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?

Sympathetically, I'm currently on 1500 cal/day and no way could I fit dried fruit, nuts and seeds into my daily plans

Calorie counting is a total pain in the arse but it's eye opening

@AutisticLegoLover yes using MFP and weighing everything

Way to go. 1st thing is you have already made a massive difference. Even if you are not seeing the results. The simple fact that you dont feel as though you are missing out, when in reality you sound like you have almost halved your calorie intake from December to January is a brilliant foundation. 1400 calories is going to be so much healthier for you, your body and your digestive system.

I did similar and have lost 13kg so far. It would be more but i dont believe in totally cutting out the odd treat. It did take a couple of months for the weight to start shifting on a regular basis and it was done in conjunction with regular exercise for me.

I suspect your 1400 calories is maybe a little off the mark when you take into account your snacks. Spend a little time making sure you are not topping up your calories each day and i expect you will find the weight drops off.

Take note of this.

I also think you are under estimating how much you are eating, a quick Google of the calories in your day adds up to more like 1750 calories

Do you use oil when you cook? Do you measure it out? What about tea and coffee, do you have milk and sugar? It all adds up.

Best way is to take a note of exactly what you have eaten in a week, if you don't lose weight, adjust your intake down by 100 cals a day and see if that makes a difference. Trying to walk 10000 steps a day is also a good way to add in exercise if you don't like going to the gym etc.

Personally I'd switch to something like a boiled egg and a slice of toast for breakfast... a nice bowl of porridge is filling, but then leaves you hungrier earlier (for me) Or just a couple of eggs with spinach... good protein but not the carbs.

Ditch the dried fruit and yoghurt snacks.. have an apple or a satsuma..or nothing. Ditto nuts. They are all very calorie dense and we don't need snacks (especially if you are 'wrong' side of 40... I have noticed I just can't graze any more as it sticks!)

Do you have dressing on your salad? Dressing can completely wipe out the calorie deficit!

And walk.. walk and walk more. An exercise class is good, but once a week isn't going to make a significant dent. I can honestly say since I got a dog and have to walk a few miles a day, a) I'm out so not grazing and b) it just keeps weight off!

I'm sure if you stick at it the weight will start to drop, good luck :)

You're doing amazingly well I think.
My advice is don't weigh yourself because it just gets you down.
Go by how your clothes are fitting.
You may have to just do it longer, with that diet your bound to lose weight.
Well done.

What are you drinking and cooking in? When I started properly tracking ALL of my intake I realised it was drinks and cooking oils that were sneaking me way over budget. Lattes, milky tea, and olive oil. 1tbsp of olive oil is 125 calories. Now drink just water and use low cal cooking sprays instead of oil and it's actually made a huge difference. Seems obvious but it also seems to be the thing most people miss.

I'd also scrap nuts, seeds and dried fruit, they're not great snacks and can very quickly add up.

You are going in the right direction. I would say take a hard look at 1 meal each week (e.g.lunch) and be super careful with what's in it. Aim for high protein/low ish carb and low fat (not no fat). Use the hand/palm/finger sizing for portions. Once you've established good meal options for lunch over the week, then move to another meal. Too much change at once is difficult and confusing. You WILL see results - this could be lower measurements at first but if you keep at it you will see the weight move. Once you've converted all your meals you'll be amazed and how careful you have to be.
Eg 5 cashews is a lot of fat when trying to lose weight.

It's only been four weeks.

I think you need to give yourself a bit more time - and potentially cut the snacks. Why not have a normal banana instead of the ones coated in yoghurt, for example?

My experience of MFP is that I had to log a max of 1200 calories to lose weight, as you always end up with a few more calories than you think from cooking oil, tasting while you are cooking, portions being slightly bigger than you realise.

I'd also get rid of the yoghurt coated bananas - super high calories, I've made that mistake and regretted it.

If you are using MFP scan the barcode of everything you have to make sure it's accurate. Sometimes what other people have added on there is way out but the manufacturer amounts will be correct. Butter, oils and fats are the big ones to look out for. Just frying onions for soup significantly increases the calorie content. I make my favourite soup without either now. A scrap of butter on crumpets is 7g and is just enough to make it worth putting on. Putting a normal amount on would be about 20g and it makes a big difference. Don't demonise any foods though, just moderation. Nuts are good for you and contain good fats, fibre and other important nutrients.

