To think i should have lost some weight?

[Sunshinerainbowslollipops]

I am very overweight and for the last 2 weeks I've cut out sugar. This is massive for me as on a regular day I would eat a sharing bag of chocolate, biscuits, sweets on top of my usual meals. So now I am eating the same but minus the 1000s of calories of all the sugar treats. So, for example, a usual day will be -

Breakfast - wholemeal toast with cashew nut butter, banana
Lunch - 1x ham sandwich or a sausage roll, grapes
Dinner - sausage casserole, greek yoghurt and then fruit

Sometimes I've had pizza and unhealthy options but no different to my usual diet just minus all the snacks. Sometimes i was eating up to 2000 calories in sugar filled snacks.

I am sticking with it but its a but gutting not to see a massive difference. Ive lost 4 pounds but nothing this week. Surely it should be falling off given I am 4 stone overweight?

Well done for kicking the sugar. It’s a great start. Do try to start to incorporate vegetables. It does make a difference because you crowd out the bad stuff. Salads, stir fry’s boiled veg on the side even if you’re having the sausage roll. And I totally agree about reducing the carbs. I find low carb high fat good for energy and weight loss but everyone is different.

Lot of bollocks on this thread.

You've lost 4 pounds in 2 weeks OP! That's good! I know its fustrating that it feels like you lost 4 pounds in one week and none in the other, but I really wouldn't worry. Its not linear. Just because it appears steady this week doesn't mean its stopped already.

And you are right to only change what you can cope with. Whats the point in changing your diet so dramatically it feels like suffering and then quitting after a month? This way is much better.

Also, as you lose weight (and you WILL keep losing weight!) you will have more energy and feel more like exercising.

If you need to tweak your diet more there's no rush.Just keep going and see how you feel. You might want/need to tweak it more to get to the weight you want but there is no rush to do it now. Take another look maybe in a couple of months.

I have been in this situation too and couldn't work out why until I was brutally honest with myself and wrote down everything that went into my mouth - turns out that I was cutting out chocolate and biscuits and crisps etc but replacing them with ryvita and jam, or extra fruit or bags of nuts (and not the 6 nuts which make up one portion!)

You need to weight all your 'small spoonsful' - I was having a spoon or two of greek yoghurt thinking I was really healthy when it actually amounted to over 200 cals - added to that the 'sprinkling' of granola and my 'healthy' snack came to over 400 calories.

Well done on the changes you have made, your diet is definitely much improved!

I would gradually reduce the calories a bit more, I wouldn't cut carbs if you want to stay motivated and especially not if you're wanting to exercise a lot to get healthier. Keep it simple, burn more calories than you eat and you're going to lose weight. The key is consistency.

It's a huge step to cut out a lot of sugar, so well done you and it's a brilliant first step. I'd get used to what you are doing now, then think of making another small change - ie upping your exercise. Then in a few weeks, another little step and so on. I've been losing weight for over a year, just over 3 stone so far and the trick is to look at it long term that something you can keep up with. I'm 47 and it's taken me years to realise that fad drastic diets just make you more overweight in the end. I've got a fitbit, i've gone from a target of 8000 steps to 14000 over 6 months, and count my calories. It really is just eating less, and moving more in ways that you can stick to. Well done for taking a first step towards a healthier you.

I’m sure I’m going to get accused of trolling this site to preach about this but

CALORIE DEFICIT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT

You've got some high fat foods and some high fat carbs in there, OP.
It's one or the other!

Either go low carb or low fat. Don't mix carbs and fat if you want to lose weight.

Hit send too early

What you eat to achieve this will impact how you feel and will impact whether you are able to stick to it long term and importantly your health

But unless you eat less calories than your body uses you won’t utilise fat stores

Well done on cutting back the sugar which leads to irregular blood sugar spikes causing people to reach for a fix but the key is always calorie deficit

I am overweight too OP. I have just moved from obese to overweight.

On 1800 to 2000 calories a day I would maintain. My reducing your intake you have stopped yourself putting on weight again this week which is good but if you want to lose weight you need to reduce your calories to 1200.

Fruit sugars are no healthier than refined sugar. Worth researching insulin and the impact it has on weight loss/gain.

I think you just need to cut back a tiny bit more and then slightly adjust your ideas on how quickly you should lose weight. Its better to have something you can happily stick to and lose weight slowly but steadily (0.5-1lb a week). You've already made a huge improvement to your diet in terms of health and don't forget even on a strict diet week 2 is often a slow loss week.

I would keep your food how it is but just up the amount of veg and decrease your protein and carb. Fill half your plate with veg and half with the others. That might be enough to do it. If not just cut back a tiny bit at a time so your diet becomes something you can live with for life.

