To think I’ll be stuck at 16 stone forever

Never ask a diet-related question on Mumsnet!

This has happened to me loads of times when I've been on a weight loss regimen, and I usually get a big drop after a few weeks of plateau, so if you're doing everything right, I wouldn't worry about it.

Have you tried intermittent fasting? Might be better than just calorie monitoring.

If I need to lose weight I up my target to 15k a day. My April goal is 15k every day and my weight is coming off, it's also how I lost my difficult last couple of kg of pregnancy weight. Some of that is running, if not running I go for walks to get to the target.
For me 10k steps a day is ok for maintaining but not for losing weight.

Your portions must be tiny to get three meals as described into 1550 every day.

But if your clothes fit better then you are changing your body, so something is working....

Is what you are doing working? Is it? No. So you need to make changes, not just whinge at every suggestion.

Ultimately on the basis you are correctly measuring and it’s been more than 4 weeks, either you have to cut calories or increase exercise and movement. I would personally try and first switch some of the carbs for more protein as protein has a TEF of 40% (your body uses up 40% of it in processing).

This thread is crazy. And of no help to the op.

op, people are agreeing with you, you’re in a defecit but turning into 16 stone of pure muscle. Keep going. You are achieving super human results.

OP, I believe you are eating what you say you are. Sadly I think you either have to eat less or do more exercise 😟 Those TDEE calculators are worked out for the "average person", so your TDEE could be lower than what it says, up to 20% lower (I found an academic study which looked at this). As someone else mentioned, you can go to a lab to get it actually tested. It really is as simple as you're eating too many calories for your energy expenditure.

I would also ignore any "calories" you burn from exercise. There's no way of really knowing how much you truly burn, and as you get fitter, you then start burning less anyway 🥲🥲. At 14 stone, 5ft 8, and in my thirties, I only started to lose weight at 1500 calories a day, a minimum of 10k steps a day, and either an hour's Hyrox/weightlifting or spin class every day as well. This was weighing all food and tracking on Nutracheck, only drinking water.

This thread sums up the mixed messages.
Some telling her to change to skimmed milk. Some saying great whole milk natural full fat is better. Some saying cut the milk completely.
But then someone will say she’s not had enough calcium or protein….
If Op likes whole milk and it fits in calories drinking 75 cals of milk isn’t stalling her weight loss.
Nutracheck is much better more accurate than my fitness pal.

This sounds like a prescription for bowel cancer! Not to mention heart problems. My goodness. Eat some veggies!!! Aim for 30 plant points a week.

This honestly scares me that people could advise eating like this. Your gut must be a mess.

Sorry I meant to say that also if any of my 1300 calories are carbs that will stop me from losing!

I definitely do not lose weight on 1500 calories a day. At that level I maintain weight but don’t lose. If I want to lose I have to reduce below 1300 per day, and that’s been the case since I hit late 40s.

It’s not 1995. That stuff has been debunked a long time ago.

Unfortunately I cannot access that article, but one the summary does seem to confirm is that not all macros are equal when it comes to weight gain.
Something which is being ignored by those rather unfairly having a go at the OP.

You say carbs are nothing to be afraid of, you definitely don’t want to cut further calories etc - if you aren’t willing to try other things then yes, you probably will be 16 stone forever. What you are trying isn’t working, so you need to try something else. I started losing weight at the beginning of the year through running and healthy eating. I was 17 stone 10 and am currently 14 stone 4, so it is possible. I am, however, eating low carbs and making sure I actually weigh my food.

Not necessarily. I lost 2 stones in four months and then nothing more for another four months. It's coming off slowly again now.

The body does plateau and go through periods of readjustment after a loss, and sometimes these are long.

Don't make the mistake of severely restricting calories to compensate for this. Your body will respond by making you really hungry and crave for food to put your weight back up to the point it was before. Increase by 200-300 calories per day to avoid rebounding and regaining it all back again.

If you can keep your weight stable throughout these stalling phases, you'll begin to lose again albeit at a much slower rate than before. I've just been through one, so I'm proof of this.

You just have to ride it out.

I found counting calories very unhelpful for weight loss. 3 meals a day. Cut refined sugar and snacks completely. No processed food. Veg, protein and carbs with every meal. Use your fist as a portion measure. Hit 10-15k steps a day. Keep busy. You should feel hungry before a meal and a little bit hungry but not uncomfortable going to sleep.
I think it's super unhealthy to obsess over calorie counting. Either you are eating more than you think or you need less than you think. Unless there is something medically wrong there is a miscalculation. If I were you I would be focusing on the wins or. How your body looks l, how you feel and how your clothes fit.
I always gain weight during my running season because I need to fuel those longer runs or performance declines. Imo, walking is much easier for weight loss. And no, you don't need more calories because you did a run or did more steps.

Hope it helps

YES, she is weighing the portions and tracking every single calorie.

This thread is infuriating.

@justmeandthedogs it's likely just a plateau. As long as your clothes are fitting better, it's all positive. Keep going at it and forget about the zillion people on this thread who either can't read or are just enjoying being condescending.

You need to eat a much lighter meal in the evening - vegetable soup or a salad with chickpeas or lentils.

The app may be inaccurate? I know MyFitness Pal is awful for this.

Are you weighing food/portions though? How do you know your portions aren’t too large?

Agree about weighing yourself. The aim of exercising and eating healthy shouldn't be the dopamine reward of the scales number going down but the feeling in your clothes, your mood, your skin.

I've been running for a year. I know I have slimmed down around my waist due to the fit of certain jeans but I have enlarged in the bum and calf area. I haven't weighed myself in years because if I was doing 20km running a week and I was the same weight as when I started... I might feel like stopping.

Enter a Hyrox or similar you'll soon shift the pounds / inches through training!!

I've pretty much maintained the same dress size / weight for 15 years. 3 months of Hyrox training and I've shifted 1/2 stone and dropped a dress size (Gone from 10 to 8). Haven't changed my relatively calorie aware diet at all.

Mix it up a bit - try OMAD, it's easier than it sounds