To think I’ll be stuck at 16 stone forever

I gain on 1500 a day, to loose weight I have to be below 1200 consistently which is tough to stick to. Running, gym sessions etc don’t seem to really affect my calorie expenditure

Wow some of these comments are awful OP. I really feel for you. It sounds like you are doing the right things, I would just check you are drinking enough water and maybe check in with GP to get thyroid and hormones checked. I have also found intermittent fasting helps. Good luck x

Sounds like you’ve gained muscle OP via the exercise, if your clothes fit better but you’re weighing more. You probably weigh more than you look at the moment so I reckon you’re doing better than you think. If you plateau at 16 stone for a while, though, ask your PT for advice. I hear plateauing is quite common and you can break through it. Good luck!

So you've done all that " bollox " and not lost any weight?

@justmeandthedogs Your PT knows far more than any of us ever could about your training regime and your overall diet, so trust him. If he says this is part of the process, then this is part of the process.

As you've said you've only been stuck for a few weeks my best guess would be it is your muscles holding onto water because of the weight training. If it goes on for longer, your PT will probably suggest some changes to either your diet, training, or both, but as it's only been a few weeks, you just need to give it time.

A lot of what people are advising on this thread holds some weight, but, again, unless you are an athlete, you don't need to make it any more complicated than CICO. Stick at it, as you have been, and you will see results. You'll have a few more stalls along the way, but you will get there, slowly but surely, which is the best way to do it.

justmeandthedogs
In 2024 I weighed 9 stone 6, I wore a size 8-10, I stopped going to the gym for 15 months due to my husband getting cancer, I started back to a different gym 11 months ago weighing just shy of 13 stone, I do cardio and weights 4-5 days a week, I now weigh 10 stone 12 and still wear size 8-10 and look and feel healthier than ever, I get my stats done monthly and have dropped lots of fat and built muscle so my weight is more because of muscle, have you tried getting your stats done with a caliper that measures fat, you might be surprised

😂 I'm a victim of auto correct.

Do you work? At home or outside?

Well done on your weight loss. Everyone is different and OP doesn’t have to use your method though. Personally I’d be increasing calories to maintenance for a week or two then go again.

Another recommendation for Nutra Check.

Works really well for me.

Not everyone would advise calorie counting, so your comment isn't right. Prof Tim Spector has a book out on diet and it's all about NOT counting calories. He's an epidemiologist.

This way of eating works well for me, I'm middle aged and the same weight as I was in my 20s (just under 8 st.) I was once fatter in my early teens so know how that feels and have found what works for me. I have to be ruthless with what I eat as I put on weight very easily.

All anyone here is doing is to try to offer you some ideas.

You're losing a pound-ish a week. That's good. slow and steady is better than yo-yoing.

Not sure of your age, hormonal status, job, daily exercise etc, but although it's normal to plateau increasing by 4 lbs means you have hit a set point.
Look up set point and see what the good old web says.

I think @LillyoftheValleys might be on to something there. It's do able long term.

SW, what can I say? It was the sheer stupidity of it that I couldn't handle.

That sounds way too high, do you have a source? I've always read it's closer to 1800-2000, which the body likes to keep hold of, so if you start burning it off while running, the body will start burning other fuel sources to replace it.

What it burns depends on the intensity of the activity. Steady cardio is more likely to burn fat, as it is a more stable source of energy, hence why we store it in the first pace. Higher intensity exercise such as running will burn more muscle as it's a faster source of fuel.

Yes, calories in/calories out is a very simple way to look at a very complicated process but unless we are athletes it is all we need. Once OP starts running Ultra Marathons then she will need to start considering where she is getting her calories and when and how she should be eating them. Until then CICO will work just fine.

Came here to say that. It's diseased adipose tissue not fat cells and the ONLY way to get rid of it is with surgery. NOT calories in calories out etc.

https://lipoedema.co.uk/about-lipoedema/symptoms/

It’s completely normal to plateau.
Changing your diet can help switch things up a notch, so not eating less, just different . Hormones, peri / meno can impact metabolism too so be aware of that

OP, you must be either lazy or greedy or just simply not intelligent enough to figure out how to do this weight loss malarkey - right? Or you're just in denial about what you're eating and you're so consumed by this denial that you've missed something when calculating your intake. BOLLOCKS!

