DIET FAILED AGAIN thread 5. Everyone is welcome to join our very supportive and friendly group without any judgement.

[poorpaws]

Thread 5, everyone welcome!

Hello all! I've been away for a few weeks as have been having some health problems - persistent headaches, nausea, dizziness etc. Finally had a blood test last week which showed various deficiencies, but also sky-high levels of prolactin (over 5000 - it should be under 500). Currently awaiting an urgent referral to endocrinology.

I've piled on weight for the last few weeks. Admittedly I have been comfort eating, but I also think prolactin may have played a part, as high prolactin is strongly associated with weight gain. I'm hoping that once I'm on some treatment I will find it easier to lose weight.

I think I'm going to gently try to get back on track this Monday as the constant overeating is starting to make me feel really unwell. I'm too scared to weigh myself but going to try to stop drinking, cut back UPFs and focus on fruit, veg and protein.

DH and I have also decided to start TTC. We were planning to start trying in a year or so, but anticipate that there could be some problems due to my hormones, so don't want to wait. I'm hoping this will motivate me to really focus on health and get out of my usual starve/binge cycle.

Sounds like lots of you are doing brilliantly - well done! You put me to shame!

@TalkToTheHand123 👍well done on the alcohol free days and the healthy shop.

@thenewaveragebear1983 wow! Blimey you are kicking ass this month, fantastic result.

@Mattietoes. I'm so sorry to hear of your health problems and hope they can be resolved soon. In the meantime, just do what you can. Sadly I'm not one of the ones you refer to as doing brilliantly.

Yesterday was dire! As I mentioned in the last post we've being going to our tiny perfect cafe since last June and I have always resisted the homemade cake ... until yesterday! Oh my goodness it just looked so good so I gave in and it was heavenly. Date and walnut like I've never seen it before, a sort of big plain sponge (it looked plain but didn't taste plain) with huge dates in and lots of walnuts and buttercream.

As if that wasn't bad enough I then scuppered my evening 🙈
I'm really not doing well and can actually feel I've gained weight.

I've got a busy day today, yesterday I started washing all dog beds, blankets, toys, there are a lot. My washing line was full by 7.30 am and my washing machine is still going strong.

Have a good day everyone and enjoy the sunshine.

@poorpaws same with the dog beds. Man, for a cute dog, Maggie is proper stinky 😛

Hi all. Three tubs of butternut squash soup to get me through until 8pm tonight. Trying to plan a binge free evening at the moment.

Hi all. I made a large portion of rice and gravy for a 12 hour shift today as soup seems to cause a bit of an upset tummy. It seems to keep my tummy settled. Will this be ok to do long term or cause weight gain?

@TalkToTheHand123 is there a reason you take rice and gravy rather than a proper meal? To be honest, I’d find that really miserable- and white rice is not nutritious really, and spikes up your insulin and will make you crash down the other side. Personally I’d take something with some protein in, a chicken salad or something, with some fat (cheese or mayo) which will actually keep you going.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I work in an office and if I eat proper food I get the urge to go to the bathroom a lot which is quite embarrassing. If I eat bland food I don't. I don't mind at home so could eat extra healthy here.

You make a valid point though and luckily I have soup in the fridge so will quickly put in tubs before I leave and just put up with the embarrassment 😊

@TalkToTheHand123 oh , well that makes sense. Don’t feel you have to change your plans because of my nosiness 🤣

I had a good day yesterday. I had 1500 cals, but I wasn’t massively wowed by my meals. I have been eating up freezer meals so I had a portion of curry for lunch and for dinner had chilli, but it wasn’t especially nice. Today I have a portion of dhansak for dinner, salad for lunch. There will be cake at work today, my colleague is 50 and I have baked cupcakes so I’ve had to factor that in because I will definitely have to have one.

I’m actually feeling quite trim though, all my workouts are starting to pay off maybe. I have decided I’m going to get to my 1 stone and then drop slimming world - I’ll be at target then so I can dip back in if I need to get weighed , but it’s not really worth paying to go if I’m not actually following it. Plus, I liked it for the social aspect but the friend I made there doesn’t seem to go anymore so I sit on my own like billy no mates anyway!

