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?

As OP said they are 119 cals each.
OP is quite capable of reading a packet.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/310123337

That sounds nice.

Have you considered swapping slimline for Fevertree naturally light (no sweeteners)

No need to be a sarky arse, there are nine pages to this thread and I didn't read them all. It's quite clear the OP is eating a lot of food.

Those crosta and mollica wraps are 119 cal each.

I maybe making a lot of mistakes but there is zero chance that curry meal was 1000 cal.
It was 120cal of rice, 120 cal of wraps, the bhuna sauce was 350 for the jar and I served 4 people with it so around 80 or 90 calories, 100g chicken less than 200 calories , plus 20 odd peas and a teaspoon of mango chutney. Maybe 600 cal at the outside?

The prawn wraps were 2 x 120 cal for the wraps. Mayo 106 per tablespoon. Prawns 63 cal for half the pack, which I had. Lettuce 10 cal maybe? 400 odd cal for the pair. I take your point that it's not a lot of food for 400 cal, but it's really not 1000 calories.

@BoobsGalore - your food is mostly healthy and delicious. You are losing weight, slowly but steadily. Just keep on doing more of the same.

If you think it might be helpful...

• substitute refined carbs with complex and plant-based carbs: quinoa, cauliflower, lentils etc
• cut out or at least reduce all added sugar and diet sodas
• do some serious weight/resistance based exercise (check out Caroline Girvan if you want to commit to real results)

She's eating enough food to sustain life, be healthy AND lose weight.

Whether that is counted as 'a lot' of food is debateable.

People do actually need calories and intake to function.

The problem is you waded in without a clue of what you were talking about.

You are getting a lot of hate and I am sorry for that. ]
Truth is losing weight as we get older is very hard. So every bite will count when it comes to create a calorie deficit. Those few nuts, having an avocado on a salad, having a wrap and rice in the same meal, ... might sabotage you.
You are losing weight, slowly , yes I agree.

You will be getting all sort of nutrition zealots here each preaching their diet gospel. Low carb or fasting or both or diet-coke-is-making-you-fat.

You have plenty of fresh food which is great. However, you have also calorie dense foods, and sometimes you should consider swaps to add fibre, so instead of a wrap that is roughly 100 calories, eat 300 grams of boiled green beans. Same calories, more fibre, more food, more satisfaction. Instead of several slices of avocado, have one and add endive to your salad.
Aubergine parmesan and mozzarella is delicious but a bit rich. Have roasted aubergine slices and prawns, just sautéed in a pan, with the tiniest amount of oil. Or if you have a rich lunch which is ok occasionally because we live and life is made of joy as well, you will have a light dinner. Homemade tomato soup, without bread. Add nutritional yeast for more nutrients.

It is unfair how the body holds on to every gram of fat and it takes effort to lose body fat but you are on the right track.

Yes I second Cormoran. I have been losing weight since August but using Mounjaro atm. It is painful how hard it is to lose weight at this age (I'm 56). I track everything on Nutracheck and usually eat under 1000 calories a day but still only losing 1lb a week. Other times in my life I've been able to lose 1 stone in about 6 weeks - not anymore. I do advocate tracking if you can as just have to be very disciplined at this age. And agree that exercise has little affect on weight although obviously good for general health.

This is going to sound harsh and I do mean it to. You came on here for advice about why you are not meeting your diet goals. Lots of people on here the medical and science professions. Lots of people have walked in your shoes. Lots of people have told you that Diet Coke is sabotaging your efforts.
You say you are ‘going to try to to cut down’

I ask this is all seriousness. What is it about this drink that is worth sabotaging your health and your weight loss journey.

With your multiple responses, I don’t think you’re understanding that the link between obesity and diet fizz (and there is one, proven by multiple scientific studies) has nothing to do with calories.

I don’t think your portion sizes are too large, but I do think you’re not eating enough protein. I’m a similar age and lost 3 stone by eating in a calorie deficit, exercising and focusing on protein. Low carb, intermittent fasting etc all work because they reduce the number of calories you eat. I low carbed for years, but it wasn’t sustainable and I’d give up and binge on toast and biscuits. If you eat lots of protein, lots of veg and some good carbs limit upf and keep in a calorie deficit you’ll lose weight. If you include some weight baring exercise you’ll improve your long term health, tone up and improve your mental health.

The lipoedema will stop you from losing weight. It's not only going to be in the legs as time goes on you're getting in your arms and it will spread to your hips and then to your stomach.

You can diet as much as you like but you will never have a normal body. do carry on with the intermittent fasting cut down the carbs and also omega-6 fats. if you can eliminate sugar altogether that will help.

I agree with all of this. I would think this posters example of numbers is about right too, based on OPs age, height weight etc making 1lb a week about right to lose.

Posters suggesting cutting out/down on milk, eggs and nuts are being irresponsible. OP needs nutrients and shes not having an excessive amount of these foods, so they should remain in her diet as they’re nutritionally dense.

As you get older, if you’re not particularly active but need to lose weight whilst getting your nutritional needs met, it is a slow process. Obviously cutting out biscuits and alcohol will help as they are high calorie but have low nutritional value.

