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 ??

That seems like a huge amount of calories. I ran 9miles yesterday and only just hit 3000 calories (total 24k steps over the day).

I would recommend getting scales that measure your fat and muscle percentage also. I lost 1 1/2 stone last year and but over the start of this year i noticed my weight was creeping up but i hadn't changed anything. I got some smart scales and lo and behold I weight more but my fat percentage is going down and my muscle percentage going up!

Could you recommend a set, please? 🙏

https://noerden.io/products/minimi smart scales, they work fine.

I completely agree tbh.

I've lost huge amounts of weight before.......I lost 10 stone with slimming world and put the lot back on because it wasn't sustainable. (( it's also the reason I developed GERD )) I know my diet is good and I'm getting all the nutrients without being too restrictive.........just surprised at how slow things are given my high activity levels.

For those questioning the steps / calorie burn shown.......as I'm significantly overweight my burn will be higher. I'd use up around 2000 a day even if I just lay in bed all day ! I'm lifting heavy goods and working up a sweat for roughly 8 hours of the 10 I'm in work, I also walk to work and back which is a 3 mile round trip. So 22000 or so steps works out at less than 1 mile per hour. Which seems pretty accurate to me.

Going forward I'm going to start drinking a lot more water as I don't drink anywhere near enough and also look at my body fat. I've definitely noticed changes especially my upper arms and thighs which are becoming a lot more muscular, I'm also a lot faster at work and not getting so tired out which are the most important things. It shows my health is at least improving.

Those are the scales I have, my son threw away the instructions and can I hell work out how to set them up 🤣🤣🤣

How old are you, any changing hormone influences do you think?

It’s a shame you can’t just lie in bed all day and eat 1800 cals then!

@TheThreeCheesesOfTheApocalypse44 please learn from the past, large amounts of quick weight loss are not sustainable. Most of the posters on this thread are talking about when they lost a lot of weight but none of them are talking about how they sustained that loss.

Yo-yo dieting is so dangerous for your body. It strips your muscle mass over time, as each time you go on a restrictive diet you lose muscle mass, and then when the bingeing starts you pile on fat. That then has an effect on your metabolism, your fitness and your hormone levels. Do that a couple of times and it will become nigh on impossible to lose weight in a sustainable way. Not to mention, your body shape will change as each time you regain you get flabbier. My doctor once told me that it's better to maintain a 5% or 10% weight loss long term than to keep losing and gaining.

4 years ago I was nearly 23 stone. I am now 17 stone. I went from a size 24-26 to a size 18-20. It took me nearly 3 years to lose that weight, and while I want to lose more, I will not risk yo-yoing. Some weeks I only lost 100g, other weeks I gained a bit. But the trajectory went in the right direction. And I'm hoping to continue that trajectory.

I calorie count, I prioritise protein and I weight train and do cardio. I do not restrict any food groups whatsoever. My current daily calorie target is 1700. Most days I'm above that, some days below. That's absolutely fine.

Your body needs to recalibrate and recover. You need to give it time. I don't often post on these sort of threads as it pains me to read about how much so many women seem to hate their bodies and restrict their lives, it's not necessary.

Well done for trying to get healthier OP- sounds like you are already losing fat and building muscle.
I work a job with a similar step count to you (though not the heavy lifting element) plus a regular gym goer- I was unable to lose weight until I adjusted my diet.
What worked for me was:

• weighing everything and using myfitnesspal to track
• eating two healthy meals per day
• increasing protein intake to stay full for longer
• not a couting for exercise calories on mfp
• eating less UPFs

I have lost around 12kg, and I noticed thatmi naturally eat proper portion sizes now and have a healthier relationship with food

Good luck

OP are you about 19 stone?
If plugged that in to one of those calculators giving you a height of 5'8".
That gives a BMR of 2000

Even then daily very intense exercise uses less than 4000 cals.
I guess it's neither here, nor there, if you're not losing weight, you're not losing weight. But I'd be wary of whatever app/tracker/watch you're using.

https://www.withings.com/uk/en/body-smart?_gl=116ilhio_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwh4-wBhB3EiwAeJsppMO10736FDwzkrgoxhKkvbiR8SIJmyRzHVD-pEQcOjfN-C_4jeLeVhoC8rwQAvD_BwE

We have these, they are fab.

I've lost 5 stone (actually I lost 6.5 but put 1.5 back on again, oops) and quite genuinely, hand on heart, the only way I can lose more than 1lb a week is to stick to around 1000 calories a day, high protein, low carbs, ABSOLUTELY NO BREAD. Seriously, even if I eat barely anything else, if I eat bread I will not lose weight. I do allow myself a Friday off and have "cheat meal" and a couple of glasses of wine but I fast 7pm-midday every day. And I weigh everything, and count everything, including oils, sauces, drinks etc. Oh, and exercise makes very little difference (although it definitely helps tone up the loose flab!).

I'm under no illusions that what I was eating to put on all the weight was disastrous and this situation is of my own making, but through a very serious effort to lose weight over the past two years, I've come to the conclusion that some people's metabolisms really are different. Mine means that to lose weight I have to really restrict myself. That's just life.

