Struggling 😕

I was drawn to your post first, because I am struggling in the VERY SAME WAY! During COVID, I gained back what I call the "COVID 20". I'm still down 45 pounds but need to make it 65 again! My weakness is the salty snacks - my brother airpopped some corn with NO SEASONINGS and NO SALT - bland but filling! Celery and watermelon are other filling foods with low calories. Just don't put peanut butter on the celery I certainly wish you the best, my friend - I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

I have lost 75 lbs in the past 18 months or so, after years of what you describe (though my excess weight was higher and I still have 30 lbs to lose).

The things that worked for me were nothing gimmicky. The biggest tactic? Patience.

I found I could never stick to my diet because I was too aggressive with my goals. I'd go for a few weeks and then be ravenous and unable to continue. So I set my targets to the most modest level of half a pound a week (you'll note I have been losing at faster than that but that's the *goal* that worked for me).

Beyond that--

1) weigh *everything* if it contains any calories, and log everything. Even if you go way over target, be honest. Start here by logging what you eat when you are not 'dieting' for a few days so that you can identify any items you habitually crave that are obvious calorie sinks. You said you like salty snacks, so maybe you are eating chips. Is there another salty snack with lower calories you can substitute? Seaweed chips? Baked not fried? Pick off the obvious calorie sinks and either give them up, substitute, or be more conscious of how much of them you consume so that you fit them into your daily budget without going over target. Pizza addicts could go with cauliflower crust, for example--since toppings dominate the taste, you probably won't notice the change but you'll cut a hundred or more calories from your serving.

2) set your target weight-loss rate to a slower rate, so that your calorie target is as high as possible consistent with still losing weight. This way, not every day will be a struggle of will to stay on-target. Focus on meeting your calorie, fiber, and protein goals unless you have a medical condition that dictates some other prioritization (eg: people with kidney conditions may need lower protein targets, diabetics may need to focus on low carbs). The idea is to maximize livability of your plan so that it is not burdensome to stay on it for a long enough time to reach your target weight at a half pound a week.

3) your weight can bounce up and down a couple of pounds between days based on how much food you have in your gut and your hydration--and you will probably retain more water after a day of lots of salty food. So expect this and do not regard it as evidence of failure.

4) avoid restaurants (this has generally been easy during the pandemic). When you do eat out or take-out, make a best-guess as to quantity. (this is my hardest logging challenge--figuring out what restaurant food contains)

5) Figure out which macronutrient makes you feel full on the fewest calories. For me, whatever detects "full" based on carbohydrate content does not seem to work no matter how many carbs I eat, so low-fat diets make me gain weight because they leave me ravenous. In contrast, biasing low carb (casual, not full-on-Atkins) with moderate fats keeps me feeling full, so I eat less while not feeling hungry (or only minimally hungry).

6) I do not use 'cheat days' on a regular basis but basically any special event (such as a birthday) is a 'free' day. Outside the celebration I try to eat 'to program' but at the event, for diet purposes I consider everything to be calorie-free. So what if it sets me back a week? I'll just go back on program tomorrow and lose that extra bit again.

7) get some kind of activity monitor. I have an apple watch and I have found it's estimates of my calorie expenditures to be accurate and helpful. I know I can earn more calories for any given day by walking certain loops in my neighborhood, so if I'm out somewhere and want something I believe to be an extra 400 calories, I know which walk I need to take that evening to cancel those calories out in the day's totals. Likewise if I'm logging after eating something and discover I'm over target, I have the option of working off the excess.

Using activity monitors however, beware, of "negative calorie adjustments", though I do recommend turning this feature 'on' in MFP. When you exercise, you get credit for the extra calories you burn. But if you fail to burn the estimated default calorie expenditure during the non-exercise portion of the day (which MFP estimates for you when you say if you are "sedentary" or "active" etc. in 'settings'), you could find that shortfall in baseline activity subtracted from your calorie target toward the end of the day. I've had a few days I thought would end 10 or 15 calories under budget get 'negative adjusted' at 8 or 9 pm such that I was over by 150 calories or so, which turns an 'on plan' day into a 'neutral' day where weight loss is minimal.

