How to lose weight - it's simple

PasturesNew

FBaby wrote: »

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I think the main message is: people who are overweight will find any wheeze and dodge to explain why they're overweight ... except the fact: They ate all the pies.

I am clear with myself and I will admit that when I am heavier it's because I ate more pies and I need to eat fewer pies. I don't look at myself and think "yeah, but, no, but, it's not my fault". I ate all the pies, fact.

Until people are honest with themselves they'll never actually get round to consistently doing the hard bit of eating less.

Portion size is a major problem for many. I now eat less food per meal just by eating from a smallish bowl. It looks more, tastes great from a bowl, but is in fact less than I'd squeeze onto my bigger plates.

I also tell myself that I won't starve and all food will still be for sale when I weigh less... so I'm not missing out if I cut a pizza into quarters for four meals instead of into thirds for 3 meals (although some people think a 10" pizza is ONE meal).

Honesty with oneself is where it begins. Have the extra pie, but understand where it's headed for. Enjoy that pie today ... and just have no pies for the rest of the month ...

Anoneemoose

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think the main message is: people who are overweight will find any wheeze and dodge to explain why they're overweight ... except the fact: They ate all the pies.

I am clear with myself and I will admit that when I am heavier it's because I ate more pies and I need to eat fewer pies. I don't look at myself and think "yeah, but, no, but, it's not my fault". I ate all the pies, fact.

Until people are honest with themselves they'll never actually get round to consistently doing the hard bit of eating less.

Portion size is a major problem for many. I now eat less food per meal just by eating from a smallish bowl. It looks more, tastes great from a bowl, but is in fact less than I'd squeeze onto my bigger plates.

I also tell myself that I won't starve and all food will still be for sale when I weigh less... so I'm not missing out if I cut a pizza into quarters for four meals instead of into thirds for 3 meals (although some people think a 10" pizza is ONE meal).

Honesty with oneself is where it begins. Have the extra pie, but understand where it's headed for. Enjoy that pie today ... and just have no pies for the rest of the month ...

I know I am overweight because I eat. Have never once said "I live on salads but keeping gaining weight what is wrong with me"? I have lost weight MANY times..and gained it all again, and more. The only common theme throughout the last two decades is the dieting (and not all fads, mostly SW, which was peddled as a healthy lifestyle) and the subsequent bingeing I have done.

I also have conditions that are notoriously difficult to lose weight with, but I don't use that as an 'excuse' any more..I have in the past. I am also borderline underactive thyroid. Well, private tests show underactive, but NHS and their TSH figures don't. There have been times where I have restricted calories and upped activity and I have gotten nowhere, which makes it feels like it's pointless and 'not working'. Why wouldn't it? You cut down on 'unhealthy' stuff, increase 'good' stuff within the calorie guidelines and still you get nowhere.

So yes, in theory it is simple, but in practice for a lot of people, it is not - as I have said numerous times! People use food for all sorts of things. I recognise that I emotionally eat nowadays. In fairness though, I have not always been like this.

Once again, I am not blaming anyone for putting food in my mouth, but I am blaming incorrect information and restriction over the last 2 decades for causing me to have no idea of what my body actually needs and for triggering bingeing behaviours.

Although my mum thought I may be anorexic at one point (I wasn't), I never experienced the need or urge to binge until I went on a diet. I come from a household where diets were never mentioned or even a thing. We ate what we wanted, as in no food was considered good, bad or anything in between. We were active. My mum and dad still live like that and are both slim. They have never counted a calorie in the lives. Because they have never had an issue with food.

Anoneemoose

I also want to reiterate that I am not using my reasons as an excuse to eat everything in sight and blame it on something else...I aim to (and have started to) take care of my body as best I can. I am purely taking the focus off weightloss..if it happens, so be it, if it doesn't, well it doesn't. It's taken me a long time to realise that my worth is not measured by my clothes size or a number on the scales.

FBaby

They have never counted a calorie in the lives. Because they have never had an issue with food.

That's because most likely their eating habits were right for them and therefore didn't seem to be making an effort so it goes back to what I think we all agree on, it's about healthy eating lifestyle.

For Pasture, it's smaller portions, for me, it's eating one main meal a day, for others it's snacking in very small quantity on healthy food all through the day. Whatever works, however I do agree that a good eating habits have one thing in common, they should restrict anything totally, they should restrict in quantity. There is nothing I will never eat, but many that I will eat only once a week and/or in very small quantity.

If you are focusing on healthy eating, and do so by not overeating, then you should gradually lose weight, even if it is 1 pound every 2 or 3 weeks.

Of course your worth is not measured by your size, but if your self-esteem is affected by it, then it is a good reason to make changes (that and the health reasons).

bigfreddiel

PasturesNew wrote: »

Anybody who says they put weight on, tried diets, failed ... it does still go back to the OP: eat less and/or exercise more.

Yesterday I bought a bag of my very favouritest sweeties .... I ate 3 of them. I could've eaten the whole bag, I didn't.

Yesterday I made two sandwiches in the morning ... I ate the 2nd one at tea-time. I could've eaten them both for lunch, I didn't. I could've then made "tea" later as I'd not eaten for a few hours since lunch, I didn't.

Whatever your height, weight, size, shape, situation .... if you eat less than your body needs you will lose weight.

When I put weight on, I spot it and start to eat less. I lose it again. If I don't lose weight, just "eat a little bit less as I can see I'm gaining weight" then my weight stabilises (until some random point when I do have the power to say NO more consistently)...