Oh and drinking water and getting enough sleep. Huge difference!

OP could you possibly be diabetic? Is it worth popping to the doctors and checking?

Ignore the exercise, makes a negligible difference to weight loss. Your body just slows down to make up for calorie burn.

You're obviously really active which is always a good start. However calories on Fitbit are notoriously inaccurate.

You're in a deficit as you're losing, but you need to be in a higher one to reach your goals.

My friend also wore her fit bit on her dominant hand and would get twice the amount of steps etc.
Mine used to tell me I had burnt 2500 cals. It was wrong. I put on weight.

Your diet sounds good and variety- the half a spoon of sugar will add up though - that's 2tsps a day just being drunk. Sorry to be pernickety.

Eyeballing is fine if you've been tracking for a while and just want to maintain, lose a small amount like you're doing.

If you want to lose more, you have to track and be consistent.
Butter on bread, a biscuit here and there that's forgotten about. It all adds up.
Do you drink often.
I can only lose the weight if I each 1500 cals a day and up it to 1800-2000 at weekends.
This includes 3 exercise classes a week where at least 400 calories are burnt. My body is pretty exhausted from it tbh. I also do a physical job.

Age, height and weight all play a big part. Protein is your friend. And it's a longer process and can be frustrating. Keep going

Ignore the exercise, makes a negligible difference to weight loss. Your body just slows down to make up for calorie burn.

Is this true?
I understand that people often think they've used up more calories than they actually have, but the body slowing down? Why do people who do lots of exercise need to eat more food?

There is recent research that shows yes this is true. There was a study that showed something along the lines of tribal people who were constantly active all day burned no more calories than an office worker.

Please don't let this put anybody off being active which is necessary for a healthy body. I think the message "exercise is pointless" is dangerous as exercise has loads of benefits. I think the sentiment "you can't outrun a bad diet" is more accurate as it takes quite a lot of activity to "burn off" x amount of food.

Although I am overweight my weight is usually pretty stable. I recently spent 3 months doing an online course which meant sitting on my bum for hours for 4 evenings a week - getting my dinner handed to me in front of the computer- and I put on half a stone.

I heard in the past that a runner for example often unconsciously compensates for their exertion, by lazing around later in the day for example, but exercise and general activity in moderation maintains muscle mass, flexibility, heart health and much more I am sure.

I know it was a joke when someone said laze in bed and eat 1800 calories but just think how quickly people lose their muscle mass and strength when they become bedbound.

After my weight gain I have been to a gym for the first time in a decade. While the treadmills used to be in high demand when I was in my 20s for the people I saw on this visit it was all about the weights even in the ladies room which I used.

The current trend in gyms seems to be all about the weights for building muscle mass and being strong and with that greater muscle mass people will be burning more calories 24 hours a day as muscle requires more energy than fat.

I think a mix of weights for maintaining muscle mass and cardio for heart health and "fitness" is probably the best mix.

I think if someone reads that exercise is pointless for weight loss and that causes them to give up their walking/jogging/exercise class/swimming - whatever they do for an active lifestyle they will be physically worse off for that decision.

@TheThreeCheesesOfTheApocalypse44 don't pay too much attention to your step count. Steps are good for general activity, but for weight loss, it is the speed at which you undertake them that is important.

In physics, power = work / time and you need power to burn calories. You could do ten times the steps slowly and burn less than doing half the amount quickly.

Incidentally, 10000 steps per day originated from a marketing campaign for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics (AFAIK). The Japanese character for 10000 resembles a person walking. It appears to have stuck as some sort of mystical target.

Better than 10000 minutes of Netflix though.

DH wasn't losing weight even though doing loads of exercise, he runs marathons every couple of weeks and runs in-between, goes for very long hikes, cycles a lot. He is now strictly counting his calories and is eating about 1800-2000 a day and is losing a kg a week. He was wildly overestimating how much he could eat from doing all the exercise he does.

Very much on point.
In order to burn calories, you have to raise your heart rate

Walking the dog = great for overall fitness but won't make you lose weight

Running 5k 2/3 times per week might start doing something but you'd have to be very careful to not eat the calories back. If you run 10mi per week and your diet remains exactly the same, you should lose around 500g a month.

We just got a Peloton a couple of months ago and our bodies have changed. We cycle for about 6 hours a week and do around 6 hours of strength training (each not between us!)

I do cardio 3x times a week usually running but it's adding in strength training 2-3 times a week that made a huge difference to my weight and how I feel about my body.
I know people who will run, their fitbit will say they've burnt 500 calories for example so they think they can eat 500 more, but it doesn't work like that. For example and making these up they might burn 150 calories in an hour doing nothing, so running for an hour burnt 500 so they've burned 350 more then they should have, treat themselves to 500 to make up for running and overeaten by 150!
Hoping that makes sense

Yes different fitness watches and apps measure it differently, DH was using something that was total calories so including the resting ones, Apple Watch is active calories so that is calculated on top of your resting calories, mine was always much less than DH's for the same walk.