ILE Weight Watchaz

We're not being much use to Tom, are we?

you guys who are 6 feet 120 are FREAKS. do you look like giant grasshoppers or something??

(i hate them.)

don't worry tome, us fatties have to stick together.

Someone needs to invent a computer desk chair with built-in pedals so I can read ILE and burn some fat. Ideally the pedals should power a built-in radio or tape player or something to form some kind of incentive for pedalling. Please?

(sorry, this is probably is of no use!)

No I'm not walking from Streatham to Bothwell. I'm not that desperate.

Sarah do not give up beer. People become sourpusses when they go off the beer - Tim is the exception that proves the rule.

Well it's actually roundabout 122lbs at the moment. Although I have been as low as 119lbs, I think. And when the doctor measured me I was 1/4 inch under 6 feet. But as I said before, I'm still quite a bit taller than other people who are supposedly '6 feet'.

I am sorry to report that giving up beer has helped me lose something in the region of three stone this year. Not feeling well enough to drink alcohol is very helpful in achieving this dietary change, mind.

I cannot recommend illness or abstention as sensible courses of action.

I'll need to buy some scales. I dread to think what the first reading would be.

i think i'm gonna hop on the big old book-box scale in the back today. oh, the potential for horror is rife.

So imperialism is dead, then?

same but also everything else i like to eat

That’s all I meant - the chance of eating that restrictively and therefore maintaining weight loss in the long run is really unlikely and the yo-yo ing can permanently fuck up your metabolism. I didn’t mean to be rude earlier I’ve just been thinking/reading about this stuff a lot lately and worry about things that sound so extreme. I hear you on the bread though - that would be a far less delicious life.

Yeah, there's a lot of crappy diets out there. What I like about the Noom app is that it really helps you apply mindfulness towards your eating habits. It's my choice to push myself w/the 1400 calorie thing, which I know is extreme. If I can gradually increase to 2000 calories a day and keep eating mindfully, I think it can be a permanent change.

I've never really needed to lose weight for health-related reasons, but this year I decided to attempt Lent for the first time in my life, Eastern Orthodox style (well, the Romanian way; I have no idea whether it's the same in other Christian Orthodox parts of the world). I wouldn't call myself religious per se, so I'm primarily doing it for cultural reasons and because it reminds me that living without meat, fish, eggs, cheese, milk, sweets and alcohol isn't madness. Besides, you're allowed a bit of wine on weekends and vegan desserts aren't frowned upon. The overall aim is to cut back on surfeit, which I think is a useful annual lesson. As it stands, I'll probably do it again next year, although I do very much look forward to gorging myself on lamb, eggs and cabbage rolls this Sunday (in Romania we use the Julian calendar for Easter and the Gregorian one for Christmas – go figure…). More to the point (of this thread), I've lost something like 6kg since the 11th of March, so it's quite effective. I'm especially glad to be rid of my sugar addiction.

1400 doesn't seem that crazy. Especially if you are already somewhat small anyway, that is pretty much the standard of what you need to lose an incremental amount every week. Plus you can actually eat a lot of food on 1400 calories.

Erica, you're right. I seem to be slipping. My relationship w food is much healthier than it was in my 20s but it's still a struggle.

Is the Noom app free?

No, it's something like $100 for 4 months, but you can try it free for 14 days to see what you think.

I was at this kind of thing years ago on paper, with the help of a nutritional information database on the web, just following some basic math I read that body weight in pounds...

x8-10: lose
11-13: maintain
14-16: gain

Add on the calories lost from exercise.

I dunno where I got this stuff.. does it ring a bell with anyone?

Anyways I found it useful for a little loss at the time and i remember still roughly how many calories are in basic foods. Keeps me from ever cutting out entire food groups and all that

I’ll just leave this here
https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

As a life long fatty I disagree with nearly every word of that BS.

Thank you Justine.

I think that the article is mixed: it’s good at highlighting appalling and endemic fat-shaming, but it doesn’t do much at all to say what the ‘new paradigm’ or approach should be.

