Thank you so much, I'll give it a go! XI had this last year when I was trying to slim down for my wedding, and one thing that worked for me was only having 1 meal with carbs a day.
So if I had pasta for lunch I’d leave the potatoes off my dinner and just have the protein and veg. I would allow myself carbs at lunch and dinner if I did at least 30 minutes of cardio though (hard running etc). I lost the last half a stone I’d been stuck on doing this.
I still try and do it now but admittedly I’ve slipped big time due to lockdown etc
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Have you been to the doctors? I’m not being funny at all and I hope you don’t think I’m being rude. But one of my friends has an under active thyroid and she noticed through weight gain - it makes it very difficult to lose weight!I'm beyond fed up, track everything I eat and generally don't go over my calories (even if I do it's about 50 cals), walk between10K and 12K steps every day (not a gym person at all, I enjoy walking), drink 2 - 3 litres of water per day, generally sleep OK an yet the scales never move, I've lost a pound in three weeks! Not looking to lose mad amounts, a pound a week I'd be well chuffed with but it isn't happening. Just so disheartening
I’ve been like this too... today I finally snapped out of it and just decided I’d do something! I went out for a 30 minute walk. It’s not much but I tell myself it’s better than nothing. If I don’t feel like exercising I always just think well if I even leave the house for 10 mins that’s something! Small steps.Ive been piling it back on lately and feeling as bad about that as is possiblecan’t seem to control my eating at all at the moment and haven’t exercised all week
I’ve got to force myself out of this too. I worked so hard to lose all my weight I can’t risk putting it back on I don’t think I could lose it again. I’m going to have to tough love myself. I’m so full of self hatred over it tonight, I just feel so down and think I’m finding this second lockdown so much harder, I’ve barely got out of bed this week as I just feel so awful. Need to stop! Thank you for the encouragement, glad you’re finding your path back x
I don’t think there is a quick fix or one size that fits all but I see a noticeable difference on a low carb diet. At the moment because I have been on rest from exercise and I’m furloughed I have had a low carb shake for lunch with maybe some cheese as a snack and then for dinner I will have something like roast chicken, swede, cauli cheese, home made soup etc, stir fry etc - I incorporate carbs into one meal a day. It’s fairly extreme but it works. That being said I categorically would not follow that type of routine if I was leaving the house and exercising. I’m solely doing this to make sure I keep on top of my weight when I’m off exercise. I also tend to eat only when I’m hungry which makes a huge difference.
I would look at reducing carbs, I wouldn’t go as extreme as keto but you would be surprised at how many carbs are in things you wouldn’t expect - skimmed milk for example.
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, get active and exercise. I am a size 16 and I’ve been up to a 20 before. I felt terrible and lethargic and my body was in bits because of my weight. Now i get such pleasure from running, swimming and biking that actually I am not as focussed on diet as I know that I’m taking steps to get myself healthy.
I would look at reducing carbs, I wouldn’t go as extreme as keto but you would be surprised at how many carbs are in things you wouldn’t expect - skimmed milk for example.
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, get active and exercise. I am a size 16 and I’ve been up to a 20 before. I felt terrible and lethargic and my body was in bits because of my weight. Now i get such pleasure from running, swimming and biking that actually I am not as focussed on diet as I know that I’m taking steps to get myself healthy.
Are you me? Haha!I had this last year when I was trying to slim down for my wedding, and one thing that worked for me was only having 1 meal with carbs a day.
So if I had pasta for lunch I’d leave the potatoes off my dinner and just have the protein and veg. I would allow myself carbs at lunch and dinner if I did at least 30 minutes of cardio though (hard running etc). I lost the last half a stone I’d been stuck on doing this.
I still try and do it now but admittedly I’ve slipped big time due to lockdown etc
Have you tried a "zig-zag" diet?
it involves calorie counting, but is far more flexible
it involves calorie counting, but is far more flexible
Is this where you vary the number of calories you eat?
I’ve found that more effective than just eating 1200 a day, as I feel if you always eat the same amount I feel my metabolism can get a bit sluggish.
When you're on a weight loss diet, you tend to lose weight at the beginning, but after a few weeks/months your body gets used to the new diet regime and your metabolism slows right down, even if you resort to additional exercise.
So the zig-zag diet tries to kid your body by varying your daily calorific intake
Take a look at this. Zig Zag
I’ve heard something similar to this. I’ve heard if you’re quite restrictive during the week to have one high calorie meal a week to almost fire up your metabolism.
