> About Dr Amanda > Biography > I dieted myself fat
I dieted myself fat
Personally, I found out the hard way that conventional methods of weight loss don't work.
For six years I tried in vain to lose weight the conventional way; eat less, move more, and keep going until you reach your ideal weight.
Although I was able to lose a few kilos at the start of new weight loss attempts, invariably I'd hit an invisible wall of resistance. I'd suddenly get inexplicably hungry and start craving all sorts of anti-diet foods. Things like lasagna, sausages or crackers with cheese and salami….all the things I was trying to avoid.
Even if I summoned huge gusts of willpower to resist my hunger and keep going with the diet, inevitably my weight would plateau and stay disappointingly the same. I'd start cheating, and that would gradually spiral out of control into bingeing. I'd binge for days and sometimes weeks, making up for past deprivations and preparing myself for my next weight loss attempt.
And what was the result of trying to lose weight the conventional way? Pictures of me say it all.
What our readers say...
"Hi Dr Amanda, I recently found a copy of your book 'Don't Go hungry For Life'. I had been doing well in my weight loss recently, & just like to keep an eye on the various theories etc from time to time. I had gained a lot of weight having my 5 children over 8 years (plus 4 miscarriages), & in the past, each time I had tried to lose weight...I got pregnant again! I am 157cms tall, & when I was younger, & dancing, right up to my mid-20s, I was generally around 50-55 kgs. Once I started having kids, I would go all the way up to 90+kgs. Anyway, February last year (2010), at 83 kgs, I got serious, started reading every idea, wacky or plausible, trying things on for size, so to speak. If something worked, & wasn't too painful, I'd keep it until I hit a plateau, then I'd change something - anything. I kept a written record of food, hunger, my cycle etc, & anything else I thought relevant. I was weighing myself very frequently as I hadn't bothered at all before. I had been suffering with the usual things that go with being heavy - lethargy, tiredness, mild depression, unexplained skin rashes at times. So it wasn't just my weight I was trying to fix. So, by June last year, I had lost a few kilos, felt a bit better, but wasn't going forward as well as I wanted. I joined an online challenge to give me a boost, & kept trying different theories. So, while I didn't 'yoyo' through this, I did try cutting out whole food groups, counting calories, sticking to set limits per day. Anything that I couldn't see myself holding onto long term I abandoned. I ended up winning third place on the online challenge - a nice bonus - & by the end of last month I had lost a total of 17 kilos in as many months. A great result, but not at my goal yet. So when I picked out your book, & another which kind of came close to your approach, but not quite as committed, I was pleasantly surprised to see on the pages, the science behind what I had arrived at. Not only that, it gave me incentive to get back to the written record, which I had stopped, & the clues regarding hunger & satiety as scales to learn helped tweak my approach, so that now, 3 weeks since I started reading, I have doubled my weight-loss rate, from an average of 1 kilo a month, to 1.5 in those 3 weeks! The exercise portion of your approach has been taken care of by the fact that last November, I started back in the workforce, after 15 years at home, home-schooling our family. I now work in a busy supermarket, where just getting to the office from my department (I counted) takes at least 120 steps, plus stairs. I do this trip & back at least 5 times every day, as well as heavy lifting of stock etc & general walking about the store. So I wanted to thank you for sharing your research & story, I tend to find if I understand the 'why' of something, I remember it better. Your book has definitely explained why what works, does, & why what didn't, doesn't! Have a great year. "