How to lose weight the healthy way...perplexed

I weighed myself this morning for the first time in 2 months. I was absolutely SHOCKED at how much weight I have gained! I'm so disgusted...beyond disgusted with myself. I'm pretty sure I'm clinically obese now...total opposite of what I was several years ago. I feel very defeated because I have so much weight to lose to get back down to a healthy weight.

I want to restrict so badly. I don't know how to lose weight the healthy way. Does anyone else here who needs to lose weight (for real, not just perceived) struggle with knowing how to lose weight healthily? Or, maybe just struggle with knowing what correct portion sizes look like? I have been in so much treatment and I still don't know how to portion correctly without counting calories.

I have a similar problem, I need to lose weight, but without crazy-making calorie counting. What I really need is to get my compulsive overeating, emotional eating, and mindless grazing in check.

I'm trying the No S diet, I only started yesterday, so don't ask me how it's going yet.

It's old school moderation, or, intuitive eating with training wheels, which is a completely new approach for me. But if I can stick with it, and I think I can, the weight should come off slowly and I won't make myself crazy in the process.

What does "No S" mean?

No S Diet: No snacks, sweets, seconds, except on days that start with S.

Hope this link is helpful in explaining.

Oh man...I don't think I could do that. I have to eat something sweet once a day, at least, so that I don't binge on sweets later on.

Yeah, it's not for everyone. I still put sugar in my tea, but I think I can hold off until the weekend for cookies or whatever. The cookies and cake and snacky things are where most of my excess calories come from. I'm going to give it a try, for a few weeks anyway.

Good luck finding something that works for you.

Thank you!

It's hard for me because, for example, today I restricted because I'm so upset about my weight gain. And then I started doing all the calculations like, "I'll lose this amount of weight in this many days by consuming only this number of calories per day..." Ugh!

I know what you mean about the restrictive eating. Somehow I think if I don't eat until such and such a time, if I don't eat that it will work but it never does...not anymore...when I was younger and in motion all the time maybe..but now all it does is slow down the metabolism and I keep gaining.

I have two ideas.

1. I heard or read someplace, always wear jeans once a week. It will be a sure fire way to know you're gaining weight.

2. eat whenever you want but only food that comes from the farm.

I haven't been successful at either yet. Like you I wore PJs so lucky nag I didn't notice the weight gain until nothing fit. Cooking...are you kidding? If it doesn't go from the freezer to the microwave I'm not interested any more. I gotta find some enthusiasm to care enough....right now I guess I really don't care enough to change it...but it does increase my self loathing so I should care enough...I don't care...but I do......that's my thing right now.

I'm the same as you...in regards to not caring but caring. Like I don't care about myself enough to take a shower or wear something other than PJ's, but I still care because I don't enjoy being dirty. Or I will go through phases of caring A LOT about my weight and other phases where I don't care at all.

I actually do wear jeans pretty often. They are all really tight on me right now. I need to buy a bigger size...but that scares me.

I have been trying to eat healthier foods. Have you ever heard of Trader Joe's? It is a grocery store with fresh foods and natural ingredients in their products. I've been buying food from there lately.

Oh, and I don't cook either. Microwave all the way!

Ha ha, yeah. I bought container of Spinish, one of mushrooms, shredded carrots...I don't have to do anything but throw it in a bowl and eat it.....so far it's still sitting there. But the icecream is half gone. I used to lov salads but now they have zero appeal.

I normally love salads but I'm pretty sick of them lately.

Last night I went to bed hungry

its about doing it incrementally, progressively eating less but in little steps which add up to a big leap if you're consistent.

you don't have to completely cut out enjoyable foods, just restrict them and time them properly.
exercise is important! the more you exercise, the more you can eat!

but ideally, it works in steps, like this:
1. restrict junk from your diet i.e. fast foods, sugary foods etc cut them back to twice a week
2. introduce exercise into your daily routine - me being a bodybuilder i'll always suggest weight training! but lots of other things you could do like bodyweight exercises (dips, chins, press ups), cardio, callisthenics, sport, dance etc.
most of those things like callisthenics and bodyweight exercises you can easily do at home, you only need 45 mins to an hour
3. slowly start stripping back carbs - stop eating them at night and have them only during the day
4. increase protein to make up for this
5. slowly cut back carbs even further and increase exercise volume/intensity

after 6-8 weeks of this you'd have made great progress if you do those things properly. then you can start to add more food back in as your metabolism will allow for it!

