Ive realised a few really obvious things.

[ShitIforgothelves]

There's no quick fix.
You have to stick at it.
It's really hard.
Any "diet" is basically calorie counting done in a different way.
It takes ages.
If you fall off the wagon you have to get straight back on it.
Exercise makes you feel great.

I'm sure all this is blindingly obvious to everyone else but the amount of times I've tried "quick fixes" to lose weight and given up after a few weeks.

My new years resolution is no quick fixes and no paying out for any "miracle" diets!

If I really want to lose weight I have to eat better, that's all there is to it!!

Yep, it's a lifestyle change for sure.

That's such a negative way to look at life. Being healthy doesn't HAVE to be 'really hard', it can also be a pleasure. I think that's the secret really, then there is no band wagon to fall off in the first place.

Bakewell bride, yes that's a very good point. Healthy food can definitely be lovely!!

But to be consistent and lose weight can definitely be really hard!

It can be really hard but being miserable and feeling crap about yourself is even harder

Thank you. I don't feel miserable or crap about myself. Just realised I need to work at it and there's no quick fix.

I read something that resonated with me ‘ losing weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard’

I agree it’s how I have lost so much weight. Nearly there! Last half stone. I think maintaining it might be a challenge. One thing I have learnt though is that if you have a ‘naughty’ day overall it makes no difference. For example last Easter I ate two whole Easter egg on the trot! It’s taken me over a year, to lose four/five stones, so yes there is no quick fix and exercise is a must. Good luck everyone.

The thing that sticks in my mind is the cake/wine/crisps feel good now but make you feel worse later, the exercise/tracking feels crap now but feel good in the long run.

Consistency and building good habits one small step at a time will get you where you want to be. It does take time but it's worth it.

Thank you, yep it's the time, I need to give it much longer!

Totally agree !

I've also realised that I'm better off not thinking I'm on a diet
When I eat one bag of crisps I feel like I've failed ( the diet) so I punish myself with 2 more bags

If I'm not on a diet , it's just a bag of crisps so I've not failed anything at all

Yes!! I will have chocolate then just have more and more. Its an all or nothing mentality.
I'm going to weigh myself on 1st Jan then try not to weigh myself again until 1st Feb.

One of things you said hits the nail on the head (well it all does), but the bit about all weight loss programmes/regimes/diets (call it what you will) simply invovles eating fewer calories, no matter what form it takes

I cut out various foods which makes that easier for me, stops the cravings, but ultimately its about eating less.

People are in such denial about that

Thank you. I was doing Noom before Christmas. Just calorie counting!
It's all too make money and I need to stop falling for it. I can do it without wasting money.

I am a size 8, here is what keeps me that way - teetotal for nearly 7 years, don't eat any meat, fish, egg or dairy, hot water and lemon first thing in the morning, healthy eating almost all the time and chocolate only on a Sunday. Regular exercise too, I genuinely love it and want to continue like this for life.

Thank you bakewell bride. I am starting to like exercise. I couldn't give up fish or eggs though. I eat very little meat.

Eat good quality real food. Plenty of plants- as
many single ingredient foods as possible in as close to their natural state as possible, as seasonal and local as possible. A locally farmed steak is better than a vegan burger with 50 processed ingredients. Rhubarb from half a mile down the road rather than a mango from India.

Yup totally. Also eating sugar messes me up, I'm pre diabetic and if I have sugar I feel starving. Really need to remember that!

Irrelevant to everything op but I just wanted to add I love your user name!

Yes. These are hard earned lessons now in my 40s. I am at the start of my WLJ but something has finally clicked.

I have been rebelling against health and exercise my whole life. It's quite frankly a miracle that I am actually "fairly healthy" (no obvious organ, joint or blood pressure issues) given the decades of abuse it has been given from junk food, smoking, alcohol and lack of exercise. I'm not entirely sure where it started; it could be child of the 80s and the start of sugar laden UPFs from being v small, or that lazy rebellious smokers were "cool" and healthy salad eating athletes weren't.

I haven't smoked for 7yrs and I've have to slowly unlearn all the bad pathetic habits I have picked up. This year has been a revelation that I really like the gym after being a fat lazy couch potato for 30yrs. I'm in a gym/ exercise bubble and prefer the exercise high to sugar quick high then crash then guilt.

I need to improve my nutrition and cure my bread and chocolate addiction which is my next step.

Any "diet" is basically calorie counting done in a different way.

I think this one needs to be said more often, especially after reading some of the ‘advice’ on diet related threads on here.

The number of posters who are utterly convinced that not eating carbs or meat or chocolate or whatever is the only way to lose weight is baffling.

The only way to lose weight is to consistently have a calorie deficit. If someone finds the easiest way to achieve a calorie deficit is by eating eg a low carb high protein diet then that’s great, but it doesn’t mean it’s the only way or that there’s something special about that nutrient combination.

Its how people explain it though to be honest. I say Im on a lower carb diet.

By which I mean, my diet is in calorie deficit but my way of eating is lower carb to support that (I need quite high protein).

Its a given (as far as Im concerned) that whatever system you use, it involves lower cals than you burn off.

So when I say Im eating a lower carb diet I dont mean Im eating 3k calories a day of cheese and meat and managing to lose weight.

It is definitely the paradox of so simple yet still hard. Attending events you can’t control the food of is the worst for me, I have to take my own with me because I just can’t rely on there being anything suitable when I arrive.

Eating less and eating better is the simple truth

I get annoyed with low carbing all over the place when people just mean eat less cake/crisps/bread, it’s an obvious one 😂

Other things I'm not going to do.

Weigh daily.
Beat myself up.
Think by my birthday, Easter, this time next year I will weigh X amount.

Things I am going to do -
My absolute best to look after myself.

'Any "diet" is basically calorie counting done in a different way.' This is what got me from a size 16 to an 8/10 (not sure of weight loss as I never weighed myself).
I suddenly realised I needed a change, not a diet. So I started off with intermittent fasting (because I wanted to ease my gastric symptoms, it helped lots). I now do anything from 16-20 hours. I then added in my fitness pal for the calorie counting, more as a way to see what I was eating, over time it made me realise where my calories were going and I started making different choices but because this is a way of life its not a diet. I think of my meals over a week on mfp so as long as the average daily calorie count is good it doesn't matter if on Wednesday I had a greggs with the kids as it'll even itself out over the week and I also never feel deprived and I'm not 'failing'. It's actually reduced my shopping bill as well. I think your right it's finding whatever way helps to be in that calorie deficit/maintenance, for me calorie counting and IF was what worked, the flexibility means it's been easier to stick to and its now just part of my routine, and a lifestyle not a fad diet.