And at a personal level, it risks triggering a kind of complete giving up of control or unleashing a self- destructiveness that underpins my eating habits, if I’m not vigilant and positive.

44lbs down since last August btw.

Yeah, I remember when that article was circulating and otm that it has good points but it's just too sprawling. It would've been better served to have really delved into one issue, like doctor's harmful biases, without that overarching "if you are fat or obese american at any point in your life, that is your body for the rest of your life."

omg I really should take the time to proofread before posting.

A couple of years ago my weight had started creeping up and I heard 'fast five' mentioned so gave that a go. It worked fairly dramatically well within a few weeks so I've more of less kept it up since.

I don't think I'd want to do full fasting days but this is very easy for me most days. Basically first meal some time between midday and 2pm, then no more calories past five or so hours after that. No other restrictions, although my diet is also strictly plant based.

Honestly have plenty of energy in the mornings (OK, espresso helps), and if you don't eat late you don't tend to wake up hungry. Just make sure you have a good dinner.

I say "you", this is not a recommendation at all, but it does work for me and the theory makes sense.

I wasn't seriously overweight but did have a couple of extra inches around the waist. Now my weight seems to have stabilised in a really good way. So yeah, not a recommendation exactly but if that sounds like a fit then I say give it a try. I doubt it's even potentially risky in any way as you're still eating.

without that overarching "if you are fat or obese american at any point in your life, that is your body for the rest of your life."

yeah I've read that all over the place and it was seriously discouraging when I was trying to lose weight - along with the language of "I've kept it off for 3 years!", implying that obesity is just your natural state. maybe I'm one of the lucky ones.

Kinda pissed off at the people in this thread and the girls only thread who are criticizing my attempt to better myself. Being fat isn't healthy - for your body or your mind. Being fat for me has come at the expense of injuries incurred while exerising, depression over the ugly ugly clothes I've had to wear as a fat person (there are no fashionable stores for "plus size" dudes - anything you can buy in casual male xl will make you look like a retired cop at church), bad skin from sugar intake, elevated ldl cholesterol.

I'm not trying to crash diet. I'm trying to make a serious lifestyle change. And it worked until I made a mistake. Sugar is a totally addictive substance for me. It is impossible for me to eat sweets without going back again and again and again. The first time I ate sugar since quitting, I felt like I had a goddamn hangover later. But that didn't stop me from going back two weeks later. And then going back a week later. And then going back 3 days later. And then suddenly I was two-fisting ice cream every night and eating cookies for lunch and had gained back a bunch of the weight I lost.

I quit smoking too. And quitting smoking took me years of trying and failing. I've been clean from cigarettes for 15 years now. But if you looked at how many dozens of times I failed at quitting smoking, you might say that only a depressingly small fraction of anyone who quits smoking succeeds and why even bother.

I've never shamed anyone else for being fat, but being fat is a shame for me. It is a shitty, unpleasant way to exist and I'm going to do everything I can to live a healthier life.

i dont think anyone in either thread has any issues with yr attempts or diarying itt man.

certainly i found it helpful last year when making progress and yr revive came at a timely moment for me

id like to be happy with my weight, everyone is entitled to that without a drive-by comment and id imagine our targets are well within the bounds of whats normal/healthy by any measure- even if not i cant imagine nu nu ilx would or could take issue with anyones efforts to make themselves the person they want to be- coming from whatever direction.

xp to peace, man –

Mad props to you for taking care of your bodily and mental health. It's best to drown out the noise, some of which is cultural in nature. The kind of pushback you're experiencing is generally less prevalent beyond the anglosphere, as the US, UK, Canada, Australia and NZ (but not Ireland) were all in the OECD's top 10 worst offenders for obesity rates in 2016. And on that note, good luck!

its true we do consider ourselves a separate state to NZ ;)

