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?

Skyr is different. It is traditional Icelandic yoghurt. No nasties, read the label because some manufacturers will add any old shit, just get a plain one to try.

Iagree 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 worked out how many pounds she has lost, multiplied it by 3500 (the number of calories in a pound) and divided the number by the approximate weeks the OP has been on a diet.

I have no idea what a TDEE is.

If you add up the tea, coffee, Diet Coke, biscuits, nuts- you are taking on a lot of extra calories

Many studies have been linked to diet fizzy drinks and obesity. It is much more complex than calorie count.

'Total daily energy expenditure', ie the number of calories that a person burns based on their height, weight, and activity level. Calorie deficit or surplus = TDEE - calories consumed.

I understand your rationale but I think your maths is a little off. A consistent 500kcal daily deficit from 4 August, for argument's sake as 'early August', would be 13 weeks and would equate to 13lb or just under 6kg lost.

I'm sure there must be AI tools which could calculate your calorie deficit, OP, but I'm not convinced that it's possible from a photo alone. If you would be prepared to find a way to track your calories manageably then this is likely to be helpful.

understand your rationale but I think your maths is a little off. A consistent 500kcal daily deficit from 4 August, for argument's sake as 'early August', would be 13 weeks and would equate to 13lb or just under 6kg lost

My mistake I forgot it was an early August start, I thought late August for some reason and didn’t double check.

So the OP has been eating on average 410 calories per day less than her body needs.

I thought that.

I disagree. @BoobsGalore's meals look delicious and healthy, though she could replace the refined carbs with vegetables and lentils - not just to reduce calories but also to control cravings.

And replace the snacks with some of those suggested by Dr Becky in my previous post.

Plus adding in some targetted weight bearing exercise - e.g. Growingannanas or Caroline Girvan - 3 to 4 times a week.

How?

Artificial sweeteners trigger the same responses as sugar so they don't stop sugar cravings. Better not to have them - drink water or fruit teas, etc.

As I said it is complex. They looked at whether it is only that people who are obese that triggers them to drink diet drinks or whether drinking them caused it. There were experiments on rats by giving some fizzy diet drinks and others water. They checked their gut bacteria and faecis and found that the artificial sweeteners broke down in different ways. This led to cravings for other sugars.

Tonight's dinner
Chicken bhuna
1 tbsp rice (so I don't feel hard done to)
Wholemeal wrap

Your tablespoons are very big 😉

Get some proper measures, like these from

I don’t want to be a portion twat but that’s considerably more than a tablespoon of rice, OP. Your dollop of mango chutney (if that’s what it is) is approx 1 tbsp.

Pleased to meet you.
Overweight people sometimes drink diet coke, but it's not the diet coke that's making them overweight.

Also, it seems to me that OP drinks enough liquids overall.

How is this useful to OP?

I understand that many of us will want to give advise but sometimes weight loss can be complicated and only professional assistance brings results. There is a weight loss coach on total-holistic.com who saved my life. Check it out and thank me later. He does not charge an arm and a leg either.

Yes, I don't think Diet Coke is good, but I don't believe all the stuff people say about it. It has no calories and is not what's making OP obese.

In addition, a life of plain water only would drive me to despair!

She has to have a life though.

There's nothing wrong with plain yogurt or plain skyr. Skyr has more protein so I suppose it's a bit better for weightloss.

Tea has almost no calories if no milk or sugar.
Plain coffee doesn't have much.
Diet Coke doesn't have any.
Biscuits I agree are not good for every day.
Nuts are very good for you so a little bit is OK, but I agree they are calorific.

That's much more than a tablespoon of rice. There's probably between 200.and 300 calories in the rice alone. When talking in tablespoons it is an actual measurement of around 15 ml rather than a big spoon or a serving spoon.

I'd cut out Diet Coke. I know someone who was obese and lost masses of weight just by stopping her Diet Coke habit (although she was drinking more than you every day. It's awful for you).

A link coud be an association and not a cause. I don't believe the studies are conclusive either.

Careful with fruit teas and the teeth. If you're going to be fussy about calorie free drinks...