The General Diet & Emotional Support Thread

joslimmer

I guess all meal replacements are going to cost but the celeb slim definitely comes within my weekly food budget as long as I don't pick out expensive snacks to have in between the meals and I always plan our family meals to a budget anyway. I don't know of any cheaper alternatives twiggy100 but I'm sure there are options out there. I just haven't found anything else that works for me personally as I've always felt hungry on other diets and ended up snacking on high cal and fat foods between meals. Not so far this time so happy with that.

Eliza_2

On the subject of useful websites, I've been using https://www.loseit.com for a while and think it's brilliant, specially as it's free. It's American which is a bit of a pain specially where measurements are involved, and like other sites, when you prepare food from scratch there's often quite a bit of guessology involved, but just keeping the record up, the food diary, seeing the chart going down (yay!!) and getting the daily summaries has really helped to keep me on track -strangely they arrive at 8am UK time which is perfect.

Don't know about an app, (though I think they do one) but obviously you can access the website on your phone in the normal way via the internet and enter food while out and about.

Does anyone know a site that will send out daily motivational emails or texts just to keep reminding me?

Liz

ms_london

millsymuttleylaugh wrote: »

Basically I'd love to go to the gym (I used to go) and swimming. But because I'm so ashamed of my body I actually am reluctant to go. I hate the thought of people looking at me in general, let alone running or in a costume swimming.

I'm currently on medication for depression, and I'm also unemployed, and combining this with my already low confidence I don't really leave the house unless I need to. I get very shy and anxious if I have to leave the house and try to get home as soon as I can. Unless I feel comfortable in a situation I always feel that everyone is looking at me and thinking oh my god how fat is she. Even more so when I'm stood in the shop with junk food.

Hello, how are you?

It is a viscious (sp?) circle and I can completely understand where you are coming from, I feel miserable so comfort eat, then feel more miserable - and I think the additives in all the junk food makes it worse!

You say you would love to go to the gym, well, that is the first hurdle, actually wanting to do something about it - if you are out of work at the moment, go during the day when it is quieter, that way you might feel more comfortable if it is less busy! Or just start with walking, stick some music on and walk, plan a route and do that every day to start with..... you will still get the feel good endorphins, and just being out of the house will help.

People can be cruel, but you have to ignore it and just think 'well I'm doing something about it' and don't let them win! I know easier said than done, but even after a couple of days of eating better and exercising you will feel better - just little steps....

I have experienced this first hand so don't think I am preaching and don't understand where you are coming from.

PM me if you like, I don't like the thought of people feeling depressed and down, been there, done that.

xx

catlover47

Thank you very much madget for your information and also your advice. I have been looking into everything and I know about what to eat for my snacks and for my main meal. I've been drinking lots of water and eating bucketloads of vegetables. I feel very happy and healthy so far but I'm not doing anything silly and still eat healthily. I don't want to lose a lot of weight too quickly, I just want some sensible weight loss that I can keep off for good.

Eric_Pisch

more interesting stuff

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1325453/Everything-thought-knew-food-WRONG.html

foreign_correspondent

hiya, can I join in here? I've just lost 2 stone, and want to lose a couple more!

catlover47

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

hiya, can I join in here? I've just lost 2 stone, and want to lose a couple more!

That's wonderful - what diet are you on? Success stories are the best motivation for me so thanks

Fee82

Yesterday two of my children told me I'm a fat mum.

I'm proud that I have brought my kids up to be honest but they are not yet at an age where their brains have developed an edit button. Their comments are completely justified. I'm a size 22 and I am fat. But adults aren't quite as up front about their judgements as children are and their comments took my right back to the school playground all those years ago. It hurt.

More than that the following conversation confirmed my fears... that I am passing my issues with food on to my beautiful children.

I know that I need to get control over my eating and develop a healthier attitude towards food, exercise, my body, my emotional well-being and my self-value.

I know that that won't come from attending another diet club, reading another slimming magazine, continually weighing myself or some of the more crazy ways I have tried in the past. I know that I have to be kinder to myself, look at the underlying problem and work on my attitude and approach. Change from the inside out I guess.

I also now accept that I have had issues with food since the age of 9 and they aren't going to be sorted out overnight. So as much as I would love to shed the weight in time for my next holiday I need to stop thinking that way and focus on the long term.

This diary is my place to be really honest on this journey. I hope that the anonymity will help me to talk in a way that is a true reflection of how I am feeling. I don't think that currently in my life there is any other place for me to do this.

And if you're wondering how this all relates to money saving.... I have probably spent enough on dieting over the years to pay off the national debt :rotfl:.