There is only do much you can cut down you’d eating whilst being healthy. If you increase exercise, the sort that really increases your heart rate, you’ll increase the calories you can have, of increase your calorie deficit and lose faster

Yes, focusing on protein and fibre, especially fruit and veg is good, yes more exercise would be beneficial, especially weights, and yes, artificial sweeteners aren't great. But basically you just need to accept that in your 50s, sustained weight loss is slow and tedious. You've lost about 1.5kg a month over 3 months, with very little exercise and still having treats (cheesecake, biscuits, madelines).

I am also in my 50s, I walk 13k steps a day and weight train 4 or 5 days a week, and I have lost 25kg. It's taken me 18 months, so 1.38kg a month on average. My Dr is delighted and showed me stuff at my last appoinment to show my my super-slow loss has outperformed the average loss both at the year mark and the 18 month mark of allt he new weight-loss jabs (as people often lose fast but it doesn't stay off).

I use Nutracheck and scales to track my food as I mostly cook from scratch, your AI would be too vague for me, especially for stuff like mayonnaise where a measured amount like an actual level tablepoon from a set of measuring spoons is tragically tiny compared with a dollop from an actual spoon. I don't think measured tracking is necessary for everyone, but you'll probably find you need to tighten up on things the longer you go and the smaller you get.

You wanted snack ideas

6 walnut halves 78 calories
30g Aldi mixed nuts 195 calories
(weigh a portion and cry about how small it is)

2 oreos 104 calories (but who eats the rest)
2 Jaffa cakes 82 cals
Bonne Maman Madelines 112 calories each
A lunch box malt loaf 92 cals

One medjool date 66 calories
two plums 60 calories
five prunes 100 calories
1 cup (165g) of pineapple chunks 82 calories
1 medium apple about 70cals
1 tbsp (16g) peanut butter 94 cals
Houmous 50g (sixth of a 300g pot) 115 cals
medium carrot 25 cals

medium hard boiled egg 65 cals
75g skyr yogurt + 100g grated cucumber + 1 tsp mint sauce 71 cals
lentil crisps (18g bag) 83 cals

Make coleslaw at home, get as much variety as possible in your veg.
Mix your homemade mayo 50/50 with skyr yogurt and save cals, this would probably fool the AI thingy that seems to be working so well for you.

Hopefully other can provide more ideas

More snack ideas

One packet baby sweetcorn lightly cooked + 1 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce + 1 tsp sesame seeds about 100 cals

Bonfire peas; Carlin peas + salt + vinegar about 90 cals per 100g
Hodmedods

Popcorn, oil popped 55 cals per cup (raid the spice cupboard for savoury flavours)
Kale powder, crumbled nori and salt/msg gives crispy seaweed flavour
Nutritional yeast, onion powder, waffer thin spring onion, salt and tiny bit of parmesan give superb cheese and onion.

Miso soup 21 cals (add a chopped spring onion and some tofu for a bigger snack)

Half a can of sardines in tomato sauce 105 cals
Rivita 37 cals each

2 big Cos lettuce leaves with houmous (rounded teaspoon or what measurers call a Tbsp) 25 cals

Cherry toms 3 cals each

50g of edamame beans cooked from frozen and served with a splash of soy sauce 90 cals

I realise that the alleged link is not about calories. Either way, it's a strange thing for so many people here to fixate on.

Maybe she just wants some pleasure in her life?
And I don't think it's the medical professionals going on about the diet coke.

Erm…hi! Medical professional here 🙌
More specifically, scientist specialising in metabolic clinical studies. And diet fizz has all sorts of terrible effects on the body (and not allegedly, either).

Do you really think a can a day of diet coke is the biggest problem facing an obese person?

I was heartened by Dr Idz here Diet Coke is the WORST THING you can drink!! 💀🏫🤔 #weightloss #fatlo... | TikTok

Do you really think a can a day of diet coke is the biggest problem facing an obese person?

I gave up diet soda early last July, I weighed 89 kg, by October I weighed 71kg. It worked for me, my sugar cravings went.

Don’t forget that with lipoedema a chunk of your weight will be from that. Are you being treated with compression for that?

It sounds like you’re doing really well.

Nowhere did I say it was the biggest problem. Try re-reading what I’ve written. And I’ll stick to fact-based scientific, peer-reviewed papers…and not TikTok 😂

I don't think your diet isn't working OP, it just takes time. You didn't become obese overnight and losing weight isn't an overnight process. I would try to incorporate more different veg, not just salad though - green leafy veg have plenty of vitamins, minerals and fibre and you can eat a lot of them to fill you up as they're generally low in calories.

Have dusted off the old exercise bike this morning and done an introductory workout.

Today's meals attached. In addition I have had a boiled egg, a plum and a home made no sugar muffin made with mashed banana, peanut butter, egg, oatmeal and raspberries.

I have had a diet coke, sorry, while sitting in a pub waiting for my autistic son to be calm enough to leave with a new D and D group!

The Brussels sprouts was bloody gorgeous.