Nobody criticized you jfc. Trying to live a healthier lifestyle is wonderful but dieting is probably one of the main reasons behind your binging on sugar. The restrict/binge cycle is really really hard to break. I say this a a former anorexic and someone who has suffered from disordered eating (including binge eating) for decades - dieting the way that we know it is not healthy and sets people up to fail. Have you heard of intuitive eating? I highly recommend looking into it. Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch is wonderful as is Just Eat it by Laura Thomas.

some ppl need to learn how/get permission to relax their relationship with food in order to eat healthily, others need more structure to help them feel in control, this isn't hard

I'm supping a bulmers in a pizza restaurant today with a plate of chicken wings for starters. Safe to say the diet is well and truly fucked. But it does feel good.

x-post - Actually, it is pretty hard and complicated because we've been fed mixed messages for years by the media and psuedo nutritionists etc. Also, most adults have been so fucked by years of dieting that they know longer know how to listen to their hunger cues and feed themselves properly so it's actually far from simple at all.

I'd like to go on regret as being filled with regret for actually using actually in the above post.

Also I should have said many rather than most. Ugh.

it's not eating healthily that's easy but recognising that ppl have different & conflicting needs in sorting out their relationship with food. nothing works for everyone

I have a friend who says quitting soda was harder than quitting smoking, which I guess puts things into perspective

my spouse and i enrolled in one of those pre-diabetic programs last year. it was hard, mostly because i did not get on at all with certain other people in my group, but it did work very well for both of us; we lost tons. now that the group's over the challenge is to maintain. we're not "dieting" per se but i make the effort to snack less, try to keep track of what i'm eating, weigh myself every week. the hard part is to not spiral when i'm up. everybody goes up every now and again and everybody feels terrible about it, so terrible that the temptation is strong to give up because if one is going to put this much work into it and get nothing why bother? working on my depression has intersected pretty well with work on weight loss, in terms of allowing myself to "fail" and accept the consequences without judging myself for it. not a surprise given my tendency to stress eat, really!

I assume people are being responsible that for example, if they say they are doing 1400 calories a day that is filled with all veggies/unprocessed foods, whole grains, scant oil (not my flippant bottle of wine as 1/2 of your allocation). I think food is highly personal as evidenced in these threads and that article but everyone has a different tolerance to certain changes, different motivations, different goals. I don't think it has to be one thing all the time too since.

Thanks for the book suggestions, ENBB - I've been meaning to ask on here if anyone can recommend any good books/websites/advice for a healthier psychological approach to eating.

Anyone else have any suggestions while I'm here? Thanks!

(I liked and still like that article, as I do think it's a useful counter to the ideas that 1. losing weight is a simple, purely thermodynamic equation and 2. anyone who isn't doing it is lazy and too stupid to understand and making them more ashamed will help, because 1. nope and 2. thanks for your ideas which we have heard weekly if not daily all our lives, but most of us are already pretty fucking ashamed and shame is so, so counterproductive - but obviously if it makes anyone feel like there's no point in trying then that's a bad thing too.

Congrats to anyone having success via whatever methods, commiserations to those who aren't, and please be kind to your mind as well as your body either way. Love, one platitudinous fatty)

in short peace man, nobody has any issue with your goals or yr methods and keep on keepin on imo

weight is funny and personal and idk dudes arent v encouraged to talk about struggles with it or dieting or whatever so id ask you to kiu itt regardless of what reaction might be from anyone who has their own issues and probs in this area- hopefully thats an uncontroversial sentiment

xp hi aps, good post

xp Argh, by "anyone ~else~" I mean "anyone have ~any more~ suggestions" as I totally do not want to exclude ENBB from offering any more tips! Thanks, sorry, etc

hi deems!

APS - The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner.

mrs mac's credentials as an ilxor wont be boosted by her having enjoyed and rather successfully used "french women dont get fat" as a template/guide but it has def helped her lessen a constantly watchful attitude towards all food and tbh i think she mainly just wanted to imagine life as a french literature graduate champagne executive married to a rich guy

nb I realise she wasnt a great ilxor candidate on other more obvious fronts ie consorting with known terrorists

I know for me food has been a very precarious issue: having had boulemia in my 20s, it was and still is very conflicted. But I don't have an emotional bond w food anymore. But I know it'll always be a struggle anyway. Just not a control issue anymore. Because I solved what the root of it was (mommy issues lol).

