I have been a good girl for two weeks now. Changes made:
1. My main course dinners are now half the size they used to be (so only have to cook one week)
2. Take no money to work so no buying chocolate bars/crisps/fry ups
3. Take breakfast to work so eat it when hungry rather than 6am when not hungry.
4. No takeaways - all food cooked from scratch
5. Ban using lift at work

Results:
1. I am so unbelievably tired I have no energy to do the exercises I promised to do after work.
2. Hunger pangs making sleeping difficult.
3. Disgusting metalic taste in mouth all the time.
4. Obsessing about chocolate and food.
5. Managed to gain 3 pounds in two weeks.
6. Saved around £50 though not buying junk!!!

What am I doing wrong!!!!?

Gracie - can you post a sample menu for us? If you're that hungry, most likely you aren't eating enough...even more so if you're obsessing about food. What do you eat in a typical day?

Are you eating a balanced diet including protein/carbohydrate and fats? Are you filling up on low calorie/ low fat foods to replace the food you have cut from your diet such as fresh vegetables and fruit. Halfing portions of some food is a good idea (meats, starches etc.) but to fill up you need to double the good food (veggies). Why don't you give us a typical day's menu and I'm sure someone will be able to help you improve on it.

Kitty

Thanks I know I need to eat more vegs and I am trying to add them in.

Drinks - just water (attempting to drink recommended amount but get fed up of visting loo all the time!)
Breakfast is always 2 weetabix and a splash of milk.
Food at work is a ham sandwich and apple. (naughty - sausage roll to get me through commute home)
Food at home:
two roast dinners a week either chicken/beef/lamb with a pile of carrots, broccoli, cabbage, peas, green beans.
Lasagna,
Chilli con carne and rice
Cod, pasta and carrots and peas
Friday night is curry night but now home made with chicken, onions and peppers.
Omlette with bacon and carrots and peas.

I keep meaning to put carrots into lasagna but my OH who is also trying to lose weight with me is not a big fan of vegetables.

I have bought a glider which I intended to use for at least 15 mins every day but all i do when I get home is collapse till OH places dinner in front of me! (he only has a 3 min commute so gets home a good hour before me - he has his collapse then!) I am only 24 and I sound more like my 57 year old mum every day!

Work is my worst time - boredom eating is my nightmare.

Gracie, I'm seeing some pretty caloric things in there. Lasagna, chili con carne and rice, pasta. And then there's the fact that there's no intentional exercise in there.

For me, I needed to face up to the fact that I needed to, #1 add exercise and activity into my life or this would never, ever work - longterm. And longterm is what I am after. It burns calories, adds much needed muscle, shapes and tones and puts me in the "right frame" of mind to live a healthy lifestyle.

And #2, I had to face the fact that the only thing that could and would "work" for me, again longterm - is calorie counting. I needed the accountability and the portion control that actually counting my calories, and tracking what I was consuming affords me. Otherwise, I was always simply fooling myself. Cutting back never, ever worked for me.

Once I decided to count/track my calories I knew that I also needed to make the switch to healthy foods. It's what gives me the most volume for my allotment. As well as the most nutrients. Adding in fiber (veggies) and protein both help to keep me full throughout the day. I eat at least 6 times a day, never allowing myself to get hungry. Planning is the other key for me. I actually have to PLAN everything in advance. Have good, healthy foods ready to go for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Have food ready for work and when I'm on the go. Eating healthy does not happen by chance, it must be mapped out prior.

I really recommend that you track your calories very carefully for a few days to get an idea of what you are eating. I think you will be surprised to find out just how high the number can actually be. Fitday.com is an excellent on line calorie counter.

And then make a PLAN. Find healthy, filling TASTY foods that you love, so that it's much easier to stay on plan. Roasted veggies, large salads, low fat proteins - such as turkey and chicken breast, tuna, salmon, egg whites, cottage cheese, low fat yogurt, beans, veggie burger products.

Experiment with different vegetables and methods of cooking them to increase their appeal. Lots of fresh fruits. Lots of spices for low or no calories and mucho flavor. Vinegars and lemon juice to add flavor to salads. Chicken broth for sauteeing and cooking. Search the internet for healthy recipes, there's tons of them out there.

You CAN do this. But you do need to set yourself up for success and make it more doable. Good luck to you.

It seems like almost all of your calories are eaten at dinner and being that you have had around 500 calories up until that point, no wonder you're starving. You would really have to be pigging out at dinner for it to slow your weight loss. My guess is that you are slowing your metabolism from not *enough* food, but the only way to be sure is to weigh/measure everything for awhile until you get ahold of what you need to feed yourself, as Robin said.

I'm not sure what a glider is - is it like an elliptical trainer? Sort of a cross between a treadmill and a cross-country skiing machine? Because those kick my butt unless I'm fit enough to exercise on one. If it's too much for you, find another way to exercise. Take the dog for a walk or find an aerobics DVD until you are ready for the glider. Whatever you decide, just find something you like that you can stick to.

Breakfast: Just cold cereal and milk only last you for so long. Even though Weetabix is low-cal, it's like eating air, so you'll be hungry very soon. Maybe have some bran flakes or hot cereal. Try adding an apple, or have a breakfast like eggs/whole grain toast/veggie sausage.
Lunch: I usually try to have at least 3 items, like a sandwich/fruit/yogurt
Dinner: Sounds appropriate. It's important to fit in whole grains wherever possible - brown rice, barley, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat couscous, polenta, etc. It's healthier and the fiber will keep you fuller longer since it takes longer to digest and is less likely to be converted to fat.