Hi everyone, I dropped out for a week or so as we had a pipe burst in our attic and one side of the house (it’s 3 storeys) was badly affected, it leaked all the way to the ground floor. Carpets have been removed and humidifiers installed to try and dry things out to save ceilings. Insurance company have been good so it’s just the nuisance of dealing with it all. I am going to catch up on the thread now.

I’ve gained weight as I’ve been comfort eating (lots of potatoes and bread) and drinking wine with dinner. Kept up my exercise though as it really helps with stress. 4 weeks to wedding anniversary night in hotel so I am going to try and lose a few pounds.

Made myself weigh, I have gained 4 lbs since March 17th. Relieved it’s not worse. Ready to get back on it.

Hi everyone

@Sedgwick Oh bless you that sounds awful but I'm happy your insurance company aren't letting you down. Your gain is minor compared to the destruction in your life so well done.

Oh my word I'm not getting back into this healthy eating too well. I just can't seem to stick to cutting out the chocolate, in fact I've just eaten half an Easter egg ☹️. Perhaps I'll go back to trying to maintain to take some of the pressure away.

I'm going for a carvery meal tonight, our weekly cafe visit on Friday and an all day breakfast meal on Sunday 😁 so it will be a difficult week for me. I have to find something to wear tonight and my clothes are shrinking by the minute.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I bought all the ingredients for the overnight oats and made three yesterday. I found a raspberry protein pot and added frozen raspberries and fresh blueberries. It looked and tasted lovely (I did add a little milk as you suggested), but I'm still eating chocolate which I don't think I really should be. I'll get some more pots on Monday and might add a few flaked almonds on top or maybe some coconut.

So all in all it isn't going well here, I'm still quite lethargic and seem "out of sorts" so I'll just try to maintain atm. Needless to say I didn't weigh last Monday as I knew it would be a gain.

Enjoy the sunshine this week.

@thenewaveragebear1983 how do I get back into the zone? I'm really struggling to find the impetus to do anything remotely connected to healthy eating so what's your secret to staying on track? The only one positive thing I am doing is staying here and admitting that I'm really struggling.

Cheers @poorpaws , my DH is great so we are keeping each other going.

Reading your post I had two thoughts, if you don’t mind me butting in. Have you ever tried treating your chocolate like medicine, so you give yourself a square or two of chocolate two or three times a day, same time, same amount like medicine, (the large Lindt chocolate squares not tiny squares). Darker chocolate is more satisfying and much better for you if you could switch to that. I used to find dark chocolate unpleasant but my taste buds adjusted really quickly. When I give up alcohol I have 2 squares of dark chocolate to help with sugar cravings after dinner. Also have you anything in the diary to look forward to short term to use as a goal? Holiday or party anything like that? I find this motivates me especially if it’s not too far ahead.

@poorpaws it’s so hard isn’t it? Two weeks ago I was really feeling like I was spiralling out of control, this week I feel super on it. All I can do is reflect on what I do differently when I’m having a good week- not sure if it’s correlation or causation?

But a good week for me is:

• no snacking or grazing or fridge raiding, I divide my daily calories into 3 and have big meals and nothing in between- this really calms my appetite down.
• I try not to have any sweets/chocolate or flour based products (these are big trigger foods for me) - I have yoghurt and fruit if I need a pudding.
• I drink more water
• I eat more veg, and salad. I’ve bought a nice dressing (full fat thousand island, it’s 35 cal a tbsp) and I buy those steam bags of frozen veg as they are really nice, no manky bits and taste really fresh.
• exercise is pretty much non negotiable in our house anyway, so that doesn’t really change.

not drinking at the weekend really helps me too, if I drink it tips me into self destruct mode unfortunately

other than that I have no advice. When I’m good, I’m very good at remembering my WHY and why I’m doing it. Another piece of good advice is to stop thinking about <insert junk food item> through those rose tinted specs, and I’m pretty good at doing that when I want to be as well. Alcohol especially, I can really see it as “this is going to make me feel shit and run slow and waste my precious weekend”.

