Help!!!

[Jasminflower59]

I am 61 and i have followed every diet known to man, including healthy eating. I am now so numb to it all but at the same time I am no longer able to regulate my eating or able to trust anything that goes in my mouth as being ok. Im really struggling and i need help. I feel at my wits end

[S11m]

Do you need to lose weight, or what is the problem?

Have you tried Low-Carbohydrate, High-Fat and (Intermittent) Fasting?

healthunlocked.com/fasting-...

[Subtle_badger in reply to S11m]

Can I second that? I would also suggest joining the low carb group. I was only a few years younger than you when I started my journey, and have now been maintaining my weightloss and new lifestyle effortlessly for nearly a year.

healthunlocked.com/lchf-die...

[Shield-Maiden in reply to Subtle_badger]

I would like to third that

[Jasminflower59 in reply to S11m]

Yes I need to lose weight. Im not diabetic but could be in years to come if i dont get top side of it

[Subtle_badger]

Yeah, it's probably heresy to say it here, but what even is healthy eating? I followed the NHS recommended diet (same as the USDA etc), and it was killing me. Oh, and made me look like a liar. I got slimmer and healthier by pretty well doing the opposite of what I had been told was healthy. And I do not believe the current fad in plant-based faux meats are going to prove to be good for us either.

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to Subtle_badger]

I wouldn't say it's heresy to say that here - we recognise that healthy eating means different things to different people, and to be honest, healthy eating is different for different people. A woman will have different needs from a man and a child is different from an adult. One of the big issues with most of the official advice and diets out there, is that it assumes one size fits all is appropriate.

[shianne123]

Hello I know it’s difficult with all the different advice on media etc. My grandmother lived a long life, didn’t have the choice we have now and that’s the problem. Her advice was. “Everything in modification l

[Shield-Maiden]

Hi Jasminflower,

As the other knowledgeable members have mentioned....eating a healthy diet of low carb foods, nil processed foods, including healthy fats, and, protein, will help you to lose weight, and feel good (physically and mentally).

There are some excellent books, and free info on-line.....plus the Low Carb and Fasting Forums here on Health Unlocked.

Read up on it all, ask questions, and, take it one day at a time, and you will get there.

All the best....you can do this!

[Jasminflower59 in reply to Shield-Maiden]

Ive dipped into this over the last couple of years but find it really alien to my normal way of eating

[Subtle_badger in reply to Jasminflower59]

But your normal way of eating is killing you! You can't expect different results from doing the same thing.

But I do understand. I honestly went low carb as a temporary "diet", with the intention of going back to healthy foods later, with some 5:2 fasting to keep weight in check. But I went all in for a month, and found that I could live very well without beige carbs and sugar.

Give it a proper, committed try. It may be hard if you are addicted to sugar, but you can't know if it's not for you from dipping in.

[Jasminflower59 in reply to Subtle_badger]

I know i know 🙄. You make sense. Ive done the fasting aspect before but somehow this time it scares me. I think im mainly scared of failing as i seem to do all the time

[Subtle_badger in reply to Jasminflower59]

Yeah, I know. I am lucky that I was well into my forties before I started to get fat. I was close to giving up after even 10 years, I can't imagine what it's like after longer.

I wish I knew what to say to give you the courage to try again.

Don't start with fasting, though. Cut the carbs first, but keep having 3 meals a day. I don't really "fast" anymore, but only eat when I am hungry, which is often not until dinner time. If you can kick the carbs, i think you will find fasting comes naturally.

[Shield-Maiden in reply to Subtle_badger]

I agree with SB....cut the carbs, will help JF to feel less hungry, which definitely helps with IF.

Nicely said Subtle Badger x

[Shield-Maiden in reply to Jasminflower59]

As Subtle Badger says in her reply...the first paragraph (were my instant thoughts also)...

I don't want to sound rude, nor abrupt, but you say yourself that you need a change....and also, that you need help.

To me, it need not feel alien....just healthy.

It needs to be a lifestyle rethink and change, rather than a diet.

Give it a go....what do you have to lose ....you might be nicely surprised 🤗

[Cooper27 Administrator]

Hi Jasminflower59, welcome to healthy eating

I think one thing you'll notice if you stick around here long enough, is that "healthy eating" means different things to different people. It might help if you could give us an indication of what your diet looks like?

