Cannot lose weight. AIBU to not know where I’m going wrong?

[Firehouse1]

For the last two weeks I’ve eaten less than 1200 calories (tracked in my fitness pal). Food is weighed or in defined portions.

typical day:
-breakfast: low fat yogurt or cereal bar
-lunch: ryvita and extra light Philly x4 and a piece of fruit/yogurt
-dinner: ham salad or a weight watchers ready meal or pasta/veg/chopped tomatoes or steamed cod/broccoli and rice or salmon/mixed green salad/rice

no snacks/a banana if I feel really hungry/one square of chocolate a few times which I added to my food tracker

zero alcohol and no fizzy drinks. I’ve just been a couple of teas and water. I’m pretty bad at drinking water though and it’s one area I’m working on.

exercise; I’ve just hired a personal trainer so just getting started with that. Only find a few sessions. I also cycle. At the weekend I walked over 10k steps each day.

I’ve lost a grand total of 1.5lb. Honestly I’ve had more weight loss after a poo 🤣

what the hell? What am I doing wrong? Too much carbs? Not enough protein?

Im 39 and hate that I just cannot get out of the obese category. I’m very short and weigh 78kg.

Well here’s a wake up call… so I looked at MFP and my tracker and my daily average is as follows
54g of protein
150g of carbs

Interesting but the calculator says I should be eating 1944 cals a day with 143g of protein- I would balloon on that - over 1200 calories i put weight on - so will it be my health issues (pcos and hashimoto) do you think that mean that this doesn't look right for me?

Weight naturally fluctuates by plus or minus 2 pounds or so. So two weeks isn't enough to get any proof a diet is "not working".

That’s great @AutisticLegoLover just gotta keep going and be patient.

it feels different this time because being nearly 40 has scared me. My mates are started to get sick and it got me thinking… do I really want diabetes or a stroke?! Because of my lifestyle?!

I am doing this for different reasons this time. Nothing to do with looks/slimming into a wedding dress/slimming for a holiday but more to do with health.

at the end of the day, I’m OBESE. And that is an issue health wise.

“-breakfast: low fat yogurt or cereal bar
-lunch: ryvita and extra light Philly x4 and a piece of fruit/yogurt
-dinner: ham salad or a weight watchers ready meal or pasta/veg/chopped tomatoes or steamed cod/broccoli and rice or salmon/mixed green salad/rice”

Get rid of cereal bars, they are v. high in sugar. Replace low fat yoghurts with regular 10% fat plain Greek yoghurt. Ditch ready meals unless an emergency. Dial down pasta and rice and up the protein and veg. 1200 is v. v. low unless you are totally inactive.

I should also say that it is important to revisit the macro calculator every time you lose 5lbs to get an updated calorie count and macros based on your new weight. Otherwise if you lose weight and continue eating the initial number of calories you calculated for your original weight you won't lose any more weight because you'll essentially be over eating.

To put things into perspective, I basically started out eating on the same calories and macros I just shared with you for yourself. Since I have lost such a significant amount of weight my calories and macros needed to MAINTAIN my current weight of 52.6kg are 1521cals and 79g protein. If I wanted to continue to LOSE weight (I do not) at my current weight then my calories would be 1293 and 79g protein.

So currently you are under eating causing your body to hold onto the fat storage because it's essentially in 'starvation' mode. You're eating less calories than I am and I'm pretty small now.

Also your body is trained to burn carbohydrates for energy which cause insulin spikes and once they go back down you're hungry again. With keto your body will learn how to burn its own fat storage for energy and you will have no cravings anymore. Seriously

I'd really recommend that you read this book, which explains why calorie counting doesn't work.

I also agree with PP that your diet is way too heavy in carbs. And, don't expect exercise to result in weight loss - unless you're doing A LOT of it, every day. Your diet is much more important.

