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!

EmmaStone that's a great point actually about needing less to maintain! I hadn't thought of that. Maybe the posters suggesting MFP have a good point

Gighlebrain I have actually just started 30 day shred yesterday!

Keep your breakfast if it works for you

Any alcohol?

Your cheat day doesn’t sound horrendous tbh but hollandaise sauce is horrifically calorific (for the Calories I’d rather have a fry up)

Some things really are more calories than you think, sorry.

Try downloading MyFitnessPal and just log everything for a couple of weeks, including your 'off' days, see how much you really are having over the course of the week. Include drinks as well.

It's scary how much it turns out I was eating. And how little I need unless I do exercise.

I think there could be some sneaky calories there. 238 odd for the protein bar, 150-200 for the cappuccino, so that's maybe 450 on "snacks".

I'd also scrap the breakfast and try having scrambled eggs or a measured portion of porridge. You could be having 500 in the breakfast plus the 450 in snacks = 900 before you've even had lunch and dinner.

Swap the protein bar for a graze protein square at 137 cals or a fibre one bar at 98 cals, and swap the cappuccino for an espresso.

The only way to lose the last bit of weight is to document the calories. Especially if you are a small Woman whose been overweight and has had fluctuating weight.

Use my fitness Pal.

I'd throw in weights.

It's calories, not carbs that is the enemy.

The first law of thermodynamics means that if you are putting on weight then you are taking on more energy than you are using.

Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full.

Also, I am short and always thought I could have 2000 cals a day - as per guidelines for women.

Actually my base maintenance calorie intake is 1638. So where I was having 1700 and thinking I was 300 under a day, I was actually going over.

Check what your weight maintenance calorie intake should be, and what you should be having for a loss. If you need under 1400 for a loss then you could easily be going over that.

I'm another one recommending MFP - I was underestimating the size of my veg/salad portions, and it's pretty easy for me to overeat veg calories (harder with salad, I've found).

Also those coffee calories, protein bar and 'odd biscuit' - that's also where the extra calories could be coming from.

Not that coffee has any calories, but the milk

Depending on your life events, could be that your metabolism has shifted.

I'm just under 5'6", and for years used to be able to maintain a 'healthy' BMI on 2700kcal a day. When younger I was BMI ~21-21.5 when I was running etc. quite a lot. By 4 years ago I'd become mostly sedentary, but was still just under BMI25 with well-distributed fat when I got pregnant. I only put on 9kg over my pregnancy despite eating around 3500kcal av (no MS!) and was back to my pre-preg weight within days of the birth.

Then...I put all my pregnancy weight back on within 3 months. I've crunched the numbers (am a scientist at heart), and while I was eating a bit more choc/ crisps and moving slightly less, those wouldn't account on their own--esp as I was EBF.
I went back to my pre-preg work, lunch etc. routine when DD was 14mo, + 3x daily BF--still remained stubbornly 9kg over. Oh, and most of it was round my waist. Even adding 4x weekly running/ 40 miles cycling made little difference.

I eventually got back just under BMI25 by cutting down to around 1900kcal. I appreciate that still sounds a lot to many people, but was a 30% cutbearing in mind that my baseline diet was already rich in veg, bulky stuffand was only doable by using appetite suppressants. Waist smaller but still probably in the 'danger zone'.
I'm working through a few tests to see if there are any hormonal issues that could have caused the sudden tanking metabolism/ change in fat distribution...but my suspicion is that the BF triggered something.

Could be a 'life event' is at play with OP?

I think you need to log your food on something like my fitness pal even if you just do it for a week, you weigh everything and it will just give you a good idea of how many calories your actually eating as it can be easy to underestimate.

Breakfast sounds fine, as do lunch and dinner but watching portion size is important. Trouble with protein bars is they often have a lot of calories so not always a good choice of snack and cappuccinos are sneaky little buggers too and can have a fair few calories.

I also think a cheat day can undo a lot of hard work, so I would maybe only have the cheat day once a fortnight instead of weekly.

A couple of comments.

It's the weekend blow out that's doing it.

You need a deficit over the week to lose weight. if you are overriding your deficit with whatever you eat at the weekend, that's your solution.

You also need to cut the protein bar.
It's as much as a meal in itself. How about an apple? 60 cals and Vit C in it.

