Why oh why am I not losing weight ?? I should be a size zero by now 🙄 😒 😭

[TheThreeCheesesOfTheApocalypse44]

Fair enough it's only been a month in which time I've lost around 4ib.

I work a very physical job, according to my fitbit I walked 20000 steps today and spent 6 hours in a higher heart rate zone burning around 5000 calories.......this was actually a shorter day. I usually do between 8 and 10 hours.

Typical food day is 2 weetabix for breakfast. Or bowl of porridge. Sometimes have eggs.

Lunch is either homemade soup, usually vegetable and some sort of lentil or bean. Or a ham/chicken salad filled pitta bread. And a banana

Dinner I've been upping the veg and just having lower fat meats, less cheese and pasta etc. Tonight we had jambalaya, last night was chicken, New potatoes and veg. Normal stuff. Tomorrow we're having fritata and veg.

Don't really eat loads of fruit, have a handful of berries in my porridge sometimes or an apple. And have a low calorie (( under 100 cals )) most nights. Usually snack a Jack's or something.

Have around 4 mugs of tea a day with a splash of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar. Don't drink sugary drinks, mainly boiling water other than tea.

I know it's a story as old as time and asked on here a million times a week but where the hell am I going wrong ??

The only way I've ever lost weight is through calorie counting/ weighing food very accurately. I find it impossible to guess my calories without doing this. My suspicion would be you are eating more calories than you think. But only accurately tracking calories for a couple of weeks will let you know.

Your steps and zone minutes are really high! Way higher than mine and I'm not overweight. Your sleep looks poor though. What's going on there?

I'm not overly focused on firbit tbh, I mainly got it for the steps counter.

What I can tell you is I ache from head to toe and spending the day lifting and pulling heavy loads. As I said its very intense and none stop. Definitely gets the heart rate going !!

My Fitbit massively over estimates my calories.

good at steps.

I definitely recommend using MyFitnessPal to enter all your food consumption - enter everything, sugar in your tea, the butter you spread on your toast, the mayonnaise you have on your sandwich. I discovered I was eating an extra 500 calories a week that I wasn't aware of.

I also recommend weighing all your food and only eating the recommended portion size (usually of the pack).

Okay, well if you're not eating back the exercise calories it's irrelevant what Fitbit says anyway.

In that case like others I recommend weighing every single morsel for a week, just to be sure your portion sizes aren't bigger than you think. You want to be sure you are definitely eating 1500 (or whatever) rather than ploughing away and then finding this out three months from now!

Sleeps always been an issue for me.

I do find because work is so full on I find it hard to switch off as the adrenaline will still be going. I also work funny shifts, often 6 till 4pm so I'm up at 5.

I think I'm going to try calorie counting but there's no way in hell my lentils and veggie soups are adding up to thousands of calories a day. I'm not cheating by scoffing cakes. I'd only be fooling myself if I did that.

The calories burnt on your Fitbit is way way way overestimated - 4 times more than is realistic.

That is if that’s flat walking (I.e not loads of stairs, or carrying 25kg bags).

I’d be wary of eating any calories I’ve “earned” through activity. It’s an easy way to scupper weight loss.

Your step count is amazing. High five.

can you make these small changes:

• no sugar in your tea
• switch to skim milk (if you haven’t already)
• drop the snack a jack type things and have either a small portion of 0% Greek yogurt and blueberries or 2 squares very dark chocolate (75-85% cocoa content)
• could you swap the 2 weetabix for a poached egg on one slice toast?

When I’ve lost weight before it would be such a jaggy pattern if it was a line graph. Barely anything then a sudden plummet. Then level out again for a bit. Keep going and I’m sure it will start to drop more.

I'm just nosy to know what your job is! And if you're 6 stone overweight that must be really tough on your body to be that physical every day so huge kudos to you. I'd be asleep before my head hit the pillow with activity levels like that. You definitely would benefit from better sleep so maybe try meditating or one of the apps to switch off earlier?

Hi OP,
Is this very active job pretty new?
If so you might be changing your body composition and losing more fat but building muscle. More muscle will burn more calories at rest and look leaner at the same weight as it is heavier.

I don't know how you could do such an active job on a bowl of soup at midday- I would expect your limbs to feel like lead. I would think you would need carbs and protein at breakfast and lunch with such a job. E.g. tuna/chicken/baked pitatoes/pasta salad etc If you are in a big calorie deficit and not getting enough protein you will not be able to build and maintain the muscles that you need for a healthy body and to do your job.

