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.

I have had success in losing a reasonable amount over the past 6 weeks by doing a modified keto. I've basically cut out all bread, potatoes etc and sugar including fruit.

In the mornings I have a couple of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, or if I'm going into work I'll make up a pot with full fat greek yoghurt, some protein powder ( chocolate flavoured) chia seeds and a bit of peanut butter or almond butter.

Lunch is usually chicken based and dinner is whatever the family is having minus the carbs. Tesco do cauliflower rice that is a reasonable substitute for rice.

I have allowed myself a few treats - Aldi do a chocolate protein mousse that is HUGE and has 20g of protein and only 150 calories, also there are billionaire flavoured Bounce bars that are around 170 cals but have 10g protein.

If I go out I just have say battered fish with salad and peas instead of chips.

I'm finding it reasonably easy to stick to because it's clear what I can and can't eat. I have been eating a few too many nuts and cheese recently, so I'll need to pull back on that, but actually I've found with eating so much protein I rarely get ravenously hungry these days.

I eat mainly carbs. I'm losing weight steadily. I've upped my protein but I'm only having around 64g a day. According to the British Heart Foundation the average woman needs 45g per day or 0.75g per kg of body weight. So I'd need 42.65g per day. I'm obsessed with 0% fat Greek yogurt and berries and that's where most of my protein comes from along with chia seeds and berries. Lots of weight loss enthusiasts seem obsessed with low carbs, high fat and high protein. Balance is more important for sustained lifestyle changes. I suspect those on high fat diets will end up with high cholesterol and heart disease later in life.

I'm old, short and have a desk job.

With light exercise my maintenance calories are around 1650 a day. To lose weight at a pound a week I would need to exist on1150 calories for the duration.

As this didn't appeal, I have taken a slow and steady approach instead. I aim for around 1400 calories and try to do some exercise every day so that I have a deficit of around 300 calories a day. A year on and I'm 8 (nearly 9) kilos down.

It's not an approach that will give me a beach body in 6 weeks, but for me it's working and more importantly its sustainable. I'm not constantly hungry or missing out on anything. Instead I'm doing the boring things; making healthy choices, avoiding processed food, eating lots of vegetables with meals, fewer carbs and not much sugar at all. I've had to be patient and realistic about progress - but honestly it's working well for me.

I'm in my 40's. Changed my eating habits in the new year. I don't weigh myself so don't know how much I've lost but I've gone from an 18 to a 14.

I don't typically eat breakfast but have breakfast at lunch time. Berries, yogart and nuts.
Dinner is meat and salad or meat and veg. I will occasionally eat some chocolate.

I don't exercise at all (disabled).

There's quite a lot of processed food there. Cheese strings, jar of chilli sauce, low fat yogurts, crisps...

That looks like an out of date low fat diet and the evidence is now that it is sugar that should be avoided and not fat.

And while I wouldn't wish to cast aspersions on your DH's well meaning colleague, I'm also mindful that not everyone who calls themself a nutritionist is qualified.

Give it time. Your body doesn't WANT to lose weight (for survival reasons) and makes it hard, mentally and physically. Stick with it, but make it more achievable if you need to. It'll take months to start seeing real progress.

JFC that's a terrible diet. All that processed stuff! How on earth do nutritionists get away with that?

You HAVE lost weight
how much did you expect to lose in 2 weeks?

Read the first five words of your post.

Now, watch shows like Biggest Loser and see how many plateau or even gain in the second week. You can increase the water held in your muscles by up to 10lb when you start to exercise, reducing your food volume intake can slow your digestion so more food sits inside you for longer… there are many reasons. It’s temporary. You’ll still be losing fat even if you’re not losing weight and, when your body adjusts to the change, the weight will fall off.

Exercise makes you fit. It does not help you lose weight. When you exercise your body compensates by reducing its energy expenditure in other ways. I have always had much more success by dieting and not exercising.

I actually recoiled reading your daily diet! your poor body must be hanging onto everything in order to try and get some nutrients.

Try to shift your mindset to health and nutrients rather than calories. Fat is not the enemy!

B: something like berries, homemade granola, full fat yoghurt, chopped up apple or pear. Or a slice of wholegrain sourdough with peanut butter and banana or apple.

L: wholegrain sourdough with eggs and avocado / hummus and roasted veg / avocado and tahini / veg soup or minestrone. Or leftovers if you have any from the night before

D: obviously depends on your family but we eat things like black bean chilli with brown rice, guacamole, sourcream. Homemade bean burgers with wedges and salad / sides. Soups and stews with veg and cannellini beans or lentils. Pasta with broccoli, anchovies, parmesan. Risotto with chestnuts and cavolo nero. Toad in the hole (veggie sausages) with lots of veg. Veg tagine with pulses or some kind and maybe haddock / cod / hake if I found any on offer! Pan fried salmon with wedges and broccoli.

think nutrition! it makes you feel great to eat well :-)

I might think about this once I am at goal as the exante is working.

