Why can't I lose weight? Please help

[whoisthatpersoninthemirror]

I am 36. I was always naturally very slim, until I had my last child. After pregnancy I gained weight, I hadn't been able to eat well during pregnancy so not a lot of weight was gained.

But now 2 years later I can't lose it. I'm 22 pounds overweight.

I am calorie counting, writing everything down in an app, not eating sweets or chocolate, walking 10,000 steps a day, doing HIIT or strength training twice a week.

My weight isn't budging. I've been to the doctor and had bloods tests done, everything is fine apparently.

I don't recognise myself anymore and I'm tired of having to having to buy bigger clothes and feel like I'm hiding myself.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong.

How many calories are you eating per day? I'm quite short and need very little calories so to lose weight it's super hard.

For me to lose 1lb a week I can only eat 1200-1400 cals a day.

For me breakfast and lunch no carbs. Dinner I'll have rice, pasta, potatoes with my protein and veg. Read up on insulin resistance and weight loss.

I'm eating 1,500. I'm 5"1. Do you think this is too much? The app worked it out

If you aren't losing at 1500 then you need to eat less calories and/or move more (use more calories).

Annoyingly the pp is right, you have to cut down. I know we are spoon fed this 2000 calorie thing but for most women I know (who are slim and fit) it’s way less. For me to lose weight I have to be on 1000 calories a day, it’s just how it is. I maintain at around 1300, and I’m far from sedentary!

Yep, you need to eat less calories. Reduce it until you start to lose. Drop a hundred at a time and see where you get.

Eat fewer calories and lift weights. If you can build muscle, you'll burn more calories when you're doing nothing. Lots of benefits for women too.

I'm 5ft and, sadly, only lose weight if I eat less than 1000 a day to lose weight.

It's pretty difficult. I weigh everything and write down the calories.

Without knowing your activity levels to work out your TDEE I’m going to say if you do on average 10k steps a day then you want to be aiming for 1,300-1,400 cals a day to lose weight, 1500 would be maintenance. Less than 1,000 cals would be starvation mode.

I'm about 5ft 2 and 8ish stone

I eat around 1200 calories a day

If I want to lose weight I have to drop down to 1000.

It is awful.

Every body is different and I really mean that. You have a biome unique to you, your hormones will fluctuate unlike anyone else's and your insulin tolerance will depend on genetics, food history, exercise and random other things.

Calories in = calories out is stupid. You're not a machine. When you eat something your body can use it as fuel, store it, use it to build muscle, repair cells or fail to process it and pass it through.

You are unique, so you need to experiment.

I'd say you've tried calorie control plus exercise and it's not working, so what else can you try?

Ensuring your bacteria are top notch might be a good start, find a supplement or diet to support this. Then think of other ways people successfully lose weight eg
Low carb
Fasting
Whole food

Personally I think low carb shifts a lot of weight (which is water as well as fat but it's still weight /volume) and that gives you motivation to carry on or move to a more manageable diet.

Fwiw I went from size 14 to a neat 10 eating 3-4000 calories a day, I can't stand to be hungry!

I have lost, now, 11kg this year, two kids and years of failing. If you search my posts I did a mini write up of what I did.

Weights/ circuits training has been a huge part of my weight loss, as well as tone and definition.
Two classes a week and a run.

I do not drink hardly any alcohol, do not have a day off, 1,200-1,300 calories with high protein low carb diet.

It's not easy and it's taken me 10 months (with two weeks of relaxing my regime to go on family holiday) Good luck

I wrangled with this for about a year when I put on some weight, over complicating it, calorie counting etc. I decided eventually to stop eating breakfast as was never hungry. Bingo - lost the excess weight in weeks. In essence just eat less.

Joggo app was great over the summer for me.

Holy shit I don't know if I can do that. I tried 1200 a day and was absolutely famished. I told a friend who is a fitness instructor and they said 1,200 was way too low so I went back up.

Maybe I need to do keto. I'd struggle with keto though as I'm not huge on meat.

What do you eat?

Can anyone give me ideas on what they eat to stay low calorie but not be super hungry?

I don't eat breakfast already

1000 is so low, what do you eat?

Following as I'm a bit of a tubby custard and calorie counting just isnt working!

I'm 5'1 and 37, the only way I lose weight is to consistently eat 1200 calories and stay very active and even then it's very very slow

I’m 5’7
i eat 1400-1500 when I need to lose weight
Since you’re 5’1 id say you’re eating too much unfortunately
your options are eat less or move more

beans lentils and pulses, lots of water, eggs, low fat Greek yog, tons of veg to fill up on, lean meats.
maybe you can tell us your current typical meal plan and people may be able to tweak it to save you a few hundred calories

Honestly you have to fill up on a lot of veg! Soups are good and filling, stir fry’s and lean meats / fish. It sucks but I think you’ll be surprised just how many women have to stick to what appears to be stupidly low calories to actually lose weight. I hope you find what works for you, but hopefully take some comfort knowing you’re not alone!

You said you do strength training-are you lifting weights? How heavy are they? Are you doing full body moves like squats & deadlifts? Are you getting your cardio in?
I lost weight with relative ease several years ago eating 1800 a day and lifting three days a week. It was the fittest & strongest I’ve been. Previously I’d always lost weight starving myself, and found it unsustainable. Unfortunately I am currently in bad shape and am currently unable to exercise, I can barely walk.

I'm a similar size and needed to drop to about 1200 calories and lost approx a pound per fortnight.