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????

Insulin resistance? I was you and exercised well but hit 48 and just kept gaining weight I’d work my socks off doing everything fasting, calorie counting, higher protein but would lose 1lb then gain back 1.5lb. Awful cycle then last year tried lowest dose of mounjaro lost 3stone very easily over 9months period in my early 50s. I literally melted off fat doing exactly what I’d done before. Honestly hitting menopause is horrible for weight gain & hormones completely working against any weight loss!

3 weeks isn't long enough. You will have gained muscle for sure, the weather is warmer so you will probably be retaining more water. My weight can easily fluctuate 1.5 kg from one day to the next.
Weight loss is not linear, and not the same as fat loss.
Imprint that on your brain!
You are burning fat, just keep going and the loss will show up with a big weight loss whoosh!

I have to eat under 1000 to lose weight and it sucks. I have the metabolism of a slug. But over the last few weeks I have lost weight and got back into my clothes. I would say for me, it is torture, now I will have to be extra careful to not put it all back on again.

She won't have gained muscle in a calorie deficit in 3 weeks. That's not physically possible.

Why don't you look at peer reviewed research to prove yourself wrong? As long as she is eating plenty of protein it is possible for a female to gain over 1kg in the first month.

Apologies if someone has already said this @PuppyDay but I think you are over-training. At your age, if you exercise that much and reduce calorie intake, you are putting your body into constant stress and cortisol will reign supreme and lay down fat no matter what. Reduce the cardio, switch to yoga or Pilates, research the hormonal impact of what you eat and your routine, amend accordingly. It doesn’t remove perimenopause symptoms but will give you an easier ride with or without HRT.

Losing weight is 80pc calories and 20pc excercise. I would concentrate on the calories myself,

Sorry to say it, but am glad to hear others have a problem with keeping the weight off, not necessarily losing it as such!

I swear to god I only have to look at a piece of bread and I'm up half a kilo next day!

I'm 5.6 and 68.5k which is fine I know and all my clothes fit me. But the horror of stepping on the scales after a nice lunch on a Sunday for example, no awful stuff and no dessert etc. to see 1kg up! The swear words coming out of me would make anyone blush!

I don't understand it either. Eating high protein low carb in modest amounts, no alcohol, no sugary stuff, no UPF, nothing fried etc. and so on, and it just won't budge, or I gain! I am 60+ now and this has only happened in the last year, after years of stability. Bloods and GP check all fine, so no thyroid etc. issues. I'm fed up with it, but I'm not on my own it seems!

This is madness! You have a BMI of 21.5 already! Please don’t get obsessed with dieting when you already a lovely weight.

Newbie gains are possible but under the following conditions, none of which apply to the OP;
the woman is new to lifting weights ❌
the woman eats 2g protein per kg of body weight ❌
the woman has high body fat ❌
The woman is focused on weight training ❌

I'm sorry but unless you're working to a very specific programme with a trainer it's pretty much impossible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit. Yes I should have said almost physically impossible but the line about gaining muscle or muscle weighing more than fat is always brought out in these threads and the woman in question is NEVER actually eating and training in a way that would allow for muscle gain.

I completely understand how you feel op, losing weight is so tough.

1500 cals feels like nothing at all.

I'd just keep on being strict and you will eventually lose. 1500 is probably you're tdee so you'd have to go lower (I know) to lose quicker

1500 is too many calories to lose weight at our age. I’ve been trying to lose weight for about 7 weeks and it’s taking longer than it used to. I’ve managed to loses about 3kg but it’s shocked me how long it’s taking, compared to how quickly it used to come off.

My BMI was still within the healthy range but I couldn’t fit in to my clothes so that’s why I wanted to lose weight. Ideally I want to be about 60kg (I was 69kg and now 66kg)

People would say when you get in to your mid 40’s it takes longer to lose the weight and I thought naaah but bludy hell they are absolutely right!

I don’t really exercise either so it’s purely down to diet.

You do know that different bodies use different quantities of calories to function? 1500 might be too much for you but it won't be for someone else!

