No magic bullet I’m afraid, but you have managed this before and you can manage it again. First throw all the naughty stuff out of the house and you’ll be much less tempted. Otherwise it might as well have a big sign on it saying eat me! I’ve been there 🤣 do it now rather than thinking you’ll just not buy more once you’ve eaten it.🤪
I do get a sense of despair, lack of motivation, and sadness(?) in you, and wonder what else is going on in your life. Counselling might be worth exploring further. Losing weight is hard, and particularly if you having other cr@p going on in your life.
I used to weigh considerably more than you. I Lost 5.5 st in 6 months using the 5:2 diet and have kept it off for 5 years. I can remember, a couple of months in, feeling hip bones when I lay in bed at night, and the jelly belly didn’t flop over as much when I turned over in bed and at that point I started seeing day be day changes. I developed the mentality of today we diet, tomorrow we don’t. It became an intermittent diet rather than a continuous drag. I leaned to think of calories consumed over a week not a day. A weekend blowout is fine if you have cut back a bit through the week. A single piece of cake once a week, will not kill you or your diet. I also learned to listen to my body and eat when hungry. That didn’t happen over night but I think is why I’ve managed to keep the weight off.
I used the 5:2 diet, which I found excellent but I did have real good moral (he dieted alongside me) support from DH. It’s worth spending 2 hours reading the book, and deciding if you want to give it a go. My top tips would be:
don’t do 2 days back to back, at least to start with
plan carefully. If you snack in the evening, plan to do just that. Apple, cheese, few nuts. But watch the portion sizes.
don’t try the recipes in the book, they’re rubbish. Go to the garden centre and get a couple of Hamlyn “light” recipes books and use those.
plan what you are eating and buy only that
do get on the scales every day. 🫣Scary but necessary! Once I started losing weight it became much easier. And I continue to step on them every day now and cut back if I see more than a couple of lbs go on
have some emergency rations on hand for if you feel really hungry. Low cal cup a soup, hot choc, apple, carrots. Even better though is to go for a walk, run up the stairs a few time. Exercise seems to reduce hunger, at least in me!
The first month was hard, but I then got into it and it became (relatively) easy.
my Apols for the zeal with which I describe this diet, and it isn’t for everyone. However, it’s been life changing for me. Can walk for miles, not out of breath, do yoga without bits flopping around. And I do like being asked if I have lost “more weight” which I haven’t but it’s nice to hear!
I’ve tried WW and slimming world with some success but put it all back on. Now I realise that the chats after weigh in are all about food. I came away feeling hungry and wanting to try all the low cal versions of normal foods. Unfortunately eating lots of low cal food is no different to eating smaller amounts of proper food. There was a constant focus on having to diet ALL the time 🥺 so I stopped going to them, although I guess the weigh in can be helpful. I’ve done lighter life too. 🤢 not nice, although that would sort out planning for your low cal days!
good luck and remember you have done this once and you can do it again. I know there’s a cost of living crisis …… new wardrobe perhaps?🤫