Eat less, weigh less.
Eat more, weigh more.

It's simple maths.

When I'm overweight at least I admit it's because I ate all the pies. When I want to lose weight I cut the pies in half and eat pie half as frequently.

I'll probably have some crisps later today ... I expect I'll lose weight overall this week, because I won't be eating 4 packets as a snack ... just one and be aware of it. One packet of crisps might even be all I have for lunch ... because you can't eat everything and still lose weight. But you can eat what you fancy/want if you go without something else.

I weigh 54Kg. Last year I weighed 60Kg; I've eaten fewer pies in the last 12 months. And fewer crisps

Cheers pastures, you said exactly as I said.

It works, it's not rocket science and it's so simple.

Good luck everyone fj

dktreesea

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Cheers pastures, you said exactly as I said.

It works, it's not rocket science and it's so simple.

Good luck everyone fj

Yes, losing wright is probably as simple as not opening your mouth around calories your body doesn't need. but there are factors that make this harder to manage than it might at first seem.


Take portion sizes. There's not one portion fits all - everyone probably needs a particular portion of food suited to their body. I had a meal recently where the portion size looked reasonable. I did an experiment, to eat the food until I felt full. The result, less than a quarter of the food was eaten. That's a portion I would probably feed to a three year old. I can understand if many overweight people, trying the same experience, wouldn't trust their "full" switch, if the portion at which this happens is much smaller than they can get their heads around. There's a fear factor, that by responding to this button you are depriving yourself of much needed nutrients. People who are used to ignoring their full switch to the point they don't even notice it aren't going to start by fully trusting it from now on.


Then there's the image you hold of yourself in your mind's eye. If you have been overweight for a long time, you get used to who you are, how you look. People can be scared of ending up with a whole lot of loose skin, - there's no guarantee you can have it removed on the NHS tab. These days they might say you have to go privately.


Anyone who has made a serious attempt to lose weight acquired due to a sweet tooth could probably tell you the withdrawal symptoms from sugar are horrible. Hot flushes, headaches, aches and pains in the joints, loose bowels, dizziness. It would take a lot of will power to put up with that for weeks on end. No wonder so many people chuck in the towel.


I would advise anyone wanting to lose weight to pace themselves. A kilo or two a week? That might not be a good experience and you could end up giving up long before you reach your goal. I would recommend no more than half a pound, 250gms or thereabouts, as week. That's still probably three times as quickly as you first put the weight on and at least you would give yourself a chance to wean yourself off excess sugar and processed foods by having, hopefully, manageable symptoms.

theoretica

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Cheers pastures, you said exactly as I said.

It works, it's not rocket science and it's so simple.

Good luck everyone fj

Very like rocket science - really simple in concept (exhaust goes backwards, rocket goes forwards) but can be hard in practice.

duchy

I was one of those people who could eat whatever they liked and never gain an ounce. It's genetic my Mum was the same and my Dad was slim too.......however like my Mum when I hit fifty the pounds piled on . I also have an under active thyroid which definitely doesn't help.

I've started SW and every week so far I've lost at least a pound sometimes more. Following their plan made me realise properly it's not the amount I eat it's the poor choices, like cooking with butter, pastry too often, mayo, chips too frequently. My cholestoral is also too high but hopefully the drugs and improved diet will sort that. I can't exercise at the moment due to a back problem which is annoying but at least forcing me to focus on making better choices. I don't call it dieting, it's improving my eating habits and practices. If you are on a diet then you can come off a diet, whereas if you are improving your habits then a slip doesn't give you the excuse to stop improving the way coming off a diet does. I'm not perfect , I will slip but the goal is still achievable even if I sometimes choose to avoid the best choices so take a little longer to get there, so long as I am doing better than before it's fine. I see no benefit in feeling deprived as I'll get all rebellious and cheat if I do.

FBaby

I would advise anyone wanting to lose weight to pace themselves. A kilo or two a week? That might not be a good experience and you could end up giving up long before you reach your goal. I would recommend no more than half a pound, 250gms or thereabouts, as week. That's still probably three times as quickly as you first put the weight on and at least you would give yourself a chance to wean yourself off excess sugar and processed foods by having, hopefully, manageable symptoms.

That's a very good point. Why try to lose weight quicker than our bodies have put it on in the first place? I do believe that this is the main reason why diets fail, people want to go to fast. First it works because of a new found determination. Then it works because the rewards of feeling much better spurs the person to continue, but when the weight tappers, then there is no more incentive to keep it up. The person got used to losing weight and therefore think that a little adjustment won't make much of a difference, yet months on months, the weight goes back on.

What has always worked well for me is to set myself a tapper. I force myself to weight myself every couple of weeks or so. If the scale says a certain weight, the warnings go on, if I reach one particular weight, then that screams diet emergency. I've set that tapper at 1/2 a stone, so quite low, but although it gets harder each decade to lose it, it remains within reach, usually taking 3 to 4 months to go back within 1 or 2 pounds of what I've set as my 'happy' weight.

pollypenny

I think much of the problem stems from the gradual nature of weight gain, whether through portion size or treats and a subsequent difficulty in recognising the problem.

I used to think that my weight gain was just middle aged spread, too, saying i used to have a waist.

Following Michael Mosley's advice on intermittent fasting, I'm now size 10/12 and very happy with a bmi of 23.

Yes, eat less, but take advice on what to eat and how.