I'm now little more understanding of the dietary struggles many underweight people face...

[DiZia]

It's very difficult to push yourself into eating more than what your body is used to. It's very natural to build up habits, but it feels very unnatural to change them, or worse, let them go.

I regrettably used to be confused, and at times, disbelieving when underweight people used to say that it's hard for them to gain weight. I guess I'm somewhat in their shoes now, because I kind of understand the struggle.

I'm not very active, so even though I'm 21.6st, the BMI calculated says that I should be eating around 2,200-2,400 calories. But, I'm struggling with that. Not gonna lie, healthy foods aren't very plentiful in our household. This leads me into my dilemma…

The only way that I can reach the calorie requirement is if I stuff my face with breads or rice. But (refined) carbohydrates are known to cause weight gain. In the end, it's like lose/lose situation, and I'm definitely losing the battle, rather than my weight, haha.

Oh, and also, to tell you the truth, I'm scared of increasing my caloric intake, I think this caused me to gain last week. I was trying so hard to hit the suggested calorie goal. Now I'm back up to 21.6st, when I managed to get down to as low as 21.4¾st last week when I was supposedly under-eating.

I was 22.1st just 5 weeks ago, and eating around 1,800-2,000 calories had the pounds falling off. I'm very proud of what I've achieved thus far, now I think back…

Anyway, I have some questions.

• Has exercise accelerated weight loss for you?

• Do you occasionally eat under the BMI calculator's suggestion? And, how has that worked out for you?

• Do you eat carbs everyday?

P.S. Sorry for the essay! I do ramble a lot. Oh, and I'm sorry for changing my weight into pounds and stones all the time.

[benwl]

I'm probably unusual here in that I follow a low fat vegan diet which means about 80% of my calories come from carbs, and it was cutting down on the fats and protein that started my weight loss. (Obviously my carbs are healthy and not refined).

But weight loss is mostly about total calorie intake rather than the specific breakdown, and if you have found a way of eating that was leading to weight loss, I would stick with it and not worry too much about what the BMI calculator is telling you. 1800-2000 does not seem like an unhealthy low number so I would keep with that. And BMI is necessarily an imperfect metric as ease of calculation is a key feature of it. definitely avoid the white rice and bread (I know you didn't say white but processed

It's great that you've achieved weight loss recently so keep with that.

On excercise - I don't think it's helped me specifically with losing weight, in fact as I've built muscle my weight has increased slightly - there are massive health benefits to exercise and being active, but most people will tell you that it's only a small contribution to weight loss directly.

[DiZia in reply to benwl]

Ah, OK. I've heard of that before. Vegans always pop into my head when I'm just about to devour some carbs, I hear Freelee saying “Carb the - up!”. I may switch to brown rice and bread, I'll see. My sister is vegan, so perhaps I should look into what she's eating (she's quite a bit smaller than I am).

[benwl in reply to DiZia]

I'd forgotten about freelee veganism is definitely growing in popularity, even in the two years I've been doing it I've noticed more restaurants starting to add vegan options.

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer]

Hi DiZia

Increased walking has helped me to lose weight or at least to lose inches, it took me 4 months to lose 7 lbs but I lost 12 inches from around my body in that time.

I am trying the 4:3 routine so 4 days I eat within the NHS BMI range for my current weight and 3 days (Mon, Wed & Fri) I am "fasting" and having 600 calories on these days, only started 2 weeks ago and trying it for a month to see how I get on. I lost 2 lb the first week and 1lb this week, as opposed to down 1, maintain, up 1 kinda routine I have very sticky pounds!!

I find it a challenge to eat the full amount some days, but I do include wholemeal bread, w/m pasta and noodles quite regularly within my calorie allowance food.

I wish you success going forwards, and I am sure you will get a variety of answers....

[DiZia in reply to Minniewinny]

That's good to hear, because I was very worried that light exercising wouldn't work, as a lot of people say 80% of weight loss rests in your diet.

