My friend is stuck in a cycle of unsuccessful diets. I can't watch it anymore.

Hi there,

A very good friend of mine (F30) has been trying to loose weight for several years now. She needs to loose at least 20 kg. She was skinny and also a bit into weightlifting when she was younger.

In theory she knows all the right ways to lose weight in a sustainable way. Yet she chooses to go a different route and is already frustrated, because she doesn't lose the weight. I try to be on her side and supporting her, but I am also seeing all the mistakes that she is doing. I try to give her tips, but she doesn't want to do them and she wants to stick to her own way. Altough it is not working at all.

What should I do? Not give any tips any more? Be a bit harsher? So far I have been very sensitive and just listened a lot. I want to be a good friend, but it is hard to watch her struggle so much, when she could change a few things and be way more successful with less frustration and deprivation. We talk everyday about it and she is actively sharing her experiences with me. (It's not that I'm interfering without consent)

She doesn't want to count calories, which I understand. However, you have to control portion size somehow, because otherwise it is hard to be in the calorie deficit that you aim for. So you could do meal prep, or count calories once for a meal and just repeatedly eat those meals. She wants to eat intuitively and I am sure she is not in the deficit. She also restricts herself from eating candy, which results in binging uncontrollably after two weeks or so, which sets her back again. I asked her, why she doesn't allow herself a sweet treat everyday, like a protein bar (she loves them). If you are still within your calories, eating a piece of candy is fine. She doesn't want that. Instead its the restrict/binge cycle that she chooses.

​

TLTR: My friend is not loosing weight with her strategy and still doesn't want to change it. What should I do?

submitted by /u/Gym_Squirrel
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/1b2283s/my_friend_is_stuck_in_a_cycle_of_unsuccessful/