My weight is really getting me down - please help!!! (long)

[Gillian76]

I have been trying to lose weight for about 2 years. Just after my son (3rd child) was born I joined weight watchers. I lost a stone and a half at the time, but gained it all dack, plus more. Since then I have had numerous attempts, all resulting in about a stone weight loss and putting a stone and a half on.

I am 5ft 4 and 16st, so realistically I need to lost 6 stone to be healthy for my height. I am getting so fed up with WW and feel possibly it's time for a change. I just associate the whole thing with failure What other diets have people tried and would reccomend?

Maybe it's just me and my pathetic lack of willpower. I am a classic Monday dieter and by Tuesday lunchtime, I'm scoffing everything in sight. I also find that I can't just be sensible about my eating, I can either be very strictly on a diet, or my eating is way out of control.

It depresses me every day. I have tried and tried, but can't seem to stick to anything for more than a few weeks. To lose that amount of weigh, I would need to stick with a diet for about a year, and to keep it off - the rest of my life. This just makes me feel like it's an insurmountable challenge.

My eating is so emotional. I eat when I'm upset, or sad, or angry. Momentarily it does make me feel better. But in the long term it is making me so miserable. Recently one of my daughter's friends said to her "your mummy's fat". I just felt sick. I can't bear the thought of people teasing her because of me. She's just about to start school.

Sorry this is so long and woeful. I just wish I could pull myself out of this and get on with things. I have so little energy and just can't seem to motivate myself.

Any suggestions or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks for listening.

Message withdrawn

Thanks Yorkiegirl. A friend did SW and lost quite a bit. Can you really eat as much as you like of the free foods and lose? Also do you go to al class or follow the diet alone?

Message withdrawn

Kama I have just celebrated my 29th birthday (this week) and can't bear the thought of being fat and 30. Hubby got me a bike for my birthday so I'm planning to get out and exercise a bit more

Message withdrawn

If it's not too much of a pain YG, can you give me an idea of a typical day's SW eating? There is a class near me on Tuesday, I'm thinking about going along.

kama, just fed up weighing and measuring. It sounds too good to be true to be able to fill your plate with the amount you think you would fill you rather than the amount you are "allowed".

I do eat for emotional reasons, as I mentioned before. Don't know if any slimming club can sort that out?

Message withdrawn

Thanks yorkie. I like the idea of free fruit too. That would encourage you towards the recommended "five-a-day" surely.

Gillian - I feel for you. I've struggled with my weight most of my life although I've 'only' been obese for about 4 years. I am now on a very low calorie diet where you abstain from eating until you lose the weight and go to a counselling group every week. I am not here to recommend it because I think you have to reach a certain place in your head to do it (although having started off at probably about 7.5 stones overweight and now have just under 5 left to lose!) But what I have learnt in the time is that many of us really have to somehow deal with the emotional side of why you overeat. SW sounds good for you but I think that maybe you must somehow complement it by dealing with why exactly you do overeat and how to retrain yourself to not do it in the future. Maybe you can also go down the self-help route or invest in some counselling? Sorry, don't know if I've actually been much help here.

Thanks moonshine and well done on your weight loss

I don't think I have the willpower to stick to a very low calorie diet at the moment, but you're right about dealing with the issues underlying the overeating. I do believe that no matter how much weight I lose, it will always be a battle to stay in control. I just don't know where to turn or begin looking for help.

The few books I've looked at all say diets don't work. I don't know how I feel about that - they clearly do work for some. Just hope I turn out to be one of them in the end!

Yes, sorry I don't have concrete advice on exactly where to go. That was my problem until about 6 weeks ago. Hopefully someone else will be able to recommend some avenue you can take. Good luck.

Moonshine, is this lighterlife you're talking about? I just noticed you'd said "abstaining from eating". Sometimes I think that's the problem... if it were smoking or alcohol, you could just stop. Is that the theory behind abstaining from food?

Yes, you have 3 replacements soups/shakes/bars per day instead of food. It sends you into ketosis so that you then burn fat, usually a lot more quickly than on conventional diets. They guarantee that you will lose 3 stones in the first 3 months but it seems most people lose quite a bit more than that. I've lost 2 stone 3 lbs in 5 weeks so far! We are told we are food addicts and I guess, like other addicts, the way to treat it is to abstain. Obviously you can't do it forever so the counselling sessions are supposed to make you aware of why you overeat and how to deal with it in the future. I have already learnt a lot about myself. And I have found it the easiest diet to do because the hard choices are taken away from me! I'm confident I will lose the weight but know that maintenance is where the really hard work will begin.

moonshine, do you have to pay for your diet?

Yes it's £46.50 a week. It seemed very expensive to me at first but I save that at least on the weekly shop (not to mention the treats). There are other cheaper VLCDs but you don't get the same counselling/support system I don't believe.