Hello everyone, what are the Top 5 things that can ruin your weight-loss plan? I discovered for me they are:
1. Eating refined carb.
2. Eating sugary items like cake, chocolate.
3. Eating late in the evening makes me feel heavy next day.
4. Not drinking enough water.
5. Crossing my calorie allowance.
They are the 5 things for me, I always feel deprived if I can't have chocolate then eat loads
The same happens with me ! Specially when I am stressed I eat loads to feel good !
I've even tried the Cadbury 30% less sugar bar defeats the object
Yes, mindless eating of chocolate for comfort was my main issue during shielding. I have a small chocolate bar at the weekend now. I started off not having chocolate in the house (I live alone so could eliminate temptations derailing me) - I walked to the shop to purchase a small treat. But this weekend I’m experimenting with 2 finger KitKats - I could only buy a multipack of 9, so I’ll see if I manage to resist having more than my planned one. I’m hopeful, as I feel a lot less stressed now I can see the weight coming off. Wholegrains are definitely satisfying my hunger during the day and the natural sweetness of fruit has been helping too - especially strawberries and blueberries.
Yes I've been eating fruit at the moment I have chocolate in the fridge but I'm thinking of throwing it get rid of the temptation good look on your journey
That sounds a good idea, getting rid of it
You are making good choices YoYo80 and glad that you started seeing the result. Great going!!
I think I mainly had only one but it covers all of those and much more - the thought ‘I’ve ruined the day, it doesn’t matter now, I’ll start eating healthy on Monday’ 😊
So true N-o-r-d-I!! Our brain does the trick!! It keeps telling us to do the things which will make us feel comfortable and does not like to put us out of our comfort zone !!
But I am sure being regular in this forum will help a lot stay focus !!
We need to find a way to be friends with our brain, otherwise we are fighting a losing battle 😊
That was my biggest blockers for years but some one said think about it like cleaning your teeth. If you forget to clean your teeth before going to bed you don't think 'Oh no I've ruined it I'll start cleaning them again next Monday'. You make sure you clean them properly in the morning.
Yes that, and missing your turn when driving: you don’t say ‘oh well, I missed my turn, I will just go where this road takes me and go to my original destination on Monday’ 
For me it's the following:1. Self sabotage
2. Refined carbs
3. Hormones
4. Shopping whilst hungry/ tired
5. Not joining in 100% on the forum, missing Daily Diaries
Although I can't do much about the hormones, i am learning about the triggers and how to deal with them.
That's great thing siggie that you are being more alert about the triggers!
Too much bread,not enough water ,eating rubbish in between meals .Gary
So true!!
Being alert and being your own guard is the key !! I really get great support in this forum to be more alert and mindful!
Agreed the snacking .
Too easy,especially when at home working.Gary
I work with a lot of younger females who spend a fortune on snacks but are permanently short of cash . £5 spent on average per day . They are constantly handing out sweets and carry pockets full as we work .Hotter weather this week meant boxes of Magnums and Soleros which because we have a fridge freezer in staff room means a help yourself policy . It is hard because I have to buy back and it costs even if I don’t eat I feel obligated. Annoying as I should be discouraging this muck . Luckily Costa coffee is open outdoors so I hope they spend money there . The rubbish they eat worries me but keep quiet mostly.
Mindless snacking was a big one for me but I honestly don't think about it anymore
I need to say focused as I'm sat in the kitchen today working from home .Gary
I'm working in the living room and there are no snacks in here.😀
Back in the office tomorrow.Gary
I’ve not been in the office since March 16th last year. The office is open for people who are struggling at home but most of us have been told to carry on working at home. My teams have been a lot more productive from home.
Birthday , Easter , Valentines Day and Xmas where people are very generous and chocolate is bought and alcohol. Saying that it’s all gone . I still haven’t read all Xmas books ,not opened a pack of candles or started using 2 cosmetic gift sets so I have to admit I do eat and drink all the goodies and rather swiftly .
Yes yes yes yes and yes, and:
6) tiredness - poor sleep hygiene
7) social eating
8) free food, BBQs and buffets
Oh my God, you are so true!! Those are the other culprits as well and they work like devils in the body!! Thanks for including them. My all intentions of these post was to say out loud my things which deters me from my weight -loss goal and hear from others and I am so thrilled to hear from others who are also in same boat !! thank you 💞
I remembered one more! 9) good bread covered in 3mm cold butter, particularly if left on my daughter’s plate when she’s finished
Hehe I relate to free food definitely! Not particularly nice biscuits at work meetings were a weird one for me - I'd think 'ooh, there are those orange and mint ones wrapped up in foil, I never get those at home and they're FREE' - and would eat them and remember that I never got them at home because I didn't particularly like them! Haven't had a work meeting at work for over a year now but I managed to kick that habit by making sure I wasn't hungry before a meeting and by promising myself that if I really wanted a foil-covered biscuit I could buy myself some. I never did.
Good topic, Yellow_Blue!
My weight loss saboteurs aren't so much about specific foods as about my behaviour.
1. Not planning for meals away from home then ending up with something unsuitable.
2. Regressing to my guzzly childhood as soon as I enter my mother's house. Why yes, thank you, I will have chips, biscuits and cakes. (I was a skinny child.) A weekend there can derail a whole fortnight of eating sensibly at home.
3. Feeling deprived - this is the worst one. If others are enjoying a treat, I have to have something...
4. Boredom or habit eating. A great difficulty and temptation when working from home or relaxing in the evening.
5. Not having enough of the good stuff - especially water and vegetables.
I think it's good to recognise and acknowledge these sticking points, so that we can try to address them. Good luck, everybody.
