Confused 🤪

Nancymcgregor · July 2022

Hiya I’m back again and this time I want to succeed and finally lose all the weight and be fit again. I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been and have 84lbs to lose. The problem I have is I’ve been dieting for nearly 22yrs now and I’ve been on every diet going, so my head is a mess and I don’t know which way is up. I’m calorie counting on here and a diet I thought was healthy is way over my calories most days. I’d like to eat around 500 calories a meal and 250 for snacks. Can anyone recommend foods they eat or approaches they use to consistently lose weight or slim down please?

Lietchi · July 2022

There is healthy (nutritious) and there is being in a calorie deficit. They don't necessarily go together, as you've noticed

I ate mostly healthy foods and lots of home-made meals when I was obese. I just ate too much.

Eating 'healthy' can mean different things for different people. Some people have a very narrow view of what's healthy when losing weight, imposing unnecessary restrictions. I would suggest looking at your overall diet to judge whether it's healthy or not. I believe in balance: not every single food has to be nutrient dense. I eat tons of vegetables for example, but I also have ice-cream, potato chips,... if it fits in my calorie allowance.

I would suggest just eating foods you like and are used to, but within your calorie allowance. Just by logging, you will discover foods that give you more 'bang for your buck' and 'less bang for your buck' (pleasure/satiation it gives you versus the calorie density). You can make substitutions (lower calorie alternatives that taste just as good, or same calories but more filling,...), change the proportions of the foods you eat (for example: smaller serving of potatoes with dinner, larger serving of vegetables),...
If you feel your diet is unhealthy: same approach of tweaking your diet gradually.

And don't be afraid to experiment with how you split your calories. You mention 500 calories for meals and 250 for snacks. That could work, so certainly try it out. But it could also not fit your needs: if so, don't hesitate to try a different strategy. For example, for me: I tried the often recommended 'three small meals +snacks' strategy (before calorie counting) and it was a failure because I never felt satiated despite eating 'constantly'. What works better for me: small breakfast (or none at all), lunch 600-800 calories, dinner 600-800 calories and then an evening snack with the calories I have left.

PS: my 'credentials' if you're interested: I started my weight loss journey on MFP three years ago, and have lost 75lbs (42lbs the first year, the rest the following two years, I'm still working on the last few lbs after adjusting my goal weight downwards several times) - I intentionally took it slow which meant the weight loss felt very easy (no sense of deprivation).

cmriverside · July 2022

What Lietchi said.

...and

I started by logging what I was eating and then tweaking portions and food choices to fit into the parameters. Some days were better than others but I didn't banish any particular foods. I did cut back on wheat products because that's where I can quickly go off the rails and they aren't very filling to me. It was easy to do away with crackers, cakes, cookies, pretzels, cereals. I cut back to two slices of regular bread or a serving of pasta (weighed out on my digital food scale) per day.

Then - log the food.

I started walking most days, that helps a lot with my hunger and with weight loss.

The trick is to stay with it. Make good habits into habits.

rosiekin · July 2022

Welcome back. I was where you are at the start of 2014. I was the heaviest I’d ever been, my weight had yo-yo’d for over 30;years, and I’d tried various diets, and slimming clubs. I knew something had to change, because while in the right head space, I could lose weight, I just couldn’t maintain my goal weight for longer than a few weeks.
This time round, I decided to believe in the maths, only weigh myself monthly, abstain from what I felt were my trigger foods, and log religiously on MFP. With over 5 stones to lose, I accepted that a quick fix approach wouldn’t work. I had to make changes that I could continue for as long as I needed to, or maybe even forever.
Initially, I ate 1800 calories, dropping to 1700, 1600 and then 1500. I did drop to 1400 but only for the last few weeks. I lost 5 stone in 10 months and was delighted. I reversed dieted for the next 6 months, during which time I lost a further stone. I maintained that weight easily until the start of lockdown when I took up walking. My weight has dropped a bit too much so I am currently addressing that by eating a bit more.
My advice would be to work out what types of foods you want to eat, and plan your daily eating round that. If possible, allow yourself to be a bit more flexible than 500 calorie meals, and 250 calorie snacks. In my experience, normal life doesn’t allow such a strict regime! Some days you need to/want to eat more, whereas there might be a day or two in the week that allows you to eat a little less to compensate for higher days. Going for a weekly goal rather than a daily goal works for me. Remember to be kind to yourself, never beat yourself up over a few extra calories, try to be consistent in your approach, and try not to do anything in your weight loss journey that you don’t think would fit into your maintenance journey. Good luck… you can do this.

Alatariel75 · July 2022

Hello! I feel your feels, I have recently come back at my highest ever weight after spending my entire adult life dieting and trying everything.
I lost about 80lbs with MFP, not cutting anything out, still enjoying socialising etc between 2014 and 2016, but life and health got in the way and it all came back (with friends). I kept trying new and different things, and having some success and then just falling off all over again.

When I really sat myself down and thought about what worked, I knew it was just counting calories, prioritising whole foods (lean protein, veggies, whole grains,healthy fats) but not making anything off limits, just working what I wanted into my day along with meeting my nutritional needs. It sounds so simple, and it is, I guess, but it's so hard to get past that mindset of having to do something extraordinary to lose the weight that's been dogging me my whole life. And consistency, not perfection, is the key. A bad day, a bad week is nothing in the grand scheme, so long as I get back to it. The average is what matters.

allaboutthecake · July 2022

Nancymcgregor wrote: »

Can anyone recommend foods they eat or approaches they use to consistently lose weight or slim down please?

the foods I eat are mainly whole foods, very limited processed, very limited "fast" food. I find that if I eat something out of the box/plastic/drive-thru, it doesn't leave me feeling full enough and found I get hungrier more often. It sucks. So....breaky, lunch, din-din, snacks, etc., are usually fridge-staples such as eggs, eggwhites, frozen berries (because fresh mold so fast), frozen veggies such as green beans, corn, peas, fresh spinach (cuz its easy), fresh mushrooms, almonds, brazil nuts, raw oats, amaranth, fish, chicken, fragrant cheeses, raw apple. For "dressings" I like to dabble in the bottled-kind at the store (like Whataburger creamy pepper sauce) but not go over half-the serving. Gets the fat macro up, gives the taste buds a tickle, plus has a kick. For recipes, I'll make my own meatloaf, roasts, etc., and use the recipe builder to log. Many of my own recipes were ridiculously high calorie, so the recipe builder allowed me to "slim" them up by making better modifications without sacrificing too much.

Your menu can be switched up however you like it, pay attention to your macros. Are you getting too much in one macro but not enough in the other? You say your over over alot, are you weighing it all on a scale? I like to use a digital scale (vs cups). Very accurate.

My suggestion is take a harder look at where your food source is? Also, is your calories up high enough? so you set your loss to not go under too much?

hth

Confused 🤪

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