Infuriating isn't it OP when the "just do this, just do that" brigade simply will not accept that they might be wrong. If only it really was as simple as the calories in/calories out bullshit that we've been fed (pun intended) for decades. My diet is very similar to yours and I also struggle. I know, from using a calorie logging app, that if I go a calorie over 1800 per day I will gain and as for losing, pfft, a distant memory. I am neither lazy nor greedy nor thick nor in denial but what I definitely, definitely am is of an age at which it is well known that weight loss can be incredibly difficult. Add in lifelong hormonal issues and I have the perfect storm. I know exactly how to lose weight, I've done it before, 5st in a year but that was almost a decade ago. I eat less now than I did then but nothing is shifting.

Ultimately OP, what you're doing sounds like a pretty health eating regime so I hope that you do start to see results again soon BUT some of the latest research suggests that people react differently to foods, ie. some people can eat a load of grapes and have little to no insulin response whereas others will see a huge spike. It is this insulin response that acts as the primary driver for storing excess calories as fat while inhibiting fat breakdown so perhaps try switching things up. I know what you're saying about carbs not being seen as bad and you're right, in and of themselves they're not and they are a necessary part of our diet, however, you may respond to different forms of them in a whole other way than most people so maybe try different ones, eg. I steer clear of rice and pasta but I do have potatoes once or twice a week as they don't seem to have the same adverse effect on my blood sugars. I'm no expert but I think trial and error might be the way to go. Sadly, I think this will probably mean you have quite a long and winding road ahead of you.

Best of luck (and ignore the smart arses!) 😘

It's not rocket science. If you aren't losing weight then your energy intake isn't lower than your energy consumption. As your clothes are fitting better and your fitness is improving, you're gaining muscle, which is metabolically more active than adipose tissue, so good. I'd avoid ditching the strength training, because that is what will be responsible for your gains in muscle mass.

Sustainable weight loss requires a change in lifestyle and from that perspective, slower is better. You're not so much trying to lose weight as establish the lifestyle (exercise and eating habits) of a person who maintains a healthy weight with little or no effort.

I would try not to worry about the scales. Trust your nutrition app unless you have good reason not to and concentrate on your fitness and on finding an enjoyable routine that fits with your work and social commitments.

Eventually -months or even years, depending on how long you've been overweight - you should get better at regulating your food intake by appetite provided you avoid refined carbohydrates, particularly in highh-fat foods AND follow an active lifestyle.

Honestly, keep going. I'm lucky that I've never needed to lose weight. When I use weights to make an exercise I'm doing harder I'm always struck my how much harder even an extra couple of kilos makes it - you're working so much harder to run than I am and it feels hard enough to me at my healthy weight. You're doing all the right things, you've got medical and physical supervision, your hard work will pay off.

You have about 3000 calories stored as glycogen in your liver and muscle that you would burn through before you get to the fat. Most of us will not expend that much energy in the gym so you don't get to your fat stores. That's why exercise is not that useful for weight loss. So it's not as simple as calories in vs calories out. I thought this was widely understood by now but clearly not!

You burn calories when you exercise, aka energy. It comes from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to, body fat, which has been converted to fatty acids via lipolysis for the purpose of being used as energy.

If you have glucose stored in your muscles from eating carbs or sugar, you will burn that first, but if your overall energy intake is lower than your energy expenditure, including what you expend via exercise, you will lose weight.

It's basic physics, people. We don't need to complicate it any more than that unless we are athletes, which OP is not.

I agree 100%

I can't think of anything more boring and unhealthy than measuring/ weighing everything you eat.

It must become obsessive.

Ironically, the best way to lose weight is to become totally disinterested in food and just eat the basics ^^ as above in small to medium amounts.

A chicken breast, a salmon fillet, sea bass fillet, 3 egg omelette, a lamb chop, small portion of spag bol with a tiny portion of wholewheat pasta, a stir fry, etc.

Fill your plate with green veg, salads, eat apples, berries, frozen berries, a few nuts, mixed seeds and some full fat yogurt.

No need to weigh anything.

Keep busy, avoid snacks and artificial sweeteners.

Yes of course if you don't eat you will die. That still doesn't mean that calories in calories out is useful weight loss advice because it implies that exercising burns fat. But you don't burn fat stores when you exercise (unless maybe you are an elite athlete). So in terms of weight loss, it is nonsense.

@justmeandthedogs I have only read your posts rather than everyone's responses. Do you know what you waist measurement is? Your waist should measure half your height or less and this is a better indicator of good health outcomes than BMI (so weight). You say your clothes fit better which suggests that you are losing inches. Checking in on your waist measurement rather than weight might help you to see progress and feel better about it.