I'm another who agrees that it takes time for your body to lose the weight and for it to register on the scales. It's the same gaining. I can binge eat crap for a couple of weeks yet stay the same weight and then suddenly I get on the scales and I'm half a stone heavier!
I think if you gave yourself 2 more weeks of eating how you are you would definitely get that whoosh of half a stone gone.
I do though agree that your meal plan sounds a little boring/strict and could mean you throw in the towel quite soon. Calories from protein are important as they keep you fuller for longer and help maintain your muscle plus I read somewhere (it may or may not be true) that your body burns a third of it during digestion processes so a third of protein calories are not absorbed by the body apparently!

YABU to expect results in 2 weeks when you've not even started working out yet. If you have that mindset you'll give up.

@maddening I also have PCOS so was insulin resistant. I went through crazy cravings when I ate my old way, often eating an entire sharing size chocolate bar, then followed by a bag of crisps because I then craved something salty. This was just in the drive home from the supermarket or in front of the TV after dinner.

The sugar and carbs for me were the issue. I followed the calories and protein recommendations from that calculator, but then ensured by carbs did not go over 20g and I made the rest up with fats from the sources I mentioned previously. I was very skeptical at first, but honestly I've never felt better and it definitely worked

Hi OP,

My initial thought is that you need to adapt a new lifestyle, find something that's sustainable. 1200 kcal a day is not sustainable. It's too little in my opinion. And, as others have said, increase the protein intake.

I'm a similar weight as you, but tallish (5'9). I'm a size 10-12. I'm almost 53yo and do weights 3 times a week (with help from a PT) and a cardio based sport (in a club). I changed my lifestyle a little bit over 18 months ago and it is a slow process - but it works. Whilst I'm not really loosing much weight now, I'm changing my body composition and shape and that's what I want. What do you want?

I eat at least 100g protein every day but generally around 140-150g (my goal). I'm on 1800kcal a day at the moment but plan to increase it.

Also, BMI in itself (I assume that is what you're looking at) doesn't tell you the whole picture. Your body fat % is also important.

Sustainable weightloss doesn't happen overnight, but if you make the right adjustments and don't give up, change will happen.

Good luck!

Agree your protein is far too low. Have more Chicken/fish/tuna. I also like babybel light or eat lean cheese as a snack.

Fasting try to stop eating at 7pm don't eat until the very earliest 7am the next morning

More protein

Cut out the sugar and reduce the processed foods including bread and the low fat spreads if it's got more than 3 ingredients and you wouldn't be able to recreate it in the kitchen from scratch then don't eat it!

I definitely agree with this. I adhered to these rules as well. 👍

A nutritionist that my husband works with wrote this diet down for him.

I think you're not eating enough.

If this is mainly about your health then your diet needs changing as some PP have said.

Switch to wholemeal bread, rice and pasta if you can. Have walnuts and good quality dark chocolate as a snack if you fancy something sweet. berries, yoghurt, mixed seeds and manuka honey is a good breakfast, or peanut butter on wholemeal with a banana on top.
Lunch - soba or wholewheat noodles with stir fry veg, or maybe a quick dahl type dish. or even chickpeas, tuna and sweetcorn mixed up as a last minute nothing-in type meal! Try to pad meals out with good grains, lentils, pearl barley etc. Dinner, maybe salmon or chicken, sweet potato and veg (white sweet potato is delicious) or turkey sausage casserole (tinned tomatoes, beans, onion, garlic, whatever veg you have in, stock)

You must be hungry and miserable from what you are eating, it doesn't sound very fulfilling. Maybe forget the calories for now and focus on putting into your body some really good nutritious things, you deserve it! Keep up the working out but feed your body what it needs too

You are an inch taller then I am but the same weight I was when I started a diet. I am working with a trained nutritionist. I am consistently losing as is my husband.
I don't really calorie count but do count protein 75 gm a day .
I drink 2 litres of water (or green tea/peppermint or fruit tea)

Yesterday I had
A glass of warm water
A cup of herbal tea
400ml protein smoothie (very early start and tend to make bad choices so it works for me)

Snack
Poached egg
Slice of soda bread

Lunch
Homemade chicken and veg soup

Snack
3 corncakes
2 tablespoons hummus

Dinner
1/2 plate mix veg and salad
Salmon fillet
Lemon and mint Couscous

Snack
Smoked turkey slice
Slice Cheese

I avoid tea and coffee as I know I would reach for the nice stuff then.

