Calorie deficit not working

What you’re experiencing @Username06 is the fact that not all calories are the same!

Calories from carbs will have more impact on your weight than calories from protein or fat, because carbs instigate the release of insulin, and it’s insulin that results in the laying down of bodily fat.

breakfast is either fruit/yogurt or weetabix/porridge usually with a measured amount of jam or peanut butter.

The cereal is going to be high carb, especially if you’re having it with jam (peanut butters vary but some can be very high in carbs), so you’d be better off sticking with the yoghurt. Fruit can be high in carbs, depending what type of fruit you’re eating - berries are generally the best to choose. If you don’t want yoghurt every day, then how about eggs? High protein and also good fat.

Lunch can be anything from a tuna/egg salad sandwich (made at home)
a salad, cheese and crackers, sometimes a mugshot if I'm strapped for time etc with fruit or jelly.

Again, potentially a lot of carbs here - especially the mugshot. And also highly artificial. Could you just go for a salad - with a protein element and also an oily dressing? You can prep stuff in advance, e.g. hard-boiled eggs, and just have stuff to grab out of the fridge, so it really shouldn’t take long to put together.

Dinners for example this week I've had tuna pasta salad, pork stir fry, chicken, veg & rice, omelette & the odd ready meal on days my DD has clubs and I have a busy day etc.

More carbs - the ready meals may or may not be carby, but generally (especially as most include rice/pasta/potatoes), chances are they are also carby. Choose other vegetables with your meals wherever possible.

I do have a small sweet treat in the evenings

More carbs. Evening snacking is a habit (which you’ve referenced/acknowledged), and chances are you’re not really hungry. But if you are still hungry, can you replace with cheese, or olives, or something like celery and cream cheese or pâté?

Given that you’re counting all your calories, and it’s not working for you, I’d suggest that you look at ways of reducing the carbs within your calorie count. Focus on adding protein (natural protein, not protein bars!) and also fat - avoid low fat/lite foods - cook with butter and olive oil. You’ll feel fuller for longer.

Calories in v. Calories out is an indisputable scientific fact in weight gain/loss. People who claim to have experienced otherwise are likely to have underestimated calorie intake or overestimated calorie expenditure. Maybe both. Caveat with rare cases of certain medical conditions and medications.However, nutrition, satiation and glucose levels etc are very relevant to maintaining a deficit sustainably.

So, that's 175 calories burned that would otherwise not have been. Nobody is saying that going for a walk is going to make you lose stones in weight. You still have to acknowledge that it all contributes even just a little bit to the overall weight loss though.

Also - your evening treat when DD is in bed doesn’t need to be food related. It could be time to watch your favourite TV show, or do to a hobby (there are tons you can do at home for free) or to catch up with friends online, or to even have them over for a catch up.

@Username06 I think you need to stop thinking of X bad food as okay because it’s slightly better for you than Y bad food.

Mugshots, ready meals and jam with porridge are not good food choices even if they are better than what you might have eaten previously, or what you might eat otherwise.

Mug Shot Ingredients
Dried Noodles [Durum Wheat Semolina, Egg White, Salt], Dried Glucose Syrup, Potato Starch, Natural Flavourings (contain Wheat, Barley), Palm Oil, Dried Sweetcorn, Dried Mushrooms, Salt, Milk Proteins, Dried Chives, Acid (Citric Acid), Dried Coriander, Ground Black Pepper, Stabiliser (Dipotassium Phosphate), Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids)
For allergens, including Cereals containing Gluten, see ingredients in bold.

Here's my view for what its worth. I'm post menopausal (55), have an underachieve thyroid due to hashimotos, and had my gall bladder removed in 2022. Calorie deficit calculating does not work for me.
During lockdown I put on a lot of weight and realised I needed to lose about 4 to 5 stones. I had a big ish appetite but some of it was head hunger rather than tummy hunger and I was a picker. In 2023 I started weightloss injections and very slowly over the course of 2 years have lost 40lbs so am just over halfway. I am active, work part time, have a dog etc. I sometimes only eat 1 meal a day as I'm not hungry.
I have accepted that its going to take me a long time to get to 'goal' but I'm happy with the progress I have made a feel much better already.
I don't know how old you are OP but for some of us it isn't calories in, calories out like it is when you're younger. Good luck.

@WellINeverrr , Walking briskly for 40 minutes would probably only shift you out of the sedentary category, and you will not lose weight by going for a walk.
A brink 40 minute walk for me would burn up about 275 calories.
Sitting on my butt would probably burn about 100.

Come on

Starvation mode isn't a thing and never has been, as you lose weight your TDEE decreases ergo the amount you need to eat to maintain your body mass in number of calories decreases. Starving yourself does not defy the rules of thermodynamics.

OP, respectfully your food choices are garbage, high sugar, carbohydrate which will spike your insulin and drive the sweet evening craving you describe meaning you cheat on your diet.

The reason you're not losing weight is because you're not tracking properly.

Eating well doesn't take a lot of effort and I defy anyone who states they don't have time, make time. It takes 10-12 minutes to prepare some lean protein such as chicken or fish with steamed vegetables and some rice.

If you can plan a bank of 10-15 meals that you can calculate the calorific and macro content within a specific range to keep you in a calorie deficit it's pretty straight forward. Make multiples at a time so you have a quick meal to go the next day.

The key to losing weight is consistency, as others have stated exercise makes up a very small percentage of calories expenditure, it's all about diet.

