What do people mean when they say….

[Subtle_badger]

Diet

This phrase is a bit ambiguous: it can mean way of eating, see below, or it can mean a temporary weight loss plan that you only do for a short amount of time, before returning to your previous diet. See? It's confusing!

WOE/Way of eating

The term diet has negative connotations, so many prefer WOE to indicate it's their plan to continue eating like this for the rest of their lives.

Calorie control/restriction/counting

A weight loss approach of writing down (paper or electronically) the calories of everything you eat and limiting that. This is the approach of the 12 week NHS plan.

Portion control

Calorie control's more louche sibling. Being mindful of how much you eat and limiting the portions, without the maths.

The Eat Well Guide

The official NHS/government advice in the UK on how to eat. It advises a WOE of over 80% total carbs (38% from starchy foods, and 40% of fruits and vegs, plus dairy), lean proteins and 1% added fats.

Low carb/low carb high fat/LCHF/keto/ketogenic

There are many WOEs that have less carbohydrates and more fat that the Eat Well Guide. It's a matter of opinion when reducing carbs becomes low carb. A lower or low carb WOE could reduce or eliminate some or all of: sugar, fruit, grains (eg bread, pasta, rice), starchy vegetables (eg potatoes)

Some take it much further, into ketogenic with as little as 20g of carbs per day, or even further to a carnivore WOE and virtually zero carbs.

Low Glycemic index/Glycemic load/GI/GL

This is a WOE that focuses on the type of carbs rather than quantity, choosing carbs that are slowly digested so not spiking blood glucose. It could be combined with increased fat and/or protein.

Calories in, calories out/CICO

If the amount of calories you ingest is greater than the amount your burn, you will gain weight; if it is less, you will lose weight. This principle is the foundation of calorie and portion controlled diets.

Intermittent fasting/Time restricted eating/IF/TRE

Some people consider when they eat as well as what they eat.

If this is done on a 24 hour cycle, it usually implies a fixed period of not eating each day (fasting) and a (usually shorter) eating window. Examples include 12:12 (ie not snacking between dinner and breakfast); 16:8 or 18:6 which could be 3 meals in 6 or 8 hours, but is often skipping breakfast or dinner entirely; one meal a day OMAD, also sometimes referred to as 23:1 or 24 hour fasting.

Some people fast or eat very little on some days and much more on others. That's usually described by number of days you fast, eg 5:2 (fasting 2 days each week), 4:3, alternative day fasting/ADF etc

Other useful acronyms

HM homemade

SW Slimming World

WW Weight Watchers

VLCD Very low calorie diet

DD Daily diary (a daily feature of our HU area)

BMI Body mass index

BMR Basal metabolic rate

C25K - couch to 5km, an NHS endorsed running training plan.

Notes:

* this is a complete rewrite, so some of the comments below refer to vastly different text.

* the purpose of this post is to answer the "what" questions. There are obviously "why" and "how" questions. Feel free to ask them below, or in new posts.

[lucigret]

Hi Subtle_badger,

No we don't have a pinned post about what we eat. We do have a Topic titled Eating Plans.

We are here to support people with many different eating plans, as you know, so it would be hard to have a pinned post that is about 'What we eat', without some people feeling we are promoting a specific way of eating.

I am about to finish my shift, but will bring this up with TeamAdmin later on today

[Subtle_badger in reply to lucigret]

True. You have to be careful what you promote or seem to promote, or someone may report you to the NHS or BDA.

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

Oh yes indeed!!! HaHa

[TheJenst]

Thanks, I joined yesterday and that’s been helpful

[lucigret in reply to TheJenst]

Hello and welcome to the forum,

If you haven't already, please take the time to read the Welcome Newbie post, this will help you to navigate the forum, which is best done using the full website and not the app.

Please also take a look at all of the Challenges, Clubs and Events that we have, to help to keep you motivated and engaged with the forum.

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

The above link will take you to all the information you need. Participation is key to success and I would recommend that you at least join the Daily Diary and a Weigh In day of your choice.