I think you should try calorie counting carefully with a focus on "spending" most of those calories through your working day and including protein complex carbs at breakfast/lunch.

Fat leaves the body in urine, as well as sweat, breath etc.

No I've been there around 18 months......I've always been fairly active (( or factive as I call it )) despite my weight.

Before I used to eat my calories, would regularly have takeaways etc and spend my days off in bed. (( I'm out walking now the weather's better )) I also got into bad habits around food, especially when I had a 6am start. Now I make sure to get up 5 minutes earlier for a quick breakfast. My lunch isn't huge but I can never face much anyway and that was the same before, I'd usually buy a sandwich or something. Soup (( and it's always got lentils or beans in for protein and a banana really is enough. It would be like having a big meal before an aerobics class or something otherwise.

And I'm not saying where I work, knowing my luck tye Daily fail would pick it up and I'd find myself languishing in the sidebar of shame. !!

Oh and I also used to constantly have boiled sweets on the go, (( sweating cobs all day leaves me with a constantly dry mouth )) until I was horrified to learn that the butter mints I had a constant supply of had 130 cals in 3 of them. I was probably having 10 a day !! That's 400 calories in sweets alone ! So they've been swapped for sugar free gum.

Agree using a calorie tracker, I've been using Nutracheck which is easiest for UK brands and restaurants too.

From your OP, I'd definitely be logging everything and double checking pasta, potatoes, rice quantities. I would ban cheese too, the fat content is shocking!

I'd ideally swap lunch to a salad with lean protein rather than a filled pitta, though you may not find that enough fuel given your active job?

I also started with 6 stone to lose back in late October at a starting weight of 16st 5lbs. I am currently 13st 6lbs having cut out bread, pasta, pizza, chocolate, alcohol, high sugar and cheese. I've also heavily reduced my dairy intake and noticed a huge difference in how much better I feel for it. I should add I have gallbladder and liver issues so this has been my motivation and explains why I've been so restrictive.
I have found it fairly easy overall. Tricky first month but I'm used to it now and have found My Fitness Pal really motivational. I am honest about my calorie intake and upped my water intake a fair bit. Exercise is only accountable for around 20% of weight loss, diet is the biggest bit. So yes it does seem like maybe portion sizes or hidden calories somewhere that you've maybe not noticed. Well done on your loss so far, it's still a loss! And believe me you will get there. If I can anyone can.

Not an expert but I have heard bananas aren’t great for weight loss. Could you choose a different fruit? Maybe berries or even an avocado?

The most obvious thing to stop would be the sugar in your tea… could you try a hibiscus type teA instead? Sometimes they are a bit weird to begin with but you kind of adapt. I used to hate green tea but now prefer it to black. But that way you wouldn’t need the sugar or milk each time.

i think carrying on doing what you are doing is sustainable…there isn’t anything wrong with a banana.

What's your water intake?

Just did a really rough calorie calculation and assuming no condiments, cooking oil, sauces etc then the day below is about 1200 calories

B - 2x weetabix with semi skimmed milk

L - lentil soup and a medium banana

D skinless chicken breast, new potatoes and broccoli

S - Apple and snack a jack and 4 x cups of tea with milk and half a spoon of sugar

That's based on recommended serving size so if you're eyeballing the portions they may be bigger and therefore more calories

I think you are probably eating more calories than you think you are and would really recommend a couple of weeks of weighing and tracking your food just so you can get a good sense of what a portion size looks like and where most of your calories are coming from.

Your body uses water as part of the process to break down fat (lipolysis), also when losing weight we tend to up exercise which causes muscles to get sore and need to heal which also uses water. If you don't drink enough then your body will hold on to what it gets so you end up retaining water.

Don’t lose hope. Keep plugging on. When I dieted, I lost it at an even pace, then one week I didn’t lose anything and plateaued, then two weeks later I’d shed loads in one go.

I think your weight loss is fine, and if you're OK doing what you're doing (i.e. not starving/bored) it's best to keep at it.

I would have thought cutting carbs and upping protein would help but don't really understand your condition so that might not be the right advice for you.

Watch this -

It may help!

🩷

How hungry are you? When you have cut back calories enough to lose weight fairly rapidly then your body will let you know by making you feel very hungry. This is a much more accurate signal than calorie counting which people almost always get very wrong. In my experience a lot of overweight people are frightened of being hungry and experience the sensation as a type of pain. But it is a good signal that you are losing weight. (Obviously for someone underweight, pregnant etc, hunger would not be a good thing for long periods of time.)