Frustrated - not losing weight or inches

[Weightsandmeasures]

Hi. I'd be grateful to hear your experience of your first week in the process to lose weight.

I've gained almost 30 pounds in the last 18 months and I'm finally doing something about it. This is mainly because I stopped my previously active sporty lifestyle and I was drinking and eating far more than was healthy.

I'm slowly getting back to being more active and reducing my alcohol intake. This past week (starting last Friday) is my first dedicated and structure attempt at losing weight.

I'm 5 foot 5 and 44 years.

I'm doing intermittent fasting - I stop eating at 8pm in the evening and have something to eat just after 11am the next morning.

I've also exercised everyday this week - cycling 60 mins, 3 times and doing 30 mins high impact aerobics 5 times. I've kept my total calorie intake at average of 2000. My net calories (accounting for exercise) is about 1500.

I've not lost any weight and not a smidgen of inches.

Any advice? How long did it take you to see a movement in measurements?

[lasttimeround]

Therell be a lot going on in your body given youve upped your exercise by what sounds likr a lot. So your muscles will be retaining water which will obscure the fat youve lost. You could see the drop on the scale next week.
If not then you are probably overestimating your caloric burn when you exercise. Or under recording what youre eating. Net 1500 should be enough to lose some weight - we are the same height.

[Larasshadow]

It may take a few weeks before you notice any changes.

[PodgeHog]

I think your fasting window may be too long. There is a really good podcast called the Intermittent Fasting Podcast and it’s super detailed (there are lots of episodes and I haven’t got up to present day yet) but they usually seem to recommend having a shorter window to lose weight from the extreme end of 23:1 up to 19:5 even, then 16:8 for maintenance really. It’s worth a listen as the structure of it is them answering questions submitted every week by listeners. There are lots of different ways of doing it and lots of the questions are ones I would ask!

[Frosty66611]

Could you give an example of what you’re eating? Are you weighing food? I used to think I was eating around 1500 calories but discovered it was more than 2000 because my portion sizes were larger than I thought

[Apple0301]

Are you drinking a lot of water? If not up your water intake, will help tenfold x

[Felicia3]

Use the myfitnesspal app. It takes your weight and intended weight loss and calculates how many calories a day you should eat. Then you input every meal, snack, drink, exercise so it tracks your calories. Makes it easier to control what and how much you eat.
Combine your cardio workouts with resistance and weight training. Building muscle will help you in the long run by increasing your metabolism. Drink enough water.

[Gymntonic]

Are you saying that you're eating 2000 calories a day? If so, that's a lot if you're trying to lose weight and aren't very overweight, even accounting for the exercise you list.
How are you calculating your exercise calories? Are you being too generous? Even MFP and Fitbit figures can be quite generous I find.

[FleeceDetective]

Everyone’s experiences I’ve read about say not to add your exercise calories. Work out what your daily intake calories should be, say 1400/1700, then create a defecit and only consume that.

[TreaterAnita]

I agree that you might be overestimating your energy expenditure. Are you saying that you’re burning 3,500 calories a day? That’s a huge amount, I’d be really surprised if that was accurate. Have you tried a TDEE calculator? This one is good:
thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-calories-on-a-non-fast-day/
You should probably plump for ‘moderately active’.

[TreaterAnita]

Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant by ‘net calories’. I would still work out your TDEE using the calculator above, see if it is actually much more than 2000. Certainly mine would be less than that.

[Loubilou09]

I never ever eat exercise calories as I put on or don’t lose if I do. Try eating 1500 calories a day and treat your exercise as fitness and nothing else.

[mustdrinkwaternotwine]

Where are you getting the suggestion to eat 2000 calories from? Is that the government advice? Unless you have a very active lifestyle on top of your exercise (hospital porter, traffic warden) I think you need to re-think that and calculate your TDEE (BigChoc will have linked it on a 5:2 thread). I'm an inch shorter than you but a bit younger and my TDEE is only something like 1630 calories. To lose weight, I have to stick below 1300 calories and accept it will take the best part of a fortnight to lose 1lb.
Other than marginally limiting the window in which you eat, how else have you changed your diet?

[Frosty66611]

If I eat more than 1600 calories per day (even on the days I exercise) then I gain weight. If I eat around 1500-1600 then I remain the same weight. And if I eat less than that then I lose weight. I can’t go below 1350 or I feel hungry though. Eating more plant based meals can be good sometimes as you can have much larger portions for less calories and all the fibre will keep you full