I think the basis behind the ZZ diet is that you set yourself a weekly calorie intake, and then base your daily intake against that. So if you're on 13,000 calories per week, you could have 2000 calories on Saturday and Sunday, 1400 on Monday, 1600 on Tuesday and so on, just so long as the grand total doesn't exceed 13,000 calories.
It worked for me for awhile, but then I ramped up my running, and now I'm happy with my weight
Very interesting!!! I’ll look into that. My issue is I just love getting rat arsed on a Saturday night haha.
You can probably do that! Just so long as you make up for it the rest of the week.
Cheers!
Thanks, I’m actually not trying to lose much at the minute so I’m not crazy strict- maybe 4/5 pounds as my BMI is now over 24 but I filled it in and I think this is essentially what I do now however I don’t have a calorie number I stick to every day - I just go by how hungry I am and some days end up at 1200, some at 1800 but I’m always still in a deficit so I guess that’s basically the zig zag diet.
1200 on a hungry day is never enough and makes me miserable so I could never stick to it for weeks anyway
Well, we're here to help if you need usThanks, I’m actually not trying to lose much at the minute so I’m not crazy strict- maybe 4/5 pounds as my BMI is now over 24 but I filled it in and I think this is essentially what I do now however I don’t have a calorie number I stick to every day - I just go by how hungry I am and some days end up at 1200, some at 1800 but I’m always still in a deficit so I guess that’s basically the zig zag diet.
1200 on a hungry day is never enough and makes me miserable so I could never stick to it for weeks anyway
Just over 10 years ago I lost a huge amount of weight through Jenny Craig (50+ kilos). Sadly, I put it all back on again in the space of three years and developed gallstones, resulting in my gallbladder being removed. I also developed Coeliac disease which may or may not be related to all that. Long story short: be careful about losing a huge amount of weight too quickly.
I could not believe how differently people treated me when I was skinny - all of a sudden, life just became very easy - job offers, social invitations, smiles from strangers ... but I was miserable. As well as being freezing cold all the time, I was very hangry. I actually developed a bit of an eating disorder because I was too afraid to put weight on. At my lowest, I weighed just over 46kg and was a very scary size 6-8 (NZ sizing). I started working in a miserable job which led to emotional eating, which was my undoing.
Now I'm chubby, yet content. I'm about a size 12-14 (NZ sizing), so not huge, but I could definitely lose a bit of weight. I managed to get my weight back down to this level by pre-making all my meals (spending Sundays preparing for the week ahead), exercising very strict portion control, but eating a little bit of everything so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I have these neat little containers that I bought from Kmart which have three sections, and I stick to filling the largest with vegetables, the smallest with carbs, and the medium with meat - I have one of those each for dinner and lunch. I also have little mini containers that are for my snacks (nuts, maybe some chippies, and a couple of small sweets), which I have once a day. For breakfast, I have an Optifast diet milkshake with a handful of fresh fruit blended in. This works for me but others might feel it's a bit same-same. I tend to struggle if there is a whole pizza, or a big dish of something - I'll secretly go back for seconds, thirds, fourths (I am not kidding). So I have to be really disciplined. I buy my vegetables in huge boxes from a local farmer, and my meat from an online butcher. This keeps costs down, and it makes my routine super-easy to stick to.
I'm not much of a fan of exercise, but I have a treadmill and rowing machine which I force myself to do 20 minutes on each day (combined).
I could not believe how differently people treated me when I was skinny - all of a sudden, life just became very easy - job offers, social invitations, smiles from strangers ... but I was miserable. As well as being freezing cold all the time, I was very hangry. I actually developed a bit of an eating disorder because I was too afraid to put weight on. At my lowest, I weighed just over 46kg and was a very scary size 6-8 (NZ sizing). I started working in a miserable job which led to emotional eating, which was my undoing.
Now I'm chubby, yet content. I'm about a size 12-14 (NZ sizing), so not huge, but I could definitely lose a bit of weight. I managed to get my weight back down to this level by pre-making all my meals (spending Sundays preparing for the week ahead), exercising very strict portion control, but eating a little bit of everything so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I have these neat little containers that I bought from Kmart which have three sections, and I stick to filling the largest with vegetables, the smallest with carbs, and the medium with meat - I have one of those each for dinner and lunch. I also have little mini containers that are for my snacks (nuts, maybe some chippies, and a couple of small sweets), which I have once a day. For breakfast, I have an Optifast diet milkshake with a handful of fresh fruit blended in. This works for me but others might feel it's a bit same-same. I tend to struggle if there is a whole pizza, or a big dish of something - I'll secretly go back for seconds, thirds, fourths (I am not kidding). So I have to be really disciplined. I buy my vegetables in huge boxes from a local farmer, and my meat from an online butcher. This keeps costs down, and it makes my routine super-easy to stick to.
