AIBU to think I'm not eating too much?

[Secretlifeofme]

I'm getting a bit frustrated because I am reading healthily and exercising and although I lost quite a lot of weight last year (7kg) a couple of kg have crept back on Oct Christmas and I can't seem to shift them. A friend has suggested I might be eating too much but I really don't think I am! Here's what I have each day:

Breakfast ; a shake made with one banana, a handful of spinach and 75ml coconut milk

Lunch : 100-150g chicken with salad or vegetables

Dinner : a salmon fillet with vegetables, or a fillet of white fish with vegetables, or a red pepper stuffed with lentils, spinach and feta

I have a couple of coffees a day - usually one Americano and one cappuccino - and I snack on a protein bar in the afternoon. And that's it! I have an active job, do about 15k steps per day without trying and do an exercise DVD two to three times a week. On Saturdays DH and I have a 'day off' where we eat what we want pretty much.

So my AIBU is to ask, am I BU to think this isn't too much? I'm 5 foot 2 and currently weigh 62kg, which is at least 2kg over what I woukd like to weigh. Where am I going wrong? Any advice appreciated!

EATING healthily, not reading healthily

No biscuits, cake, chocolates at all?

Nope, only on Saturdays. Well, maybe once or at the most twice a week I'll have a biscuit at work with my coffee.

Well if you are not losing weight, and you want to, you are eating/drinking too much.

I get that GreenThing but I just don't know how I could eat less or better really. To me it doesn't seem unreasonable to have one day off per week... I don't know, what do you all think?

It depends, it doesn’t sound like a lot but some of the things you eat could be surprisingly calorific.

Breakfast - banana 105 calories average, 175 calories in the coconut milk and say 20 for a bit of spinach - so breakfast 300 calories. You could have a more filling breakfast than a smoothie for that amount but it isn’t really a high calorie meal anyway.

The chicken and salad will be quite low as long as you are baking the chicken and not adding sauces or dressings to the salad

Dinner, cheese can be quite high in calories and if you are using lots then that’s a potential issue. Similar with sauces and dressings.

The coffees might be where you are getting a surprise - at least 150 calories each for those. Swapping with home made coffee would save you some calories.

On your day off do you really go for the food? Could be you have a fair deficit throughout the week then are cancelling it all out with chocolate and high calorie treats on your day off, if you have a 1000 calorie deficit a week it’s easy to negate that and then some more with a big bar of chocolate and a take away dinner.

That's an interesting point about the day off, thank you buzz. We don't 'really go for it' IMO but we will have, say, eggs Benedict for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and maybe pssta for dinner, so maybe all the carbs are negating the deficit!

Annoyingly the only way you can lose weight is eat less. You may be eating a small amount already but your metabolism is obviously very efficient at using what you eat as fuel.

How many calories in your banana and coconut milk? If you change that for something as filling but lower calorie you would lose weight I would think. But it will take a long time as you are eating well already.

Change the cappuccino for a regular coffee with a little bit of sugar. That will save you 100 calories a day. What else is in the protein bar? Some of those have quite a few calories in them. Maybe change it for an apple? Or egg/tuna salad?

sorry should say regular coffee with a little bit of milk not sugar!

Doesn’t look like a lot to me, I don’t think its too much but maybe tweak the macros? I would be hungry if I ate the diet you eat as there is very little fat in it. Are you hungry?

Well done on the 7kg tho! Overall the meals look v healthy nutrition wise.

You must be near to target - I used the calculator and you are on the line for BMI

In my experience those few last lbs are the hardest to lose. You may have to try something new eg intermittent fasting. Like shocking the body. Or a new type of exercise different to what you’re doing eg Hiit or weights if you’re not doing that?

I do high fat low carb/Keto. Obv it’s not for everyone but I am never hungry any more and I don’t crave or obsess about food any more and have not yet eaten today. Fat is the key to this.
So for me I would up the fat eg add butter to your veg, eat fattier meats and lose the protein bar which prob has sugar in it. Could you add some more fat to your brekkie or lunch eg an avocado in lieu of the carby fruit? I adore bananas but they are carb-heavy.

If your not weighing your food and figuring out the calorie content you’ll never know will you?
You don’t mention your age which impacts your metabolism.?
It’s all about calories in and calories out, if your not loosing your underestimating your intake or overestimating how much your exercise is worth.

Try using my fitness pal app or similar for a few days, then you can see what you are eating in actual calories. If you are still struggling after that go GP and get your thyroid checked

Get rid of the coconut milk in your shake (replace with Almond/Cashew/Soy milk) and cut out the dairy generally.

I don't think the amount of food is the issue but look for the highest calories and replace them. See if that works to shift.

And perhaps cycle in some intermittent fasting - that should shift some stubborn weight pretty quickly, even 5:2 will help.

Just checked and the protein bar has 237 calories, which I guess is a lot for a snack :( I could also switch the cappuccino, that's a good idea Home MadeMadness. I don't really want to change my breakfast because the whole point is that it fills me up until lunch without any snacking other than my coffee.

Weight loss is about getting the right calorie deficit. Doesn't matter how a programme dresses that up e.g. SW it all comes down to that.

Do you know your calorie intake to maintain versus lose weight? Are you tracking the calories on what you consume?

Also, strength and resistance training are much better for long term fat loss than cardio. Measure your progress in other ways with the tape measure or % body fat lost. Weight alone is not an accurate measurement of progress or a motivator.

I don’t think you’re eating too much. I’m a similar height and also find it hard because those extra kilos are difficult to hide! Maybe your body is just settling into the weight it should be?

eggs benedict is a lot more calories tan you think! 600-900 depending on how much sauce you have!

For tips and advice I would go to dietdoctor

15k steps at minimal effort isn't a great deal of exercise. Up the intensity of it or add a daily routine part that significantly raises your heart rate

i think the protein bar is a no go personally, the calories in those are ridiculous. I weigh 8 stone 11 at 5'3 after losing 10kg (weight gained following depression). I'm currently trying to shift 7 pounds and am losing about 2 pounds a week eating this:

Breakfast: handful of weetabix minis with skimmed milk but I don't drink the milk (not a fan of milk in general)

Lunch: protein with rice (I'm bad at eating enough veg)

Dinner: protein with potato or rice and maybe a vegetable if I can remember/be bothered to cook

Snacks: fibre one 90 cal bars (any of them, i love these things)

I only drink water and green tea. If I need a coffee I'll have a skinny flat white. No sugar.

I also do 0 exercise and am in a desk job

OP how much "over" are you? Wondering if you're struggling to lose because you haven't got much to lose and so you're maintaining on a healthy diet?

What milk in your cappuccino? Def swap that snack bar though, lots sit around 99 cals so even if you had two that's 190 calories a week (38x5) less or 800 odd a month

Is this similar to what you were eating when you started your weight loss? If so, presumably with the lower weight, you now need fewer calories to maintain, so will need to cut back again.

With the exercise, I find you always need to keep pushing, as my body gets used to what I can do, so the exertion is less, and thus fewer calories burnt. So if 15,000 steps is your normal, your body will be used to it, and will need more / something different to get burning again.

No offence housebuildingsos and well done on your weight loss but I don't think your diet would work for me. I get very bloated and flabby looking if I eat too many carbs.

Get a Jillian Michaels 30day shred dvd (£5 on Amazon), and try 5:2 too.