Has anyone lost weight just through weekly weighing and keeping a food diary?

[cupofteaplease]

I figure I must eat more than I think I do, as I had a weigh in today before my smear test and I am 2 stone heavier than I was 3 years ago at the same appointment .

I knew I had put on weight, but this is silly. I have tried WW, but I just felt that if I didn't lose weight quickly or every week, I was a failure and just stopped going. Twice.

So, I think I am going to try noting down EVERYthing I eat and drink, and buy some digital scales for a weekly weigh in. I think by not having scales in the house I have been avoiding the truth- that I have got quite fat .

The problem is for me, as with many people I suppose, I enjoy food, eating out and cooking new recipes By writing down all I eat, perhaps I will shame myself into losing weight.

I don't think there's any need for shame and it's good that you enjoy foods... People who don't like eating have a problem!!
What worked for me was, I suppose a combination of calorie-counting/portion control, improving the balance of my diet.... plus extra exercise.

If you like cooking then the balance is something you can change in a heartbeat. A great tip is to fill half your plate with vegetables before adding anything else... means your meals are still bulky and filling but much lower in calories than they might be otherwise.

The food diary is a fantastic thing to do. Just by being conscious of how much you're eating.... the chocolate biscuit here, the glass of wine there, the chunk of cheese as you're cooking supper etc.... you automatically will find you eat less if you have to keep a note of it all.

I'd also recommend 'forward planning' as a good method of weight-control. If you tend to eat in an unplanned, ad-hoc way then it's easy to make poor food choices.... if you have at least some idea of how your food day is going to pan out in advance then you can be well-prepared, have the right foods around you and not get sidetracked.

Hi cupoftea. I recently lost weight by doing just that, although I do exercise as well.

I used foodfocus.co.uk which is free. I thought I knew vaguely what calories were in food by I was wrong about a lot of them. I weighed my food and started by reducing portion size. This way you can still eat the food you like and try out new recipes but you just eat less of it.

I would not buy scales for the house if you can help it as, if you are like me, you will never be off them, and you start obsessing over the pounds. I weighed myself at the swimming baths, every 3 weeks and that way had always lost something and therefore did not get discouraged. If you can think of somewhere you can weigh yourself infrequently then I would do that.

If you can avoid it, try not to think about shaming yourself into losing weight and then beating yourself up about giving up WW. Just think you have put on weight from eating a bit too much over a period of time, and now you are going to lose the weight by eating a bit less over a period of time. If you are going out for dinner, enjoy it, and just eat less during the week (or exercise more) to compensate. That is what is useful about an online calorie counter, you can work out what calories you have had over the week, so if you eat more that you planned one day, just eat less the next day to even out the calories for the week.

Good luck!

It helps because it means you can be honest about what you are consuming, and also make purposeful choices about what to eat, rather than just refuelling somewhat haphazardly.

I've lost at least a few Ibs since I started this method a few weeks ago.
Exercise log is also good - and mine is just - I walked today for a bit...certainly not gym or other frightening activities

Thanks for the responses. I have joined foodfocus.co.uk- what a find! Thanks for the suggestion. I had a good day in terms of food today

I just started reading this thread and was about to recommend foodfocus and now I see you have found it already. I lost 5 pounds in 3 weeks doing FF. It was a bit of a revelation - I realised why I hadn't lost weight previously. I stopped doing it over Xmas and haven't really restarted again. Personally I found that it was important to imput my food and exercise throughout the day and not at the end. This served as a constant reminder to put down the choccy biscuits.