Why can't I lose weight?

elsien

I'm another one who just couldn't get on with myfitnesspal.
It seems geared to ready bought meals and sauces and is difficult to work out if you cook everything from scratch. I couldn't find half of what I wanted on the thing.
Tonight's tea is homemade curry with nothing out of a tin or bottle and I just can't be doing with measuring then trying to find each individual vegetable to put in.

pollypenny

Yazmina wrote: »

Thanks for your encouragement. Hubby says I should try smaller meals more often. I could portion things up and take them to work, but I still might eat it all in one go! I'll try this or maybe Slimming World. I think I'm expecting to lose half a stone in a couple of weeks, but the way I'm going maybe I should have a target for the end of the year.

I thought that I was eating healthily, but I was wrong.

Portion sizes were far too big and the 'little extras' in my lunchtime salad sandwich - cheese or chutney - added up.

I'm also 5'3" and now weigh 125lbs, 8st 12lb. Weight had crept up to 11st 4lbs. It took 5 months on 5:2 to lose 22lbs.

The general recommendation of 2000 cal a day is far too high for women of our height.

Alisha2008

A "general recommendation" of calories doesn't make any sense, each person is different and has a differen metabolism. Personally I think the only good thing about fitness pal and similar apps is to make us realise how much we REALLY eat, because no one can live forever counting calories...

Yazmina

pollypenny wrote: »

The general recommendation of 2000 cal a day is far too high for women of our height.

Never thought of that. Very interesting.

I might have made progress already. This was Monday's food plan:
Breakfast: bran flakes with sunflower/ pumpkin seeds
Lunch: 2x seeded bread with half a tin of baked beans.
Dinner: Hubby's chicken breast, veg stew with white rice.

Actual food on Monday:
Breakfast: bran flakes with sunflower/ pumpkin seeds
No lunch.
Dinner: Hubby's chicken breast, veg stew with half as much white rice and extra broccoli.
Late evening snack: 1x seeded bread.

So I can manage on fewer carbs. The litmus test is sleep. If I wake up during the night it's normally because I'm hungry. I slept fine on Monday night on less rice and bread.

I might be on to something. I'll get more broccoli on my way home. 👍

bubbs

I eat tonnes, i have really big dinners but not carbs, so as long as you eat the right stuff you can have big meals and lose weight

belfastgirl23

Yazmina wrote: »

Thanks for your encouragement. Hubby says I should try smaller meals more often. I could portion things up and take them to work, but I still might eat it all in one go! I'll try this or maybe Slimming World. I think I'm expecting to lose half a stone in a couple of weeks, but the way I'm going maybe I should have a target for the end of the year.

My advice is to make the behaviours that lead to weight loss your target rather than the weight loss itself. So if you know for example that you need to use myfitnesspal, your target is to fill in breakfast each day for a week. From starting with just tracking breakfast, then start to track lunch. Then dinner. Most people don’t vary their diets enough to make it a huge hassle every day and once you have all your basic items entered, it’s a matter of a few minutes to fill it in for your day. Similarly if you need to exercise more then your target might be to get to the gym twice a week and just walk on a treadmill for 20 minutes. You need to start with small and achievable things that you can do that can help you to build good habits and reinforce with yourself that you can do it.

My own advice is to do this with a goal of just maintaining your weight for the first while and kind of observing yourself. Not gaining is also totally a win and it’s good training for the times when you for whatever reason can’t manage to lose.

If you do the right things, over time the right results follow. And you can totally 100% control your behaviour even if you can’t control your weight loss.

So what if it takes a year to lose the weight. Or more. As long as it is tracking in the right direction it doesn’t matter. We can get so focused on quick fixes, then get disheartened when it doesn’t work. I’m guessing it took you a while to gain the weight, give yourself at least the same amount of time to take it off.

Good luck.

PS this is all from the HalfSizeMe podcast, it is a really great resource!

Ms_Chocaholic

elsien wrote: »

I'm another one who just couldn't get on with myfitnesspal.
It seems geared to ready bought meals and sauces and is difficult to work out if you cook everything from scratch. I couldn't find half of what I wanted on the thing.
Tonight's tea is homemade curry with nothing out of a tin or bottle and I just can't be doing with measuring then trying to find each individual vegetable to put in.

I find MFP quite easy but understand we are all different.
In terms of making your own, just note down what you put into it and when you have the finished product, if you have a quarter, just divide it up. I find that once I do something once and then make it a subsequent week I just copy the meal over.

pollypenny

Yazmina wrote: »

Never thought of that. Very interesting.

I might have made progress already. This was Monday's food plan:
Breakfast: bran flakes with sunflower/ pumpkin seeds
Lunch: 2x seeded bread with half a tin of baked beans.
Dinner: Hubby's chicken breast, veg stew with white rice.

Actual food on Monday:
Breakfast: bran flakes with sunflower/ pumpkin seeds
No lunch.
Dinner: Hubby's chicken breast, veg stew with half as much white rice and extra broccoli.
Late evening snack: 1x seeded bread.

So I can manage on fewer carbs. The litmus test is sleep. If I wake up during the night it's normally because I'm hungry. I slept fine on Monday night on less rice and bread.

I might be on to something. I'll get more broccoli on my way home. 👍

Sounds like a good start.

It's worth looking st Michael Mosley's 5:2 web site as well. Lots of support there from him and on the forum threads.

With 5:2 you don't have to make an issue of 'being on a diet', as it's flexible. If you're invited out you can enjoy a meal, but allow for it the next day. We also found that our appetites really changed. Small portions are the norm now.

halogen

I know why I can't lose weight. I can't stop eating. I have no abilty to control what goes in. Even tried hypnotherapy.

Alisha2008

Yes you do, you only need to believe it.