Weight loss help, just can't seem to lose any.

[Rocc0]

Hello all
I am looking for some help regarding weight loss. I'm 45, 5ft 3in, currently 11st 4/5lb, physically fit, go to the gym and work out hard 4 to 5 times a week (I'm actually a fitness instructor), eat very healthy and have now given up drink but I can't seem to budge a pound. I eat around 1500-1700 calories a day and am aiming for getting down to 10st 5lb ish.
I can't understand why I can't lose any and am beginning to think it may possibly be down to hormones. Has anyone else had this issue and found a remedy?

I'm a similar height/weight (heavier starting weight) and nothing worked until I started intermittent fasting with a lot of exercise. I've lost a stone very slowly and now need to up the exercise again as I've plateaued. I can gain weight on 1500 cals a day 😪

Give IF a go?

Are you changing your exercise routine, l know that your an instructor but are you changibg things up. You might not be working as hard if your workouts have stayed the same for a while .

Are you Perimenopausal? This could be affecting weight loss

How ongoing have you been trying to lose weight? I know hormones definitely affect me. I generally don't lose any weight the week before and usually the week of my period. I do turn into a ravenous animal during that fortnight though.

are you tracking your calories accurately and weighing portions?

Perimenopausal yes definitely. What can be done for this though?

How long? Not ongoing

@emmathedilemma

are you tracking your calories accurately and weighing portions?

Yep tracking every last calorie, I use Myfitnesspal and don't miss a thing so I know I'm not cheating myself.

@Rocc0

Perimenopausal yes definitely. What can be done for this though?

Hi, OP

Please head over to the menopause boards on here, l just saw a thread which might give you some support

What are you actually eating for those calories though? Is your diet carb heavy?

I'm still having about 2000 cals a day and recently lost 5lbs (very quickly) by starting 16:8

It's flummoxed me! I eat between 11am-7pm on average (main meal finished by 5:30/6 but have a treat around 7pm).

Also in 40s and didn't really have weight to lose so I honestly think it could work for most people.

1500 - 1700 calories per day is overeating. To maintain at your height/weight is about 1350 calories per day. And to lose, no more than 1200 per day, plus exercise (mainly resistance training).

I fail to understand why people think eating that many calories per day is normal. Our perception of what normal eating is has changed so much in the past few decades.

Im 48, 5ft 4in, weight 9st 5lbs, exercise, am on HRT and would gain mega weight in a few months if I ate 1500 - 1700 calories per day. Nothing to do with hormones, you're just eating too many calories per day. I'd LOVE to eat that many calories per day but dont because I know what the result will be.

You're a fitness instructor? Do you study nutrition? I would really like to know what you've learnt about eating and how it effects the body. 90% what we eat and 10% exercise is what Ive learnt.

I know I'll be persecuted for telling the truth but this is what I have learnt and it works.

If you are absolutely definitely tracking your calories accurately in MFP and not losing weight then you need to eat fewer calories.
I’m surprised that you are a fitness instructor and don’t have a better handle on nutrition.

Doesn't it also depend how active you are overall?
Working out 4/5 times a week isn't much if, for example, the rest of your days are sedentary.
Do you walk everywhere, garden for hours, do a physical job full time etc?
Surely one can lose weight easily taking in only 1700 calories IF you're using over 3000 a day?
Or maybe I don't understand how it works...

I am 5’4”, aged 44, peri, and it took me about 1 1/2 years to lose 3 stone. It was a real struggle even on 1200-1300 cals daily. Hormones definitely affect it but it is still possible. You just have to realise it is a long game but at our age it really should be a long term change for health anyway so for me this was ok, if not a little frustrating at times.
Twenty years ago I would’ve been able to lose weight much quicker on more calories but 1500-1700 cals is too much for me to lose nowadays. I disagree with pp that this is maintenance level though especially if you are active. I now workout regularly and can burn up to 2000 cals a day.

Yes I have. I have sent you a private message

If you are very fit you may have solid muscle which is very heavy and appears to put you in the overweight range when really there should eb a separate BMI for sporty people. What size jeans are you in?

But if that's not the issue, are you kidding yourself about what you actually do and eat? I have fitness instructors who are brilliant at their job but when we ask them to demo they struggle to keep up with us because they don't work out half as often as their clients, and have us doing things that are way more advanced than they habitually do: e.g. EMON 15 burpees, 15 squat jumps, 15 lay down press-ups.

Are you weighing and measuring for portion control? or do you think you've been healthy so long you can judge by eye? Eyes allow portion sizes to creep up.

@tigerpants800

Doesn't it also depend how active you are overall? Working out 4/5 times a week isn't much if, for example, the rest of your days are sedentary. Do you walk everywhere, garden for hours, do a physical job full time etc? Surely one can lose weight easily taking in only 1700 calories IF you're using over 3000 a day? Or maybe I don't understand how it works...

I agree with this. I do 4-5 workouts a week but would describe myself as sedentary as apart from those workouts and a few shortish walks each week I am at my home office.