My BMR is 1568 currently as long as I less than this, even if I do absolutely no exercise I will lose weight. BMR is what you need to just exist. To breath, for your cells to function, for you to digest food.
An accurate calculation gives you a baseline. Then it is how you make up those calories. Intense exercise will build muscle but also weight. How your clothes fit will be a better indicator of if you are losing inches if you exercise regularly.
When I was training for the sport I was involved with in my 20s I was at my thinnest when I was training ( running, weight training etc) I could eat well over myBMR without gaining inches round my waist. I carried very little subcutaneous fat. When I stopped training I didn’t gain weight but did fill out as muscle was replaced by fat.
To be honest I looked better with a more rounded figure.
Unfortunately I developed endometriosis and treatment ( hormone blockers) put me into a temporary menopause. Then , followed by pregnancy in my early 40s meant it was a struggle to lose weight. I’m now post meno and determined to go back to a healthier BMI. It will probably take another 6-12 mnths to reach that goal, I’m wary of rapid weight loss due to previous experience so will continue to take it slowly.

I have currently plateaued but this gives me the opportunity to see how my eating affects weight maintenance. There is no point losing weight and then returning to previous eating habits. it is reinforcing the idea that changes I have made are likely to be life long.

You should be working from your TDEE not your BMR

I'm 45 and been taking moutjaro for 3 weeks,lost half a stone so far.Nothinh worked before that

OP if you got to 60g you would be underweight.

I don't think she could take it at BMI 21 though, even with other conditions that would make you qualify for it.

I agree but I still put weight on whenever I started a new exercise regime even in a deficit. It's down to muscle tears and repairs which makes you retain water.

Sure, but that's not actually 'putting on weight' as it's temporary water retention!

Sure, but it shows on the scales and can be off-putting. When I was younger the gain was temporary and only a couple of weeks, but when you are older and had not been exercising for a long time or seriously upping exercise it can take weeks or months to disappear.

I spent a year building a good exercise routine, fitness and muscle when I was able to start going to the gym again and just carrying on eating the same (which was a good balance but not little enough to lose weight) and not weighing myself before starting to cut calories.

I think it's super-hard to seriously increase exercise and cut calories and it's better to do one at a time. Good sleep and things like having enough iron, magnesium and collagen are also really important.

You aren't eating enough and you are doing too much cardio.

I'm early 40s, 5.6 for context, and can lose weight on 1800 calories and just doing 8k steps a day when I watch my macros (30% protein, 40% carb and 30% fat). I've literally lost 1.8lbs in the last 2 weeks doing this.

Admittedly I am at the start of the diet so expect it to slow down, but essentially my plan is:

3 full body weights sessions x a week at the gym for 1 hour

10k - 12k a day steps

On the gym days as the diet progresses I will add in 1 then 2 cardio sessions (swim most likely).

By lifting heavy you only drop body fat and don't drop muscle tissue which is a premium if you are in your 40s.

I did this when I was 42 - 12 weeks heavy lifting eating in a calorie surplus to build muscle where I gained half a stone, then 10 weeks in a calorie deficit while lifting heavy where I dropped just under half a stone.

The difference was the half stone I lost was entirely body fat. So I looked completely different despite actually being slightly heavier than at the start- I looked like one of those fit people which I never thought would be possible.

Calories (and carbs) are necessary for body processes. If you did nothing all day you might survive on 1200 calories but your body isn't going to let go of any weight and it will slow you down. You can keep going for so long but eventually you break mentally. Whereas if you eat more then you have enough calories for things like digestion, hormone synthesis, growing hair, healthy skin, adequate vitamin and mineral intake.

My advice is to ignore the weight on the scales and focus more on body composition i.e how much muscle mass you have and what your body fat % is.

Well it’s clearly too much for OP as that’s why she’s not losing weight!

I've been on the HBD (Human Being Diet) for 5 weeks and lost so much weight, its calorie restriction and no exercise. Basically it's 3 meals a day made up of protein and veg and a 5 hour gap between each meal. Black coffee at the meals only and water all the time. No exercise apart from walking. Whilst it may not work for you it's worth looking at the principles.
Ironically it's almost the same diet as my friends on the weight loss jabs but they exercise too.

I would ditch the cardio other than your walking and just do weights 3 times a week in the gym. Full body or any split you fancy.

Keep protein high.

I'm heavier than what I consider my ideal weight but I can fit all my clothes from then as I am more muscly and less body fat. I can see abs which I couldn't at half a stone lighter.

Muscle is so important to healthy aging.

So basically, eat at maintenance and do body recomposition.