DIET FAILED AGAIN - it’s thread 8 (the one where we all lose weight) - all welcome

[thenewaveragebear1983]

New thread for the new year 2026! Everyone welcome to join us for motivation and encouragement, without judgement.

After a good healthy eating week Sunday was terrible. I had lattes, half a bar of Tony’s, three strips of hard liquorice, a couple of ice lollies, the list was endless. I was very busy all day and yet again don’t know where the time went and I did manage the dog walk in between all the jobs.

I must get back on plan today or I’ll be seeing a gain on Sunday. I’d like to get back to losing one pound every week, I hate this yo-yoing.

Grocery shopping this morning, it’s very wet outside so I’m not looking forward to going. In my head, I’ve booked a day off on Wednesday. I am sleeping very badly atm and I know I’m doing too much but somehow the jobs keep piling up and I need a day where I don’t have to do very much at all so I’m hoping that can be Wednesday and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m not sure if we’ll be able to do a dog walk or not, these dogs hate the rain. I’m used to having collies who will go out in any weather for many hours, But these couch potato greyhounds absolutely hate the bad weather and let me know as they pull to get home.

I’ve got this week off hospital visits so I’m hoping I can catch up with all the work I’ve been missing. I need to keep very active (apart from Wednesday) and cut down the food this week.

Happy Monday, for those starting a week of work, I hope it goes well.

My diet has gone to pot too. It doesn't help having chronic health issues that affect what I can eat and sometimes I feel too unwell to eat the usual things. I've gained a bit and want to get back on track this week somehow. Feel quite down with it all. I wish you all luck with your diets and getting weight down. It's certainly not an easy road!

It was miserable here this morning but now is sunny but windy. I went for a lunch time run and I must have had the turbo boost on because I did 5km in 26 minutes (which is fast for me, very fast!) and I had a much better day at work by being kind to myself and working through my to do list and taking proper breaks. Note to self.

I had raspberry and chia porridge for breakfast with peanut butter, and for lunch I had 2 rice cakes with salad and cheese and chicken. Tonight I am having a lamb steak with new potatoes (my absolute favourite veg) and some brocolli.

I was -1lb this morning at weigh in and that’s ok, I did have a few off plan moments last week and if I do that every week I will be much slimmer when I go on holiday.

Today has not gone well 🤦‍♀️
it seems that every time I have a loss, I self sabotage, it seems to happen every time. I spend the morning congratulating myself, thinking I’ve got this and by early evening after a substantial meal, I graze the cupboards and don’t stop until bedtime.

i have to try harder, do better but I’ve been looking for a pattern and I think it mainly happens when I am overtired. I know I am particularly worn down atm so tomorrow I’m going to try and calm myself down, stop doing so much and I’ll see how it goes.

the one positive is that it turned into a lovely day and we had a really nice walk.

@poorpaws exhaustion is definitely a factor for me too. My body craves sweet stuff as a pick me up- it's quick pure sugar for energy. I try to be aware of that and not beat myself up if i can't get my diet 100%.

Tomorrow is a new day and I plan to start with porridge and pumpkin seeds and blueberries with some maca powder thrown in.

@Specialneedsnightmare thank you, I think we both have a point. As you say, tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we’ll both do well.

I am starting the day with porridge and banana. Mornings, early afternoons are not a problem for me, it’s early evening and right through the evening that I have to be very careful in future. I’m going to try tomorrow, really try to get back on track.

I get the self sabotage, my danger zone is the late afternoon when my brain is tired and I am bored working. I suppose the key is to know when and why it happens then put things on earlier in the day to counteract it. For me it’s also dehydration related, if I don’t drink enough early in the day I feel so tired and ravenous later on, and even drinking when I feel it is too late. I have to drink several pints of water in the morning long before the cravings start.

it’s my office day today. I am just having a coffee looking out at the garden, I do this every morning when I can- just sit. Ideally outside but it’s quite chilly still (although hot forecast for the weekend!)
I should really get moving, I haven’t prepped my lunch or done anything useful.

