Why aren't I losing weight?!

[CommunistLegoBloc]

Right, I know the answer to this question is usually 'you're eating too much' but I'm not! I'm being quite brutal and I've cut down a lot. No mindless snacking, two meals a day. Plenty of veg, no meat, relatively little dairy. Home cooked meals.

I'm 5ft 8 and I weigh 65kg, so I'm in no way overweight. But I've put on a few kilos in lockdown and I'd like to shift them and get down to 61-62kg again. I'm running 5k every other day. I don't get enough steps in on my non-run days, it's true. Maybe 6,000? I also do the 16:8, although being honest it's probably more 14:10 at least three days a week.

For a month I've been running, eating 1200 calories a day, no booze, fasting, drinking 2l of water. I AM THE SAME WEIGHT. I'M ALSO QUITE HUNGRY.

Help.

What am I doing wrong?!

Are you sure it's 1200?

Dairy, especially cheese, can easily take you way over unless you measure it every single time

What are you actually eating?

If your diet is high in carbs, that could be stalling you. Calorie deficit (as you can see) isn't always usually the answer long term.

1200 is ridiculous.

"Regularly eating fewer calories than your body needs can cause your metabolism to slow down. Several studies show that low-calorie diets can decrease the number of calories the body burns by as much as 23%"

You should aim for 500 calorie deficit to lose weight. As the average calorie intake for active women in 2,000 you should be aiming for 1,500.

No wonder you're hungry!

Try splitting that into 5 meals... breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. That should space out your calories enough to keep you satiated.

Water too. Lots of water intake is necessary for weight loss.

All I can say is, that I have similar issues. The only time I have succeeded on losing weight was by using a fucking brutal regime of about 1000 calories a day and running about 25 miles a week. Fortunately, I only had to do it once.

I would also add that if you aren't overweight, then it is bloody hard in any event, to lose final pounds that in my case make a difference to my clothes feeling uncomfortable and not.

1200 calories when you are exercising as well is far too little. Try a calorie counting app like Myfitnesspal, set it to lose 0.5-1 pound a week, as you don't have much to loose its going to take longer and you won't be able to drop several pounds a week like someone with 10kg to lose.

Log everything, literally everything, because the little things can really add up, but yeah I think you are eating far too little and that will make you give up because your hungry and miserable.

Also remember, it took time to put on, so it will take time to come off as well!

You’re quite tall and not overweight - 1200 calories is nowhere near enough, especially when exercising.

I’ve worked out your TDEE (I guessed your age as 30 just as a ballpark) and 80% of that number is almost 1600 per day, which should see steady weight loss.

Are you scrupulously weighing your portions and working out the calories?
If not, it's likely that you are underestimating you calorie intake.
That is the only objective way to be sure ( unless you follow an alternative weight loss programme like Weight Watchers or Slimming World that counts points etc...)

Ok, I know not everyone likes the idea of a lchf way of eating because it goes against everything we have been told about weightloss and all the government advice on eating low fat/eating fat makes you fat.

But I've done lchf twice in the past and lost a total of 2 stone. I've not put it back on when I stopped either.

I started again, following the low carb bootcamp on here, and have lost 8lb since 11th Jan. I eat around 1500/1600 cals a day and I'm never hungry.

That's 8lbs in just over 3 weeks.

I eat probably less than 50g carbs a day. Loads of veg, dairy, meat, fish etc... no diet or fake foods - everything is real food. I haven't done any exercise apart from a weekend yomp through the park.

If you're following a punishing low cal regime and it's not working for you, it might be time to try something else...

To loose a pound, you need to save 3,500 calories, or 7,000 roughly for a kilogram

Paradoxically, you probably need to eat more and not go by scale weight - do something else like measuring your waist or hips.

Your metabolism has probably dipped. If you eat slightly more, even an extra 200 calories would help, then you will not only perhaps lose a bit more weight but also have more energy for your 5ks

I disagree that 1200 is too little. On your 5k days you might hit 10,000 steps but on your non run days you're not moving much, so the comparisons to 2000 calories aren't really relevant.

I was loosing loads of weight pre lockdown. The only thing that changed was I stopped moving around other than running, and my weight loss completely stalled. You just don't use enough energy sitting at home to need 2000 calories or loose weight.

How old are you? Im 56 and it takes me ages to lose weight. I've not drunk alcohol since Jan 3rd and I am not eating until 11.30/12 everyday. I've lost 1.5lbs in 5 weeks, which is nothing really but I'm just accepting it will take a long time. Running makes me starving so I don't do it, just go for walks and i have to muck out and look after horses which may burn a few calories.