You were probably gaining weight every week before. So cutting out the sugary snacks has helped you to maintain, which is a great start. Now you need to get serious and start counting calories. I'm overweight (was obese) and have to eat less than 1200 calories a day to lose 1-2lbs a week. To achieve this, I cut out bread entirely because it's so calorific. For example, your sample menu is around 1600 calories (ignoring the sausage roll):

Breakfast - wholemeal toast (200 cals) with cashew nut butter (150 cals), banana (100 cals)
Lunch - 1x ham (90 cals) sandwich (250 cals) or a sausage roll, grapes (100 cals)
Dinner - sausage casserole (at a rough estimate, 500 cals?), greek yoghurt (150 cals) and then fruit (say 1 apple, 50 cals)

And that's assuming you're eating standard-sized portions, which the vast majority of people don't, and not adding any sauces. Plus it's not taking into consideration any drinks.

Personally, anything like low carb or high fat or whatever doesn't work for me as it's just too restrictive and I get bored. I do try to limit my carbs though, as I find my body reacts very badly to them (far easier to lose weight gained through protein than carbs, for me). But in general, I just keep my calorie intake to below 1200 a day (apart from Friday nights when I relax a bit) and I usually lost 2lbs a week (am pregnant now so things have changed a bit - although I kept following the principals and am still below my starting pregnancy weight).

You've made a great start - keep going!

You are doing great. 2lb weight loss per week is ideal and easily sustainable. If you can keep this up, you would lose a stone in under two months (and it would be more likely to stay off).

Celebrate your successes! It can't have been easy to make such a drastic diet change. You have shown yourself you can do it, and so you can just keep building on what you learn. Some people do great on counting calories, some people like low carb high fat, some people like the simplicity of allowed/ not allowed plans like slimming world. Everyone is different.

But seriously, don't be discouraged. Very fast weight loss is not usually sustainable or even healthful. I don't know why we are conditioned to unrealistic expectations. It's all about what happens over time.

I can also understand why 1200 calories feels daunting - it’s really not that much food. Why not aim for 1700 next and see what happens, we’re all different.

I eat 800 cals per day and it's plenty of food. (Mostly salad and veg and high fat yogurt/cheese etc.)

Very fast weight loss is not usually sustainable or even healthful.

Current scientific thinking disagrees with you.

Dear god, people are unique stop saying you must eat this amount of calories it’s what I do

You might be a 5ft and 6 stone waif that doesn’t move more than a sloth , the OP might be 6ft tall and have an active job that and would have completely different calorie requirements

Use a proper calorie calculator to determine your personal calorie targets, something like Harris Benedicts formula

*Very fast weight loss is not usually sustainable or even healthful.

Current scientific thinking disagrees with you*

I'm not sure there's exactly a consensus on that

www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html

The 800 cals level in the BSD is set for medical purposes.

People are so sanctimonious. The OP has made huge changes to her diet. She should be encouraged and applauded. I hate the sugar nazis and their horror of fruit and other completely normal and healthy food. It's a form of eating disorder! You have Davina and Deluded Ella to thank..

Hear, hear to this ^

You are doing really well, you've cut out a load of sugar, you've lost 4lbs! Keep going and don't listen to idiots telling you to cut out fruit and the 'carbs are bad' brigade.

Don't forget natural sugar is still sugar, OP. If you want fruit, blueberries and the like are better options.

You're making some good starts, as refined sugar is really bad for you, and I really applaud that, as someone who fails miserably to cut it out. But you will learn a lot if you use an app like myfitnesspal that will track fat, carbs etc for you.

Also, exercise. Walk, walk, walk. You'll feel much better and be much healthier!

Oh and also the scales are evil. You get so down when you haven't lost. Don't fall into that trap as that way lies thinking, "fuck it" and guzzling bad stuff! Concentrate more on inches/how your clothes fit.

But you have lost weight!! 4 pounds in 2 weeks, that's fab. If you continued at even half that rate you would be slim in a year or less.

4 pounds the first week is loads so I think the body resettles itself the second week and you may not lose.

Keep at it and well done!!

Thank you so much everyone, tons of fab ideas and support, i really appreciate it. For the first week i had constant migraines, the shakes, vomiting, all sugar withdrawal! I feel a lot better now and positive about sticking to it. Ive taken on board all the comments and know how i can go forward now which is good. Oh and quite a few people asked about drinks - I used to drink 2-4 litres of juice, squash or fizzy a day, now 2 litres of water only. I dont drink alcohol or tea or coffee as I dont like the taste. Thanks again

Well done on cutting out all the crappy drinks, I think people just drink things like fruit juice without realising how many calories there are in it. You sound like you have the situation in hand