a treat or fun unless it involves a million calories but then I regret it when I get home.

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl the Lisa Riley book sounds interesting. I know for sure that I need to log everything if I really want to lose weight. It’s a real eye-opener and I’m always surprised that things I thought were ok are actually not!

@poorpaws sorry you’re still struggling. I am absolutely the same. Evenings are completely my downfall. I can be really good all day then completely destroy all my hard work with evening snacking. I don’t really have a solution for it other than to go to bed!

good luck today everyone.

I love a journal. I don't mind writing everything I eat down (not doing it atm) but I need advice on what you write down for salads, I'll explain. I eat a lot of salad so, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, every coloured peppers, celery, sugar snap peas, grated carrot etc., which are all very few calories (with low cal dressing). If you write everything down do you just write "salad = guesstimate amount cals" or list lettuce =, tomatoes = separately. I never know how much to guess for salads although I know it's not many calories so what do you do/guess? (My salads are large).

Years ago I used to do large layered salads with pineapple, pasta, mayonnaise, eggs etc and ate loads of it. When I worked out the calories I was horrified, it was more than a roast dinner. I've never made one since. So very clever slimming people how do you log salads and how many calories do you guess or do you check every item and be spot on (or weigh it all 😱).

I think when I have an answer I'll start logging food again as it did work for me last year.

@Bigbus I hope you've had a lovely time. You sound to have done very well, (I know I wouldn't have) so well done for trying to stay on track.

@poorpaws at the moment I am logging carefully so I would break the salad down and log each thing separately. I’ve even been weighing things when I’m at home! Still stuck on a plateau though! But I’m hoping my hard work will be rewarded.

it’s interesting what you say about the salad. I watched a secret eaters episode once where the man had Special K for breakfast - sounds ok, right? Except he had a small mixing bowl full of it with full fat milk, half a carton of cream and something else I can’t remember and it came to 1,500 calories! Secret Eaters is great!

@Bigbus thank you for your reply. Don't you find it tedious writing every single item out? How do you find out the calories, google? Years ago I had a calorie book but I would think now I would just Google and I'm sure it must be pretty accurate.

I think a few years ago I googled every item of salad for a calorie count and then added them up. I think I had a note at the front of my book with notes in about calories. That's when I lost 2 1/2 stone quite quickly. Perhaps I should pay more attention to calories. I'm going to find a book to write it all down in 🙈

@poorpaws i use Noom at the moment but it’s a bit expensive so when this sub runs out I’ll find another one. Basically it tells you how many calories and you don’t have to weigh it if you don’t want. For example you can log a handful of spinach and it gives you the calories. Also it tracks your steps and gives you back half the calories you’ve burned which is an incentive to get moving!

I can track food on my Fitbit but I like to have in written down in front of me in black and white.

Today I'm going to look for one of my many empty books and tonight I am going to sit and google all the salad ingredient calories I eat most then write it in the book and tomorrow I am going to start logging everything I eat.

I don't really know why I haven't been doing this because I know it works for me and I've done it loads of time before and got endless full books. I've logged before on my Fitbit and something else (can't remember what it was called) but it's never as clear to me than with pen and paper.

I am starting tomorrow, so not even waiting until the beginning of next week. Suddenly I feel a little more motivated, I hope it lasts 🤞🏻 and of course I'll be reporting in regularly.

Also I'm just back from a long dog walk to make up for yesterday so hopefully I'm back on track.

Happy Friday everyone.

Hi everyone. I forgot to weigh myself this week. I did put on a pair of jeans that were quite tight and they're definitely a bit looser.

I've really struggled as I'm in the middle of fertility treatment and the meds have made me very tired and nauseous. I've also helpfully lost my appetite but I'm hungry a lot 😕 just don't fancy anything. Dh is working late, so I just had supernoodles - terrible isn't it.

Sounds like you have a plan @poorpaws 🙂

Good morning all.

I hope you are having a good start to your weekend on this sunny Saturday.

I've got a change of plan, I'm not actually starting logging food till Monday after all. I'm all over the place with my weight and I haven't been able to get my book started yet although I've started making notes of the calories in certain foods that I eat. It will just confuse my tired, poor brain to start on a Saturday because I weigh on Monday anyway.

I ate a whole Easter egg and contents last night. 🥴. I was in a very thoughtful mood and decided it's been a really crap year for me so far and it's time I gave myself a break. January and February both DP and I were quite ill and although the LFT was negative I'm sure it was Covid related because neither of us have ever had anything like that before. Then before Easter my dog suffered the horrendous attack and its taken two months to get her better. So out of five months, four of them have been horrible. There's no wonder I haven't lost any weight this year yet but I'll start on Monday and see how I go. I really need to start doing well for my mental health but I am giving myself a break because of the rotten year it's been for us.

Less moaning, I hope everyone is doing well and you all have a lovely weekend.

@FatGirlTriesAgain2022 I'm with you other shopping list. Mine starts out full of salad and veg and lean protein, then "did you forget..." comes up and all good intentions are out the window.

I use mfp and log everything separately.
Once you've weighed out tomatoes for example you have the calories recorded.
I was shocked with calories adding up quickly with things like salad cream.
But I usually eat a huge salad for lunch with some ham and a measured portion of salad cream and it comes in at 200 calories.
I have been very careful this week bar one boozy dinner and am down again this morning.
Sw: 75.1
Now:72.8
But it is tough.. And I'm quite hungry this morning which is unusual for me.

