Why am I not losing weight?

[ClandestineAdulation]

Really frustrated and looking for advice.

In December, a typical day of eating would look like this:

Meal deal sandwich or wrap (usually between 400 and 500 calories)
Sugar free fizzy drink
Grab bag size packet of crisps

100g of Dairy Milk (apparently 500 calories…)
Sausage roll

Dinner consisting of chips or roast potatoes, steak and peppercorn sauce or chicken alternative and peas

More chocolate or cake before bed

For the whole of January, my diet has looked like this:

Plain porridge with a superfood topper (seeds, dried fruit etc)

or

Homemade salad with chicken

Dried apricots, yoghurt coated bananas and cashews as a snack (weighed to the correct serving sizes)

Dinner of chicken and veg (occasionally with some rice but not often as I don’t fancy it!)

I’m not hungry, don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything and have started an exercise class once a week too, which I didn’t do before.

Should I be losing weight?! If you’ve been in a similar position, when did you start to lose weight?

Weight loss essentially comes down to needing to create a deficit of calories in versus calories burned. Unless there is an obscure medical reason (highly unlikely) you must be consuming too many calories. Either lower your food intake and/or up your exercise. Log everything you eat and drink on an app. Get a sports watch which tells you how many calories you’re burning. I have a relative who “can’t” lose weight. I observe it is because she eats far more than she thinks she does. I lost 3 stone counting calories and running to be a healthy weight. It’s hard work but you can do it if you create a calorie deficit consistently. Good luck.

Are you tracking all your calories?

Are you drinking your calories? Even soft drinks have calories. lattes, and cappuccinos are loaded with calories

Dried fruit and yoghurt coated banana contain a bunch of calories you don't need.

Don't snack.

Weightloss/inch loss isn't linear. I came out of the first lockdown pretty heavy from my usual weight/size.

I started making different choices and I had some initial loss, possibly water but then after that nothing for ages. I carried on and after another 6 weeks I dropped a considerable amount of weight.

By the time of April 2022 I had dropped two dress sizes.

Keep going with what works for you and hopefully you'll see results.

Before you were eating unhealthily and would likely be gradually gaining weight over time.

Now you’re eating healthily, but you might be eating enough to maintain your current weight rather than lose it. But you won’t be gaining weight, which is good!

You say you’re weighing things like the yoghurt covered bananas - do you know what calories you’re eating overall? What have you based your daily calorie allowance on?

Also, depends how much you have to lose. If you weren’t very overweight to begin with then progress will be less dramatic.

The OP says, "I’m not hungry, don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything and have started an exercise class once a week too, which I didn’t do before."

@IceyDicey I don’t drink tea or coffee, only water

@wasacasa @NoSquirrels I’m consuming around 1400 a day

I am overweight and have a significant amount to lose

Nuts, seeds and dried fruit are high in calories. Can you swap out some of the dried fruit for fresh ?

Get one of the app trackers like nutracheck. They’ll work it out for you.

Too many carbs and not enough protein.

@Peridot1 Could you please explain where the high number of carbs are in my typical day?

Agree you need more protein and complex carbs.

The snacks sound high calorie. Can you manage without them? Could you swap the porridge to eggs some days?
I have been in a similar position and didn’t lose weight for two weeks and then about 5lbs came off. If you really are eating the calories you think you are compared to what you used to eat I’d expect you lose about 12 pounds on a month.

Firstly, well done on improving your diet - it will benefit you in the longterm.

Might be worth measuring portions and working out calories for a few days. You might be having slightly larger portions than someone might. Also, keep an eye on portion sizes for nuts, seeds and dried fruits - they contain quite a few calories, but are obviously better for you than are packed with calories chocolate, fizzy drinks, crisps.

I've just started the keto 800 calorie 2 week diet and have already lost a couple of pounds in a few days - possibly water loss.

I'm not following it strictly calorie wise so as an afternoon snack I have a Bounce ball. They have amazing ones that are chocolate flavoured with only 10g of carbs and 9g of protein. It means I'm not that hungry at dinner time and I feel like I've had a proper treat.

Yoghurt coated banana & dried apricots are quite high calorie snacks-both are very sugary. Just cut out the snacks.

I don’t have a snack every day, and when I do it is measured and less than 150 calories. I can easily swap it out or just not have it.

Great work on changing your diet. You must be feeling better eating better quality food.

You need a calorie deficit of 7,700 cal per week to lose 1 kg a week. So assuming you are meeting that, you would have lost no more than 3.5 kilos so far this year.

If you're eating 1400 a day you'd need to be burning at least 2500 a day. Is that what's happening?

The snack, if I have it, consists of 3 dried apricots, 2 pieces of yoghurt coated banana and 5 cashews.

Are you using something like my fitness pal to properly log your food? I'm losing weight on more calories than that and I do feel hungry some of the time outside of ne times. Are you drinking plenty of water and eating fibre? My insured have slowed right down since eating less despite a good amount of fibre and lots of water.

Without knowing brands, MFP puts that snack at more like 250 cals