... 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.

@IDontMindMarmite, you're welcome.

I think the OP's post has actually proven the exact opposite of her title

Despite her being completely sedentary, by restricting her calorie intake she has lost 10lbs. So.... Diets do work.

If she is able-bodied, she seriously needs to start doing some exercise if she wants to lose more weight

I know there are a million reason why people can't / won't exercise, but she has already proven that her diet is working as she's lost weight by dieting... Adding exercise would help

One more persone here suggesting you get your thyroid checked.

I put on a lot of weight during my marriage. My husband runs on a high carb traditional 1970/80s type diet. Works for him. He is tall and slim. His mum worries about too much fat and meat, but there are loads of refined carbs. Plenty of bread, potatoes, cakes, scones, etc.

I was given a genetic test for Xmas one year. I downloaded the raw data to another company that gave me info about what diet would suit me. It said I was sensitive to carbs. I cut way back. Probably not to the point of going into KetoDiet or anything like that though. I lost 10 kilos with little real effort never felt hungry.

I think what you eat makes a difference in your body chemistry. You need to get into a calorie deficit, but not all calories are the same.

Have you heard of the protein leverage hypothesis? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_leverage_hypothesis
We are told how virtuous plant based food is, but a lot of people’s body chemistry stabilises when they eat more meat. Avoiding meat fir our heart health has thrown a lot of people into diabetes.

There are so many posts here saying "disability excepted" or "assuming there are no medical problems" but I have asked and had no answers - what happens when there are problems but you are yet to find out what they are?

Knowing how hard it is to get a doctor to take "i can't lose weight" seriously, as like most posters here they assume you are dieting wrong or simply just lying. What do you advise then?

Perhaps OP is one of those people?

OP have a look into body shape and suggested food intake (ectomorph, mesomorph etc) some are suited to a higher carb intake to others for weight loss/ maintenance.

Also, do you have a fitness tracker watch, I find it really helpful to get an idea of how active I’ve actually been and makes me more motivated to walk etc.

@SunnyCoco

I think the OP's post has actually proven the exact opposite of her title

Despite her being completely sedentary, by restricting her calorie intake she has lost 10lbs. So.... Diets do work.

If she is able-bodied, she seriously needs to start doing some exercise if she wants to lose more weight

I know there are a million reason why people can't / won't exercise, but she has already proven that her diet is working as she's lost weight by dieting... Adding exercise would help

I agree. 30 minutes to an hour of walking is not much exercise at all. So 1100 calories must be just a little below what is needed for the days activities.

www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-body-type-eating

Wait until you can say 'I've tried a variety of ways to lose weight, and none of them work' would be the first step, rather than 'I dropped my calories and have lost weight despite barely exercising. I'm still overweight', which is what OP says.

After that, detail in writing everything you've done to lose weight and show it to the doctor. If they don't respond favourably, see another doctor.

@YippeeKayakOtherBuckets

I agree with your broad sentiment, that the older we get the harder it is to lose weight and that there’s more to it than many diet plans would have you think.

But you’re not actually dieting. 1100 calories is maintenance level when you’re sedentary.

I’m 41 and I’ve lost two stone in six months (12.7 to 10.7) by switching to a mainly plant based diet and going from furlough to a physical job (12hr shifts on my feet). There’s no trick to it.

Before this I was convinced I’d be fat forever because of my age and hormones and blah blah but it turns out that even my diet attempts were still too many calories in and not enough out.

Well done on the 10lb loss, that’s not nothing. I do think if you upped your movement and reduced your calories you’d lose more.

1100 is NOT maintenance for someone who is 5’3! Why do people spout such nonsense

According to a TDEE calculator, maintenance for a sedentary woman of 41, at that height is 1692

OP have a look into body shape and suggested food intake (ectomorph, mesomorph etc) some are suited to a higher carb intake to others for weight loss/ maintenance

This is why experimenting with different techniques is important, rather than relying on the guidelines for the 'average person' of your height, weight, and age. There is no average person. Everyone responds differently to everything. There is so much fine tuning.

When I worked in an office, the fat women were always on some or other soup diet and would say they were 'being good'. However,. when the cakes came out it was always "oh, it'd be rude not too".

I too witnessed this. Fat women in my office would eat a measly tupperware box of green leaves like rabbits and then scoff a load of biscuits and cake throughout the day, or be munching on those revel type things - "oooh naughty heehee I'll start again tomorrow, what's life without a few treats giggle giggle giggle"

@namochangoro

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!