As a peer to peer support group, we all benefit from encouragement and support from one another, so look forward to seeing you join in around the forum

Wishing you the best of luck on your weight loss journey

[Hidden]

You have made it all sound very complicated! And if I were giving out advice to newbies, I would avoid the word “diet”. I prefer to talk about adopting an eating plan which is sustainable in the long term.

Your list there doesn’t include what I would call old fashioned healthy eating. I lost weight by counting calories, but that did not include anything low fat (I live on a dairy farm) nor did it exclude all the high carbohydrate foods which the LCHF folk avoid. In fact, nothing was excluded.

I eat three meals a day because I am hungry around breakfast, lunch and dinner times. I don’t “plan snacks” because I’m not scared of feeling a bit hungry just before mealtimes, and also because I was brought up to not eat between meals and “spoil my dinner”. But I’m no saint, and of course I do have the odd treat.

Obviously I didn’t follow my own rules at some point, because I put on over two stone, and to lose it I had to be strict with myself, which I found quite hard.

Maybe some people feel happier following one of the plans you outline here, but ultimately they have to settle into a sustainable routine which fits in easily with their daily lives.

What do other people think?

[Subtle_badger in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, thanks. I probably made it too proscriptive so ended up with too many buckets yet didn't include everyone.

Because the current official recommendation for starchy carbs is so high (˜40%), I'd probably put your diet in LC. But that doesn't fix it.

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

I agree with you woleheartedly. Each to their own, what suits one may not suit others.

I have no problem with the word diet either but it doesn't matter what we call our way of eating, does it?

Every living thing has a diet anyway, my cat's diet is based on meat and fish because he couldn't digest carbs! So he is a low carb eater after all.

I was taught at school about how I should strive to give my future family the best diet possible. And they weren't talking of losing weight, but of providing our families a good diet rich in vitamins, amino acids, etc and the Lord knows what else, but the best diet to support healthy life. There was no talk of losing weight in those days.

I will eat my way until the day I pop my clogs I think. I have tried all sorts but my way suits me at the moment & I would like to lose another 2 stones at least. Once I hit the right weight for me I can start having an occasional treat within my diet, but until then I have to knuckle down ON my diet!

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

I use diet the way you do, but I realise that it was completely misinterpreted in a conversation I was having on here, so I think we have to modify our language to be as unambiguous as possible.

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

Yes, I understand. I often keep trying to make myself see it another way, the same exact words can often have dual meaning because we can't read the tone of a message.

It is like doing a crossword. I read a clue, but get stuck because I cannot make my mind change the first thing it thinks of, ie whether a one word clue is a noun or verb, so I have to walk away and can often see the other possibilities on another day.

I often intend to look at things from the other writers side but it still isn't coming easy to me!

[Hidden in reply to Subtle_badger]

Like you, I have always understand the term diet to mean simply what we eat, but unfortunately for many people being "on a diet" equates to either denying oneself and going without all the good things, or following a very prescriptive regime. So I try and avoid the word and use the term "healthy eating regime". 😊

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

Good prompt. I'll remember to refer members to the Eating Plans Topic if they come up with this query. Could you add this post to that Topic, if you haven't already done so?

[Subtle_badger in reply to BridgeGirl]

No, I haven't.

I will rework it on the basis of the responses here, and add it.

Please feel free to edit or delete it; I'm not precious about it, just hoping to help.

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

Well, Subtle_badger you know that I couldn't find any diet plans on here. I even went to the HHS site but I had to register, they saw that I lived in Wales and told me to go to the Welsh site.

When I followed that link I found that it didn't go anywhere, so I still have not an absolutely perfect idea of how the 12 week thing works! I do know that I am not going to increase my calorie intake to 1,400 calories from 900 though.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to BrynGlas]

In terms of the forum, have a look in Topics at Eating Plans - various posts discussing options and members' experience.

