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 think what you're saying is you can't outrun a bad diet. If youre overweight I'd say at least 75% of weight loss will be through taking in less calories and a relatively small amount through increased activity. The benefits of being activie though impact so much on our physical health and psychological wellbeing that I'd always recommend a 2 pronged approach

ok, so 1.5 lbs is 3500 + 1700 calorie deficit. 5200 over 14 days, or ~300kcal/day.

If OP needs 1500 to maintain & is eating 1200/day, that difference is 300/day.

So that's close to exactly right, isn't it?

I'd rather be overweight than survive on 1200 calories a day for the rest of my life. I burn up 2500 calories most days, most of us would burn 1500 at least even if we didn't move all day.

@Catspyjamas17 I am short and fairly light, If I don't move all day I wouldn't even burn 1200 sadly.

Portion size? Try eating off a smaller side plate, more protein and veg, less fat and dairy.

There is no BMR calculator out there that correlates 5'8" and 9 stone with a daily calorie level of 1200 at TDEE or even BMR.

BMR is Base Metabolic Rate which is literally your body surviving, it would be like you sitting on the sofa or lying in bed all day. Even at 60 years old a 5'8" 9 stone female would need 1,226 to 1356 calories just to lie in bed all day (different amounts for different calculators) which I guess you don't? TDEE would usually take you up to needing about 1500 to 1700 calories a day so think this "theory" is probably wrong. TDEE is general daily movement i.e. washing, walking around the house, housework, eating etc and doesn't include for additional exercise calories.

Yes, but the poster giving the example was 5'8". What @Hydrangeatea said.

open.spotify.com/episode/3ctZOPNNEz5wEDP8SsBJW8?si=sqmWUBILTp-_nxRZzANgxA&app_destination=copy-link

This podcast is unreal, body fat is very different to body weight

Ok I thought I’d come back to update. Jumped on scales today and I’m 76.2kg which I believe has put me in the 11 stone bracket. And I’m one day before period when I’m typically at my heaviest and eat the most crap. It’s going in right direction!

I’ve upped my protein and swapped my usual yogurt for Greek yogurt and fruit in morning.

That's great - pretty much what I said in my first post then about giving it time.

You just need to be patient, stick to it and allow your body to give up the fat when it is ready. Weight loss not linear and no-one elses body will behave as yours does.