Beware the easy way out!

[Merry_Widow]

I followed the calorie-counted diet for four weeks, then I thought I'd have a "treat" and signed up for a food hamper from a diet firm. (Fortunately you don't have to sign up for anything, just order a week's meals.) The idea is you just eat what's in the box so you don't need to count calories or think about it at all. I wanted to train myself into a healthier eating pattern as well, with breakfast and lunch and so on.

Didn't work for me. I didn't actually eat anything more than what was in the box, but drink was my downfall I had carefully calculated the calories in a glass of wine, etc, so that altogether I would be having the NHS-recommended 1595 per day.

I felt fine and was exercising a bit more, but when I weighed in both my weight and waist size had increased to what they were two weeks ago! So upset and mad with myself. Now I'm trying to get back on track.

[Hidden]

Hi Merry_Widdow, so you bought a hamper of food and drank too much wine and now you're beating your self up, when in fact you've learnt that there's more to a balanced diet than a glass in each hand...sounds like a success to me 😊

[Zest]

Hi Merry_Widow ,

Wishing you success with getting back on track again - it's a new week ahead, and like Hidden said, you've made a great start, and you can learn from any obstacle in your path, and negotiate your way around it, going forward.

Good luck! Maybe also join the NHS weight loss forum - also on Health unlocked, if you would like extra support with the weight loss side of things.

A link is here if you want to have a look:

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Zest

[TheAwfulToad]

There's really no reason to be mad at yourself. You followed what it said on the tin and it didn't work (if I've read it right, you adjusted your calories-in and calories-out to account for the glass of wine). So how is it somehow YOUR fault? Logically, if you gained weight while still doing "all the right things", then there must be some problem with the diet itself, not you ... no?

The jury is still out on how badly alcohol messes up weight loss. Ethanol metabolism is surprisingly complex, so the ultimate fate of a glass of wine (or its knock-on effects) will depend on a whole bunch of other things going on in your diet - and also possibly on the phase of the moon, the colour of your curtains, or the air temperature in Hull.

General consensus is that alcohol is best avoided, although my personal experience is that I can drink 4-5 units a week without any effect on my weight. Still, that's just me, and maybe I'm just lucky. Even so, I suspect your weight gain had little or nothing to do with the wine, but was simply the usual mediocre result that (statistically speaking) a majority will experience with calorie-controlled diets.

Definitely a good plan to get into the habit of eating regular meals though. As someone else commented in another thread, it's a journey. It seems we have to go through these frustrations before finding out what works and what doesn't. I wish you a short and quick journey

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Perfect advice, TheAwfulToad . Thank you for sharing this information.

[Hidden]

Or you could just have a big laugh

about it all !

Imagine the ad campaign for that company. “Try us for a week, we guarantee you will gain weight!”

Hang in there, this week you will do awesome! Karen

[elliebath]

Put it down to experience. Out if interest when you simply calorie counted for 4 weeks did you include wine then as well? I managed to lose while still drinking (carefully) and have maintained the same way. But not everyone seems to.