Good morning

thank goodness I slept a little bit better last night. It wasn’t a perfect nights sleep but compared to how little I’ve been sleeping, it was quite good and I feel better for it. It’s made me realise how little sleep I get and how tired I am all day.

i’ve been thinking about my eating habits in the evening. It seems that my evening meal triggers the hunger and then I start the never-ending evening graze. I’ve never really like bananas, but I’ve started having them in the morning in porridge and I quite enjoy them that way. A couple of mugs of black coffee with my breakfast and I’m set up until lunchtime so I’m now wondering if it would be a good idea to have porridge with banana in the evening instead of packets of crisps, mini cheddars, etc. I just wondered if I started having a proper supper I would stop eating rubbish.

If I’m going to eat two bananas a day, I need to store them better because they do go brown quite quickly. I’ve heard of wrapping them in clingfilm, wrapping just the end in clingfilm, covering them with dark bags, hanging them on a banana tree, but I’ve got to sort out, which is the best way to store them. Having not bought them for donkeys years I’m not sure what to do, any good ideas?

I think just now I’d try anything to stop this evening eating, it’s really getting out of hand this week.

Happy Tuesday everyone, I hope you all have a good day.

I think that cravings after your evening meal can sometimes be due to insulin resistance @poorpaws, eg your body releases too much insulin after your meal so you end up having a crash and craving carbs. I wonder if banana is not the best fruit to have, could you buy frozen berries, or have rhubarb in your porridge? Do you like overnight oats? Raw oats don’t spike your blood sugars as much as cooked, so maybe you could have overnight oats made with full fat yogurt and frozen fruit? Same principle but will be processed very differently by your body.

I’m very tired today. I’m eating well but I think because I’m cutting out all the easy carbs and energy boost foods I am really noticing it. Tuesday is always my rest day so no workout today but even then I am tired. I was last in so when dh said “what were you thinking for dinner?” after being in for over an hour, I just said “whatever you feel like cooking” so that plan may backfire on me 🤣

That's very interesting as I suspect i have insulin resistance. My blood sugar levels feel all over the place. I'm not diabetic as far as I know but I am reactive hypoglycaemic. I'm actually having my first blood tests tomorrow in 8 years and one thing they are testing is blood sugar. I'm a little anxious about that, and cholesterol in particular. We will see.

Today started off well but I'm tired and it was hard to stick to my plan. I ended up eating too much later on and I suspect I will see a gain. My diet isn't even bad overall, I just have a sweet tooth and I can't eat a lot of foods that make meals nice such as tomatoes, dairy and vinegar, so it all feels bland and boring and I reach for sugar.

I wonder if tomorrow's results will be a wake up call. I'm in peri and my body is definitely not the way it used to be.

One of the best things for blood sugar regulation is fibre @Specialneedsnightmare, are you able to supplement your diet with additional fibre? Almost no one gets enough, even if you eat lots of veg it’s very hard. But it really does help. I had gestational diabetes and I remember that awful crash of hypo and also the horrible hyper as well, it’s really unpleasant and actually quite exhausting day after day to be constantly up and down all the time. I hope your blood tests can reveal something that may help you.

i was up really early today and just sat by the open door to the garden in the quiet. I am on another induction day today so I have to travel to head office. I’m feeling really tired and achy like an old lady, I don’t know why because I’ve not really done anything! I haven’t been to the gym for over 2 weeks, and barely run in June- I feel incredibly tired and unfit at the moment. I think the change in my diet may be contributing, I haven’t had this incredible energy I was expecting, just tiredness. Luckily we have a hot sunny weekend forecast and no plans except gardening.

food today-
i’m enjoying my berry porridge so I’m going to have that, lunch is provided on this course so is out of my hands, and then for dinner we have chicken left from last night and will have that with salad.

i also need to prep some things, I have loads of eggs and I was planning to make scotch eggs, plus rhubarb to make some sort of compote to go on yoghurt. Will do that later. I have a bootcamp tonight after work and this week we’ve been trying to spend an hour just doing jobs rather than flaking out after work, because the house is looking messy and it feels impossible to get on top of it.

when do people find the time to do all this stuff? I could spend a month tidying and gardening and still have things to do, I could spend hours grooming myself and still look scruffy 🤣

Hi all. My latest idea is to have a couple of tubs of granola through the day. Not very exciting but quick to prepare. Then have lots of soup when I return home to help stop binging. I'm on day two today! Trying to time my travelling to avoid the rush.

