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?

You need to feel hungry it will burn fat

I can lose weight just by shifting around my eating pattern and not cutting any calories . I just add my mid morning snack to breakfast and mid aft one to after my lunch and make sure I’m going 4-5 hours at least between meals so that I’m really hungry before I eat again and it burns off fat really quick.

Also have a look at any drinks you have - switch to tea or water as often coffees and hot chocolates have huge amounts of calories it’s something to be aware of

3kg in 10 days was a great start, in my experience it’s normal to then plateau a bit before things get going. Are you pre menstural? I never loose the week before my period then tend to see a big difference once it starts. It’s as though my body is holding on to it!

From someone on the same journey, you need to move more. You need to be in calorie deficit and burn more than you eat.
Get a set of scales, use MFP and weigh out your food, track everything and get walking!

It's disappointing when you work so hard all week to eat healthily and the scales don't seem to change. I've got about 2 stone to lose. Lost 4 pound in the first week, nothing this week, despite sticking to 1500 calories/ high protein/ low carb and sugar and feeling slimmer and more tones.

My DS, who is really into fitness, said to stop worrying about the scales and just focus on how things fit and how I feel, which I think is good advice!

It sounds like you've made a lot of changes and you're doing really well to stick to it - keep going, we can do this!

It might sound like you are not in a deficit and should eat less, say max 1000 calories a day.

Or, I suspect more likely your metabolism is shot and you might not be eating enough. What you have written doesn’t sound like 1400 calories to me.

Either way you need to make improvements to your diet - a banana is no better than a mars bar, both just get turned into sugar by your body. Porridge might keep you fuller for longer but will not help what is likely insulin resistance from decades of excess carbs.

Eat more eggs, meat, fish and above ground vegagables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, peas (no grains, no potato and no bread, rice or pasta).

I bet if you had 3 eggs for breakfast it would make a difference.

and of course exercise more, even if it’s only sat in a chair lifting a heavy book above your head 36 times a day (3 sets of 12) - I don’t know how mobile you are.

You seem to be eating enough to maintain your current weight. If you want to lose more weight, exercising will help if you’re not willing to eat less?

Personally I am vegetarian so I would drop the meat. I’d also drop the yogurt coated fruit and the dried fruit in favour of fresh fruit and veg. Porridge wouldn’t be my first choice of a weight loss breakfast either, I’d rather have a mixed selection of fruit or an egg or something. Switching some of your meals to fresh soup will massively drop the calories too.

Bananas are high in potassium, fibre and other nutrients @RandomPerson42 so no, they don't equal a mars bar 

@ClandestineAdulation you will find some very disordered ideas on weight loss threads but some are sensible. Come over to the LOSE IT thread and you will be welcomed, encouraged and not told incorrect nonsense about food.

Either way you need to make improvements to your diet - a banana is no better than a mars bar

What a daft comment!

A lot of this is worryingly inaccurate. Please ignore, OP.

Small things like how you make your porridge will matter. I used to cook it in oat/almond milk but when I switched to cooking it in water (realised it creates its own oat milk)...it became a much healthier, lower calorie meal. Then I was able to add high protein toppings like hemp, almond flakes and berries to make it tasty. No sugar/syrup added. It all counts. Especially things you eat everyday - make them low calorie healthy and filling.

I used to make porridge with skimmed milk because I hate anything else but I swapped to semi-skimmed and found I was fuller for longer. Not a massive difference calorie wise but it kept the morning hunger away. Chia seeds really help too. I always have golden syrup with it and add chia seeds that I mix in and let stand for 15 minutes or so before cooking. If I'm in the mood for them I'll add a sliced banana on top. I love my morning porridge and cup of tea. I have skimmed milk in tea and not much of it. No sugar. I like to eat my sugar, not drink it. I know some are very anti sugar here but I don't get any post-sugar crashes and never have. I'm a healthy weight after losing a few pounds and am trying to get more in the middle of the healthy range. My average calories are 1535 a day and I'm losing weight slowly and steadily. I've lost 2kg since 9th January,

@ClandestineAdulation.
You should be hugely proud of the shift in mindset, that's the biggest achievement by far.
Remember our body weight is cyclical through the month so it might go up
And down due to hormones, water etc. If it feels sustainable stick with it, do not go anywhere near slim fast or drop to a ridiculously low daily allowance.
If and I mean if you wanted to adjust it slightly swap the superfood mix for frozen berries or fresh when in season with some chia seeds.
And drop the dried nuts and banana for fresh banana or a boiled egg or some veggie sticks with a nut butter or cottage cheese.
Work out your BMR too, and really underestimate how active you are in the calculation, that will give you how many calories you need as a base to maintain your weight, then work on roughly a 20% deficit.
Good luck OP!

