Hi everyone, I've arrived here after many months of desperation in trying to sort out my eating. I'm 5ft 6" and I weigh 11st 5lb which is huge for me. I managed to get down to 9st 10lb in June which I felt fantastic at and then I just let myself to again and I'm so cross with myself. I love food and think about it all the time so I feel like I've really got disordered eating habits. I really need to sort myself out. I do plenty of exercise but because of the amount and type of food I put in my mouth I've just increased in eight so quickly again. For as long as I can remember I've been on some sort of "diet". My wake up call came in the last few weeks where I signed up to something that cost me £350 to be told that I should love my body the way it is, throw away the scales and eat in abundance. Benefit I've been on a diet for such a long time when someone finally says eat what you want then, well, I did! I feel so angry and ashamed of myself.
What are your tips on how to control what I put in my mouth? I didn't want to go back to counting calories but I really think I have no choice.
Thanks in advance and I hope this is the chance I need.
Lucy xxxx
Ps I actually complained to the source of the thing that cost me £350 and got all my money back so I can leave that behind thank goodness! Xxxx
Welcome and enjoy the forum... According to the details you've provided, your BMI is only around 25.6, healthy weight range is 8/3 - 11/2, so your not far from healthy for your height, but we all have our preference of how we'd like to look and feel...
I'd like to invite you to join our Newbie Club - which is what I call the sat-nav to the benefits of the forum and we trust will be a good place for you to connect with other members, who like you are also just starting out on this forum. Please post a few words to introduce yourself and respond to others there, you'll soon realise the encouragement and support this forum offers.
Thank you so much for replying! I noticed that I was only just above and in to the "overweight" bit of the chart, I just wish I didn't feel so heavy and bloated with it all the time. When I got down to 9st 10lb I felt so good and positive and healthy.....but....it was high maintainence and there were a LOT of rules to follow to achieve that so I just want something more simple.
I'll join the newbies forum for sure! Thank you again for your support so quickly xxx
I would change my relationship with food. I like you binge and now I'm stuck. I only succeeded when I saw food as something I take my time to prepare and eat. Now I been rushing my food and like you I've gone to my old habits. I'm stuck but slowly I'm improving ... only because I read online to get motivated and I practice mindfulness. It's great here so i'm sure you will succeed. If I have a day of eating more than I normally do, for the rest of the week I will be good..still trying 😆😆 but I'm going to get there. Enjoy your journey back to the smaller you.
Thank you so much for replying, I really appreciate it and you're absolutely right about mindfulness and taking time to prepare meals. I need to do that more and also make sure I have healthy snacks in my car when I'm driving around? Xxxx
Hi and welcome. You come to the right place as this forum is full of great advice and support.
Take small steps to change your eating habits. Maybe start by having healthy breakfasts or drop an unheathy snack.
My eating was very chaotic and totally disordered. There was so much I needed to change. Doing it all at once over whelmed me so I started with eating regularly. I'd set my alarm to eat every 4 hours and to begin within I allowed myself to eat what I wanted but I could only eat at these times, no eating in between. I got into a proper routine with eating. Then I worked on my relationship with food. I find now when I think about having a binge or just a "treat" I think to myself "Why do it to myself, there is no nourishment"
Like you I found "dieting" high maintainance and dieting is! A healthy eating lifestyle isn't. It should be easy and it is easy once we know how, getting there and changing old habits is the difficult part. It can be done though with the support and encouragement from like minded people and this forum is a gold mine for that.
Be kind to youself in your actions and in your thoughts. You will get there.
Gosh thank you so so much, that's really resonated with me. I love the idea of setting an alarm! Do you think I should not go down the counting calories to start with and just try and keep my portion sizes down and do it visually instead? I feel really positive about being here and my husband is happy for me to be here too....instead of all the "fads" I've "damaged" myself with! Xxx
I love that, I've already been given an idea that I'm trying out and it feels really comfortable. Hopefully this will be the community I've been looking for for a long time to help me with this. Thank you so much xxx
I think that calorie counting is useful if you need to read-educate yourself about exactly how much is enough. I needed it for a while because I had no idea, even though I thought I did. I may use it again in the future if I find that my portion sizes have crept up. But after your years of dieting, you do know how much is enough, so if you're sick of counting them, then don't. All of the above ideas about slowly taking control sound great to me. If you learn one thing with the support of everyone here, it should be never to beat yourself up about food. No one finds it easy to walk away from bad habits which have been learned over many years, especially around food, which you can't avoid. If you were battling with cigarettes, you could stop smoking altogether- much easier than still having to do it 3 times a day, and no more. Your struggles just show that you are human, like the rest of us, definitely not a bad person. Be kinder to yourself, and believe the nice things that people on here will say to you. Good luck.