Went to a local mini Asian supermarket and bought a selection of what appeared to be meat in pastry but turned out to be sticky foods so quite miffed. No doubt full of calories. At home now and may have made a bit too much soup judging by the fridge.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have to be careful because I have IBS! My diet is already fibre rich as I eat wholegrains and potatoes and fruit/veg, never white stuff as it's no good for me. If I eat more fibre than normal I have problems so supplementing probably wouldn't work sadly. My blood sugar levels tend to be erratic as I have mcas and gastroparasis among other things.

That makes sense @Specialneedsnightmare, I recall you saying about your dietary restrictions.

I ate my body weight in sugar and crap today, you know when you’ve eaten so much sugar it’s almost burned the lining of your mouth? Horrible! It was all nice stuff but I had a corporate away day and it was lots of pastries, delicious street food lunch, afternoon cakes and lots of freebies and sweets and chocolate giveaways from the stalls. Combine that with being tired and bombarded with information then sat in rush hour traffic, of course I polished off lots in the car on my way home. Oh well. Try again tomorrow 🙄

Morning, happy Friday. Hope everyone has nice plans for the weekend?

I’m feeling quite down, the weather is dreadful, I’m feeling utterly exhausted all the time and hormonal (still). I woke up and felt achy like an old lady and tired to my bones after a full days sleep. Maybe I’m fighting off a virus, I hope so because otherwise this is just how I am now!

this weekend i am determined not to drink (I have ordered myself some nice Trip cans instead on my shopping today). I am eating quite well actually but I think my calories are off the scale high. It’s hard to get them down though, especially for enough time to actually lose any weight (ie. Consistently down day after day after day). I’ve not really exercised this month at all, I’ve not been to a single gym class and have only run 3 times, so it’s not my intensive training schedule.

we do have jobs to do this weekend and we have to do them so it’s not going to be 100% restful weekend but I am also going to make sure that I spend some time relaxing and getting myself back on track. I need to colour my hair and do my nails, and I have a walk scheduled with my friends.

food today - I am really enjoying my chia, oats and berries, and for lunch I’m having a big salad with tuna. Dinner tonight we have leftover chilli from yesterday which I will have with salad and kids will have with nachos.

keep on keeping on!

It is hard, I completely agree. I tend to binge on the sugary stuff too. I'm also feeling down due to the weather which doesn't help. I often feel ill due to auto immune issues and this plays havoc with my diet. Your breakfast and other meals sounded great- i hope your day went well.

Found out today I have very high cholesterol and a doctor will be calling me about it. This gives me more incentive fo diet but I'm stressed too as I can't exercise and worried about statins. I really need ti implement changes. My body is just so sensitive to so many foods.

However much I gain this week, I deserve every pound. I have not stopped eating rubbish for the whole week. Starting again Monday, hopefully cutting down on chocolate and chips. 🤦‍♀️

Ah I get it @poorpaws. My diet has been rubbish too. The problem is that sugary food tastes so damm good and our bodies are used to it. We are literally trying to fight against the grain. It isn't easy at all.

I asked for chat gbt to create a low fat low histamine diet plan and it's the most boring bland diet you can imagine. I know I won't be able to stick to it. I'm using it as a template but that's all. I kind of understand why people can't change how they eat. Food is one of the great pleasures in life and it's a constant weighing up (sorry, pun!) against the risk of disease. I'm already ill and have depression so it's hard to feel motivated enough to cut out the foods I love. But I do want to get my weight down and wear nice clothes so...

