What was the 'diet' or lifestyle change that worked for you?

[pineappletree32]

As the thread title says... I'm curious to hear from people who've turned it all around and lost the weight. What worked for you? What made you do it? Was there a turning point? Is there anyone who's felt like me and managed to get themselves together?

Background... I'm 33 and over 18 stone (I'm 5'8) Ive been unhappy with my weight for more than 20 years - since I was about 10. It's plagued my thoughts and made me feel inadequate, not enough, ugly, second best etc for all these years, yet I can't stick to a diet to change it.

The only time I've ever lost weight was through the Cambridge diet when I was in my 20s. I lost 4 stone and felt great, but as predicted it all piled on over time after I stopped the diet. Over the past few years after I had DS in 2021, it's just piled on and on.

I work a desk based job, eat lots of fruit and veg and 'healthy' stuff but also binge eat and eat healthy stuff. I'm not in denial that I eat too much. That's why im putting on weight.

I tell myself if I just stuck to something for a few months to see results I'd feel better, but I can't seem to do it. Im So fed up of feeling this way and seeming to have this mental block between me becoming the person I want to be.

I know being thin won't instantly make me happy, but I do think it would make me significantly less depressed to not be the biggest person in the room all the time. To be able to walk into a shop and buy something I like, not something that will fit. To know I can fit in any shop and not just have to shop online.

Meal replacement. I lost 9 stone in 9 months and it has stayed off for years, I did well with the control and strict elements. Not having to count calories or think about food.
Once the weight was off I just keep my carbs low and junk food occasional, eat lots of veg and protein.
I didn't do any exercise to lose but now I walk everywhere and go to the gym a few times a week
Diabetes and cancer were my main motivations
I'm a binge eater and have managed to stay slim most of my adult life by controlling myself but somehow got to 20 stone after my second baby!

Which plan or products, please?

I got sucked in by a herbal life hun. But TBH it did work. Lost 1.5 stone in 6 months. I only did it for 6 months as it was expensive. However, I also joined a gym that I like and still do 2-3 classes a week so have managed to maintain my weight. I generally eat a healthy diet but had got into a rut so the herbal life worked for me at the time. I would never do it again as don't think I can stomach all the processed shakes.

I always used to hate exercise and wouldn't go to use the equipment at the gym - but the classes I like and it's more of a social now as I've got to know everyone else who's a regular.

What food were you allowed please?

Ooh this is so me right now.
I've just had 2nd baby and my weight is increasing so much. I'm still bf so am always hungry. As much as I try and eat healthy it's coz I eat way too much.
I have zero time for exercise (you'd think having 2 kids would have me running all over the place but I swear I do less now than I ever have) and am struggling big time to find myself again.
I need something to kick start me as prior to kids I managed to lose over 4 stone via SW but it gave me such an unhealthy relationship with food that I couldn't possibly go back to that way of living again.

Gillian Riley's Overcoming Overeating (eatingless.com) is a good place to start - its an online course and also a book now but I did it in person with her years ago, its sort of a CBT approach. I lost 5 stone and kept it off for over 15 years, then Covid and peri menopause hit and I gained 3 stone, I've lost half of it now by going back to this kind of thinking. We all know how much calories we need to consume to lose or maintain weight but its training your brain to make the good decisions without it feeling like a diet or deprivation. Gillian compares diets to prisons, sooner or later you want to break out :-)

@frenchfancy81 shakethatweight
Per day I had 2 shakes, 2 bars and a small rotation of my own basic evening meals, just meat with veg.

Low carb.
2.5 stone over 7 months.
Really easy to stick to
Started with Fast 800 keto as a guide.
Just don't get the hunger pangs on low carb, and I find I have much more energy. I now IF as a matter of course, and rarely eat breakfast. Just don't feel hungry. It has completely changed the way I eat - for the better.

Learn more about portion sizes and sugar content.

Appropriate portion sizes.
Intermittent fasting.

Only been doing it a few weeks but now I'm rarely hungry and eat what I want and still lost weight.

High restriction. Find out your tdee and eat about 2-300 calories less than this. You lose very slowly, but the weight stays off and after years of a restriction/binging cycle I could actually stick to this way of eating. It can be frustrating as the scale goes down slowly, but it does go down!

If I try to low restriction now (going more than 500 calories below tdee) I end up binging. You need to find that happy medium where you're in a slight defect, but don't feel deprived or hungry. No food is off limit, but if you get a takeaway or a big treat, be mindful of portion sizes and try to add veg or salad to the meal to bulk it out.

Good luck, whatever you do

You'd be welcome to join us on the Lose 2 Stones By Christmas thread.
We only started on Monday and it is very friendly.
If I lose 2 stones I'll still be in the obese bracket but it's a start.

Intermittent fasting.
Low-carb.
Portion control.

The biggest and happiest surprise was that, once past an initial flu-like couple of days, hunger and cravings were regulated and I just stopped thinking about food or feeling particularly interested in food. Liberating.

Lost 4 stone. Kept it off. Slimming world. Low carbs, lots of veg. Excerise classes/walking. Good luck.

Ozempic may work. Ask your GP.

For me, two very simple changes:16:8 and re thousand steps a day. No calorie counting, no diet foods just nutritious (and delicious) home cooked foods

@SallyWD did you mean 10,000 steps a day?

If you have a tendency to binge eat then severe restriction like meal replacements won’t work, they’ll be just another ‘failure’ because one huge purge is inevitably followed by one huge binge.

You need to add things in rather than take things out of your diet (sounds mad I know!). Add in some nuts mid morning, try to have 10 different fruit and veg every day. Add in a short morning walk, and maybe a weekly Pilates class. Have a swim and a massage, reconnect with your body. Start treating yourself and your body how you deserve to be treated. Speak to yourself positively, no punishment, no restrictions, no judgement if you overeat just try to work out what the trigger was and put things in place to try and stop it happening again.

If you can seek some counselling or CBT, try to work out what’s going on beneath the overeating because diets haven’t worked in the long term and they won’t work this time unless you do something drastically different.

Best of luck!

Yes, sorry

Thanks for all your replies.

I've tried restriction/meal replacements and I do lose the weight initially, but then I binge and spiral, so I don't think I can do that.

I was seeing a personal trainer twice a week until about 6 months ago and even that coupled with more walking didn't seem to help. I just feel useless because I can't seem to control myself.

Good shout from the PP who suggested CBT , I haven't tried that before so willing to give it a go. Would also be open to the injections (my partner has lost a few stone on them) but feel cautious. Has anyone had hypnotherapy? Going through the options I haven't tried.

What worked for me was going completely cold turkey on all upf and most sugar. A couple of weeks of pain and you no longer crave it. The weight falls off with any need to restrict other foods or calories count, you have tons more energy and tge weight loss is sustainable long term as you no longer crave junk.

The "Brain Over Binge" (book and podcast) completely changed my relationship with food.

I've been a healthy weight for over 8 years now and I never thought that would be possible for me.

Portion plate works great for me. I never realised how much I was over eating. I was eating fine but just far too much. The weight is coming off slowly but surely.

I don't know if it will work in the long term, but I'm doing the no UPF thing and reading Chris
Van Tulleken's book.

In the past 4 weeks I've lost 7lbs. I've noticed that I am not thinking about food all the time and have stopped snacking in the evenings and secret eating because the cravings just aren't there.

I'm 3 weeks in to slimpod and my attitude to food has completely changed.