In terms of the NHS 12 week plan, it's recommended that you get an appropriate calorie range from the NHS BMI calculator as the 1400 figure is generic and suits very few of us

[BrynGlas in reply to BridgeGirl]

No thank you though BridgeGirl, I don't really need them, but I do like to see how various weight loss methods work & what is entailed, so my interest was aroused, OKA being damned, plain nosey!

I found the NHS 12 week plan mentioned but not an actual copy of it on the Group, so I would have liked to look at it. Maybe I missed it.

I found it strange that on the actual NHS site you can't easily access the diet too. I can't understand why someone from within the UK but not actually living in England can't access weight loss info. But at least England dwellers can find it, Wales doesn't seem to have anywhere to visit at all, I couldn't hope that Wales advice would have been any different than Englands to be honest.

I would have done my own thing anyway and if as I think is correct, it is based on carbs to a large extent, I wouldn't have tried it anyway. I was advised that the lowest calories was around 1,400 apparently and that is far more than I eat normally.

Struggling with low thyroid and weight loss for 25 years has taught me that I can't go there. That is why I don't eat carbs, or dairy these days.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to BrynGlas]

I mentioned them as you referred to being unable to find any diet plans here.

When we welcome a new face on the forum, we refer them to, or give the link for, Pinned Posts. The first of these is Welcome Newbies, which includes a link for the NHS 12 week plan. When I click on that link now, I don't see any query about which country I'm in and I know that members from countries outside the UK have followed it so I'm sorry there was a problem accessing it at your end.

You have found an approach that works for you and that's all that matters so good luck with it all.

My point about a single calorie recommendation (the 1400 figure) is that it doesn't make sense that a single calorie allowance would be relevant both to a 20 stone woman wanting to lose 10 stones and a 12 stone woman wanting to lose one - like offering the same plan to a Great Dane and a chihuahua. I see that's irrelevant to you but the point may be picked up by others and I always suggest that anyone counting calories refer to the NHS BMI calculator for a tailored calorie range as a guide

[BrynGlas in reply to BridgeGirl]

It could have been the link on the Group that got me to the NHS site then, maybe it was, I have been to bed since then & getting older by the minute.

I know I was supposed to register or something and must have had to put my address in because I certainly don't have a Welsh name particularly do I? I don't remember anywhere on the site saying that Welsh people should access the Welsh site, it was just an error type message which popped up, must have been when I added my address.

And when I joined this group (or the Thyroid group which I had joined first in about October last year) I had no idea that I had been sent a welcome message or that I could find it in my Inbox!!! I found them both at the same time in fact! LoL

It was a bit of a bad time for me then and I was not feeling at all good about myself. So I probably just didn't take it all in or ask the right questions .

But everyone on HU who I have been in contact with has been really nice and I do appreciate that. It is nice to have messages coming into my email account and I waste little time before seeking them out.

Yes, I am getting there at last I hope, but there is a sense of dread when I reach the scales each morning because I am waiting for the day when it all goes pear shaped and I start gaining again.

Fingers crossed that day doesn't arrive.

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to BridgeGirl]

I usually avoid using the word 'diet' on here as it may be interpreted as a quick fix thing rather than a lifelong way to eat.

I think the term Eating Plan can be used almost entirely to replace the word diet. It can cover all aspects, eg an Eating Plan to maintain, an eating plan to lose, an eating plan to gain, or an EP to suit certain health conditions ( eg heart healthy ) ...

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to elliebath]

I agree. The broad meaning of "diet" is often lost when it comes to weight loss.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Yes we do, S_b, it's called the Daily Diary. It's about people being aware of what other people are eating and considering what would be sustainable for them. It was developed because people would arrive saying they were doing everything correctly, but still not losing weight and only by the rest of us seeing exactly what was being eaten, could informed advice be given.

I, personally, don't believe diet plans work after years of trying to follow them. They take conscious decision away from people and make people feel a failure if they can't follow them.

The majority of people arrive here expecting everyone to be following the 12 week plan and can get confused, defensive and aggressive when alternatives are suggested.

