Why am I not losing weight?

[PuppyDay]

I am late 40s and in the last year I’ve put on 4kg. I want to lose it before the summer holidays and to get back to my normal weight and size. I have a lot of nice clothes that currently don’t fit well and I want to get back to them too.

for three weeks I have tracked calories in MyFitnessPal and stick to 1,500 a day. I intermittent fast and only eat in a seven hour window. I drink only black coffee, herbal tea and water. This is a big reduction in what I eat and I’m hungry a lot of the time. I go to the gym five times a week and do 10km on the bike and resistance 10 keeping rpm over 100 and by the end I’m covered in sweat. I then do 20 mins of weights. I also walk 10,000 steps or more each day.

in three weeks of this I have lost 0.3 of a kg. No more. Why????

1,500 may just be to many for your late 40s metabolism. You are losing but slowly. I’d up the exercise and cut back to 1,400 for a week and see what happens. (Also, try measuring. Muscle weighs more than fat so you may be losing inches but not weight).

Are your clothes feeling looser though? As you go to the gym a lot could it be that you are increasing your muscle mass hence the weight isn’t getting that much lower?

It’s hard to exercise more as I also work full time and have kids and a puppy at home who I feel guilty about already with 45 mins at the gym. I will have to work out how to use that 45 mins better rather than extend it.

Welcome to perimenopause OP. The weight gain/ difficulty losing is the only thing that hasn’t improved with HRT for me. It’s apparently to do with cortisol metabolism in response to fluctuating oestrogen levels. It’s awful.

You can still lose weight, but it takes much longer and a lot more effort than it would have done previously, and it’s ridiculously easy to gain it back again.

I would suggest resetting your expected timescale to your target weight. Good luck 💐

Is this level of exercise a big increase? PPs suggest you'll be building muscle which is actually not really possible in a calorie deficit but you may well be retaining a lot of water from the increase in exercise. If you're in a calorie deficit you will be losing fat, but it may take a little longer to evidence on the scales.

Weight loss happens in the kitchen not the gym. Obviously the exercise is great but it's the calories you need to be confident of.

If I eat 1500 calories a day I put on weight. I suggest 1200 max and less if possible. I eat an 89 calorie cereal bar for breakfast and a salad bowl from a supermarket for lunch and then a SMALL portion of dinner. No snacks and no alcohol plus some exercise. I am losing weight, but slowly. Exercise will tone you but not cause great weight loss.

I feared ppl would say it’s peri and is going to be difficult. So far I have no other symptoms of perimenopause but the weight gain.

i will look at calories again too but I’m so hungry compared to normal already.

as to whether it’s an increase in exercise for me I’d say it’s much more consistent and frequent. I usually do similar but twice a week. Five times is a big step up.

I will also try and be patient. The idea that it’s retained water is comforting.

Wow! You exercice a lot AND you are on a calorie restricted diet. No wonder you are hungry! If you are not losing weight I think it's because you are already at an optimal weight. You told us it's 4 kg "too much" but maybe they are not too much at all but the new optimal you. With all that exercice you must be fit and look good. Can you not embrace that and stop thinking about kilos?
As for clothes- sell them and buy new on Vinted.

How much protein are you eating? Do less cardio and increase the weights.

I couldn’t possibly manage the exercise plus the walking on 1,200 calories. Plus I need to stay alert at work. I could change how I get the calories I am eating but I’m already concentrating on protein and salad with minimal refined carbs. Maybe less salad and fruit and more protein could be the key?

I am 5’11” which may or may not justify needing a few more calories.

You have omitted what you generally eat? Breakfast, lunch, evening meal, snacks?

At 5’11” you need those calories. How much alcohol do you drink? For me this is the thing that adds the weight, despite being a light drinker. I do light exercise daily and diet but soon as I cut it out, the weight drops off. Another factor could be water retention, it's worth checking that out too.

Don’t go to 1200 cals, you will be utterly miserable and won’t sustain it. Even 1500 at your height is very low.
the muscle weighing more than fat is also rubbish I’m afraid - the difference is tiny and it’s really unlikely you have built that much substantial muscle so far!
if you are definitely being honest with yourself and are weighing absolutely everything, including bites and tastes and snacks and you aren’t eating more on weekends etc then just be patient, it will come. How your clothes feel or measurements are a much better indicator of what is going on.

What are your weight and height?

How are you monitoring your calorie intake? Are you accurately weighing and measuring everything you consume, including drinks?

You are hungry because you are doing a hell of a lot of cardio exercise. Exercise smarter instead of harder and switch to lifting weights instead in the gym. You don't need to do five sessions a week either.

Whatever your stage in life, you only lose weight by consuming fewer calories than you expend. Posters will tell you all sorts of reasons you're not losing, but that's the simple fact.

First off, it is totally possible to lose weight at peri and menopause

As a PP has said, you lose weight in the kitchen - not the gym

Are you actually eating enough? What are you eating?

I start work at 5;30am and get through till around 1pm before I eat - just liquids before then. Cos Im home then I can sit and enjoy a decent meal - this week Ive alternated between cottage cheese/salads/mackerel and rye bread ( I slice ) and a veggie packed Dahl with hard cheese to the side. That will then keep me going till dinner - a plate that is half full of veg, then a protein usually chicken and a small portion of carb - boiled potato , wholewheat pasta, brown rice, couscous/quinoa . If Im peckish or wanting something sweet I take greek yoghurt and berries. Brunch at the weekends will be bacon medallions, eggs, mushrooms , tomatoes and beans

I either lose a pound or stay the same because there are times when I do snack - I'm human. Good days Ill snack on fruit and protein, other days it will be chocolate biscuits

Took 10 months to shift 2 stone and Ive been keeping it off for coming 2 years ( started at 58 and now facing 61 ) I walk most days and cycle when I can. Injury means gyms are not on my radar

Try 1400, that was the tipping point for me. I had to go to 1200 to lose the last stone, and I do plenty of exercise as well. Personally I couldn't do it without Mounjaro though, and I eat out and can't weigh and measure everything so calories will always be an estimation.

I have black coffee only until lunch time.

Lunch varies but most days is something like two boiled eggs, three large sliced tomatoes, quarter of an avocado on small live of rye bread sprinkled with 20g of crumbled feta.

Afternoon snack has been fruit only: mangos, berries or kiwi with more black coffee. No other drinks but water.

evening meal has been things like a salmon bowl with a grilled salmon steak, mango and avocado salsa and a US cup measurement of brown rice. Green salad on the side with a tablespoon of dressing.

I’m 69.5kg and 5’11”

Have you room for a treadmill at home?

I feel hungrier when I do weights than cardio. Plus I burn off 500 calories in a weights focused session or in a cardio focused session so what are you saying, waft a couple of 2kg dumbells around instead?

Are you not starving?

@PuppyDay

I am also 5 11
Mate you are skinny, BMI 21
Step away from the diet, live your life

You are already very slim - in my experience losing those 'vanity' kgs is hard especially as we get older.

No judgement as I like to be slim but it does mean for me not eating a great deal.

I agree with this. Op you are tall and your weight seems perfect maybe tone areas, for confidence but perhaps that is your weight now.