Sugar is really addictive and it’s not just you that’s addicted, it’s also the colonies of microbes in your gut and then they increase your cravings for it when you try to cut it out. So cutting it out isn’t enough, you also have to increase the numbers of the good microbes to restore the balance. I’m only just learning about this but it’s really fascinating and rings true a lot with me as well. I , and I know poorpaws found this too, want sugar a lot less when I go cold turkey and eat none, rather than when I try to moderate,

I’m determined uk be on track this weekend, I was down 1.5lbs this morning and I’m like to keep that until my official weigh in. I’m not drinking this weekend, I ran and went to the gym after work, and I’ve eaten well. I’ve been enjoying overnight oats, chia and rhubarb for breakfast, and at lunch I just had a big plate of salad with balsamic vinegar and some Italian meat. For dinner we had last nights chilli and I had brocolli instead of rice. And just had some watermelon 🍉. That comes in at just under 1500 cals which is very low for me for a Friday as I haven’t wasted 600 calories on wine!

The last thing I want to do is bring the mood of this thread down but really I feel I’m nearing rock bottom. After a good loss last week which to be honest wasn’t that difficult, I just went crazy this week, absolutely crazy and I don’t understand myself. I do know the weather has a huge impact on my mood and June is my favourite month and this year I feel let down by the endless cold and rain.

I totally agree @thenewaveragebear1983 that sugar is extremely addictive. To think at the beginning of the year I went three months without so much as a tiny morsel of chocolate and now I’m consuming it like a drug addict. I think I’m going to have to cut it out totally next week.

My gain this week should be huge and I deserve it. We never have chips at the café, even though they are lovely and never greasy, but this week I’ve had them twice with a burger. Luckily, I’m not keen on any of the desserts at the café, so I never do that, but then I come home and eat a big chocolate bar.

I really hope everyone is in a better place than I am at the moment, it’s going to be a lovely warm sunny weekend so enjoy!

Yeah the weather affects me too. I have SAD and since the end of the heatwave in May I've been feeling really low. It definitely impacts my diet too as I crave sugary food when stressed or depressed. I am also the same with binging after not having much chocolate a while. You did brilliantly with cutting it out for 3 months. I know you feel really low after the binge but that doesn't take from the fact you cut it out before and can again. It's a hard process because sugar is so addictive and it's almost like the body tries to make up for the loss once you eat some sugar again. All you can do is see this as a setback and learn from it. I think that's what alcoholics do after a relapse- they know relapses will happen along the way and use them to become stronger.

Do you take a vitamin D supplement? My gp said take 2 a day, every day, even in the middle of summer. It makes a big difference to my mood and my sleep. You can get a mouth spray which is better absorbed but I prefer tablets as I take various things and just take them all together.

sitting in my garden, listening to the birds with my old cat Fred. I worked hard yesterday and have a bit more to do today, and I also want to try to get some relaxation time. Plus I need to colour my hair and a few bits like that.

my weekend has been good, lots of vigorous garden work and my food has been good too, I did have a billionaire magnum yesterday which was delicious, but I haven’t drunk alcohol so my food choices and overall tiredness levels have been good. Plus it saves 600 calories 🤷‍♀️ one thing I always realise when I properly track is how much I must be eating when I don’t, it’s quite scary. I genuinely believe I have no off switch for food at all, I could eat 5000 calories in a day I reckon. So when I track and end up on 1800 and think wow, I have really worked hard to get this low and it’s not even low, I realise that’s probably why I don’t lose any weight 🤷‍♀️

I find it too hot to spend outside and wait till a bit later in the afternoon to venture out. It was my birthday on Thursday and have been on a bit of a boozathon over the last couple of weeks which I'm hoping ended last night. Plan is to start detoxing now and have more liquid drinks/soups for my food consuption proportions. Tummy seems a little slimmer than usual.

Ended up having a really productive and busy weekend, I got loads done. We have worked hard. Skip is filled. I like weekends like that but now it’s Monday I feel like I wish I’d rested a bit. I was feeling very energetic though, I think my diet might be finally having an effect, I stuck to my food plan very well and didn’t drink. It’s nice to feel i actually have the energy to do things.

2 lbs loss for me this week, I’m really pleased with that because my calories were high and I did have an up and down week. So it shows what a few good days can do. I’m prepped for this week too, and I am determined to hit my calorie goal this week. I made some salad extras yesterday to add to my lettuce/tomato/cucumber - I made a sweet potato and chorizo thing, and a curried cauliflower and chickpeas, and I also made homous and chopped some carrot sticks.

Hope you all have a great week