I have chosen to follow a low carb way of eating, because I read the information that others offered and did further research myself. When I put it into practice, it worked for me and was/is wholly sustainable. LCHF has a bad rap and, as you know, people can get quite aggressive in their denouncement of it and the same can be said for fasting.

I believe we should offer the alternatives that have helped us, to prevent people from continuing to do the same thing, expecting a different result and always blaming themselves when it doesn't work. However, seeing people living the way they've chosen is a less scary prospect than being given a list of facts and figures.

It's also true that no matter how easy we try to make things easy for people, pinned posts often aren't found, read, or participated with.

[Subtle_badger in reply to moreless]

Thanks moreless.

I agree with everything you have said.

As I said, I have been too proscriptive. I am going to work it into a sort of acronym/crib sheet that doesn't tell people what to do, just helps them understanding what others are doing.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Subtle_badger]

That sounds perfect

[Hidden in reply to moreless]

Yes I seem to have been on the receiving end of some unpleasant aggression for explaining the benefits of low carb. Not quite sure why it upsets people so much.

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

I think it is because it is thought of as being a fad and non sustainable,which is patently untrue, but I heard of the basic non carb diet (Atkins) in 1978 when I was in Hong Kong. It never allowed me to lose weight, but I did feel better on it I must say. So it is neither new or a fad in my opinion. It suits lots of people and my variation of it is working for me

I don't do the higher fat side of things and try never to eat dairy or high carbs at all. I even have a problem with wholemeal carbs, I start to retain fluids & it isn't a figment of my imagination. I can prove it.

I rarely eat breakfast either, which gets up a lot of peoples noses insisting that breakfast is a must! But I am 68 next month & I am testament to that being a load of rubbish..........but that applies to some people only, me included. My ex lived on carbs and Mars bars, he could eat anything. He was stick thin, although he was diagnosed low thyroid about 10 years ago & is still stick thin. Ggggrrrrrrrr

I just wish that people who don't 'agree' with someone's diet would not try to tell them that they are doing it all wrong.

We are all different types & if it is working then good for us all, if not we need to find a better way. The NHS insistance to base diet on carbs & zero fat has not brought about a population of slim people has it? Quite the opposite. We can all look around and see the truth in that little nugget of information, but I know that a takeaway around every corner hasn't helped either.

Hope we are all able to get to our goals by whichever way we choose that works fir us, after all, there is more than one way of skinning a cat they say!!!! LoL

[Hidden in reply to BrynGlas]

Yes indeed. I expect I am guilty of being over enthusiastic about low carb myself. I liked to explain the why of why it works, because that’s what swung it for me, but maybe that comes across as intimidating & prompts aggression. If someone can argue the science of why I must be unhealthy on low carb, and point me to actual research, not opinion based articles they found 5 mins ago on the internet, I would not mind opposition so much. I too thought it was a bit of a fad a year ago & had basic low carb mixed up with Dukan. Low carb is older than the 70s - it was used to cure diabetes in the 19th century on a Mr Banting. It was quite normal to ‘Bant ’ or be ‘Banting’ in the 1930s. You are right, we all need to find our own paths and take ownership of our way of doing it. If you are going to eat a certain way, and refuse to even entertain eating differently, then don’t complain that you are not losing weight. I myself could lose another stone by counting calories but I feel hungry just writing that so won’t!

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

I am glad that you took my message in the way it was intended. I'm just trying to say that everyone has a right to try whatever they wish and I would be very interested to hear about it personally. You can usually learn something every day and I am not averse to that. But I find the lectures a bit hard to take too.

GP's really get me because I am low thyroid and tell me it is me who is wrong not my medication. Tell me to stop eating so much and get moving instead of watching tv! I really wanted to spit in his eye! Calories in less than calories out - "Simples Sandra"

It took a fluke change of the brand of thyroxine I take in April this year - which I noticed made me feel much better - before I began to lose.