Hi everyone

@Sedgwick and @thenewaveragebear1983 Thank you both for your good advice.

I cant seem to get my act together atm. Every time I have a hot drink I crave chocolate to go with it and every time I have a cold drink I crave crisps/popcorn or similar and every day I'm going to do my exercise dvd, which I did all last year, but I cannot be bothered.

The meal out last night was lovely, although the dessert a little disappointing. It was Toffee Temptation which was actually a toffee sponge cake with not so good buttercream and a drizzle of toffee sauce over it and vanilla ice cream. I came home and ate a Flake, some chocolate egg, a packet of crisps and some gum type sweets. My SIL was full after the meal, I was still hungry.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I'm not sure if this is a silly idea or not but would like your opinion (and anyone else's who'd like to comment). I'm wondering since the overnight oats are filling and quite sweet and fruity, whether to make them my dessert after my evening meal instead of in the morning. I need something sweet after dinner to get me through to bedtime and I'm wondering if it might work because I am enjoying them and they should fill me. Perhaps I could go back to porridge and blueberries for breakfast and overnight oats in the evening, what are your thoughts?

I think my main problem is I'm just not in the right frame of mind and I'm searching for something/anything to get me back on track. I'm always hungry so I'm trying to eat a lot more protein.

Last night I wore a skirt I last wore in November. Yes you've guessed it of course, in November it was too big and almost hanging off me and last night it was tight. I didn't feel nice at all in it and I just want to feel happy in my clothes again.

I've got another tricky week wood-wise next week too and it doesn't help when DP says things like "after your dental check-up next week we'll walk along the beach with fish and chips" and "after your hair appointment next week we'll have triple ice creams in the park". I love doing those things and I will do them but I've got to cut down somewhere else.

I'm so sorry this post is very negative and me-me, but I feel I'm in very bad place atm and I'm reaching out for some little snippets of advice to get me through this bad patch. @Sedgwick and @thenewaveragebear1983 I'm going to re-read your posts which I quickly skimmed through earlier, thank you for taking the time.

I hope everyone is in a good place and doing well.

I've just re-read the messages and yes it does make sense.

Alcohol is no problem, I don't drink. Small amounts of chocolate make me want more. In fact everything I eat makes me want more, I think i am just very greedy.

I think I am going to take the dogs out in the evenings too now the weather is warming up a bit. I enjoy walking them, but two are old so I can't take them too far. The fresh air usually does me good but it's going to rain this evening so perhaps we'll start tomorrow.

At least I've started trying to make future plans instead of just stuffing my face.

@poorpaws I would absolutely, and do, make overnight oats for the evening!
I also sometimes make milk jelly with jelly crystals and yogurt, with fruit in. It’s really filling and a pint of jelly is 40 calories with extra for the yoghurt.

I agree @poorpaws , Small amounts of chocolate also make me want more. I can’t be doing with that one square of good quality chocolate- I want a decent bar of dairy milk or nothing. I’ve just had to make my peace with having the “nothing” as I could easily eat chocolate every day and I just don’t have the calories to play with.

it’s interesting how often we use the words ‘can’t’ or ‘have to’ in food chat- mine is always ‘I can’t moderate’ and like you @poorpaws I have to have something sweet after dinner. I really try to challenge this because these beliefs are made up by us in our own heads, and of course our greedy little dopamine fuelled, mustn’t starve to death animal brain agrees with us.

I read somewhere that when you ask a question in your mind, your brain will always answer and give the easiest/quickest/ obvious answer. So:
hey brain, why am I still overweight?
well it’s because you can’t moderate, and you’re addicted to sugar and you have no self control 🙄

or…..

hey brain, how could I do this better?
how could I reward myself without food?
how could I prove myself wrong?

a lot of this comes down to negative self narratives, and how we treat ourselves, and how we speak to ourselves. interestingly those negative words have the same impact on our moods when we say them to ourselves than when we hear them from others, causing us to seek out the very stuff we’re trying to avoid to make us feel better. What a viscious little trap to be caught in. I know when I feel like this, what I actually need to do and the only thing that actually works is to stop the destructive self talk, go super strict for a few days, reset myself. It’s hard. But actually, we can do hard stuff. We rock.