Thank you so much, everything everybody is saying it's so right and so supportive and understanding, I love it and you're all really helping already. I've eaten far more mindfully today for the first time in ages. Xxx
Welcome Lucy glad you've found this friendly supportive forum.
Out of interest, when you got down to 9st 10 in June, how much did you lose and how did you do it ? Was it by controlling portions and calories of mainly healthy foods or by using meal substitutes (shakes etc)?
I was 12 stone when I started and I'm shorter than you. I'd played around with trying to lose weight on and off all my life... never kept it off. But I have lost and maintained now for nearly 3 years.
For weight control to be maintainable we must stop thinking "A Diet" which has a beginning and an end. Try to think of this as plan for life, for your health as well as your weight. That doesn't mean a lifetime of salads, but to me it means 80% of the time healthy foods and 20% less so. That way I still have the things I love, like wine and icecream ...but smaller anounts and I count them. Most importantly plan meals and snacks ahead and don't let yourself get hungry.
This NHS site and 'myfitnesspal ' were my saviours. This site is my support group and MFP is my choice of calorie calculator/food diary. Using it is easy and just a way of life, taking 5 minutes a day. Many people on here use both sites but not everyone, a matter of what works for each individual.
So join the club, think 2 lbs at a time not 20 . Slow and steady wins the race and there is evidence that a slower loss is much easier to maintain as your metabolism adjusts slowly. It took me 11 months to lose 2st and that was 3 years ago. I look forward to hearing your progress. 😊
This is all such fantastic advice, thank you so much for replying. I was 11st 3lb and lost the weight (21lb) in 3 months. It was through an online personal trainer on Facebook who did a two week challenge and then I continued for the next two months. I was down to 1200 calories a day (myfitnesspal), HIIT workouts at home on a Monday, Thursday and Saturday, Zumba on a Tuesday and walking most days. No sugar at all. Simple carbs only after a workout. I really did feel fantastic but it's like I reached the lowest I've been in years and gave up completely! Why do we do that to ourselves?! 🤪
Also that wasn't sustainable long term but it did work. Also, my back has just gone on me on Sunday afternoon so I can exercise at the moment how I want to but hoping it'll recover fairly quickly so I can get back in to it.
Somebody else on here have said they eat every four hours and set an alarm to eat and I really like that idea to try and order my eating habits a bit. So far it's worked today.
I really like it here in this community, I feel very welcomed already, thank you xxx
Hi I think counting calories is a good place to start to see results. It’s the only thing that has worked for me but I know everybody’s different and it may not be the way others want to follow. I then find if I’m going out for drinks or food in the evening or weekend I can count that in and plan the rest of the day accordingly. My weight loss has been slow and steady. I tried slimming world before but long term I don’t see that working. I’m lucky in that I have time to plan and also never feel hungry which helps a lot.
You know you can do it as you’ve done it before and I wish you the best of luck. You will feel so good when you get to your goal.
Thank you lovely! I agree, for myself counting calories is what works best. I just wanted to try and get away with it but actually I've started today by weighing and writing down my food and I'll tot up tonight just to see if I'm anywhere close. Where do you log your food? I've eaten a lot more mindfully today xx
First of all, the Mfp calorie allowance is very stingy. Do not start off on such low calories ( you mentioned 1200) . I expect for your height and age the Nhs BMI calculator will certainly suggest at least 1400 /1500 calories per day especially if you are active. Best to eat as high as you can initially to lose 1-2 pounds a week. Then if you get stuck on the final half stone you can reduce the calories then. The problem with too few calories at the beginning is that when you get closer to your goal you've nowhere to go, as it were.
Yes!!!!!! Thank you! The 1200 calories were awful! I was taking myself to bed at 8pm just to stop myself from eating! How bad is that?!?? The NHS calorie suggestion was 1600 so I was relieved! I think you can set the calories manually on myfitnesspal can't you? I think I'll do that. And that's a great point and a great idea about being able to reduce them a little more towards the end of getting to the goal. Thank you so much xxxx
Could you talk me through how you do a weigh in please? I can't wait understand how you do it. Is it just an individual post titles "weigh in" or do you have to post on a particular area? Thank you. Xxxxx
in reply to
Under events is a weigh in day for every day. Just pick a day to stick with and list start weight, last week weight and current weight. Just an intro and a weight to start with. Good luck!!
I'm a little bit over my healthy BMI like you and have been on off dieting all my life. I am logging my calories in myfitnesspal BUT I have put in my allowance at the mid range of the NHS BMI calculator.....much more realistic and doable for a healthy lifestyle. I definitely recommend it.
Yeah I think that's a great idea, I've done the same because the lower calories just won't satisfy me! 🙈 Day one nearly complete and getting better already for just starting again xxx
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Triggers led to overeating.
Please make the bad news stop :(
Strange blip yesterday