OP. I’ve lost 4 stone. Low fat, calorie counting just didn’t work for me. I also woosh I lose weight. For 3/4 weeks I’ll shift nothing then 4 or 5 lbs will come off.

I agree with the comments about dried fruit.

I assume you aren't doing a minimum of 150 mins of moderate exercise a week.

It was eye opening to me to realise that this is just the basic minimum to maintain health. For weight loss you need to do more exercise.

10k steps a day is also a bare minimum. If you walk 20-30k steps a day and do 200 moderate minutes you will lose weight on that diet.

@ClandestineAdulation if your TDEE is 2156 calories, you could up your intake a bit - more protein, fresh fruit & veg, full fat greek yoghurt on your porridge for example. Your diet is far better than it was & I'm sure you'll see results before too long - don't be disheartened!

I'm another who tends to lose nothing and then whoosh - I've also accepted that my weight goes up and down throughout the month & I will never lose weight around my period. I use Happy Scale to log my weight daily - not for everyone but it works for me as it looks at your average rather than a nominal day where you could be particularly bloated, I find it more motivating to see the overall trend than peaks & troughs.

For reference, if it helps at all - my TDEE is 2182 and I am losing slowly but surely on 1600-1700 calories, 3 meals a day, no snacks as a general rule & mainly 16:8 window (it looks like you are already doing some form of fasting if you're only eating 2 meals a day). I have full fat dairy, nuts & seeds on my porridge & eat carbs if I want them. Not much sugar other than fresh fruit as I don't really have a sweet tooth - I am partial to a date or two every now and again though! Alcohol without fail makes me gain weight regardless of overall calorie intake, but I think it's water retention as it does generally drop off again after a few days. I get 10k steps most days & 3 days additional exercise (cycling, gym, etc). You don't need to do 20-30k steps & a further 200 minutes - that wouldn't be feasible for me with a full-time job & I'm sure I'm not the only one...

10,000 steps equals about 8 km. I don't think many people have time to walk 8 km a day, let alone 16 or 24. I'd stick to HIIT training and running / cross-traing / swimming, OP. Running is great for weight loss; just build up your strength and put some good tunes on to keep you going.

I try to fit my 10k steps in each day. It's easy if I park a distance away from the office for free parking and walk along the canal as it's 30mins/5000 steps each way. I'd be really hard pressed to fit in 20-30k per day , as would most people.

Plus I find a new food plan requires a bit more time to prep pack lunches etc. which would be challenging if you're exercising for 3 hrs per day.

To echo the posters above - I can get to 10k steps with a lunchtime / after-dinner walk & just general daily activities, but generally only get 20k-30k with a full day of e.g. sightseeing or a long hike. It would be impossible to fit in on average day with 8-6 at work and general family life.

I did an 11km walk last Sunday which was 16.000 steps. I don't think people would manage 20k+ steps every day!

Weight training is the most effective form of exercise I've found. 1 hr 3 times a week lifting heavy weights will change your shape much quicker than hours of cardio.

How are your activity levels?
I've been following a plan by ESG fitness (follow her on Instagram, she's brilliant).
Upped activity levels to 10-12k steps a day. Weight training 2 or 3 times a week. Stuck to 1600-1800 calories a day (averaged over a week) including 100g protein and upping fruit/veg. It's worked a treat.
But you don't lose weight in linear fashion. Hormone fluctuations can increase weight up and down over the month, if your scale weight goes up it doesn't mean you haven't still lost fat. I weigh every day and can fluctuate a lot but overall trend is down.

I suggest your FitBit / Apple Watch isn't as accurate at counting actual steps as you think ;-).

@Sublimeursula well yes, I did do very little walking apart from the 11km walk as I was knackered after that (and Im reasonably active) That's the point I'm making, I don't think many people would walk 20-30k steps in a day!

But that is kind of my point.

The majority of the population are overweight and obese because we have sedentary lifestyles that don't allow us to do the activity we need to stay healthy.

It's societal. Long commutes and stressful desk jobs aren't what human beings are designed for!

We all have different stride patterns. If you are tall with longer legs, you will need fewer steps to cover the same distance as someone shorter. As long as you are active then it's all good.