I don’t want you to think I am lecturing you or making out that I am shit hot at this, because honestly, I really really struggle with food and my relationship with food is patchy and difficult. But things like this really help me and they get easier with practice.

It’s interesting we all have different food and drink weaknesses and different things that work. It’s why I find this thread helpful. Instead of a half bottle of white wine last night I had 2 tonic waters and lemon and a square of dark chocolate 😅. Dinner was chickpeas and 4 other veg. Lost 2 lbs overnight (this will never happen again) which was a real boost. I just need to stay away from wine and to lose this last 10 lbs. I don’t have any wine in the house and DH is under strict instructions not to buy me any.

45 mins on the cross trainer is a real habit now. I really miss it if I don’t do it. It doesn’t make any difference to my weight loss but is great for any anxiety or low mood. I have never exercised this consistently before. Can’t believe I am finally enjoying exercise at the age of 57.

Hope everyone has a good day.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I don't think you are lecturing me at all and I totally agree with what you say and you make a lot of sense. I know what to do, I've don't it (many, many times) before, so what the hell am I playing at!

I have been on a diet for most of my adult life, ridiculous but true. I have always joined a gym no matter where Ive lived, I've always had dogs, so walked a lot. I have always had a large appetite and can consume an amazing amount of food. I have never felt totally full like other people, I just eat and eat. My daughter likes to tell everyone on a regular basis "I don't understand why mum isn't at least 30 stones and super morbidly obese with the amount she is able to eat".

Having said all that once I hit 12 sts (I'm short) I get very depressed and do something about it and I think I must be well on my way (probably mid 11sts right now) but I refuse to look at the scales.

As I said, I know what to do and I need to do it.

@Sedgwick well done on the wine. I dread to think what I would weigh if I drank alcohol, being alcohol free is my only saving grace.

Thank you both for your support during this difficult time for me, I just need to sort myself out and do what I know I can do and have done many times previously. I'm sure you'll agree that the older we get the more difficult it becomes.

Have a lovely Thursday evening everyone.

The doing it is the hard bit though isn’t it @poorpaws , I get it totally. I have got by far the biggest appetite in my household, including dh. I’ve often joked with my kids that I could eat an entire birthday cake in one sitting, and I reckon I could smash one of those ‘eat this gigantic meal and get it for free’ challenges you hear about. And I also really like the feeling of being full, I don’t feel satisfied after a meal unless I’m stuffed.

I’m weighing in today and I’ve actually had a reasonable week, although I’m a slimming world fraud as I’ve calorie counted. Which I guess will prove to me what i actually need to do going forward as I’ve stuck to pretty low cals, smaller portions, no snacks, no pasta/rice/potato or bread all week and so if that’s what it takes to actually lose then really slimming world isn’t for me is it?

I was thinking last night if you’d need any sort of ‘licence’ to run a weigh in club that was unaffiliated- eg hire a church hall, take nominal payment to cover costs but no profit, and run a weigh in club for chat and accountability where everyone just does their own diet but weighs in once a week. I’d definitely go to that.

I lost 3lbs this week 🎉
I’m now 10.9.5, half a pound from my 1st award and although it’s not a new stone bracket, it’s kinda new numbers as I’m now in the 140’s not the 150’s so woohoo all round! And clearly calorie counting (low) is the only way for me to actually lose weight so I am going to do this again this week.

Well done @thenewaveragebear1983 .

Salmon, asparagus, boiled jersey potatoes with lots of greens for dinner. It was so good. Going to bed at 9 pm with kindle to avoid any temptation.

Well done @thenewaveragebear1983 that's amazing.
I'm just hanging on there at moment tbh.
My father is in ICU
Everyone is back to say goodbye
I did do physio and weights this morning.
I will be back at some point...

I'm so sorry @Theredjellybean that is so hard. Try to look after yourself as best you can in this time. Wishing comfort to your dad.