Anyone tried the “stealth” weight loss diet

[SunDune]

I’m 61 and I’ve been on every diet under the sun and still 20lbs overweight after 15 years of it. I have Mobility issues so move me this restricted. Noom was the best, more rounded, positive dirt for me - but I’ve still not managed to maintain the weight loss.

I read about the Stealth diet the other day. It’s not a book as far as I know, I think it was an article in the Telegraph.

Basically you just try and make little changes as much as you can over time. Instead of having two slices of peanut butter on toast, you have one. Instead of porridge for breakfast one day you might have an apple. And so on. It’s not restrictive in the normal sense and you are always free to make whatever choices you wish.

The main or objective is that overtime you will gradually lose weight, maybe without even noticing particularly.

Your habits will change.

And there is none of the usual dieting rules.

But hopefully some weight loss.

I think this diet is more useful for people who really understand, food and calories, but still struggle with some habits and have a stone or 2 to lose.

What do people think?

Anyone done this?

@SunDune

For me, I think it’s been about seeing it as being more healthy rather about missing out.

It’s a bit hard to put into words, but when I realised that “my body would know” if I “cheated”, that helped change my mindset. As in, I have the choice to eat whatever I want, but it’s my body that will pay the price. This perhaps relates more to a bad habit I had of eating in secret - “everyone’s out, so I can have some toast now”. Whereas now I would be more likely to think “It’s up to me whether or not I have some toast or some cake or whatever. But do I really want it, or am I doing it out of habit?”. And it’s become a “habit” to think like that.

Anyway, I’m not trying to lecture anyone, but just to say what has worked for me in the hope someone might find it helpful. But overall I think it’s a good idea to look at your overall eating patterns and habits and start with whatever you see as the easier changes, whether that’s cutting down the sugar in your coffee, stopping snacking after dinner, or only allowing snacks after dinner at the weekend, having more fruit and vegetables, whatever seems most achievable and maintainable for you.

I’ve found it really interesting, reading up a lot about heath and nutrition, but maybe that would be more of an effort for someone who didn’t find the topic all that interesting?

There’s evidence that your micro biome changes as your diet changes - in simple terms, your micro biome is populated with the bacteria that exist on the type of food you eat. So if, for example, you eat lots of burgers, your gut will be full of burger-dependent microbes who will send very strong signals to your brain to “eat more burgers” if they see their supply of burgers dry up. But, their place will eventually be taken over by microbes which rely on the substitute food - for argument’s sake, say that’s bean salad. So over time the burger-loving microbes get overtaken by bean salad-loving microbes and the cravings sent to the brain change.

I don’t really worry about calories in themselves but I do try to keep a lid on high sugar and high fat foods because these foods are typically very easy to overeat. But I do eat them sometimes, if I choose to. I guess what I’m trying to say is that they’re not “forbidden”, they’re just eaten a bit more mindfully now (by me) than they were in the past.

I agree I think it’s just the way the original post is framed and this isn’t a criticism, there is no magic hack and everything takes some element of work and effort to some degree. Some diets are restrictive and not fulfilling and some diets are more low key and life long. Each one is changing the way you eat or see food but they still take effort to maintain and understand.