If dieting doesn't work what does?

[Whydoesnothingwork]

I need to lose 2 stone. It used to be one which proves my point really. Nothing works. I have a tendency to binge eat/comfort eat. So if I restrict to lose weight I do this more. I've had some therapy for this and hypnosis which has helped but my therapist says I mustn't diet as I will end up bingeing again.

So how can I lose the weight?!! I eat quite healthily most of the time.

I like the sound of the no-S diet. Sounds very workable.

If you've joined a gym, do they do classes? I do Les Mills Body Pump 3 x a week in a class. That's weight based

Thanks s basically slimming world - brilliant 😂

Consistency works. Tracking your calories and weighing/measuring your portions works. Start with MyFitnessPal and eat the calories it gives you.

I have tried dieting so many times and it always works for a bit - until I crack and put all of the weight back on and then some. I've tried everything from slimming world to intermittent fasting and all of the 'it's not a diet it's a lifestyle bollocks.
I am hardly unique in this, and have stopped blaming myself - its dieting culture that's really to blame here.
Recently I read a book called 'Intuitive eating' and it's really helped me. The book doesn't claim it will help you lose weight, but it will help you let go of that yo yo diet mentality. Since reading the book I've been eating whatever I want, and genuinely have found myself making healthier choices naturally. If I know I can have chocolate whenever I really feel like it I don't feel the need to eat as much. And I've learned that I feel better when I eat enough to feel comfortably full but never stuffed. And the final benefit is that I think I'm losing weight! I've not stepped on the scales at all but my clothes are fitting better.
I don't think I'm totally fixed, but my relationship with food is definitely improving.

I went from a size 16-18 to an 8-10. I've never "dieted", I committed to making a permanent change in my lifestyle.

Of course, there have been planety of people in my life who interpret me eating smaller portions and not having too many carbs as a "diet" and lecture me about "starvation mode" myths and "they always fail!", but it's been 8 years now.

I've lost two stone since December by calorie counting. I use the Lose It app. Yes it's tedious but it works. I still have sugar in my tea and chocolate and a couple of slices of pizza. As soon as I put food or drink in my mouth I log it. I don't exercise but I am planning to start walking. I get weighed at my local chemist once a week on their scales rather than my own. I can't explain why but psychologically it makes me feel more accountable! I have another two stone to lose and I'm not rushing myself. You definitely need to be in the right mindset and I am. It feels ace to be honest!

Unfortunately the only way to lose weight and keep it off is long term lifestyle change, something like the Moseley fast 800 originally for reversing type 2 diabetes can stick start it but long term it is lifestyle
eat healthily 90% of the time, if you eat a 4oz slice of cake you can't put more than 4oz on if this happens once a week it will make no difference every day and it will
don't snack, don't have seconds,
don't eat mindlessly when doing something else ie ironing watching tv food prep
ultra processed food is designed to be addictive try not to eat it
artifiical sweeteners may have no calories but they still mess with metabolism try and avoid
for me
I lost 2 stone when I stopped eating between meals, only drank sugar and sweetner free drinks ie water milk tea and coffee
lunch and dinner consisted of half a plate of veg minimum
to try for one meal a day with no bread. potatoes pasta or rice ( not carb free as still had root veg etc)
no altered food ie nothing with fat removed or caffeine removed or natural sugars etc
no banned foods if I want a glass of wine or chocolate I have some
being realistic and walking when it is under 15 minutes walk and not pouring with rain
cook from scratch but use frozen veg etc 90% of the time
I try and avoid ultra processed foods if we have cake or cookies I make them with whole eggs butter sugar and flour etc not hydrogenated veg fat partial inverted syrup and palm oil

Virtual Gastric Band App?

I don't eat in the evenings and have a filling meal mid-day. You get used to it.
No more 'I'll just have a couple of biscuits' and snaffling the lot. I just don't buy them.

I do 16/8 and believe me, I'm not dieting. I don't count calories, I eat what I want. The only restriction is eating within an 8 hour window. It's completely changed my appetite and the way I eat. I find it really easy to lose weight and keep it off.

I only ever ate within an 8 hour window ,it didn't work for me at all hence my need for SW. Glad it works for you, it's great when you find something that does.

Which to someone who's overweight and prone to binge or comfort eating, looks very similar to being 'on a diet'.

But not until they are slim so they can go back to their old eating habits, but for the rest of their lives.

But seriously, it's about what you eat most of the time. The odd binge, large meal, occasional slice of cake etc is fine and won't cause you to gain weight.

But if you eat more calories than you burn off, which is more likely if you eat a lot of processed or calorie dense food, or drink a lot of calories but can also be due to 'healthy eating' if your portions are very large, then you will still gain weight. The people who say they 'eat what they want and don't gain weight' succeed at this because what they want is smaller portions of healthy food.