8) No foods are forbidden (except a couple I'm allergic to). The trick is portion control. The big sneaky calorie hog for me is butter. When I eat foods that are typically butter-rich (eg: pancakes. yes, I can have those if I arrange the rest of my day to hit my targets), I weigh out the butter ahead of time and often microwave to melt it so it is easier to spread evenly. In general a tablespoon of fat is 14g (butter, olive oil, whatever) and contains 100 calories (plus or minus 10). So for pancakes I tend to take my maple syrup (60g) and butter (14g), microwave it so it pours easily, and add 10-15g of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Heating it makes it thin and runny so that it is easier to portion evenly over all the pancakes without waste or excess, and since it is pre-measured I know how to log it and can arrange my budget to allow it.


Doing these things I have been able to stay roughly on-plan for over 18 months now and believe I can continue until my target weight. There were a few interruptions for me because of a couple of months of smoky orange air that prevented exercise and a couple of deliberate plateaus because I did not want to lose weight fast enough to generate a lot of loose skin (not a concern for you losing only 12 lbs, but a concern for me with a total goal of around 100 lbs).

INTERMITTENT FASTING....Not for weight loss but for CONTROL. I'm doing the same thing and it has helped tremendously. Perspective: I am a mom of 3 in medical school. My children are 4,5 and 6. So when I tell you that IF and then implementing calorie restriction during your eating window are pure gold in getting started I don't say it lightly. I am under a lot of stress and just prohibiting myself in this way has given me so much confidence in my ability to control my own "hunger." Don't be afraid that it won't work. Because your body will adjust and you won't feel the same level of hunger after a couple of days. You don't lack will power, you lack self- control. Think about it for a moment. Download the Zero app in addition to this one and take back your life. You can do it.

amioc wrote: »

Xtianne87 wrote: »

If you do follow this routine or similar... please let us know how it is going xxx

Yes of course I will ☺️ Xxx

No offense to the other poster, but it's a horrible suggestion. Please don't.

You don't need to be so extreme. And not just extreme, but illogical and complicated.

Pounds fall off of me when I eat what I want, with lots of veggies added for volume. I stay very close to my calorie goal every day, with occasional days of being closer to maintenance. Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
Fried egg (in small pat of butter) on whole wheat toast
Side of tomatoes with salt & pepper
2 big mugs of coffee with half & half
(All weighed and calculated: 280 calories)

Snack:
Carrots, Celery, and cucumber
(All weighed and calculated: 48 calories)

Lunch:
Boars Head Blazing Buffalo Chicken Sausage Link
Sauteed Peppers & Onions
(All weighed and calculated: 214 calories)

Dinner:
HUGE cheeseburger with all the fixings
Tortilla chips and homemade salsa
(All weighed and calculated: 951)

Total calories for the day: 1493

I usually save most of my calories for dinner, especially yesterday since I knew I was making a high calorie burger. I plan out my calories for the entire day in the morning, so I know where I can adjust.

Okay, if you’ve been trying and failing for three years you need to try something different. Doing the same thing is never going to work.

Here’s my suggestion. Stop dieting, stop trying to “eat healthy” whatever that is, and figure out one small change to your permanent life which will net you 250 more calories per day. That’s maybe half an hour of activity if you pick the right activity, or you can do it with food, if you can identify one food you eat regularly which you want to swap for something else.

Walking half an hour instead of eating an evening bag of chips would work. Taking up running or dancing three times a week for an hour would work. Deciding to eat berries and yogurt instead of ice cream would work, but only if you daily eat ice cream. I get the idea that there isn’t much give in your diet, and trying to cut is making you feel deprived, so that is never going to work in the long run. But adding a modest amount of activity will. If you make it “exercise” you are going to start feeling deprived again and quit. Don’t exercise, instead pick a hobby or activity which you enjoy.

If you net 250 fewer calories per day you will gradually drift down in weight. It may not be fast enough to get you into the size you want this summer. But it will work and it will last.

Please put some thought to stress control, too. Meditation and getting enough sleep have done so much for me on the psychological side of weight loss. There's so much more to changing old habits....

You can answer shop as much as you want to, but it boils down to mindset, discipline, and consistency. You can do it.