Even on 1200 calories though there was nothing like crisps or chocolate involved - I was so strict for 2 years - weetabix protein with skimmed milk for breakfast, soup for lunch and soup for dinner. And when I had lost a stone over a year I went on holiday for 5 days and put a stone back on (not water -.it was 2 stone the night I got back- 1 stone was water- insane).

Keto is tricky when you are vegetarian though - really have to work on getting the protein in which is why I have not gone down that path so far.

OP it's great that you're doing this for health. For that to work you need a way of eating that is sustainable longer-term. Your current diet looks absolutely miserable, I can feel the sugar spikes and crashes just reading it. Even if you were losing weight it's the kind of diet that inevitably fails and the weight returns.

I see people have advised keto and upping protein. I would also maybe look at intermittant fasting and not necessarily eating breakfast or three meals a day, as well as obviously binning off most of the processed food. I think that trying to spread calories over three meals, if you're someone prone to weight gain, just makes for three shit disappointing meals. Whereas being able to eat one decent meal a day is psychologically really helpful.

My number one tip is only eat when you’re actually hungry. Not just peckish, not just craving crappy snack food at certain points of the day, not just eating because it’s breakfast/lunch/dinner “time” but because you’re actually hungry. Hear your stomach, listen to it. Diets are soul-destroying, they take all the pleasure out of eating.

Eat when you’re hungry
Drink when you’re dry
If the moonshine don’t get you
You’ll live till you die.

As @FrostyFifi said!

In case no one has mentioned it already (I'm on my lunchbreak and don't have time to read all messages) there are walking workouts on YouTube that will help you do (e g.) 5,000 steps in 40 mins. They are often called Metabolic Walking and are great for rainy/cold/snowy days when you need to up your step count.

Listen to Half Size Me podcast and take note of what she says - losing it is more meaningful than losing it quickly. No one reaches goal and is miserable because they didn't meet some self-imposed deadline.

As others have said - patience! You can try to play around with lots of different diets but ultimately you need something that you can sustain. It's a lifestyle not something you can do for a short period. 1.5 pounds is absolutely fine.
How long did it take you to get to the size you are? I'm guessing it just crept up? It will creep down just the same.
Focus on healthy eating - try to avoid processed food as much as possible - that makes you feel good, and exercise that makes you happy. That's it.

Ultra Processed Foods!
You're eating a lot of them.
There is now evidence that the chemicals in these foods actually change our hormones and things like how full we feel after the same amount of calories from UPFs versus real food.
They are everywhere!
The two twin doctors from BBC, Xand & Chris did a great podcast about UPFs and Xand trying g to lose weight.
I strongly urge everyone to listen to it. It made me go through my cupboards and chuck loads of stuff out. I'm not even trying to lose weight but am worried about the impact of these foods on my children's health

Also OP what sort of workouts are you doing with your personal trainer? For long-term health and weight control, lifting weights is a great way to go as you'll raise your base metabolic rate as well as a whole host of other benefits.

Eat more protein. Your lunch is very small. I have to say though 1.5 lb in 2 weeks is more or less the speed at which I loose weight. I was around 85kg and now I am 64. It took me a year and a half...

@FrostyFifi

im a person that has all the gear and no idea! I have a peloton so I’m doing that 1x weekly at moment (30 minutes cycle)

I am meeting with trainer to do weights (squats, rows, arm exercises with the weights etc.) press-ups. We finish with a bit of cardio - boxing. Total time is 1 hour.

then one day a week I’m recreating the PT session on my own. Strength and a bit of cardio.

so 3 x a week of concentrated exercise

Easily - it's not a protected term, and anyone can call themselves that. Some may be well qualified, others not at all.

If you want to be sure of fitness to practice, you need a dietician

With respect, that's not a good diet. Why all the 'low fat' food? Low fat has debunked for a long time now, with low fat yoghurts notoriously high in sugar. There's also absolutely no need for low fat cheese. And what are 'baked crisps'? It sounds like your husband's colleague was well meaning, but even if he's losing weight on this diet (which I doubt he will), it's not good for him and will still leave him susceptible to diabetes among other things.

Just eat proper food. Unprocessed, proper food. I cut out sugar and manufactured carbs (as in, my only carbs come from veg/nuts/full fat yoghurt/cheese etc), from diet over 8 years ago now and have never been happier or healthier. I also spend at least 13 hours a day not eating (easy to do if you don't snack after dinner and eat next at breakfast, although my dinner is on toddler time!). It's important we give our body time to 'do it's thing' without constantly processing the food we eat.

OP, I wish you well. You've been given a lot of great advice on this thread, and you've taken it well as it's not easy having your diet so openly criticised

I'd say 1.5lbs is a sustainable and good loss!

Also, if you e just upped your exercise and started with a PT you will have an enemy of "gain" from the inflammation in your muscles.

I would keep it up and you'll notice a difference in about 6-8 weeks

Well done BTW!!!