Brilliant . And - don’t we all know what we are doing but it encourages me to have that walkto exercise it off
Thank you bikegrrrl for your reply !! Love and hugs for you!!
You are so brave to identify and expressing the things so boldly about your behaviour !! None of us are perfect but it takes lot of courage to take accountability of our own behaviour!! At least I know I struggle a lot! I am inspired by you 💞
I found that with the 'feeling deprived' thing I can get over it if I promise myself I can have whatever it is another day, when I've planned it and/or when I'm maintaining. Part of my brain thinks I'm going to be deprived forever and panics! But I've found if I think about it carefully I can get over the feeling. Ditto with seconds. I have an almost infinite appetite and have to carefully tell myself 'you can always make this again'!
Great idea for a post Y_B. Mine are sugar, boredom, sugar, sugar and boredom!! If I can keep cakes and deserts as an occasional treat instead of a daily norm, and if I keep stimulated and interested in life, I’m usually okay. If I get bored, then strangely my body thinks some sugar would be a good and exciting idea, and a vicious circle gets going!
I also been to that phase Eleanorba !! My kids were small that time and I used to feel highly stressed at the end of day and nothing used to seem interesting !! that's the time when I developed the binge-eating-disorder without even knowing it.. Later, one thing that helped me a lot that was meditation.. since the beginning of the lock down we as a family started practising 15mins meditation in the morning .. we followed it until the school reopened!! It had huge impact on me.. I found myself feeling happy and cheerful whole day !!
I kept thinking to resume it but hard to do on school days !! I need to make up my mind and start doing it again as a family thing!
I am sure you also find out something that can help you to come out from this vicious circle 💞
Your meditation sounds brilliant. I’m great at the moment but it’s hard to know when the sugarlust will return!
1 Not eating when hungry then being starving and choosing wrong things.2 Bread
3 Buying treats for family then trying not to eat them too.
4 Going out for coffee.... And cake which OK has been no problem for the last year.
5.Not enough water
6.Cooking too much and not wanting to waste it therefore eating more.
Thanks dish70 for replying ! This place is absolutely brilliant to stay focus on your goal and not be derailed !The Daily diary is helping me a lot to stay in track! If you haven't join then please check this link -
healthunlocked.com/weight-l...
All the best💞
My top five sabotages are:1) stress eating at my work desk
2) boredom
3) not enough water
4) social eating / gatherings
5) sugar cravings
So true !! I felt many times x
1. people making cruel remarks about my weight 2 ditto ......
Ah! Bless you hugs coming your way 🤗🤗🤗🤗💐
Hugs to you 💖 You are always stronger than them !! When someone hurts me I just remind myself ‘it’s not how hard you can hit! It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward !!! X
Yes you're right. Thanks 😊
For me it's
1) Social life that revolves around gigs in pubs and meals out (not a problem at the moment)
2) Working in an office full of feeders (not a problem at the moment)
3) Not getting enough sleep so too tired to prep food
4) Not drinking enough water
5) Alcohol (leads to snacking and more alcohol)
6) Boredom
I've given up chocolate completely as I don't have an off switch.
All these factors play such a crucial role in weight gain !! Great to see that some of them are not a problem for you at the moment!! If you take some corrective measures on other factors you can see great results !!
Great question, really made me think. For me it’s after following slimming world plan for years then changing to more calorie controlled diet getting it into my head that a dustbin lid of pasta (as my old consultant used to say you could eat on SW) will put weight on, likewise with potatoes, rice etc. Basically you eat in those volumes you’re going to put weight on! Also visits to my sister in laws which always involve bowls of crisps being left in front of me so you just can’t help picking, I always put weight on that week.
Another issue for me is Chinese takeaways, think it’s the msg/salt that always makes me weigh heavy, I know it’s probably only temporary but plays on my mind on weigh in day so try to avoid it now and tend to choose fish and chips as a takeaway choice instead. X
Wow! You identified so properly !! When I am reading yours I can easily correlate myself with each of the points you mentioned that leads to weight gain xxx
Hi, Yellow_Blue,
Taking your points in no particular order: forget a daily calorie allowance. Spread the calories over a week. That way, if you eat too much one day you can cut back the next day.
As far as not drinking enough water, the point here is drinking enough. It doesn't have to be water. Anything non-alcoholic is fine - tea, coffee, it doesn't matter. Just make sure it's not heavily sweetened. To gauge whether you are drinking enough, the key is "pee pale". If you're drinking enough your wee should be pale yellow - the paler the better.
Eating late in the evening is a bad idea, for more than one reason. It's best not to eat after 8pm. Years ago there was an item about this on Trust Me, I'm a Doctor. I can't remember everything that was said, but they recommended a 16:8 split so you fitted your meals into 8 hours of the day. Some people describe this as intermittent fasting. You can get apps to help you with this.
The refined carbs, which includes sugary foods, is harder to deal with. One option is to limit the amount you have at home. After all, you can't eat cake if you don't have any. Hubby and I decided that we wanted to reduce the amount of processed carbs we eat, so we stopped buying biscuits and cakes. I allow myself some dark chocolate, but I'm careful how much I eat at a time.
I do relate to your problems. I hope some of my advice is helpful.
Welcome back, CheerfulDragon
Thank you for your supportive reply, but as this post is 2 years old, it's possible you may not get a response from Yellow_Blue.
If you're still on a weight loss journey yourself and by way of a reminder, all of the information you need about the forum can be found in Pinned Posts healthunlocked.com/weight-l... and we hope you'll be joining all the Events, Challenges and Clubs that we run, especially the weigh-in and daily diary.
We've found active participation to be key to successful weight loss and, of course, it's a good way to get to know people, find inspiration and share support and encouragement.
Wishing you all the best
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