If you can’t do WLI and desperately need to lose weight, what approach would you take?

[slawandskinnyfries]

As per the title, cannot do WLI for medical reasons, I am so desperate to lose weight, I have constant food noise and genuinely feel hunger a lot of the time. I have been this way for my whole adult life and although I have managed to lose a lot of weight in the past through a strict calorie controlled diet, it just wasn’t sustainable for me and of course I have done the classic thing of putting it all back on and more. I overeat and constantly think about food. I am also menopausal which doesn’t help anything. Is there any hope for me?

Would bariatric surgery be an option, assuming that you’d qualify for it on the nhs? It’s less popular now that GLP1s are widespread and has its own risks, but it can still be effective.

-High protein , high fat , moderate carb
-strength training 3-4 times a week
Walk 60- 90 mins ( split up ) - 6 times a week
two days a week Pilates

Don’t count calories

HRT for starters. Have you had any counselling or psychological support? Do you exercise? Do you have a good diet despite eating a lot or do you eat rubbish?

Keto worked for me, first time in my life I've "forgotten to eat" (genuinely thought people who said this was taking the piss), and I've kept the weight off even though I'm back on the carbs now - it changed my habits. There are a lot of rules to stick to though sadly.

Slimming World. If you don't muck about with swips and substitutions you basically eat a low carb, high protein diet with lots of fruit and veg. It takes a while to adjust and the first few weeks are difficult, as with any change to the way you eat. It definitely works for me.

I’ve lost 4 stone since April (have 8 in total to lose) and have been using the Nutracheck app and walking more and swimming too. Good luck!

Thanks everyone for helpful comments and not judging. HRT unfortunately doesn’t agree with me. I am interested in low carb/keto but find the information a bit overwhelming, I don’t really know where to start with it. I eat healthy home cooked meals, I usually cook from scratch with loads of veg, lots of good proteins like chicken, salmon, eggs etc. I just have a huge appetite so my portions are too big, and I also snack on all the wrong things in between meals. I find it almost impossible to go between meals without a snack.

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I lost weight recently by allowing myself one carb a day eg bread with eggs at breakfast, or some rice/grains with dinner (a quarter pouch in my case) . Other than that, significantly up the veg, and drop or significantly lower the carb.

I would be so hungry if I tried that, I would be setting myself up to fail.
i was just thinking of all the ways I have tried to lose weight over the years
Weight watchers, Slimming World, slim fast, intermittent fasting, hypnotherapy, slim pod, low carb, rosemary conley - this was the most successful and I lost 5 stone, but felt dizzy and starving most of the time.
It feels impossible.

Psyllium husk might help if you’re wanting something ‘hacky’ to help with appetite. Along with all the good habits, high protein etc etc

I know you say HRT doesn’t agree with you- have you tried different types? For at least 6 months? The problem is without balancing out the hormones you are really going to struggle to shift that weight.

Therapy for food issues would likely make a difference. And then weights lifting and resistance training with the aim of strength building rather than weight loss. I’d have a look at someone Rebelfit, who does plans for women that are about strength and good relationships with food.

I could have written your post so feel your pain, everyday is a challenge with food, a challenge which I hate.

You mentioned what you have for dinner but what about breakfast and lunch?

I can eat well at work and it goes to pot once home. I find it helpful to use a food diary app to be accountable.

I’ve done it with calorie counting, focussing on protein and fibre targets but not cutting anything out. My calorie deficit was very modest compared to a lot of what you see out there.
Two things made the difference for me the time it stuck

1. A few months working with an online fat loss coach helping me with the knowledge and accountability.
2. Accepting that slow and steady consistency beats attempting magic quick fixes. Losing and average of 0.3-0.5kg every week is slow, but it chips away and for me it stuck and helped me change my eating habits/approach so felt less like a ‘diet’

Thank you everyone for the kind comments. It helps reading them through. I do feel like a lost cause but I don’t want to give up because I know I will just get fatter and fatter. Will look up some of your suggestions. I don’t care about being a size 10 or whatever, I just want to feel fit and healthy.

Have you been declined WLI for medical reasons or do you think you won't get them? I'm only asking because you seem to want to be able to take them and a lot of people believe they can't use WLI if eg they've had their gallbladder out or if there's literally any history of any type of thyroid cancer in their family (when it's actually a very specific and rare type).

With the gallbladder thing it certainly varies between providers but there are those who will prescribe - usually the GP-led pharmacies.

If you’re interested in low carb try the Bootcamp on here - there’s one running just now. The rules are straightforward, no counting and it does work. I’ve lost around 6st over the years following bootcamp initially then adjusting it to my lifestyle. Lots of support from the folk there.

Are you not able to try semiglutinide etc because of the injections or because on another medical related reason..?
If its because of injections, would ypu consider either the wegovy tablets or the new Foundayo one? I am losing steadily on wegovy tablets, and have had no real side effects .
Apparently Foundayo is a different formula to wegovy and less restrictive as to time limited and being able to be taken with food

Oh , apologies OP you've already said medical reason .. scrap my post then
. Although I do believe that Foundayo is a different formulation to Wegovy. so might be worth looking that up to see if you are able to take that .
The Asda weight loss site has some in depth info on the different tablets

How much weight do you have to lose? 2st or 10st? It makes a difference.

Probably need to lose 3-4 stone

This is a bit left field, but also free and harmless, so long as you're basically healthy, no heart conditions, high BP, diabetes or suchlike...

I've been doing Buteyko breathing for my asthma (and it's working pretty well), but as a side effect I seem to be losing weight too. Not intentionally in my case! Maybe because the point of Buteyko is to balance the levels of co2 and o2 in your blood. The idea is that most of us over-breathe these days and end up with too much o2, not enough co2 in our blood. We need co2 for various things - one of which is releasing energy from haemoglobin. So basically, it can change your metabolism.

If you Google, there's a useful subreddit and quite a few videos about it on youtube. It's worth taking the time to understand the concept fully before trying to do it - there's some nuance to the technique.

Meticulous calorie counting. It will work as long as you are accurate and honest with yourself. You should be able to find an online calculator that tells you how much you should eat to lose weight (it's important not to overstate the exercise you do) and you can adjust (within safe limits) by trial and error if you find you are not losing at first.

I will look into this thank you. Willing to try anything!

I know you are trying to be helpful but I promise you this doesn’t work for me.

I found glucomannan helped a bit. Managed to lose 6kg by taking this before meals and calorie counting. I'd like to lose a little more but I'm not overweight now which is the main thing.