Overweight but overtired

[Needtochangethings]

I'm in desperate need of motivation.
I need to lose about two stone and every night tell myself I will be stronger and stop eating crap. The next day I just carry on consuming it.
I have a toddler who is approaching 2 and I'm yet to have a full night's sleep since I was pregnant (often 2-3 wake ups each night, sometimes more, rarely less).
I am just so tired I can't face restricting my diet. Any tips on how to get and stay motivated? Am I just using the tiredness as an excuse?

Things I've tried:

• Not having rubbish in the house - I go out and buy it

Meal planning - I just buy more stuff on top Telling people ie colleagues I am stopping having sweet stuff so they don't offer it to me - I just buy and eat it on the way home from work.

I have a very supportive DP and we are in the same boat, we work compressed hours due to childcare and so work long days, and juggling that with parenting means we have little time for ourselves which probably adds to the tiredness.

I’m the same. Except ideally need to lose 4-5 stone!
I do blame the tiredness.
I reach for the sugar when tired and rely heavily on convenience foods when too tired to cook.
I know some people would disagree but I have started slimming world and if I didn’t go, I would eat rubbish, but I reach for it less now because I know I’m getting weighed each week.
I disagree with some of the things at slimming world but it has helped me lose 1.5 stone so far x

I've been telling myself the same, so tired and fed up and reaching for takeaways all the time until I realised at the weekend I'm eating takeaways almost daily and decided to give up and count calories. Now it's only been 5 days I grant you but at this stage I have more energy than this time last week, I do think improving your diet will also help your tiredness. You just have to bite the bullet and give it a go. I bought some slimfast shakes for when I really can't be arsed trying to decide what to have at lunch and cooking etc.

I’m the same, I have a 5 year old and 2 year old. The youngest is still breastfeeding and doesn’t sleep though, I am so tired all the time! I eat so much rubbish in the evenings it’s unreal but I can’t seem to stop even though it makes me feel even worse! I have a stone to lose but can’t stay motivated so lose a lb then put on 2lb! It’s been the same for the past year but nothing keeps me focused and motivated

Eat more nourishing foods. More protein first of all, then a lot of veg, enough healthy fats (olive oil, avocado...). If you fill up on good things you won't have the space for a lot of crap. Bonus, you will have more energy.

Start by drinking lots of water. Before you reach for 'crap' food, reach for water.

That might be a reasonably easy place to start.

Next, come over the the low carb bootcamp threads here on MN. Lots of information about eating really good quality food and drinking all the water. No need to be hungry, eat til you are satiated.

Eating 'crap' food is like building a fire with twigs. It's quick to get going but you need to keep replenishing the twigs so you eat more crap food.

Eating good quality food you feel satisfied. Imaging just forgetting to eat because you have no hunger signals.

That's what happens when you eat good food not the crap that is manufactured to last for ever and to be very attractive and make loads of profit for them and leave us over weight.

That sucks OP. It's the sugar and carrying extra weight that makes you so tired but it must be hard to motivate yourself when you feel so tired.

Thanks everyone. Its reassuring to know I'm not alone in this.

The weird thing is I'm very conscious of nutrition. When it comes to my meals and planned snacks I actually eat very healthily, loads of veg, healthy proteins, and while I have some white carbs (pasta and rice), lots of the time I have unrefined ones too (brown bread, sweet potatoes etc).

It's just I eat loads of rubbish on top of it!
Like if I showed you my meal plan (including snacks like a small handful of nuts, oatcakes etc) you'd think there's no reason I should be hungry. And yet, I am. And then eat cake, ice cream, crisps, chocolate etc.

I definitely do need to drink more water though.
@LBB2020 our situations are very similar -including the breastfeeding and kids ages.

@Needtochangethings they really do! I eat well during the day and am very conscious of making sure we all have healthy meals that include lots of veg or salad, we eat brown pasta and wholemeal bread. Like you, it’s the chocolates, crisps, ice creams etc on top that ruin it!

A couple of ideas from me…

Weight loss takes time, thought and energy. If you’re tired and working long hours, you don’t have much of any of those, so make it easier on yourself. You’ve got two issues as I see it- you like snacks and sugar, and you’re hungry /unsatisfied /low in energy enough in between meals that you’re turning to them. The addiction to sugar and snacking is the harder one to beat, so don’t do that yet. Address your meals first. Now hear me out…

Make your main meals bigger and even slightly LESS healthy for a while- the sugar and snack habits are the hard ones to break so address those first. Make sure you’re properly full and satisfied after your meals in order to reduce your desire and ability to snack in between meals, even if it feels like your main meals look worse on paper.

Second idea: allotyourself a treat time every time, say 8-9pm or whatever. Use it, don’t go without but concentrate on making your goal to get to that hour before you start on the treat. Initially have the treat you actually want in that hour- have the real ice cream not the low cal shit etc. Make that hour a golden glistening shimmery reward in your mind at the end of each day.

Once you’ve corralled it to that hour consistently for a bit, you can either start to tweak your meals again or make the treats smaller/less frequent etc.

@figmaofmyimagination that's a really interesting concept. Especially the treat time. It sounds a lot more sustainable than just an all or nothing diet!

I was 11st 11lbs at 5ft 4 I was also tired and had no energy. I would lose 11lbs and then nothing for ages I got so fed up that I would give up and stuff my face and stop doing any exercise. But I still have treats but not every day or the whole pack 😂 if you have a bad day, don't feel bad just do better the next day. It takes time. I want to lose 2st it's taken forever some months I lose nothing but I'm in no hurry. I just have to keep going and not give up like all the other times.

I'm now 10st 3lbs I started the middle of January this year, the weight loss is going very slow. I workout 5 times a week I have so much more energy now. Just do small steps try drinking more water even if it's just one small bottle a day it's a start , go for a 20 min walk and build it up. YouTube have lots of 10 min workouts I find these great.

I’ve lost four stone (well, currently 3.5 after the summer but I’m working my way back there!) and it’s worked for me. I’m not saying you can then eat a family size galaxy every night between 9-10 and expect to lose weight, but it’s much easier to reduce that over time if you’re not spending your time hungry, tired and fighting cravings- I need to feel excited at the prospect of my dinner!

while I have some white carbs (pasta and rice), lots of the time I have unrefined ones too (brown bread, sweet potatoes etc).

Brown bread, sweet potatoes any unrefined carbs send my blood sugar even crazier than the white versions. It's very difficult to go without rubbish if you blood sugar is on the crazy card roller coaster.

Green veg are my friend.