SNACKS ARE NOT EVIL - Things like fruit, lowfat popcorn, fat free yogurt, lowfat/fat free cottage cheese, pretzels will help tide you over. The body works better if you have several small meals throughout the day anyways - keeps the metabolism up. If you aren't hungry, you don't need to eat it, but if you are starving and don't have one, you are more likely to binge (and stop over for a sausage roll)

Try to get in about a tablespoon of olive oil in every day. If you don't have enough fat in your diet, your hair will fall out and you'll get other nasty side effects. And olive oil is good for your heart. You can't fry with it though - for that I use canola.

You should also be aiming to get 3 servings of calcium, too.

Hope this helps!
~V.

Oh, and if your dinners are still the full-fat kind, you can check the recipe section for lowfat, which means you can have more calories during the day!

Hmm... unless it's the sausage roll that is killing you - if that's anything like a Sausage McMuffin, those are pretty caloric. EEK!

Sorry to hear your frustration; believe me, I know where you're coming from.

Like others have mentioned, I think everything really goes back to finding a solution that you can live with. Part of what I know works for me is to sit down, on monday night, and write down everything i want to eat on Tuesday. Find a way to fit in most of it without going over my points value (I'm on WW). That way, I feel satisfied--I'm getting what I want after all-- and I usually don't feel hungry. I try to spread my points out over the day into 5-6 meals/snacks, and that keeps me from feeling weak/headachy/exhausted at the end of the day.

As for the metallic taste in your mouth... I'm not sure, but I believe that is a sign of ketosis. Once, a while back, I did a low carb diet (clearly not really a good option for me, as I swear I could eat pasta every day for the rest of my life and NEVER get sick of it), and I remember having a weird metallic taste in my mouth. Even worse, after a while, I swear I started to smell metallic! Just an idea though, you may want to check into it before you go believing it.

Best of luck to you! Keep working hard, the ebbs and flows will balance out soon enough and you'll be on your way.

More food during the day! Fewer simple carbs (pasta, rice) at dinner (and probably less fat too). And regular snacks. Yogurt, string cheese, ryvita crackers with pb, an apple with pb, carrots with hummus. Those are all good snacks.

A sausage roll is a big ole lump of sausage meat in a phyllo like casing which you eat with ketchup. They're delicious but NOT diet food! A sausage roll will have between 350 and 400 cals, almost all from fat. It would be MUCH better to anticipate your late afternoon hunger and have some yogurt or crackers with hummus or something ready to eat.

Eating more throughout the day will help with your energy problems too. You're not being kind to your body! (And it sounds like your body is punishing you in return. )

The only thing that I know wouldn't work for ME personally if I were eating what you are eating is the breakfast. I need a lot more food than that in the morning to get me going. Maybe try to spread out your food more evenly during the day. Eat more for breakfast than you are currently, and eat less for dinner than you are currently. And snacks go a long way to reducing hunger pangs.

Try adding some protein with your breakfast and planning some healthy snacks with protein. Almost everyone on here who has been successful eats 4-6 times per day.

Starving all day and then eating too much at night is bad for your health and metabolism

Hi there Gracie:

I'm assuming from the Wheetabix, sausage roll and the name 'Gracie' that you are in Scotland (or at least close by). I lived in Edinburgh for several years and it is my favorite city in the world....At my first office job there we had a regular AM routine of sausage rolls and tea. Dang those sausage rolls are so tasty!!! I gained 15 pounds before I could even blink! (I don't think the all the yummy beer I was drinking AFTER work with my workmates helped much either ). I had to get off of those sausage rolls, so I went hunting. I discovered the 'Quorn' brand veggie sausages at Tesco. I started making 2 of those in the morning and an egg or a piece of toast. My breakfast instantly went from 500 calories to 160. And amazingly I felt more satisfied and less sluggish. Even though I miss those sausage rolls, I don't miss what they did to my arse!!... And as far as Wheetabix, I'd rather eat air!

I think you are on the right track here though, so please don't let any of this get you down. ~ You have an awareness of your portion size. ~You are learning what fillls you up and what doesn't. ~You are drinking your water. ~You are beginning an exercise program. ~You are takng the stairs. ~You are cooking at home. All of these are important steps to a healthier you. Just start noting the calories you are taking in and you will be there.

Good luck Gracie!!!

If you're always starving, you're probably not eating enough. If you cut calories too much, your body will go into "survival mode" and start storing fat because it thinks there's not enough food. You could eat fruits and vegetables between meals if you get a little hungry (that's what I do, but find what works for you). Also, if you're eating a lot of carbs before you go to bed or late at night, chances are they're going to be stored as fat. Carbs are used for energy and if there's nothing for them to do then they just get stored.

Gracie- don't be discouraged. All of it takes time. The others seem to be pointing you in the correct direction, why don't you try eating more during the day? (I can always go for eating more.) lol
I'm inclined to agree with Angela in that you are doing all sorts of things that will be good for you in the end. All of these will become regular behavior and that may cause you to change other things in your day to day life that will promote a healthier lifestyle.