And it feels awkward to say it. I even felt a failure having boulemia. But fuck it. There should be no shame in it.

Having had.

Trying to live a healthier lifestyle is wonderful but dieting is probably one of the main reasons behind your binging on sugar.

Except that before I quit, there was no restriction. There's no cycle of dieting to speak of. I think I tried quitting sugar once before as a new years thing that was destined to fail anyway. I grew up just absolutely hoovering desserts. It didn't matter to me as a young man - I was rail thin until it started catching up with me in my mid-twenties and after that I certainly didn't stop eating things I liked.

While I've been attempting to eat more nutritiously in other ways over many years, I don't view my journey as "dieting" so much as quitting a drug. Which I've successfully done before with alcohol and tobacco. I didn't get sucked back in this time because the urge to eat sugar was just so overwhelming to me after being deprived of it. I was at total peace with myself for a long time.

But I kept ending up being peer pressured to eat sweets in social situations. Mother-in-law: "C'mon peace, you're not going to have a slice of my apple pie?" "I will graciously eat a slice of pie, mother-in-law, if it means so much to you..." etc. I thought I could handle returning for an occasional nibble, but the holiday cascade of situations like this ultimately led to recklessness and overconfidence. I mean, what would happen if I took the same approach to alcohol? I would be back to daily liquor store visits in no time!

Anyway, thanks for the advice all, and ogmar on the money.

prob maybe need to start a men-only weight thread idk? the issues seem to be insurmountably different and good ppl are getting upset over it.

prob maybe need to start a men-only weight thread idk? the issues seem to be insurmountably different and good ppl are getting upset over it.

― deemsthelarker (darraghmac)

the bullshit men are told about their bodies and the bullshit women are told about their bodies are categorically different varieties of bullshit, yeah. and as a non-binary person i get to deal with both kinds. lucky me!

i'm not sure the differences are "insurmountable". also as a non-binary person having a "men's" and a "women's" weight loss thread would reinforce once again what a misfit i am, but i guess i'm used to that.

Not sure there’s such a clear gender divide. As a male with food issues, something Caitlin Moran wrote about binge eaters really resonated with me when I read it:

Overeating is the addiction of choice of "carers," and that's why it's come to be regarded as the lowest-ranking of all the addictions. It's a way of screwing yourself up while still remaining fully functional, because you have to. Fat people aren't indulging in the "luxury" of their addiction, making them useless, chaotic or a burden. Instead, they are slowly self-destructing in a way that doesn't inconvenience anyone. And that is why it's so often a woman's addiction of choice.

Interesting perspective about the carers. But I don't get why that necessarily makes it a 'woman's addiction of choice'. I mean, dudes who don't remain fully functional aren't going to be much good in their stereotypical roles either.

in 80% of OA meetings i've been to i've been the only guy there. just saying.

Good to have that perspective. Possibly a lot of dudes just never choose to do address it? Out of pure curosity, I googled up OA meetings local to me and the closest one is held in a health care center located on - I kid you not - Milkshake Lane.

fwiw OA isn't for "fat people" per se, it attracts a lot of people with disordered eating. incl. women who have been surrounded by toxic sexist bullshit about weight their whole lives.

i got criticized for my weight & appearance a lot as a young kid & it sure did fuck me up, but it's pretty clear to me that as a man i have a lot more wiggle room in life & my issues w/food would be exacerbated considerably if i had to put up with the social messaging that women do

hmmm there might be something to the "carers" quote there

ok maybe not a gender specific thread just a thread where ppl are allowed to quit sugar without the yknow

Good god that carers definition in relation to binging: so me. :-( I am better at it but even at work I have been told I erase myself and comply too much. :-(