Low thyroid has been the blight of my life for the last 25 years, I am hoping that this carries on, because I will be very upset if they changed them back to the old brand. Still, onward and upward, keep marching on and hope.

I had never heard of Banting before today I shall have a scour of the internet now for him.

[Hidden in reply to BrynGlas]

Do you know, I am remembering how bossy I found ‘everyone’ here at first! There was more of an intermittent fasting narrative than low carb, going on 8 months ago and I got so fed up with being told to skip breakfast! I have something wrong with me, I can’t do that & function! But still the urging went on! BUT the bossiness on weight loss is nothing compared with the thyroid forum. Dear me those guys are scary 🤣 (and astonishingly knowledgeable and generous with their time and support i should add).

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

Well I am low thyroid and on there as well! They are great girls. But I also know that they have a lot of responsibility too and they are up there with it all. I don't know how they do it!

I think a lot of the time too, because you can only see words and not hear a voice, we don't get any hint of a messages 'tone'. Then it can be difficult to get the way the message is meant.

Well you get advised to miss breakfast and I am encouraged to eat breakfast! We will just do our own thing shall we? LoL

[Hidden in reply to BrynGlas]

Ha BrynGlas! The trouble with the Thyroid forum for me was i should not have been there. I had a test as a belt and braces & asked the team what they thought. My results turned out to be excessively normal. No Thyroid issue whatsoever. And the Thyroid team worried there was something missing - if I was so excessively well, what was I doing on the forum?! I also have to have iron transfusions for a rare, but completely isolated issue. ‘Your test shows your iron levels are very high!’ ‘Yes. I had an iron transfusion last week. I’d have something to say if they weren’t high.’ ‘You must be seriously unwell if you have to have iron transfusions’. ‘Well no actually., I just have a rare side effect of mild anaemia.’ Etc etc. And I was just wasting everyone’s time that they should have been spending on people with real issues... their knowledge & expertise was so impressive.

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

Well, they would have been puzzling very hard to find out what was wrong then and getting nowhere fast!

[Subtle_badger in reply to Hidden]

And Dr Atkins did not claim to have to have invented it. It was the orthodoxy when he was in medical school.

As it was when my childhood GP was at school, meaning in the 70s he told me to cut back on potatoes and bread, not eat less fat and move more when he was concerned about my weight. Thus I did not become obese until 40 years later (mostly from bread, if truth be told), rather than being diagnosed with T2DM in my thirties, which I suspect would have happened if I had been born a decade later.

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

I still have that furst book of Atkins around somewhere, but I never could get it to work properly but now, I ditched most of the fat, increased green veg and l limit proteins. Something is working that is all I ever wanted.

I remember the advice to reduce carbs, yes. I was only in my teens then and had no need to lose weight, but the turn around to the zero fat/high carbs really put a cat among the pigeons for me.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to BrynGlas]

I agree it's unhelpful and counter-productive to tell people they're doing it all wrong if they're happy with their approach and it's working for them. It's just rather frustrating when they say it isn't working (ground to a halt, lost a lot of weight this way three times already and regained) yet they don't want to consider a different approach.

[Hidden in reply to BridgeGirl]

Agree violently BridgeGirl .

[Hidden in reply to BridgeGirl]

I will qualify my agreement though with my own experience. I whined like an irritating puppy for a couple of months about not losing more weight, but doing anything differently meant being too hungry. And my dear friend Subtle_badger told me i has plateaued because I was already slim & the things I should change were a) the whining, & b) the ridiculous expectations 🤣🤣🤣

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Hidden]

Good for the badger 😁

On the whole, the biggest help I've had from the forum is when I've been challenged or prodded. That's why I'm inclined to go in with big boots at times, as constructive comments have been more useful than "there, there" pats on the head.

It can be hard to judge whether a poster wants sympathetic noises or constructive suggestions for a way forward. We can't always get it right 😊

[Hidden in reply to BridgeGirl]

Well I mostly get it wrong... 😞

I too am immensely grateful for the low carb nagging, when I joined the forum & being told I was being hoodwinked by quinoa. There’s no way I’d have put a pic of me in spray on leggings on social media without it!