Fee xx

Fee82

My Dieting History.
I think that to understand where I am now and where I want to go you need to understand what led me to this point. My issues with food and weight have not arrived by magic they have developed over the course of my life. Some of the reasons for my weight gain are blindly obvious to me, others I will work out over time. Some I suspect I will be able to overcome quickly but most will take patience and love – something I’m great at showing others but rubbish at showing myself.
Early Years.
Food was a big focus of my family. My Mum was an amazing cook and my grandparents had met whilst working in kitchens on the cruise ships. Both of them had come from large families where food was sometimes scarce and therefore portions growing up were large, we were encouraged to finish everything on our plates and were frequently rewarded by sweets and desserts.
Aged 9.
I was put on my first diet. The doctor recommended it and my Mum felt that she was doing the best thing for me. She had her own issues with food/weight and didn’t want me to develop them. She joined WW and I was expected to join in with her food and exercise at home. My brother (always been skinny - the sod!) and Dad continued to eat ‘normally’. I remember this as being the time that I started sneaking food out of the cupboard, for which I felt guilty and ashamed. Mum’s diet didn’t last and neither did mine.
Aged 11.
By this point I had had a few failed diets and exercise plans. Life also became more difficult for other reasons and I turned to food for comfort. As the year continued I began to feel out of control about situations around me and took to controlling my food intake. I developed an eating disorder and was diagnosed with Bulimia at 13. I became increasingly secretive about food. I stole from shops and family. Where ever possible I ate food alone like having my packed lunch in the school toilets. My parents had separated so I became good at using that to my advantage – telling Mum I’d eaten at Dad’s to avoid food or telling Dad I hadn’t eaten when I had to gain more food.
At 14 I received some support from a team of psychologists which I now can see turned my problem into a great way to gain attention. I would put on weight to make them happy and then if I thought they were going to discharge me I would lose it again. As an adult now I can see that I was using food to keep their support because that was easier then talking to them about the real problems in my life. I thought that I was in control of what I was doing and could stop the starving-bingeing-vomiting cycle but the reality was that the Bulimia was in control of me.
Due to things that were happening in my life, and partly because I was now a teenager, I had become self-loathing. I believed that I was a bad person, an ugly, fat person and needed to lose weight to become ‘normal’. I would feel good if I went a day without food but eventually I would lose my resolve because I would emotionally or physically crave food. I would binge and immediately feel euphoric then I would almost as quickly feel guilty and worthless. Vomiting made me feel back in control and I would promise myself again that I would ‘be good’ from now onwards.
Aged 16.
I had counselling for the issues in my life that needed to be addressed. Although the bulimia wasn’t the main focus it seemed to naturally sort itself out and I stopped vomiting/starving myself. I did however continue to have an unhealthy view of my body and food. I tried numerous faddy diets – Egg and Tomato, Grapefruit, Cabbage Soup, etc
Aged 19.
I left uni and was very aware of the weight I had continued to gain. At this point I weighed 16stone. My partner and I had been together for a year by now and decided to join Slimming World. I did really well and lost nearly four stone in four months for my graduation. I was so impressed that I then became a consultant for them and ran 2 groups every week supporting 100’s of people to lose weight. Although I was very good at my job and loved doing it for the four years I did it was not good for my weight loss. My commitment started to go and began to cheat regularly. For those four years I stood at the front of the class feeling like a complete fraud. I knew all there was to know about dieting and yet couldn’t shift the pounds myself. Whilst spouting about the wonders of SW I was personally doing other plans (WW, RC, Atkins, SS, Cal counting......) and feeling awful. I would succeed for a while and then find them too restrictive. For as much time as I spent on a diet I also spent off it. Leading up to starting a new plan I would eat everything I could think of that I wasn’t going to be ‘allowed’. I was always sure that this was THE ONE. When it wasn’t I felt guilty and a failure destined to be fat forever.
Now.
I can not think of anything I haven’t tried other than surgery – a route I don’t want to take. I am 28 and have spent 2/3 of my life on a diet. I am so sick of them. Two months ago I restarted Cambridge at 19st 2lbs. I lost 1st 4lbs in a week... and have since put it all back on. Three weeks ago I joined Bodyoptimise... which lasted 10 days. A letter came the other day that said my year’s gym membership has run out .... I only went a dozen times.
Recently I read a book called Beyond Chocolate. It is the most inspiring book I have read... similar to the McKenna Plan but more ‘womanly’.
I’m now choosing not to diet again.

foreign_correspondent

catlover47 wrote: »

That's wonderful - what diet are you on? Success stories are the best motivation for me so thanks

.. no diet as such, just not shoving so much food in my gob...

I suppose I am sort of calorie conting, but not very carefully, (only a rough tally in my head) but in general, I have left off the butter, cut down on bread a lot, am generally choosing healthier options and eating a lot less overall...

I dunno what to have for tea though...