I don't know if this will be helpful but this site is pretty in depth. Sparkpeople.com tons of ideas workouts recipes and everything else on there. And its free!!

This, this all of this. ^^
I was doing okay for a couple of weeks on a healthier diet. I bought a small steamer bowl with 2 steam sections for like 5 bucks at a dollar store. I got some broccoli florets. It has to be florets for some reason. I got that and cheese and chicken. Turns out you can cook chicken in the microwave, too. I cook the chicken on the bottom level while the broccoli steams on one of the steamer plates. Take the broccoli out when it's done and put cheese on it while you leave the chicken in the microwave to finish cooking. Likewise, you can take half a yam and nuke it for a few minutes at a time too. I don't much care for yam, but I discovered if I mixed a half a yam with applesauce and a little cinnamon and butter it wasn't too bad. Also, I noticed it kept me full for a long time. I drank lots of water, too. I have since purchased an infuser and I figure I can start making fruit tea when I get back on that sort of eating pattern.

Sometimes I would crave bread like crazy. I would add buttered bread to the side, or eat some fiber/grain based cereal when those cravings hit. As it turned out, making a healthy alternative choice for food isn't too hard if you figure out what it is about the food you crave that your body is really looking for at that instant in time. If I craved sugar, I would add fruit to my next meal or snack. If I craved meat, I would eat beans or nuts to my next meal/snack. I was eating regular snacks of like a cup of cottage cheese with some peach slices, bean patties, or 5 buttermints with a handful of nuts on the side every couple of hours between meals. I would allow myself to eat other foods, like a salad in place of the yam if I was getting bored with that I had or a can of beans with a piece of bread as an alternative to chicken for a night. I kept a bar of dark chocolate in my fridge also so I felt like I had that on hand just in case. I chose dark chocolate because I don't much care for it, so when I found myself thinking about it I would know that it was time to eat. Every once in a while the food would take too long to cook and I would feel like I need sugar now, but I would only eat a square or two before I realized that "oh yeah, no I don't really like this/why don't I go find something good to eat?" I would go down the list of what I had in my head until something made my mouth water.

The difference in how I felt was amazing and I wasn't having to worry about counting anything. Just the fact that I had energy was enough to make me feel like I was on the right track. The problem is that food, especially meat, is crazy expensive when you're poor. I ran out of money pretty quick and had to revert to ramen, which is not a good thing. I just got approved for food stamps, but now I have to resolve the dissonance of being on food stamps while I'm in school working toward getting a better job so I never have to be on food stamps. Also, I went a little crazy on my first night out and bought crap I don't need and don't even know that I want. Thankfully, I did get my broccoli and cheese and some responsible things, but I also got that box of sliders and bag of Reeses that I have to feel guilty over because they're already half gone. It's a constant .

Kqiao - thats about how i do it too! I could see myself in your shoes as i read your description.

I've lost 20lbs of my stop smoking weight by making substitutions. Kinda slowly. Starbucks I traded for coffee with cocoa stirred in. Chips & salty crunchy stuff for pumpkin seeds. There is always a healthier version. And after a while your taste will change so that you prefer the healthier stuff.

Changing one meal at a time also helps. I make sure to eat a small healthy breakfast. After I did that for a while I made my lunch a little healthier and now I'm working on supper. Crazylo I don't cook either. So I get stuff like Subway and Chinese food in healthier portions. Also if you make yourself eat fruits and vegetables before trying to change your diet (so you don't go into panic/binge mode)..... keep eating what you normally would just eat fruits and vegetables first.... you will notice the portion size will start to correct itself.

Do something fun. I'm a film fiend so I bought an exercise bike and watch all the movies that I want while riding it. I also do a Bollywood dance workout that is fun.

Once you've made a little dent in weight loss you immediately feel better. So that leads to more motivation.