Eat quality whole foods high in protein and you will feel satiated for longer. Ditch the mug shots and other crap, 1200 calories of real food IE not overly processed is often 2-3 times the volume physically of a similar quantity of calories of poor quality processed food such as mug shots and sweet treats.

100g of greek yoghurt with a few grams of honey and some fruit will set you back 200 calories and satisfy your sweet cravings.

People over complicate weight loss by following shitty fad diets such as slimming world which are nothing but marketing tools designed to keep you paying that weekly subscription forever. I don't know if anyone who has successfully lost weight with slimming world and kept the weight off forever.

It's a change of life style and proper nutritional education you need, not a fad diet that will teach you bad habits and help you develop an unhealthy relationship with food.

Also to those recommending GLP jabs, do one. I can't weight to see those that have abused these jabs in a few years time crawling for support from the NHS for their various heart and mother vital organs related issues. Mounjaro and the likes taken your calories so low that your body eats it's own muscles (your heart is a muscle) and will ruin your endocrine system through hormone imbalances. Save it for the morbidly obese and diabetics it's intended for.

Of course it will contribute to an overall weight loss. Weight loss is basic calories in v calories out. Every bit of exercise and movement you do makes up the calories out portion of that. A brisk 40 minute daily walk helps.

Exactly right - plus jogging when one is overweight puts a load of stress on the knees/back etc. Far better to do circuit training and a variety of different exercises - including weights - to get the body properly moving and experiencing a variety of different muscle-firing triggers. I love circuit training, swimming, walking, and using a punchbag. The cardio from the latter is superb. I also love peloton - but have a stupid foot problem (dreaded morton's neuroma!!) that seems to get really aggitated from bike riding no matter which shoes I've tried - so I'm giving that a rest at the mo.

Hooray for squats!!!

Literally every single one of these stupid “diets” (including weight watchers and slimming world, that I detest) are calorie deficit. The rest is all just marketing nonsense as the only way to lose weight (well, fat) is by consuming fewer calories than you need so your body uses any excess fat as fuel.

There’s a chance your body has gone into starvation mode where it’s adapting because it’s got less fuel and is having to exercise more so isn’t burning the fat off. That said losing the weight gradually and sensibly, whilst building healthy and sustainable habits (like exercise and a balanced diet, including treats) is by far the best way to do things and it sounds like that’s what you’re doing.

The biggest key to sustainable weight loss is finding a way you can eat FOREVER. If you lose weight and then go back to "normal" then you will regain as ypir "normal" eating gained the weight in the first place - sometimes, like me (BMI 30 and currently on VLC diet and losing very slowly ) not helped by peri or lack of exercise. We have to change our eating. Look at kids who can eat and eat and not gain weight. We are the same. We have have to find a new baseline. And I really believe insulin comes into it too. Balancing blood sugar. For me I seem to be only able to lose if I eat loads of veg and no carbs. Sad but true

Doing it for your wellbeing is fine, but it isn't going ro change your weight.

10k steps a day will add to your daily movement surely? At present I'm a bit of a lazy sod, I probably do around 6k steps a day. Making myself do 10k steps a day would mean taking myself out for a half hour - 40 min daily walk. Is that a bad thing?

It is because you are eating food that gives you blood sugar spikes. If i eat carbs (i.e hgh GI ones), I crave more of the same.

Switch to veg+a bit of protein meals and that will stop.
Eat only at mealtimes.

Something like scrambled eggs and wholemeal toast for breakfast, salad (not pasta salad) and tuna for lunch, and protein+veg for supper, and you'll feel full after a meal. Aim for lots of leafy greens and variety.
If you need a snack, eat an apple or something.

If you have milk, have full fat - it's not even 4% fat.

You will feel hungry. I'm hungry now, because it is time for my breakfast. It's not the same as that growling feeling you get because your last dose of carbs has been messing up your blood sugar.

Doing something is better than doing nothing, surely?

This just won’t work. So you’ll allow yourself to be starving for a few months to lose the weight and then what? You’ll start eating more again and put the weight back on. You need to change your diet and lifestyle permanently, not starve yourself for a while. Also weight is more than just eating less and moving more, it’s not that straight forward.

You aren’t doing enough exercise to affect your weight, don’t count that and eat the calories. Excercise for mental health, body health etc but it’s not for weight loss. If you burn 500 calories exercising your body will slow itself down to get that 500 calories back. It’s clever it doesn’t want you to starve.

A lot of the food you describe is quite high in sugar, additives, fat and carbs - porridge with jam, mugshots, pasta salad with mayonnaise, pork, sweet treats and ready meals - it’s not really conducive to losing weight or being full for a decent period of time.

I would swap the porridge for poached eggs on toast with avocado as a healthy fat. Ditch the mugshot pastas and just stick to regular salads with a protein added. You need a quick go-to in the evening that’s not a ready meal - maybe vegetable soup and bread, or a quick pan-fried fish/chicken dish with vegetables, or something oven baked that you can prep beforehand and cook while doing other things.

I am having the same issue, in my early 40s and I have always had issues with my weight, but I did always used to lose quite effectively once I actually reduced my food intake.

Now I can eat 800cals a day for a week (carefully tracked) and only lose whatever difference has been pooped out. I wonder if it's insulin resistance. Have you tried keto? I only seem to get anywhere now when I'm doing that, or fasting.

How old are you OP?
Once I hit my late 30’s everything changed and the old methods for losing weight didnt work anymore.
i agree with others, you’re better ofd focusing on weights and a few short sharp sprints/bursts than jogging. Endless cardio just isnt the one anymore.