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

I have been there too in my time! LoL

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

I ave a neighbour who along with her partner, were both Type 2. She was and still is having weekly injections. I had been trying help them to get the low carb message and explaining why no carbs.

I met them one day comng out of Morrisons and had to ask who the giant crumpets belonged to. Jan told me that the nurse said that she could have those everday for breakfast, though she shoudn't have them with butter!!! And I can believe it, I used to care for an elderly couple who were getting the same message from the same nurse!

The partner though, had lost 3 stones and was no longer Type 2 and was very trim when I saw him last week.

One thing that I find people can't grasp, is that carbs are turned into glucose by your body. They will not eat sugary stuff, but can't see where the sugar is in such as a giant crumpet, or why they are not the best food for a T2 breakfast. You can lead a horse to water but.......

My freind is still bemoaning her weight unfortunately and the weekly injections.

[Hidden in reply to BrynGlas]

That’s all very depressing. Plenty of people here who are of the same view & if their nurse tells them that, then it’s not surprising. It’s also noticeably hard for people to believe that fruit is full of sugar. ‘I used to eat a bucket of sweets, so a bucket of fruit MUST be healthier’. My grandmother in her later years had diabetes, it must have been type 1 because she lost a huge amount of weight & was very frail. The nurse gave her a low fat weight loss diet plan, which she found very confusing as she has the start of dementia then but knew she had got very thin. My mother, who cared for her, tore it up & have her proper home cooked meals. I’d have complained to the practice if I had been my mum.

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

I know, what you mean. I spent a lot of time last year in Stoke and my brother in law just could not understand my diet.

He fell out with me one night because he had cooked something or other for me, but he had also baked a potato for me! I had told him earlier in the day that I would not be eating one, but he still thought he would bake one anyway.! He hit the roof when I took it off my plate!

I tried to tell him that I didn't eat bananas and other fruit too, wow I think he was about to have me sectioned to be honest. I would not have been surprised if the men in white coats came wondering up the drive.

I could have killed for a baked potato, or a lovely fresh fruit salad many a time, but I daren't tell him that because he would just not understand why I would give up food that I really enjoyed, for such a silly thing as trying to lose weight.

He is a man who rarely eats any veg except for Sunday lunch, or Christmas dinner. He thought I was cracked eating so much greenery and salads every day! LoL

[Hidden in reply to BrynGlas]

I find it amazing there are people out there who don’t eat vegetables. From the only junk food types to the purists on a carnivore diet. Don’t these people get uncomfortably constipated?! 🤣

My only family argument about diet has been with my mother, because I ate blueberries not her stewed apple at breakfast. We had to have a ‘I’m 47, I think I can make my own fruit choice’ conversation...😳

[BrynGlas in reply to Hidden]

My mother is type 2, she was forever moaning at me years ago for not eating breakfast/toast/cereal, etc etc.

I went to see her one time and she was looking very trim indeed & yes, she had lost weight & T2 under control! Mind you she wasn't particularly overweight & I was suprised that she had become T2 for that reason.

What do you think she had done? Cut out bread!!! I tried to tell her that I had been trying to tell her that for years, but she couldn't remember that of course & told me it was her own idea!!

You couldn't make it up could you?

[Hidden in reply to BrynGlas]

Ha ha ha - here’s hoping my MIL finds it for herself..

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to BrynGlas]

My partner was identifued as pre-diabetic ( 2) and was sent on a 10 week course .. your crumpet example does not surprise me, as much of the advice was total twaddle and the low-fat advice insensed me!

[BrynGlas in reply to elliebath]

Oh, thank you elliebath, that is nice to hear but not nice as well, poor people trying to get themselves healthy haven't got a chance have they?

I can only assume that nurses around here are not trained properly, which is an appalling state of affairs.