Work out your tdee

tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&g=female&age=46&lbs=136&in=63&act=1.55&bf=27&f=2

My maintenance calories are over 2000 so I'm losing weight on 1600-1700 calories.

Try again

tdeecalculator.net/

I'd give yourself more time. It sounds like you're doing everything right. I find with weight loss or gain it takes about 3 weeks or so to register on my scales. It could be the same for you.
Don't get disheartened. Give it another week or 2 and weigh again. If you're still not losing then maybe try adjusting your calories slightly.
Btw your snack sounds fine to me! 5 cashews and a couple of dried apricots and banana pieces is hardly a massive amount!

@AutisticLegoLover this is mine…

Up the exercise, even if it's just getting out for a walk every day. Don't eat back your exercise calories. Every tracker, watch, piece of gym equipment overestimates calories burned.

Make sure you are drinking plenty of water. Thirst can feel like hunger. Measure, weight and log the calories of absolutely everything you eat and drink. Plan ahead and stick to your designated calories in order to stay on plan. Carbs are not the enemy, but eating large amounts of sugar (a carb) and other refined carbs can lead to dips in blood sugar which make you feel hungry. Eat more lean protein to help feel fuller for longer.

You probably need to drop below 1400 cals.

I’m in the same boat OP.
I started on 1,400 cals a day at the beginning of the month and lost 8lbs in 2 weeks, I’m guessing it was just water weight because I’ve shifted sweet FA since. I include protein in my diet every day but truly I could be more active. I’ve dropped to 1,200 in the last week and haven’t seen results yet, if I haven’t dropped any weight by mid feb I’ll consider dropping to 1,000. It’s so frustrating because I’ve done this method before and lost 4 stone!
Solidarity!

@ClandestineAdulation - porridge and your snack. Both carbs. Maybe try Greek yogurt and berries for breakfast with some of your seed mix. Or eggs. Instead of the dried fruit snack maybe switch to a Babybel cheese with your cashews.

Just coming back to say don't cut your calories further. Track things accurately and focus more on changing poor food choices with better ones. Weight loss will follow. If you go at it too hard you're just setting yourself up to fail. Log the positive things you've achieved at the end of each day to keep your motivation up.

Think about how long it took you to get to the weight you are now. Take a longer term view on losing that excess weight.

Build weight bearing exercise into your life. It had lots of benefits for women and you can use your own body weight for lots of exercises.

You can do it, just don't be too hard on yourself or expect too much over a short period of time.

Are you accurately recording your calories?

A lot of healthy food is way more calories than unhealthy food and you can easily fall into the trap of eating healthy but not loosing weight.

I would spend the next 2 weeks being really hot on counting calories.
Make sure there are no chest meals or times when you don’t record everything.

Also are you measuring yourself?
I retain water and will often put on weight when I diet but the number of the scales isn’t always accurate and it’s good to measure yourself too.

It has only been 4 weeks.
Yes it would be lovely if you could have dropped half a stone but unfortunately fat loss doesn’t work like that.

I would carry on as you are, keep tracking the calories and doing your exercises and then come back in a month.

Consistency is the biggest factor of weight loss.

Many people start a diet in January and by the end of February they’ve quit and have put on extra weight.

You just need to keep going until you’ve hit your goal.

You have done amazing so far and soon you’ll be reaping the rewards but you just need to not let this stop you and just keep on going.

In my experience it takes about 6 weeks before you see results. It's worth preservering.

You have only been doing in for less than a month!! Be patient and keep going?!

MFP cam be way out. I got some Tesco wholewheat tortilla which the packet said were 179cals each. MFP had several entries for the same product which said between 110-140cals. Little things like that and missed calories from cooking oil, tastes of cooking etc. can add up to loafs of additional calories a day.

Another thing to consider is how tall, active and old you are. If you are short, over 40 and sedentary other than your exercise class, your actual calorie maintenance may be 1600 or less. If you are truly eating 1400 then you have a deficit of 1400cals a week which means it will take roughly 2 and a half weeks to lose a pound if fat (1lb = 3,500cals).