I can't do lchf - there is no doubt it works physically, but mentally I found it punishing. I was thinking about what I could and couldn't eat THE WHOLE TIME. I love toast and butter, it's my downfall, so I still eat a slice of lovely wholemeal toast with butter every day in the afternoon. As I say, I am losing weight but very very slowly

im similar height and weight to you. when i stalled my sports nutritionist put me on 1600 and having it over 4-5 meals per day.

Actually tbh 10 stone is pretty slim for someone who is 5.8

Maybe your body can't actually cope with being slimmer?

I'd say you aren't losing weight because you are already the weight your boys wants to be - you are at the lower end of healthy BMI. I'm about a cm shorter than you, currently weight 67 and regard 65kg as my goal weight. I am fairly muscular as I do a fair bit of weight training. Those last two LG are always the toughest to shift

Is it really being slimmer your after, because those measurements sound like trying to go from slim to skinny? Or do you actually want to be a nicer shape, in which case, some weight training, yoga/Pilates, more exercise generally might get you what you want in terms of how your body looks and feels.

1200 calories a day isn't that low on the days you don't do exercise. I'm a bit shorter than you and a bit heavier and my BMR is only around 1300 calories. On days when I don't exercise I burn less than 1600 calories according to my garmin. Running 5k only burns around 300 calories so it's not going to contribute massively to weight loss.
I agree with the PP about age - i lost several stone a few years ago dead easily, to the point where I actually found it hard to stop and lost another stone whilst trying to maintain on Weight Watchers. I've put a few kg back on but still within a healthy weight range and now it is so much harder to shift. I'm sure my metabolism has ground to a halt since i hit 40!

Simply put - you are consuming more calories than you are burning.

Running 5K will only burn around 300 calories. To burn that number of calories walking you need to walk between 4 and 5 miles at a brisk enough pace to increase your heart rate and make you breathless.

And unfortunately as we get older we generally move less and our metabolisms slows so need way fewer calories

You are BMI 21.7. That’s very healthy. I’m aiming for 65 kg and I’m 5’5...

I've had the same issue!
The only way I lost weight was by cutting out carbs. Or eating significantly less carbs and also not snacking in the evenings.

Can't maintain it though as I love pasta and evening snacks. Nightmare.

Thanks everyone. Food (but not actual food goddamnit) for thought.

I'm young (ish) and have been 62kg since I was 18, so I could just be settling into a new baseline weight. But I feel flabbier and just a bit sluggish. I am more comfortable when I'm a few kilos lighter.

I don't eat much cheese but I probably eat more carbs than I should. Not over a calories allowance, but I just fucking love carbs. I'll stick at 65kg rather than go low carb tbh.

I just don't have the time to be more active. Work plus various other things means I can't justify a five mile walk every day. It just takes too long, and when it's not built into your day in small bursts - walking to the tube, between places, pop to the shops etc - it just takes forever. When the evenings are lighter it'll be more of a possibility.

I don't want to post what I eat because I've seen perfectly reasonable menus get ripped apart because snap peas are too sugary or something. But I weigh things, I cook from scratch, I log it all. I'm confident I'm eating what I say I eat, and that it has nutritional value.

As the average calorie intake for active women in 2,000

Remember that during lockdown, very, very few people will be active, they would need a very active job out of the home, and even then it's difficult with lockdown. 5km running a day is not sufficient to put you into active category if you're sedentary the rest of the time.

So it's quite likely that the base rate required is nowhere near that, this is the problem with being locked down, it's so hard to actually get required calories, average study was 10-15% less, and that's for people still exercising, let alone active commute people who were out a lot becoming sedentary.

If your running is new or increased, remember there's a considerable gain in weight from new fitness (new blood/plasma, new glycogen stores) that could be a kilo of gain to measure against fat loss

5km running a day is not sufficient to put you into active category if you're sedentary the rest of the time

This is just utter bollocks. Of course running 5k a day makes you 'active'. Running 5k a day would burn 2100 calories a week, that's a day's food!

I reckon you must be consuming more than 1200...

If you're that keen I'm sure you have an activity tracker.
what does it tell you you're doing now compared to past, how many kcal does it say you should have?

My fitbit says I'm burning 200-400 kcal/day less than I did 16months ago. Lockdown & sedentary WFH makes it hard to move enough. 6k steps/day is quite low. And 5km 3.5 times/wk is not that much otherwise.

Only need to overeat by about 200 kcal/day to not shift that last 3 kg, OP.