... to tell you that diets don't work for everyone

[Wroxie]

Today is my 9 month anniversary of tracking every bite of food that's gone into my mouth, with the exception noted below:

My birthday (one day in which I had, as I remember, pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, no lunch, and fish and chips + a couple of donuts for dinner).

And that's it. I don't drink alcohol. No takeaways. No restaurants. Nothing that I didn't weigh, portion, and track faithfully. Even when I bake or make something from a recipe, every ingredient is weighed and the calories per serving calculated. I skip breakfast during the week and have normal, healthy food and smallish portions for lunch and dinner.

I eat, on average, 1,100 calories per day. I have a desk job but I walk for 30 minutes to an hour nearly every day.

Before this, my diet was pretty bad - takeaways 3-4 times per week, pastries for breakfast, sandwich with crisps and chocolate at lunch, biscuits whenever I felt like it- probably more than 2,500 calories most days (I'm 5'3" so that is A LOT).

And now, nine months later, I have gone from 13 stone to 12.3 stone. That's a grand total of ten pounds lost on an extremely restricted diet- and it was all within the first two months.

Please don't give me diet advice - no, I'm not in 'starvation mode' (because that's a complete myth). No, I don't need to 'cut carbs'. Seriously, I do not want your advice. What I want is to point out that, the next time you're tempted to say something asinine like 'it's just about calories in vs calories out' or to dismiss or vilify or judge someone based on their weight, to realise that the human body is not a two-stroke lawnmower engine and weight, food, activity, hormones, age, genes, and a million other factors are at play. Losing weight isn't simple and even with all the willpower in the world - which I have demonstrated - it isn't always possible.

I'm not giving up. I have gotten used to eating this way and I actually feel like my blood sugar is more regulated (no 'sinking feeling' a few hours after eating a big lunch, for example) and I know that as I get older, it will be better to, at the very least, not get any fatter. That, at least, I can probably do. But nothing short of eating less than 1000 calories per day or surgery or medication are going to get me to a 'normal' BMI.

It's not natural to eat the same amount every single day

Yes... the modern recommended diet forgets that in terms of evolution, we've not been designed with a Co-Op 4 doors away! We are designed to be hungry sometimes, and yet we are so uncomfortable with it, whilst also being advised to eat a diet that actively promotes hunger and cravings. It's disastrous (when you look at how unhealthy we are) and it's all money driven.

With a 1/2 walk a day, I only burn about 1500-1600 calories a day. If you are the sane, you are 'only' deficient of 200 calories (if you get it a bit wrong) to 400 a day. It would take me 9 months approximately to lose 10lbs. On a similar regime, I lost 4 pounds in 5 months.

Sadly, when you don't burn much naturally, usually because you have low resting heart rate, you need a list less. Very unfair indeed.

The only solution is to very much increase exercise. I try to do so to reach about 2000 calories a day 4 or 5 days a week.

So your weight loss could be totally normal for you and your diet is working, just slower than you wish.

you can literally do everything right and diet your ass off (lol) for a year and still be fat

Not unless you have an underlying condition that stops you losing weight.
It's all nonsense "Oh I'm on a starvation diet and can't lose weight"...rot. There are no fat people in a famine. It's delusional.

@IDontMindMarmite

If you are overweight, then dieting doesn't damage your metabolism or TDEE. Being slimmer reduces your TDEE because you need less energy to maintain your new lower weight. That's not damage.

Interestingly it really can be damaging long term. There was a study about the people who did the Biggest Loser TV program in the states and they have damaged their metabolisms long term off the back of extreme calorie restriction. Let me see if I can find a link.

That is though for prolonged extreme diets. These shows put them in such a massive deficit (because ehat show it would be losing 1-2kg a week) that it does have to have some negative effect. I remember reading that someone lost 30 pounds first week. 30 fucking pounds.

You aren't eating enough calories! I'd perhaps speak to a nutritionist, and come up with a workable plan for you and your lifestyle.

@Wroxie I haven’t seen you answer the thyroid question, it’s a condition often missed by medics as the symptoms can be diffuse and attributed to age/workload etc eg I’m dog tired, and they say well you’ve got a full time job and theee kids under 5 so of course your tired.

Just before dh finally got diagnosed 13 years after I’d pointed out he was underactive he was eating one chicken breast a day and a low cal evening meal and not losing anything. He lost a stone on thyroxine.

@EvaporatedHour

Also, I know you said you didn't want diet advice but I do know several people that have had problems losing weight and so did a diet such as the Cambridge diet or slim fast to really kick start their weight loss. Low carb diet works wonders too for people who struggle to lose weight, although I know you've said you don't want to cut carbs down.

Please don't do the Cambridge diet or similar, OP - I did them years ago in a desperate attempt to lose weight and it gave me gallstones (your body loses the ability to process fats normally) and had to have surgery.

