Willow Rosenberg
I might be just like you!
Diets are a waste of time, they rarely work and normally end up leaving you feeling a failure in my opinion, and experience.
I know, I've dieted for 23 years on and off, and I'm a typical yo-yo dieter, the true fact is that only a small percent of people that diet actually lose the weight AND manage to keep it off long term. I've even had medication off the doctor on 3 different occasions to help me lose weight, and whilst that did work for a while, eventually I would end up back at square one!
My best advice for losing weight would be to not diet at all. You just need to look at your eating habits and change them for the better. You can't rush it, you don't put weight on overnight and you certainly can't lose it overnight either...it takes time.
I had possibly the worst eating habits, where I had nothing to eat all day until about 9pm or later, then I would have rubbish to eat and all I drank was diet sodas, needless to say my energy levels were really low, I didn't sleep well, I had headaches etc..... I could go on but we'd be here all day 'lol'
I need to lose weight because of health issues, I have osteoarthritis in my back, knees, ankles...pretty much everywhere really, so every day is very painful for me, and carrying around extra weight only makes things worse. My mum has recently been diagnosed with Diabetes, so there is now a higher chance I could develop that too *sighs*
Anyway, since the beginning of this year, as a family, we make sure that we eat 3 or more regular meals a day, with healthy snack choices in between if we feel peckish. We also eat all our meals at a table, and we make sure that we do not rush our meals, we take our time and eat slowly, and therefore feel fuller quicker as our brain has time to recognise that we are full.
Honestly just chewing your food for longer and eating slowly really makes a difference to how much you can eat! (Another epxeriment to try just for fun, is to try and eat your meal blindfolded - make sure you cut it up first though 'lol' You will be surprised how different things taste and how much you eat, as you listen to your body and stop when you're full!)
Portion control was another big issue for me, as a child I was always given BIG portions, so I found that switching my meals to a smaller plate worked really well, my plate still looked full but I was eating alot less, AND still leaving food on my plate.
Water is another FANTASTIC thing - you have to drink water to lose water!! If you tend to retain water, like I do, then you have to drink alot to shed it. I cut out all fizzy diet pop and drank just water instead, about 2 to 3 litres a day. I always drink a glasss if I feel hungry, as sometimes you think you are hungry and you're not, you are actually thirsty instead.
The water made a huge difference and quite quickly too, my skin started to glow and didn't look as dull and lifeless as it was, and also I found that I got very few spots at all.
I haven't cut out any foods completely either - if I fancy something, then I have it, but as I am eating so much better I usually find that I don't want it anyway.
Doing this since about the second week in January I have lost just over 14lbs. If I had 'dieted' I would of lost 10lbs in the first week BUT I would of put that back on and given up.
This way with looking at things long term and changing my eating habits for life, the weight is coming off and staying off at a gradual rate.
My energy levels are so much better, on a whole I am sleeping better too, and I just generally feel better mentally and physically.
I am not on a diet, I've just changed my relationship with food and now eat to live, rather than live to eat. 🙂
I know, I've dieted for 23 years on and off, and I'm a typical yo-yo dieter, the true fact is that only a small percent of people that diet actually lose the weight AND manage to keep it off long term. I've even had medication off the doctor on 3 different occasions to help me lose weight, and whilst that did work for a while, eventually I would end up back at square one!
My best advice for losing weight would be to not diet at all. You just need to look at your eating habits and change them for the better. You can't rush it, you don't put weight on overnight and you certainly can't lose it overnight either...it takes time.
I had possibly the worst eating habits, where I had nothing to eat all day until about 9pm or later, then I would have rubbish to eat and all I drank was diet sodas, needless to say my energy levels were really low, I didn't sleep well, I had headaches etc..... I could go on but we'd be here all day 'lol'
I need to lose weight because of health issues, I have osteoarthritis in my back, knees, ankles...pretty much everywhere really, so every day is very painful for me, and carrying around extra weight only makes things worse. My mum has recently been diagnosed with Diabetes, so there is now a higher chance I could develop that too *sighs*
Anyway, since the beginning of this year, as a family, we make sure that we eat 3 or more regular meals a day, with healthy snack choices in between if we feel peckish. We also eat all our meals at a table, and we make sure that we do not rush our meals, we take our time and eat slowly, and therefore feel fuller quicker as our brain has time to recognise that we are full.
Honestly just chewing your food for longer and eating slowly really makes a difference to how much you can eat! (Another epxeriment to try just for fun, is to try and eat your meal blindfolded - make sure you cut it up first though 'lol' You will be surprised how different things taste and how much you eat, as you listen to your body and stop when you're full!)
Portion control was another big issue for me, as a child I was always given BIG portions, so I found that switching my meals to a smaller plate worked really well, my plate still looked full but I was eating alot less, AND still leaving food on my plate.
Water is another FANTASTIC thing - you have to drink water to lose water!! If you tend to retain water, like I do, then you have to drink alot to shed it. I cut out all fizzy diet pop and drank just water instead, about 2 to 3 litres a day. I always drink a glasss if I feel hungry, as sometimes you think you are hungry and you're not, you are actually thirsty instead.
The water made a huge difference and quite quickly too, my skin started to glow and didn't look as dull and lifeless as it was, and also I found that I got very few spots at all.
I haven't cut out any foods completely either - if I fancy something, then I have it, but as I am eating so much better I usually find that I don't want it anyway.
Doing this since about the second week in January I have lost just over 14lbs. If I had 'dieted' I would of lost 10lbs in the first week BUT I would of put that back on and given up.
This way with looking at things long term and changing my eating habits for life, the weight is coming off and staying off at a gradual rate.
My energy levels are so much better, on a whole I am sleeping better too, and I just generally feel better mentally and physically.
I am not on a diet, I've just changed my relationship with food and now eat to live, rather than live to eat. 🙂