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

I'm not sure what you mean. This nurse is wrong, but she is following the current NICE guidelines

nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28/i...

[Subtle_badger in reply to Hidden]

♥

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to Hidden]

😁 I think maybe we can all learn something from that SfG !

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to BrynGlas]

I think you're absolutely right , any advice offered should be exactly that, "advice" , not criticism.

As I understand it, the aim of the forum is to support people on their journey to weight loss that can then be maintained.

This is a Weight Loss forum and I'd guess that 80 % of the people reading it are still trying to lose weight (be it for the first or multiple time) . So only a handful can honestly comment on what works long term.

[Hidden in reply to elliebath]

That’s a very good point. There seem to be lots of people here who have lost huge amounts then regained, so they can say what has NOT worked long term!

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to Hidden]

Also a good point😊

[Hidden in reply to elliebath]

I find it sad/bizarre when people blithely recommend an expensive weight loss programme along the lines of, ‘I lost 5 stone! Then I put it all back on. But I am rejoining because it was all my fault I regained - if only I’d carried on paying I’d have been fine. Why don’t you join too!’. If we bought a car than only worked if it went to the mechanic every week, we’d ask for our money back!!

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to Hidden]

Yes, like soneone I know who regularly says: "I need to go back to WW or SW again before my holidays, it worked well last year " (and the year before that!)

[Hidden in reply to elliebath]

Being less sour about it 🤣, I think people genuinely like the companionship of the groups. I have a friend who joined Slimming World (again) when she moved to a new area to make friends. It’s a shame there are not more groups that offer a sustainable approach. This same friend has found an intermittent fasting group now which seems to be more helpful.

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to Hidden]

Yes indeed but unfortunately a sustainable approach, where people can then maintain alone, does not sell as many membership fees !

We are certainly lucky to have this site. I for one am very glad of my fellow maintainers whenever my scales drift a bit.

[BrynGlas in reply to moreless]

You & I are going to get on well moreless, I can feel it in my water!!!

[BrynGlas in reply to moreless]

I have to say I thought when I joined this Group and did my first weigh day that we all had to follow the same plan, but that's just my fault I would say for not asking questions or exploring the site enough. It did finally sink in though!

I have tried hundreds of times to work out a plan for what I would eat on each dayand I could then check the stores to see what I needed to buy in. It sounds wonderful, it has to be the best way for anyone to keep track of stores, save buying more than I need of anything & I would never find that I had run short of anything.

Unfortunately I fail every time, because I don't fancy eating what I took out of the fridge the evening before or sonething along those lines! I am a disaster waiting to happen and they often come around too.

[Subtle_badger]

Second draft!

[..] text moved to top of page.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Subtle_badger]

Just off the top of my head:

SW

WW

VLCD

DD

BMI

[Subtle_badger in reply to moreless]

🤣

So I just missed a couple.

Thanks. Added those.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Subtle_badger]

You may find this interesting?

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

As I have said elsewhere, the word diet was hijacked anyway.

Originally every living creature had a diet, they still do. It is only human beings who have taken to calling their diet something to make us lose weight.

All of us who are gaining weight are on a diet of some sort, their sort.

It is our changed diet over the years - along with more money to spend, more and different foods available, fast foods, takeaways, ready meals, ready BREAD etc etc -that has encouraged us to use the word which now strikes terror in people's minds. Having a 'poor diet' doesn't mean someone is trying to lose weight necessarily.

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

I agree. If someone told me about the traditional diet of the Inuit, I would not ask "were they trying to fit back into their wedding dress?"

🤣 🤣

[Hidden in reply to Subtle_badger]

But if I was obliged to wear what the Maasai do, I’d be glad of the meat, milk & blood diet...

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

LoL So you got my drift! I have a diet, why use 3 words when one will do?

Ted - my cat - has his diet too as you know. But he is thinking of changing things............. he has decided he loves king prawns & trying to convince me that they are desperately important to him!! He can't live without them suddenly.