After decades of dieting the only thing that worked for me was hypnotherapy - it took me off the diet treadmill and made me much happier (and stabilised me at a size 10 for 8 years now). The whole calorie counting obsession will only lead to more food fixation and make NOT prioritising eating even harder. Good luck!!

I pretty much stay the same weight whether i eat really healthily or dreadfully. Give or take 4lb.
Im 5ft5 and about 12.5st so overweight
I've given up trying to lose it and just enjoy what I eat.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-years-after-the-biggest-loser-metabolism-is-slower-and-weight-is-back-up/

www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/lessons-from-the-biggest-loser

@SchrodingersImmigrant

That is though for prolonged extreme diets. These shows put them in such a massive deficit (because ehat show it would be losing 1-2kg a week) that it does have to have some negative effect. I remember reading that someone lost 30 pounds first week. 30 fucking pounds.

I bet if those people had forgotten calories and instead gone low carb/Keto their metabolisms would have continued to have stayed high and the weight would still have come off quickly.

It such a shame their bodies have been irreversibly damaged for nothing.

I bet if those people had forgotten calories and instead gone low carb/Keto their metabolisms would have continued to have stayed high and the weight would still have come off quickly.

With the weightloss speed they would fuck their body over no matter what diet they would be on.

I do agree with you. Sometimes people stick to very restricted calories and exercise regularly, but weight just doesn't shift. This is why it is so important not to put on weight in the first place. Sometimes your body just seems to get stuck at a certain weight and stays there, so better to stick at a lower weight. All this eating for 2 garbage when you are pregnant seems to sabotage so many woman and leave them with a lifelong battle against their weight. Middle age is a disaster for weight gain too.

OP maybe look at Tim Spector research into the gut microbiome and it's relation to a healthy weight may help?

I did see a programme on weight loss and two women who had been morbidly obese and who had gastric bypass surgery both said they had to have a very low calorie diet to maintain this weight loss. They were very slim now but couldn't go back to eating more because they would start to put weight on again. The low calorie diet wasn't to do with their bypass surgery, but what their bodies would take without gaining weight. It was so depressing. Maybe they just had a slow metabolism? (Even though this has been mostly disproved)

Walking isn't going to burn many calories tbh. I walked that daily ,totally changed my diet & lost a stone then stalled, just like you. I was religious about no biscuits ,cake or chocolate ( my downfall)& proper calorie counted meal's. I only lost more when I started doing a 15min beginners workout twice a day. I'll never be up to the advanced workouts, I tried & they were too hard, so I just went from once a day to twice & found what works for me.

I have a friend who is about my size. A younger woman, but on heavy medications which make it hard to lose weight. She says that the ONLY thing which has ever helped her lose weight was running.

For a while, I tried to build up to running (walk, run 2 mins, walk, 2 mins run, increasing gradually) but it messed up my knees.

Interestingly it really can be damaging long term. There was a study about the people who did the Biggest Loser TV program in the states and they have damaged their metabolisms long term off the back of extreme calorie restriction. Let me see if I can find a link.

But obesity can be really damaging. Lots of very serious conditions which can kill you are linked to it, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer. It can also impact mobility and inflammation. Not a nice way to live!

A fellow shortie (5ft2) here. I have to go under 1000 calories, extremely low carb and fasting, to actually lose weight.
On around 1200 cals a day with 30 mins daily exercise (either running or HIIT), I maintain.

It's really disheartening having to calorie count and log everything, particularly to see no change. Well done for continuing regardless when there are snacks and temptations around every corner. Some days 1100 calories is perfectly fine, other days I'm still hungry, but god I'm sick of thinking about food. I know how you feel. Well done for not giving up.

@Joswis

For a while, I tried to build up to running (walk, run 2 mins, walk, 2 mins run, increasing gradually) but it messed up my knees.

Technique can make a huge difference in running. I thought for years, I couldn't run then saw a YouTube clip which covered technique and discovered I actually could run. Without the incredibly slow build up of couch to 5k either. I ran for 30mins straight off, barefoot inside because I didn't even own running shoes. I run 10k pretty much everyday now. Heel striking, for example is known to cause shin splints and knee problems.

That sounds like an interesting video @namochangoro, could you link it please?

What is the “metabolism”
Do people mean the endocrine system? Or something else?

Maybe they just had a slow metabolism? (Even though this has been mostly disproved)

If you look at the TDEE calculator, I linked to earlier (and some examples I gave from it), fat percentage can make a huge difference. You can be pretty slim but with low muscle mass and a higher fat percentage comparatively which would mean your body burns less calories than somebody with more muscle mass.

@IDontMindMarmite

This was the one.

I also found this useful.

Thank you very much!

OP sorry if you answered the question, I did have a good look through your replies but I couldn't see it.
Have you had your thyroid checked?