Why TF am I not losing weight?

[Ozgirl75]

I’ve managed to pile on about 4kg this year - solely due to moving to the U.K. and embracing Galaxy, nice white bread and other delicious comfort food, plus stopping my usual exercise routine, although I am still exercising.
Im not dramatically overweight but I have 6kg to lose. I feel like I’ve cut out all the nice stuff and it’s still not shifting!

A normal day looks like:
No breakfast (I never have breakfast, I have a cup of tea)
Lunch - two hard boiled eggs in a salad, cucumber, red pepper, pickled cucumber, beetroot, olives. Followed by one of those naked bars. Occasionally a roll with this if I’m v hungry.
Dinner - normal stuff, stir fry, roasts, fish. Plenty of veg. Not tiny but just normal dinners.
Followed by a frozen yogurt and sometimes a Galaxy Ripple.
Maybe some fruit in the evening later.
Occasionally 3-4 rice crackers mid afternoon.

Is it just because I’m 46 and am destined to be a size 14 for ever more now? I’m 70kg and 5ft 3 and a half.

It's our age. I'm similar. I'm eating more healthily and exercising more than I EVER have...and I've put on 4kg this year.

Thanks so much everyone, lots of food for thought (ha!) there.
It is such a bummer and I wish I had appreciated my fast metabolism when I was younger. Never used to think about what I ate and was an easy size 8-10.

If it was not for eating disorders so therefore a bit dangerous people actually putting a photo of what their dinner is would be helpful. I remember my house mate actually weighing out a portion of cereal and it was about a third of what she usually ate.

My old boss said if you want to stay the same weight as your metabolism slows and are 50 plus you need to eat about 30% less.

I have had a small bowl of shreddies with semi skimmed milk, 2 rashers grilled bacon, half an avocado, handful of rocket and a sliced tomato on seeded bread with butter and a small bowl of fresh M&S chicken and veg soup. Then for dinner pasta with spinach and pine nuts with salad leaves and a handful of chopped up cocktail sausages. A small bowl of strawberries with crème freche. Walked for an hour. I often eat my dinners and lunches on a dinner plate from the 1970’s, they are much smaller.

It's doesn't have to be "cut out the snacks" and leave it there. You could try cutting out the processed snacks and have more veg to fill you up in their place instead. Do more walking. Try it and see how you feel after a few weeks.

It's not about joylessness but finding what's better for your body and health.

@Ozgirl75 you seem to have an answer for everything. Yes diets are tough but if you want to lose weight you have to cut things out. You're taking in too many calories, especially on sugary snacks. You know what you need to do but clearly don't want to!

Of course I don’t want to! If I wanted I’d already be doing it 😆

I find that once I kickstart some weight loss I seem to have a bit more leeway for adding some cakey stuff back in.

Omg. Do they still make ripples? I used to love these! (Missing point completely )

My fitness pal is great for tracking calories but also for making sure you are eating enough protein and fibre for your body

I used to try and keep my calories low (around 1800 a day) and wasn't losing weight until I joined a fitness group that works out what you need, they told me I needed to eat 2400 calories, 120g protein and 35g fibre a day and to be honest I was scared to eat that much but I've lost nearly 3 stone (and I still sometimes eat chocolate and cake 🫢)

They are so fricking good.

I'm petrified of the idea of this happening to me. So when I turn 46, that's all I can eat!!! I think I eat X5 that amount and have a healthy weight! Nooooooooo ....

Maybe have a galaxy/chocolate yoghurt instead? Or have half the ripple bar? ...

I used to eat 10 times what the OP eats and was a size 6 until I crossed 45. Everything changes. As the Buddha said..😑

For sure! So what you need is a way to not mind that you're doing what you don't want to do...

Protein
Fibre
Water
Sleep
Steps

Protein is numero uno. Get that sorted. You dont have to have breky if you cant face it just have your 3 meals later in the day instead.
And yes to fitting the ripple in if wanted. No need to deprive yourself.
But remember that the usual reason for not losing is not being in a deficit to begin with. That wont mean eating less food necessarily, if you are smart with your food choices. Protein at each meal, lots of veggies aswell. Eat the carbs but pay attention to carb sources - oats/sweet potato/new potatoes/ fruit i find best for me. And all the veggies.

Given that you don’t eat breakfast, why not crack on with the 16:8 intermittent fast? Couple this with a high protein diet and a calorie deficit and you’ll shed the weight.

I done the 16:8 intermittent fasting along with a 1,800 calorie (or as close to that as I could) deficit and concentrated on getting as much protein as I could. I found if my first meal of the day at 11am was very protein rich, roughly 40-50 grams, I wouldn’t feel hungry until the evening, thus not reaching for snacks. I lost almost a stone in a month.

Op I'm the same height as you and when I want to drop weight I have to cut my calories to between 1200 and 1300. My diet isn't miserable I still get to eat things I enjoy but I do have to think about what fits into my calories for the day - at the moment you are eating approx a third of daily calories through high sugar snacks. Cut that down to one sugary snack a day. Also, don't eat the calories you 'earn' by exercising.

You have to cut back a bit - the crackers, frozen yoghurt etc. are adding a lot of calories to your diet. Also, have breakfast (boiled egg on toast or porridge) as this will kick start your metabolism and cut down on the fruit (full of sugar). Drink lots of water (no wine of course) and exercise as much as you can, Good luck!

Also as I think someone has touched on further up, weigh portions of things like cereal, pasta, rice you'll be surprised how little a portion is. If I didn't make DS weigh his cereal he'd have about 3 portions in one go.

For the past 2 weeks I've cut out ultra processed foods (apart from 2 rich teas, my only sweet treat), cut out bread and reduced general carb intake.

I do relax a bit at the weekend.

I've already lost 4lb and am starting to feel less sluggish.

My willpower is generally rubbish but once you see the pounds coming off, it spurs you on.

Set yourself a goal and stick with it.

I find it bloody hard not eating what I want but I seem to crave chocolate, cakes etc a lot less than I thought I would.

Good luck 😊

It does of you are trying to lose weight !!

20 ish years ago we had to watch the documentary Supersize Me at school. I remember being really shocked that when he went back to his old (healthy) diet, the weight didn't just come off atuomatically. He had to work really hard and I believe it took him 14 months to lose the 11kg he put on from the experiment.

Random example of course, but the point is you've been overeating for a bit as your lifestyle has changed. Now you have to effectively undereat for a little while so your body uses the stored fat for energy until you get to a point where you can get the balance and maintain.

Personally I'd be keeping an eye on sugar and carbs, purely because of the effect they have on blood sugar levels, which is what causes the crash and feeling starving. If you can keep a handle on that and levels stable, it'll be a lot easier.

Thank you - yes I think what’s so demoralising is how it isn’t shifting! Well I cut out the ripple last night 😞 and had one spoon of rice instead of two. Today is a new day!

Unfortunately I've had to practically starve myself to start losing weight. I'm only eating one meal a day and having meal replacement shakes for the other meals.

No, it is not healthy, but neither is being 13 stone at 5'4 and literally nothing else has worked for me.