Where is my diet going wrong and keeping me obese?

[BoobsGalore]

I am mid 50s. Weigh 94 kg.
Always been curvy, have lipedema (heavy diet -resistant legs) on HRT.
Spent years on low fat artificial sweetener type diets, now for the last 5 years eat less UPF, no low fat anything. Try to be reasonably low carb.

I am doing intermittent fasting (16/8) since early Aug and have lost 4.5 kg but it's painfully slow.
Tried mounjaro back in Spring but had to come off it after it triggered terrible panic attacks.

I am photographing my meals for my intermittent fasting app. Here is yesterday's food - spinach omelette for brunch and a bean and courgette stew for dinner. I had 2 slices of home made bread, a handful of mixed nuts, and an apple as well as what is pictured. Will add a couple of other days as well. Is it the carbs?

I have noticed I don't drink enough - about 1.5 litres a day of tea, coffee, diet coke (1 can a day, I think it's an addiction) and squash or water. Would that make a huge difference?

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/friday-favorites-the-best-diet-for-weight-loss-and-disease-prevention/

The AI does an automatic conversion of the food into a log, which is why I am taking the pictures.

OP your stats are virtually identical to mine - same age group, height and diet resistant bottom heaviness.

It's been a lifelong problem but really escalated in last 5 years (had rapid menopause due to breast cancer) and earlier this year I found myself at 100kg

I went on Mounjaro and thankfully I have tolerated it well. My diet is nowhere near as considered as yours but I just don't think about food any more.

Interestingly, although all my stats have gone in the right direction (BMI close to Overweight category rather than Obese), my body fat is still very high (top of highest banding)

Next steps is to address the fitness and hope that this will help bring the fat levels down. This hasn't been an easy fix but I had to do something to reduce my cancer recurrence risk.

Sorry - no useful advice but wanted to post to say I really identify with your specific situation. I'm going to start weight training soon hopefully and will let you know if it helps address the stubborn fat!

You're not doing anything wrong You're losing weight so just carry on? What is it that you think should be happening?

So you have a daily calorie count? Can it accurately assess the size of the portions?

What calorie deficit are you in?

could it be that having lipedema just means that weight loss is going to be slower?

your meals looks great.

Your meals look very healthy and you are losing weight. But if you want to lose more quickly I would:

Drop the DC
Drop the biscuits
Drop the bread
Drop the wraps
Drop the potatoes

And replace them with more protein (eggs, chicken, fish) and salad. And drink only water.

And end up falling off the wagon entirely within weeks, or pile the weight back on rapidly when you reintroduce them.

Im sorry but this just isn’t sustainable as a lifestyle change, and isn’t good advice.

What does that description mean? I don't think that OP needs to reduce the volume of the meals but your comment shows a significant misunderstanding about volume eating and its role in obesity. If you are prone as I am to large portions you tend to overeat most types of food, it's rarely limited to cucumber and tomatoes, so while the pictures are of healthy food and calorie light items OP might just want to check she isn't applying those sizes to other items too. I'm sure she isn't and I've already given my advice which is to change nothing. However you don't have to be disparaging about others while giving your view do you.

Hey OP, I can see you’ve already had loads of great responses on this thread.

First, I want to say a massive well done on your weight loss so far…it might not feel like you’ve made as much progress as you would have wanted, but it’s not easy to shift weight through good eating, and it takes time to adjust and to build new habits. Please give yourself more credit for what you have achieved so far. And for sticking at it, even (or maybe especially) when the mounjaro didn’t work out for you. I can imagine it would have been very easy to throw in the towel at that point. And you didn’t.