I haven't been tracking my waist measurements, it's very difficult for me, because I worry about it being inaccurate. I'll try.

Congrats on the 7lbs weight loss, I hope to reach that eventually. Only time will tell.

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer in reply to DiZia]

Aim to be level with your belly button.. then you know where to aim to compare each time!! 👍🏻

[DiZia in reply to Minniewinny]

Good idea! I'll measure myself when I go up to bed!

[EllaMidlands]

Hi. I was 23 stone when I started. I have never counted calories but started cutting down generally in September and starting low carb on 24 October. I found low carb works for me and have lost 5 stone since that date in October and 6 stone over all. Knowing how many calories to have must be a tricky thing as every Persons body and metabolism must be different. I would say eat the most amount you can to still lose weight, that way it will be sustainable. If you aren't losing eat less if is is falling off too quickly eat a bit more. If you eat too little your body won't like that really. I wouldn't get too hung up on it all if you are losing. 🤞

[DiZia in reply to EllaMidlands]

That's amazing! 6 stone, wowsers! I couldn't even imagine losing that much weight. I wish I would've started this weight loss journey earlier.

Low carb is sooo difficult. My diet is probably around 30-40% carb.

[EllaMidlands in reply to DiZia]

I find to easy most of the time to say no completely to bread, rice, potato so then I don't have to think about what I am eating as I don't have to eat less. I just have veg to replace to refined carbs which is less calories so the weight comes off.

[Rignold 3kg]

I have to say exercise greatly helped me with weight loss, not just in the sense of calories burned, which was a contribution, but not a major one, but more in the way it changed what I wanted to eat. The more exercise I did, initially, the less I wanted to eat heavier meals, the more protein rich foods and fruit etc I wanted. Also, my water intake increased significantly, to replenish after exercise, and that increased my feeling of satiety, meaning I ate smaller amounts.

In answer to your other question I rarely eat processed carbs at all.

[DiZia in reply to Rignold]

That's great to hear. I plan on starting anew tomorrow. Fresh start.

I hope exercise works for me, too! If only I had more fruit. 🙁 I may ask my mum to get me some grapes (she knows I love them) and apples tomorrow, and perhaps more carrots, I like them too.

I have NOT been drinking enough water. I don't drink enough at all. I need to work on that the most.

And you're absolutely right. When I consume high amounts of carbs, although it keeps me fully for a while, it also unfortunately feels heavy in my stomach, meaning I put off exercise for a while after I've eaten (at least 2 hours until the feeling stops a little).

[Hidden]

I find exercise helps my mental health and gives me more energy which makes me more likely to make better food choices. I eat a relative amount of carbs, sometimes pasta, rice, noodles, although not so much bread, as I'm not mad keen on it.

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer]

Hi DiZia

How are you doing?

Still cheering you on to your goals 🎉🎉🎉

[DiZia in reply to Minniewinny]

I'm doing very well, actually. This week has been the happiest in a while, and I guess that had an affect on my diet and exercise, as I'm back down to 21.4st, which is my lowest recorded weight yet. Gosh, I hope I can keep it up.

That's for asking, I appreciate the support. If it wasn't for your post last week, I would never have lost the weight.

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer in reply to DiZia]

Well done you...you will soon be under 21 and visiting the 20's en route to your ultimate goal.

Wishing you great happiness and success with your goals 🎉

[Hidden]

I have found it always goes against the grain to try to eat when not hungry or to eat things I do not enjoy. It is as hard I think to eat things to dont enjoy as to resist the things you do. I think it is one of the benefits of calorie counting that you do not have to be judgemental about foods being 'good' or 'bad' you can just eat what you enjoy. I did lose 15 stone once and keep it off for 10 years by watching my portion size and only eating things I really enjoyed. I tend to need to eat rich, fatty foods. other foods just dont satisfy me. So I tended to do things like instead of 2 peices of bread and butter I would have one with more butter. It is just was suits me, low fat diets make me feel really ill quickly but I can go several months without sugar.