These were people who lost weight by dramatic calorie restriction. Damaged their metabolisms by doing so and so now are even bigger than they started. So they still have the Obesity burden.

We need to think of food as energy, not calories. There is absolutely no point in thinking 100 cals from broccoli has the same impact on the body as 100 cals of Haribo. If we could move away from CICO and focus on the quality of food we’re ingesting and what impact that has on our fat storing hormone, it would save a lot of heartache.

The office biscuit thing in the UK so weird😂 Nice. But weird. Why the need for biscuits.

There is absolutely no point in thinking 100 cals from broccoli has the same impact on the body as 100 cals of Haribo

Especially if it's that famous sugarfree Haribo😂 Sorry. Lighting up the mood a bit

Broccoli is the devils food

Not today Satan...not today!

The children used to eat it raw cos I told them they were baby trees...they thought it was a treat 😀

There is absolutely no point in thinking 100 cals from broccoli has the same impact on the body as 100 cals of Haribo. If we could move away from CICO and focus on the quality of food we’re ingesting

Does any one really think that though? Like, obviously broccoli is more nutritious than Haribo. CICO isn't saying that they're nutritionally equivalent. You can over eat on veg and you can starve on junk. Because quantity.

Not read every post, but the first page has lots of bullshit statements by various people.
I'm consistently losing weight on a very bread heavy diet.
Carbs are not the enemy and not everything works for everyone.

@IDontMindMarmite

There is absolutely no point in thinking 100 cals from broccoli has the same impact on the body as 100 cals of Haribo. If we could move away from CICO and focus on the quality of food we’re ingesting

Does any one really think that though? Like, obviously broccoli is more nutritious than Haribo. CICO isn't saying that they're nutritionally equivalent. You can over eat on veg and you can starve on junk. Because quantity.

Absolutely they think that! There was even a famous stunt funded by some food crap company where it was proved just eating Twinkies could cause you to lose weight. These companies are desperate to say that all food is food, a calorie is a calorie because they want everyone to keep eating processed foods.

edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

"We need to think of food as energy, not calories. There is absolutely no point in thinking 100 cals from broccoli has the same impact on the body as 100 cals of Haribo. If we could move away from CICO and focus on the quality of food we’re ingesting and what impact that has on our fat storing hormone, it would save a lot of heartache."

I agree, although I'd say nutrients rather than energy... calories after all are a measurement of energy

I've never counted a calorie in my life, I am vaguely aware that a medium banana = 100, but other than that I have zero clue what the calorie content of any other food is. I still managed to lose a good 12 kg a couple of years ago when my BMI was pushing 28. I simply ate nutrient dense animal foods and non starchy vegetables. No counting up required, just checking that the carb content on the packet was under around 3 - 5 g of carbs per 100g, then eating to natural satiety. No gimmicky expensive diet products required. Once over the hump in the first few days, I found I wasn't feeling hungry at all, just quietly anticipating and ready for the next meal. It was a revelation not to have the hangry munchies throughout the day.

But that's why a calorie is a calorie. It's just a measure of energy, not whether something is healthy. You can lose weight just eating McDonald's (See Jordan Syatt). It's not the healthiest but that's not even what CICO is about. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Have you measured your waist arms and thighs over that time? Do your clothes feel looser? If your exercising more you might be losing fat but gaining muscle which means your weight doesn't change much but your shape does. Well done on making healthy changes, I need to and am struggling to motivate myself

@AllTheUserNamesAreTaken
According to a TDEE calculator, maintenance for a sedentary woman of 41, at that height is 1692

Look up one with fat percentages taken into consideration. The one I linked to earlier had a 'cutting' (500 cal deficit) calorie intake of 949 if OP was 50% body fat which is totally believable at that BMI. ( I myself have been 40% in the past. )

If we could move away from CICO and focus on the quality of food we’re ingesting and what impact that has on our fat storing hormone, it would save a lot of heartache.

I agree we have to eat healthy, natural foods but even that isn't the whole story. Energy expenditure and overall energy input do come into it. Carbs do have some important nutrients such as magnesium too.

If we could move away from CICO and focus on the quality of food we’re ingesting and what impact that has on our fat storing hormone, it would save a lot of heartache.

We can very well do both tbh. I am. Calories help me re learn portions and the over amount. Reading up about what's good for me and eating nutritionally sound food on top of that means I am actually working on a sustainable and healthy eating.
Basically I am returning to my childhood though😂 We eat much better then. I lost sight of it and portions especially.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. Calories or nutrition. Or pleasure for that matter. You can be losing weight while still enjoying piece of stilton with pear😁