I'm not much of a fan of exercise, but I have a treadmill and rowing machine which I force myself to do 20 minutes on each day (combined).
My advice:
Figure out your basal metabolic rate/calorie needs and how many calories you should be eating/burning from there. I know 1200 calories might work for some, but some people burn more than that in a day just sitting down and doing nothing - so if you then exercise on top of it you could end up in too much of a deficit and slow your metabolism down. Plus its not necessarily sustainable in the long run.
Track macros. Not necessarily to a tee but say you thrive on high large or high protein - figure out how much of a % of food you want to eat for those nutrients via myfitnesspal or something similar.
Focus on building muscle over doing cardio everyday. Not to say cardio is bad, but more muscle = faster metabolism, so it makes maintaining the weight loss easier and means your body will burn more calories over time. It doesn't have to be anything too long - stuff like Jillian Michaels or Fitness Blender where a lot of the workouts are 30-40 minutes are good. HIIT is also good for cardio as it burns more calories afterwards vs say jogging.
Figure out your basal metabolic rate/calorie needs and how many calories you should be eating/burning from there. I know 1200 calories might work for some, but some people burn more than that in a day just sitting down and doing nothing - so if you then exercise on top of it you could end up in too much of a deficit and slow your metabolism down. Plus its not necessarily sustainable in the long run.
Track macros. Not necessarily to a tee but say you thrive on high large or high protein - figure out how much of a % of food you want to eat for those nutrients via myfitnesspal or something similar.
Focus on building muscle over doing cardio everyday. Not to say cardio is bad, but more muscle = faster metabolism, so it makes maintaining the weight loss easier and means your body will burn more calories over time. It doesn't have to be anything too long - stuff like Jillian Michaels or Fitness Blender where a lot of the workouts are 30-40 minutes are good. HIIT is also good for cardio as it burns more calories afterwards vs say jogging.
you may not be losing weight but you will more than likely be losing inches! You should measure yourself monthlyI'm beyond fed up, track everything I eat and generally don't go over my calories (even if I do it's about 50 cals), walk between10K and 12K steps every day (not a gym person at all, I enjoy walking), drink 2 - 3 litres of water per day, generally sleep OK an yet the scales never move, I've lost a pound in three weeks! Not looking to lose mad amounts, a pound a week I'd be well chuffed with but it isn't happening. Just so disheartening
I feel almost the same as you. I watch what I eat, don’t eat fatty food, cakes biscuits etc. Have maybe a glass or 2 of wine on a Saturday night. Drink a lot of water, eat a lot of fruit, walk 12-15K steps a day and don’t see any effects of it. Weighed myself last Saturday and again this morning- gone up a pound!I'm beyond fed up, track everything I eat and generally don't go over my calories (even if I do it's about 50 cals), walk between10K and 12K steps every day (not a gym person at all, I enjoy walking), drink 2 - 3 litres of water per day, generally sleep OK an yet the scales never move, I've lost a pound in three weeks! Not looking to lose mad amounts, a pound a week I'd be well chuffed with but it isn't happening. Just so disheartening
really getting me down nowAre you guys absolutely sure you’re in a deficit? Have you worked out your tdee in order to create a deficit? I’m totally not judging but if it’s not working then somethings not right. Are you tracking calories properly? I know I used to have the odd bite of something here and there, handful of cereal or nuts but didn’t bother tracking because I thought it was minimal when in fact those little things can take you out of a deficit they all add up. Totally not saying you’re not doing it right but a lot of people tend to find it’s something like this that’s causing them to not lose
Unless there's a medical reason for someone not losing weight, like an underactive thyroid or pcos or something I cant see anyone not losing weight if they just stick to lots of veg,sensible fruits(not loads of dried fruits, loads of bananas etc.) and protein and a small amount of carbs.
I bet is nibbling/snacks with a lot of people that causes them to not lose weight.
I bet is nibbling/snacks with a lot of people that causes them to not lose weight.