Why am I so overweight? Help me to understand

[PomegranateVase]

I’m 3.5 stone overweight (over the top end of the ideal weight to height guidelines), but would be around 5 stone over the lowest end of the guidelines, and I’m a size 16-18.

I cook from scratch using fresh ingredients everyday, including lots of vegetables and broths. We typically eat lots of healthy Japanese food that I cook from scratch at least 3 times a week, and only eat meat, chicken or fish around 3-4 times per week.

5 days a week I do a 20 minute brisk walk.
Twice a week I walk for 2 hours at moderate speed.
3-4 times per month I walk for around 3 hours at moderate speed (so around 9-12 hours walking - in addition to the above).

I drink 2 cups of coffee daily with a little milk and 1 sugar, as well as 3-4 cups of tea with 1 sugar. I also drink sugar free squash, and only very occasionally treat myself to a sugar free fizzy drink.

I drink 1 or 2 bottles of wine per week, eat one share size crisps packet to myself, and eat a few biscuits.

A typical weekday looks like this:
•Avocado on 1 slice of sourdough toast with a coffee
•1 Nature Valley snack bar and a coffee
•Baxter’s carrot and butter bean soup with 1 slice sourdough toast and butter
•A couple of biscuits
•Homemade Japanese vegetable, tofu and noodle soup.
•3-4 cups of tea and squash.

My best friend is a size 14 and it as overweight as me. She drives everywhere and never walks and doesn’t do any form of exercise. She eats lots of processed foods daily, also takes sugar in her hot drinks, drinks the same amount of alcohol as me and eats 1 large fry up breakfast every week.

Another friend is a size 10-12 and eats lots of pasta and processed foods, drinks about the same amount of alcohol as me and walks probably about the same amount as me.

My thyroid is functioning normally.

I fail to understand how I’ve become so overweight by leading this lifestyle.

Please can you give me any advice or tips on how I can lose weight as I feel my diet is quite healthy already.

Could something be wrong with me medically if I am this overweight?

It's the wine, crisps and no exercise other than walking.

Alcohol
what job do you ?
bisucits - it all adds up
age? Makes a massive difference

How many calories are you eating a day (roughly)? If I ate that many carbs I would put on weight even though there not really bad carbs

Thats a lot of carbs there. I say that kindly because I can’t so much as look at carbs without putting on 5lbs 😐

Wine, crisps, biscuits.

Also look at your portion sizes.
Does any of the exercise you do get your heart rate up considerably?

And I say this as someone overweight, you’re underestimating juts a few biscuits and crispy etc
and those empty calories really add up

Walking doesn’t do anything for weight loss. Exercise generally doesn’t. You’re just eating too much. Annoyingly.

This.

It’s the level of snacking. The wine is a big factor too.

Walking is very good for you. But it’s not strenuous enough to ensure you burn calories for weight loss.

Really diet is the only thing that will lead to weight loss, helped by sufficient exercise that will ensure you keep burning calories after you finish exercising.

Hi @PomegranateVase , looks like you’re doing lots of good things, my only suggestions would be:
-limit the wine as much as you can, lots of sugar in it and empty calories clear spirits much better
-what’s worked for me ( especially from late 30’s) is really cutting down on portion size and having 2 meals a day ( around 10am brunch and 5pm dinner) then having a big fast. I personally found eating 3 meals per day and snacks even if it was healthy was not helping me lose weight
x

I am similar amount over weight. Looking at what you eat I wonder if you need more protein. Are you vegetarian?

It’s so tough isn’t it. I’m 2-3 stone overweight, and 4.5 stone heavier than I was a decade ago.

Like you I eat quite healthily, no sugar in hot drinks, cook most things from scratch, don’t drink much alcohol (2-4 glasses of wine a week. And not every week). I do eat more meat and chocolate than you- but don’t drive so also walk everywhere.