I buy the flavoured rice cakes and have them with a dip as it makes it more interesting and stops me reaching for crisps.
Keep interesting snacks handy low cal high protein. Baby bel/ individual wrapped cheese are easy to throw in a hand bag. Nuts are good even an apple and some cheese which is my go to on the go snack.
I got an American style 40 oz stainless steel cup and I drink my tea/water from that as it stays warm and I keep topping it up.
So far in 4 weeks I have lost 1 stone. I don't feel hungry but a warning ⚠️⚠️⚠️ I spent the first week running to the loo all day 🤣

I also try to eat every 3 hrs at the moment so I don't get hungry.
Good luck it is not an easy journey but you will get there

Maybe a big hike or a swim at the weekend, if the weather clears up?

If you are trying to reduce your carbs and increase protein you should look at foods like full fat greek yogurt, cheese, meat, fish (especially oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel) and cut out processed carbs and most fruit (which nowadays is very sugary). Est as many different types of veg as you can. If your carbs come from vegetables (excluding potatoes) then you get fibre and vitamins/minerals. Fat is good for us too and the uptake of some vitamins is better if you have fat with them, adding olive oil or butter to veg is a good idea.

My dinner tonight will be pork chops with vegetable & feta traybake (tomato, pepper, onion, courgette, aubergine, broccoli, chopped black olives and chunks of feta chopped, doused in olive oil and roasted for 45 mins).

Yeah 1200 cals seems too low, especially when exercising/doing 10k steps a day. Your body needs fuel. You might be having too little calories and your body clinging onto it and storing it straight as fat as it’s not getting enough

Do this for a few months continuously, not weeks, and then come back to us. Nothing happens overnight

You HAVE lost weight, just slowly. I'd carry on but try and up your protein. When I need to loose weight I only loose a pound a week and aim for a bit over 1200 calories. Slow and steady is good.

People hate 'processed crap' but I think you can use ready meals effectively if you are dieting. Choose the better healthy eating type ones. They can be high in protein and it's easy to have everything portioned out for you.

What about a slim fast shake for breakfast. Make sure they are cold. There is a good amount of protein in them.

Not 100% true actually.

Whilst eating good nutritious food is better for you and getting a good amount of protein will help you feel full and satisfied, you can still have carbs and lose weight. Not ideal to eat sugary white processed carbs but if you fancy a slice of cake now and then have it. The key to long term weight loss and keeping it off is not to restrict yourself too much, it shouldn't be a chore or something you can only tolerate short term otherwise you will just yo yo.

I had whatever I wanted when I lost my 3 stone, cake, icecream, chocolate, crisps you name it. What I didn't have is any alcohol, that was the only restriction I put on myself because it seemed such wasted calories, but other than that I had what I wanted.

I soon realised that for 1800 calories a day I would feel pretty crap and hungry if I just ate crap so I did have good quality food, protein, veggies, salad etc but if I wanted to swap an omelette for a cream egg one day I did!

Don't make it too hard, don't cut too many calories or too many food groups, keep it sustainable and you will stick at it longer term.

I've recently for the first time in my life, lost weight without really dieting - well, I don't feel like I'm dieting.

I was quite unwell for a few weeks last summer which saw me not eating properly. It completely changed my relationship with food and now I only eat when I am properly hungry. I've lost 1 stone 4 pounds since christmas and about 3 stone since last summer.

Some days I actually won't eat anything (other than a bit of coffee and water) until about 2pm because that is when I get hungry. Also not adhering to Breakfast Lunch and Dinner because thats what we have always done. I don't eat dinner 2-3 times a week now. Usually when I've had a bigger meal earlier in the day.