Hey all

glad I’m not the only one struggling. Despite logging all food on MFP, daily steps of 17-20k and trying to stay active I’m have lost and gained liked a loon.

last week BIG gain - up 4 to over 12 st again, Tuesday 11.10 -super excited and motivated- then yesterday back up to just over 12 st again.

now I have another period! Only had one two weeks ago.

holiday a week today- might need everything to just have elastic waists.

work is mad too, 14hr days are the norm, and I have also done fours hours over two evenings in the garden.

cannot even be arsed to weigh in.

I made it out of my trip away the same weight I started so that’s a win.

To those who are struggling I know exactly how you feel and my current motivation feels like it’s only a tiny breath away from disappearing. I have to cling on tight otherwise I’ll be overboard again - and I can really go overboard! I think I mentioned before I put on 3 stone in a year whilst still weighing and saying to myself next week will be different and it never was and it was very depressing. If it’s not the right time, give yourself a break (not from this group but from beating yourself up about if).

Another Easter egg bites the dust tonight ☹️. At least that's the last of them. I'm tired and I think a little depressed, it's not a good combo.

I don't want to bring the tone of this thread down so good luck to everyone, especially the ones struggling.

@poorpaws
You are not bringing tone down at all.
I'm going to give you a pep talk... You started the thread with maybe a self fufliiling prophecy... "diet failed again".
You want to succeed, but it takes actions not just thoughts.
So today... Get up and chuck out anything that will derail you... Easter eggs should have long gone in the bin.
If it's not in the house you can't eat it.
No one else will do it for you.
Feeling low and eating to regulate your emotions is so common and so hard to break but you can do it... Today make a plan for that after dinner weak spot.
You know what to do.. Have dog walk, bath, play a game of scrabble, whatever it takes to keep you from cupboards.
Keep reminding yourself... Its not hunger it boredom /sad/bad/mad/ feelings.
Try to ignore the narrative that "you deserve it cus... Its been a bad dsy/you feel sad/it's Monday tomorrow etc".
Do one day and tomorrow you'll wake up feeling so powerful... You conquered your cravings, and then you can do it again... It takes one day to show you you can... And three weeks to form a habit...
That's not long
And you can do this.
But take action, stop sitting on the sofa eating thinking you can't stop yourself.. Because we all believe you can

@poorpaws please don't be so hard on yourself. A lot of what keeps me coming back to this thread is knowing I'm not the only one who messes up. CLICHÉ ALERT!! - every journey has its ups and downs. I scoffed everything in sight yesterday because ... because ... it was Saturday. No other reason. And once I started, I couldn't stop. I woke up this morning feeling as though I undid a whole week's worth of effort. And every other thing in my life seemed just a little bit more crap too. BUT I'm getting back on the horse (another cliché!) and am going to keep going - not start again, but keep going.

And listen to @Theredjellybean. There's a whole lot of sense in that there post!

hey! Think back to the reason you set this up.

this is going to be a bumpy ride; sharing it with others helps!

it losing weight were easy we wouldn’t all be here telling each other how we are struggling!

you can do this. One day at a time

@poorpaws you can definitely have a good evening with planning and you will feel so much more upbeat the next day.
If I have a little treat I am doing my best to think that was nice and I enjoyed it. I try to get back on track rather than thinking sod it diets ruined and eating really bad. One small treat will not cancel out all the good food choices.

@poorpaws sorry to hear things aren’t going great. Please stick with it. Same problem here to be honest and I haven’t been posting because I’ve got nothing positive to say. I got the quote below in an email this week and it resonated with me and I thought it might help others:

A chance at control...
When we leave our thoughts (or our ideas, plans, goals, emotions, or anything else important) in our head, then we leave control of those thoughts to the voice in our head - you know, the one that can turn sunshine into rain and back again in a moment….
Writing things down gives US a chance at control, a chance to review, expand or dismiss the thought with a logical mind, a chance to make sense of it all.
The voice in our head will tell us that there’s no point in writing things down - but then it would say that, wouldn’t it…

I'm going to dig out my journal and start writing and see where that takes me

@poorpaws ... sorry you are having a bump in the road... but as everyone has said, we wouldn't be on here if it was easy. Sticky toffee pudding was my downfall today. Had a roast dinner.. couple of slices of skinless turkey, mash (instead of roasties) gravy (low cal from granules) and green beans, carrots, swede and cauliflower. Half the plate was veg... and went for sticky toffee pudding... negating all the good work!!

Hey ho, another week with no snacking so it could have been a lot worse🤪

Thank you @Theredjellybean @ClinkeyMonkey @Mumstheword2022 @endlesswashing @Readytostartagain @BeyondMyWits
I'm on it! Everything (food and exercise) is being written down, going to walk the dogs in the evening too, more housework = more movement, old Rosemary Conley dvd is being dusted off, the time has come and I am most definitely on it.

Weight this morning 11st 4 lbs next week it will be less!

Thank you all and please join me in doing well this week.

Good luck with weigh-ins. It's a lovely day atm (rain later) so going out with the dogs all morning.