I am a round your height but weigh less.

If i ate what you did, which is a normalish day for me, without the protein bar, I'd stay the same weight.

I need to drop to around 1000-1200 cals a day to lose weight ( 400cals x 3 meals.)

Coconut milk is very fatty = high in cals. A banana is mainly carbs.
You'd be better off having 2 eggs scrambled with a teaspoon of butter ( around 160 cals) or adding a few mushrooms to it.

Your daily example is also lacking in calcium- no dairy to be seen and no other food that contributes much calcium. You need a minimum of 700mgs a day or a supplement.

Maybe swap the chicken & salad for tinned sardines or cottage cheese some days?

I think at your height you may be waaay over estimating how much you can eat without gaining weight. I’m 5’7” and my maintenance calories are only about 1600. So most likely you should be having at most 1300 or so (you can do a calculator online) to lose any weight at all and not gain any. Considering your breakfast and snacks alone come to 900ish calories like a pp mentioned, that only leaves you anywhere from maybe 200-400 calories for lunch and dinner which you’ll definitely be exceeding especially with your cheat day.

Also carbs aren’t any worse for you than anything else. You could have 1000 calories a day of chips or cake and you’d still lose weight. It’s a simple in vs out calculation.

Is there a reason you have the protein bar in the afternoon? You are already getting a fair amount of protein in your meals, and many protein bars also have a lot of refined sugar in them.

If you need that last push, I would go for alternate 36h fasting. It is surprisingly easy as you only feel slightly peckish at your normal meal times, so if you fill your tummy with broth/tea/coffee (strictly no sugar), after a while the hunger is completely gone exactly the same as if you had had a meal 😱

Also I found I only started to see my shape change after doing weights. Exercise DVDs and cardio is all very well, but they can’t beat building muscle. Just having greater muscle mass, your body will burn more calories even in a resting state. Muscle gives your body definition and toned look. I know plenty of thin people who look flabby and have poor posture. IMO I would shift focus from losing the last however many pounds to making yourself look and feel good.

PS def ditch the protein bar or any snacks come to it. They do more harm than good. Have plenty of healthy fat with your meal so you feel satisfied until your next meal. Do drink plenty of water/tea in between (no sugary stuff)

You are eating fairly healthily, but your example day does show some deficits of a good diet.

Possibly not enough fibre- you are only just getting 5 a day of fruit and veg. You need 3 veg at dinner as the salad only counts as 1, and the amount of spinach in your smoothie won't be a cupful.

Unless you eat some read meat, you risk being iron-deficient too because other than the lentils and spinach, there isn't any in that day.

Are you eating the same as you posted every day?
It's too same-y.
You need to get a wider variety into your diet, add eggs, dairy, more low-carb low sugar fruits ( so no grapes or bananas) .

Get a calorie tracker and strictly monitor what you eat for a few weeks. That will tell you clearly if you are exceeding your limit. It does nothing for example to be under one day if by the end of the week you’ve had a binge and you’re over by 600 calories from Doris wedding.

Keeping a proper track with an app will tell you more than the internet snap shot of one days meals

If you need that last push, I would go for alternate 36h fasting. It is surprisingly easy as you only feel slightly peckish at your normal meal times, so if you fill your tummy with broth/tea/coffee (strictly no sugar), after a while the hunger is completely gone exactly the same as if you had had a meal

What’s this? No food at all for 36 hours? How often?

Are you counting your steps? 15K a day is what- about 9/10 miles? what do you do to walk 9 miles?

Try keeping a food diary, I suspect you may eat more than you think. I would also look at balancing your diet, it looks low on somethings e.g. fibre. And also portion control is important it's really easy to underestimate how big the portion actually is.

One other thing do you buy your lunch or make it, some of the bought chicken salads have more salt, sugar and calories than a big Mac

Yes I am counting steps using my apple watch. I'm a teacher so always rushing about! And I don't think it's as much as that - I think it's 10-11 km which is about 7 miles I think

Have you calibrated your step counting, OH and I did the same walk one did 3000 steps the other did 7000 according to their fitbit. When we counted them the fit bit was counting twice as it wasn't on properly

Also Steps aren't as important as the speed of those steps, you need to be doing proper exercise that increases your heart rate and breathing