Second, as someone who has done an awful lot of IF over the years (mainly 5:2, as I found that works better for me in lots of ways), I think your portions look pretty good, mostly. It worth bearing in mind that quiche is unbelievably high calorie (terrifyingly so!) and so are avocados, despite also being super healthy. I’d say it’s worth thinking a bit more about the protein / fat / carb / veg / fibre balance for each meal, increasing the latter 2 with loads more beans, lentils, broccoli etc will help with feeling full as well as being better for you and supporting good gut health etc. I’d recommend Skyr yogurt (fat free, high protein, no sweetener or sugar) as a brilliant way to get extra protein into a meal - if works really well with a small splash of honey as a dessert or with zero/low sugar breakfast cereal like bran flakes in the morning with a few berries.

And finally….as others have already pointed out…at this point, the best way to speed up your weight loss journey is not to decrease the “calories-in”- there’s no benefit in feeling like you are constantly hungry and it will end up causing you to give up - but to increase the “calories-out”. You need to move a lot more. Walking the dog is good, but it’s not going to be the game changer you’re looking for right now. Really, you need to find something that gets your heart rate up and you breaking a sweat for at least 30 minutes, three times a week. That might sound like a lot, but actually it’s the minimum to aim for! You’ll be amazed at how quickly weight starts to drop and also how fast your body shape changes….

If you can, I would recommend trying a few different cardio classes at a local fitness centre: there’s such a huge range of options, from Zumba to spin to aerobics. Don’t allow yourself to feel self conscious about not knowing what you’re doing - that’s what the classes are there for! - but do push yourself to try a whole load of different things….you’ll never know how much you love kickboxing, water aerobics or circuit sessions until you try them!

Your meals look great but if you're not in a calorie deficit you won't lose weight. If you can cut out the biscuits that will probably create more of a significant deficit and you may lose a bit quicker but you've lost over a kilo a month on pretty easy changes so I think you're doing well!

Any food thread attracts the teeny tinies. They can be harmful so I’ll point it out as much I like. HTH.

I agree with those suggesting more protein and fewer refined carbs, cutting out sugar and artificial sweeteners, and getting more targetted exercise.

Dr. Becky has a lot of useful advice regarding sugar/sweeteners and her short talks amte very motivational, e.g.:

For exercise, look at Growingannanas - lots of workouts, both with and without weights.

They also attract people like yourself who use childish names.

I expect you call overweight women 'Fatty Watties'? 🙄

ThanksItHasPockets · Today 14:22

BoobsGalore · Today 14:

What calorie deficit are you in?

The OP is averaging just under a 500 calorie per day deficit which is perfect for effective long term weight loss.

I agree that this would be an ideal calorie deficit for sustainable weight loss but I don't understand how you know this. Have you calculated her TDEE and her caloric intake based on the photos?

I don't know what my calorie deficit is.
I don't think I have it in me to track by calories unless it gets done by AI. I am just not good at that kind of minutiae.

I guess I was hoping by cutting breakfast and all those evening snacks out I would be cutting calories.

Whatever I do needs to be sustainable long term and this feels like it is ATM. I have done so many 600 cal a day/shake diets/ slimming world / weight watchers / vlcd food substitute type diets and lost a stone or two very quickly only to pile it back on in record time. I need to do something I can stick to.

I do learn quickly so learning what snacks I can have within approx a 200 cal limit a day, for example, I could sustain.

They also attract people like yourself who use childish names.

I expect you call overweight women 'Fatty Watties'?🙄

🙄

Not at all, but I object to people with disordered eating coming on every food thread to tell others that they're eating too much, when they're clearly not. OP is in calorie deficit, as she is losing weight and sounds like she's doing it sensibly. Being told that her portion sizes are 'absolutely massive' is bullshit and harmful.

Diet coke has no calories.

Cut down the tea and coffee. If you have milk or sugar in them those calories can really add up. Try and drink more water.

I understand that, but I do think in general upfs do something to the body that is separate from their calorific content.

Is something like skyr, mentioned up thread, different from all the "fat free yogurts" I ate for 20 years?

I have 2 tea and 1 coffee most days. A splash of milk in the tea, and a little cream in the coffee (hangover from keto days...)

OP is mid 50s so does need her calcium in rand to be good though.

*intake

The breads you are choosing are very high in calories....