I think for me it’s a combination of age, genetics, years of disordered eating that fucked my metabolism, not enough sleep raising my cortisol, and a fast/binge eating pattern, that sees me push most of my calorie intake to late in the day.

The thing is, weight isn’t about what you eat or how much you exercise- it’s like a whole lifestyle / health thing. Diet and exercise is a big part of the puzzle- but far from all.

no advice, just empathy!

You don't really do any exercise, drink two bottles of wine to yourself and have biscuits everyday. All that, plus portion sizes, and it's very easy to put on weight unfortunately.

Im slightly over weight and know its due to my wine intake and lack of exercise and crisps. Im not overly a biscuit person really but wine is around 900 cals a bottle so 2 bottles is nearly 2000 extra calories a week. Not judging as I often have more. Biscuit and crisps add up. 20 mins is hardly any steps either really.

Too many snacks and carbs. And sadly the wine.

Walking is great but you need to do more of it at a faster pace.

But it’s mostly what you are eating.

It seems pretty clear why tbh.

I find walking to be great for weight loss/fitness but I really enjoy putting on a podcast and walking for a couple of hours.

Wine, crisps and biscuits. I’ve had to stop all three to loose 3 stone last year

You need a lot more protein, more exercise - preferably involving lifting weights - and to use My Fitness Pal or similar to help you work out how many calories you need, as well as how many you’re actually eating.

You might find you can get into a calorie deficit by cutting out the wine, crisps and biscuits but on the other hand you might want to adjust some other aspects of your diet. I would say what you’re eating is quite carby and sugary overall, and you’re almost certainly just consuming more calories than you think you are and than you need. You might be able to adjust really painlessly into a calorie deficit.

How old are you, and what do you eat on the days you don’t cook from scratch?

You may not be putting on weight now but if you’ve been the same weight for some time, you’re eating enough to maintain your weight rather than losing it.
Cut the biscuits out and only drink water or non sugary drinks. Try having the soup without bread or water crackers.

You need to put everything you consume into a tracker like My Fitness Pal for a week or so and see exactly how many calories you’re really consuming

I just think that we all have different metabolisms. My grandad ate like a horse and was skinny as a rake all his life. I think I inherited his genes and until menopause/ underactive thyroid kicked in, I was the same. I hate all this judgment about weight when it's obviously very complex. My mum has always battled with her weight and yet she eats healthily and is very active. It's genetics.

You don’t do much activity, are having two sets of sweet treats a day, sugar in drinks, crisps and alcohol. You’re eating more calories then you need to lose weight.

You need to start calories counting.

Biscuits, sugar, nature valley bars all add up quickly. You probably need to be eating far fewer calories than that, that would easily get close to 1800 calories.

Everyone has a different metabolism. All those sugar spikes from sugar in your tea could be creating insulin resistance and you could be approaching pre diabetes. Try cutting the sugar and sugar snacks and adding some weights.

Kindly, it's quite obvious why you're overweight. You are snacking every day and your exercise is walking which is great but won't make you lose any weight.

You are having six cups of hot drinks a day all containing sugar, plus biscuits or your Nature Valley bar.....so more sugar.

It does take some getting your head around. I was a size 16 and have gone down to a size 10-12 with the help of Mounjaro last year. I lost 4.5 stone and have now been off it a few months.

I intermittent fast, have two meals a day and no snacks and that is maintaining my weight. I'm not losing any more but I'm also not putting it on. If I added in a third meal plus snacks I'd definitely put on weight because my exercise is a daily 1 hour walk and a weekly yoga class.....both of which are good for me and I love but aren't burning loads of calories.

It’s just the calories . Too many of them !!! I wouldn’t worry so much about having some wine and treats at all . More just the total in exceeds the total burned . Walking is great but you need a good hour every day to help burn some extra calories . Also be as active as possible.

OP says herself she has two bottles of wine a week, plus a share bag of crisps and biscuits everyday - that's easily 4k calories on top of her normal diet.