I have had spells in the past where I've limited calories to around 1400/day (even 1000/day at one point), tried intermittent fasting, only eaten a whole foods diet and exercised frequently, and struggled to lose any weight at all, despite having quite a lot to lose. If this sounds like you, then the problem might not actually be your food! In my case, I visited a nutritionist who realised I had a thyroid problem, and various nutritional deficiencies that were causing me to hold onto the extra weight. Once I addressed them, the weight started to shift.

I think the first thing to do is to visit your doctor to ask for a thyroid test. It would be useful to test for the most common deficiencies like vitamin D, B12, folate and ferritin (look up symptoms of these to see if they might apply, so you can ask for them to be tested, but your doctor may not agree to it).

Some things like probiotics, digestive bitters and getting enough sleep can also be helpful, and fairly safe.

[Jasminflower59 in reply to Cooper27]

I think a few things have affected me. One of the biggest changes is that ive gone from a full on full time job to doing 3 days per week. I am now a counsellor in private practice so my day time commitments vary according to how many clients and when. I try to work afternoons/early evenings. Although i craved this lifestyle im struggling to adjust. The gaps tend to be filled with food. I crave sweets and chocolate constantly which i recognise as addiction. I eat 85% carbs

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to Jasminflower59]

It sounds like this article I shared yesterday might be a good starting point for you:healthunlocked.com/healthye...

I dunno what you respond best to, but I'm running a sugar free challenge next week (there's one this week too, but I'm doing another one from scratch come Monday), you might like to join us for a bit of peer support? You can use it as a stepping stone to something a bit stronger if that's what works best for you.

If you prefer to jump off the deep end, then you could look into doing something like a "whole 30" challenge, or something along those lines, but that can be difficult if you're the sort of person who tends to binge in response to restriction.

[Jasminflower59 in reply to Cooper27]

I would be very interested in doing the sugar free challenge. Deep end deffo doesnt work as you are right about bingeing in response to restriction. You are the only person that has identified that as a thing 👍

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to Jasminflower59]

The more the merrier!

One of the latest diet trends this year has been "intuitive eating", which is maybe worth a look for you. It'll help you understand the restrict/binge mechanisms.

I'm not convinced it's the best overall approach if you're coming from a diet high in refined or ultra processed foods, where signals are a bit crossed, but there are some good takeaway points

[Jasminflower59 in reply to Cooper27]

I will have a look at this. I did give up sugar for 5 months just before the pandemic quite successfully but lots of pandemic related issues and disappointments flicked the switch back on and now Im worse than ever

[Subtle_badger in reply to Cooper27]

You can't do intuitive eating if your diet is 85% carbs. All your satiety mechanism are broken. You eat all the time because you are hungry all the time.

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to Subtle_badger]

Which is why I haven't recommended it as a dietary approach, just highlighted that there are some useful takeaway points from the process.

Intuition doesn't work very well when your diet contains a lot of foods manufactured to make you want them more, but that doesn't mean the whole premise is unhelpful.

[TheAwfulToad in reply to Jasminflower59]

If your diet is ~85% carbs and you can't stay away from sweets and whatnot, I would strongly recommend just going "cold turkey". By all means try cutting down if you wish, but there are some basic physiological reasons why that's unlikely to work. Although people generally recognise their own eating behaviour as strange - and rationalise it as "addiction", "comfort eating", or similar - that isn't really an accurate characterization. It's just your body failing to properly recycle its fat stores, and demanding a glucose top-up instead.

It sounds odd, but going "keto" for two weeks is really very painless. You will not experience bingeing as long as you do it properly - on the contrary, you should find that your desire for sweets takes a nosedive.

The key to it is to make sure you eat until you are completely full at mealtimes, and include enough dietary fat to provide your daily energy needs. Oh, and get the snacks/sweets out of the house - if they're there, you will probably eat them!

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I'd suggest keto depends on headspace as well. I followed a keto diet for a while, and I did feel satiated on it, but I developed a stomach issue that needed me to switch my diet up again after about 2 months. I realised keto had felt quite restrictive(and our diet is already restricted for other reasons), and my diet swung quite a bit to bad foods again before I was able to right it again.

I personally feel better on a lower carb approach, but without the feeling like I must live without XYZ forever (unless it's because I have an intolerance to it)

[TheAwfulToad in reply to Cooper27]

Oh, I wasn't suggesting the OP should stay keto. It is (at best) pointless. But a couple of weeks is enough to press the reset switch on sugar.