I won't tell you what I told Ted.......

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

youtube.com/watch?v=yugoFc7...(Not working as expected?)

(warning, it gets a little M-rated towards the end.)

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

ROFLMAO!!!!!!! Well Ted definately isn't slerping with mum tonight !!

How on earth did you find that? I am just wondering what words I would have to put into a search engine to come up with that!!!!!! The mind boggles...............

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

I found it because I have been a South Park fan forever, before it was a thing. South Park went viral when going viral meant copying the videos onto CD and handing them to your friends.

So I found it by searching for "Cartman bad kitty". Actually, I typed "cartman ba" and google filled out the rest.

I had forgotten the d*ldo joke! Just remembered Cartman's poor relationship with his cat.

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

Well, one word in theory. But I described the Eat Well Guide as the NHS's recommended diet, and someone assumed I meant the 12 Week plan. It took more than 3 words to clear up that confusion.

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

That might have been me yesterday. Talking about the NHS diet page.

[BrynGlas]

I still do intermittant fasting with lots of green veg, mushrooms, chicken, fish (I try to not eat too much protein, limit it to 100g as a portion) and I have added eggs back into my diet, not sure whether it will work, but we will see. My eating window tends to be 12 midday - 7 pm max, sometimes I don't eat until 2 - 3 pm, generally I stop at 6pm. It changes from day to day and I don't worry if I need to eat differently on some days.

Sometimes I only eat once a day. Calories are between 800 - 1,100 calories a day, but I generally stick to around 900 max.

No carbs, or dairy.

I don't do hunger though, so I like the option to increase my calories if I am feeling peckish

Lost 11 lbs now, so I am doing what works for me. Being low thyroid is difficult, but a change in the brand of my medication seems to have helped me begin to lose, since 29th April so I need to keep at it and stay on the same brand of meds. Got at least another 19 lbs to lose, but I am not beating myself up about that., it will happen when it happens.

[BrynGlas in reply to BrynGlas]

And another pound down today!! 12 lbs gone since 29th April.

BMI down from 31 to 29. I am very happy with that!

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

Well done. Below the magic 30! Now you are just overweight.

📣

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

Exactly so!! I am feeling very happy with myself, believe me.

I have just finished 2 hours of ironing too!! All lovely neat pillowcases in the linen cupboard, I am a nutcase I know, but dreaded jobs are usually on my mind & I like the relief when I have finished them!! I don't have to pass that pile of ironing anymore until the next wash! Unfortunately that won't be long in arriving! Too hot to go into the garden, so needed something to keep my mind busy.

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

😳 the only ironing I do is naked or in my underwear, of the thing I am about to leave the house in.

It's a miracle I have no burn scars on my belly!

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

OMG you are conjuring up some pictures in my mind now!!! I can't see to type because I'm crying with laughter!

[Subtle_badger in reply to BrynGlas]

Thank you. I was trying to be funny.

Sad fact: it is also true. I ironed a shirt today in my "pants"!

[BrynGlas in reply to Subtle_badger]

LoL Well you were definately funny !!!!!! I am ok at the moment, got clean ironed tops and shorts/trousers/jeggings because I was a good girl last week and ironed everything!!

And I have no neighbours or passing traffic to worry about if I wanted to stand outside naked and iron my clothes, the only one who would be offended is me!!! No, I could never be a naturist!

[IndigoBlue61]

Interesting and useful thread SB

I’ve ‘filed’ it in Topics under Eating Plans . . . Hope you don’t mind 😊

[Subtle_badger in reply to IndigoBlue61]

No, that's fine. I was going to repeat it as a new post, but so much interesting conversation would be lost.

I will tidy it up so it makes a bit more sense.

[Subtle_badger in reply to IndigoBlue61]

All tidied up!

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to Subtle_badger]

Looking great 👍

[basten]

Ok thanks

[Subtle_badger in reply to basten]

If you have more questions, I will be happy to find the answers.

[basten in reply to Subtle_badger]

Thankyou