Exercise and daily activity also helps because it means you burn more calories so can eat more without gaining weight.

I'm 61 and found absolutely nothing worked any more. I used to be able to lose weight very easily.
I put on 2 stone after havig a gastric band so I had it deflated in the end.
I have just now lost 2 stone doing the 19/5 fasting thing.
I eat my lunch at 12:30 and then my last meal at around 5.
Also no sugar, no salt, low carb, vegetarian, wholefoods and the weight is finally coming off. Its hard work though because I really like sweets.

Why is everyone recommending diets when the OP has been told not to diet. Eg Slimming world is a diet ( and when I did it pushing low fat and artificial sweetened products so not particularly healthy) Fast800 is a diet and an extreme one if you are in a habit of restrict and binge. For what it’s worth I’d look at Prof Tim Spector or the Medicinal Chef or Andrew Weil (who wrote Eating Well for Optimum Health ) to see what a healthy day looks like. Eating to fuel your body properly rather than counting calories which lets face it could consist of 1500 calories from crisps.

Slimming World done properly is a lifestyle change. They want you to eat to your appetite with plenty of fruit and veg and unprocessed food like meat, eggs, pulses etc, with strict restrictions on crap that makes people overweight like sweets, crisps, alcohol, snacks etc.

Because SW is a healthy eating plan recommended by GPs, classes can push artificial sweeteners etc,that's why I recommend doing it on line.

Dress it up however you like ,if you want to lose weight you need to 'diet.'

OP this would be a 'diet' to my usual eating mindset! It's really healthy sounding, have you added up how many calories that all comes to cos it sounds like it'd be about 1600, with which you'd definitely lose weight gradually.

Calorie counting worked best for me, and whenever I ate over my calories, I just went on exercise bike until I burned off the extra that day.

Cooking mainly from scratch, don't buy snacks. I.e no crisps, chocolate bars, ice cream etc in your house. No fizzy drinks or alcohol.

Might sound tedious but you get used to it. Eventually you won't crave jarred, packaged stuff anymore.

Batch cooking is better if cooking from scratch is hard.

Eat more animal fat and meat.

To be fair, I'm a binge eater, have had eating disorders etc and I do think sliming world is pretty good. It does teach you to cook, to think about what you're actually eating etc. It's all well and good to suggest healthy eating but if you're consuming lots of nuts, seeds etc then you won't really lose weight ime. Learn to cook and eat mostly vegetables, fruits, chicken and eggs. Cut back on bakery products. Treat yourself to biscuits and chocolates in moderation but don't ban them altogether as then they become something you'll binge on.

I have not done SW for probably 8 years so I appreciate things change but when I was there it was very geared towards fat free foods (like the Muller Lite yoghurts) and used terminology like syns. They also sold a great number of cereal bars …..which I can’t remember the name of which doesn’t strike me as particularly healthy. I can remember being told I could have 2 jacket potatoes or 2 packets of Bens microwave rice for lunch. Weird kind of advice. I’m not saying you can’t have a healthy diet within their recommendations but it is a “diet” and if it worked they wouldn’t actually have a business model.

Well you've got to engage your brain too, that's not a dig at you, I mean, of course if you eat 2 jacket potatoes for lunch an average person won't lose much weight unless they're 20 stone to begin with. SW is basically saying eat until you're full then stop, so being full after a huge jacket potato (or 2) and baked beans is far better than being full after a large dominoes pizza and 4 kit kats. Once you've passed the cravings for fatty convenience foods then you're onto a winner. All the muller light, SW cereal bars etc are a choice. Why go down that route? It's for people that want to lose weight but not change their eating habits, they're not really ready to change. I never bought that crap because I wasn't in the UK but also it's like trying to diet and not diet at the same time. I completely changed my habits, cooked everything from scratch and had a glass of wine and a handful of sweets in the evening. I think I did a pretty good job of getting the balance right. I only stopped as I moved again and never got back into the swing of cooking. But as a whole, minus the nonsense it's a good well rounded diet. But with everything you've got to put the effort in. Cook your own food.

Just to add, I still ate full fat yogurts, full fat milk and butter. I'm not buying the low fat junk. I just ate less of it.

Just to say we do cook from scratch, maybe I should just carry on eating what I'm eating and tell myself I can have a treat night once a week? Maybe thar would work.

Also to add, I'm currently stuck in a bit of a binge cycle so I'm not claiming to have the answer, I'm just saying as diets go SW is ime a pretty good well rounded route to go down if you don't follow the weird shit that goes with it.