What am I doing wrong? Not losing weight!

[loveabitofbluey]

Started a diet three weeks ago. To give a bit of context before I started my lifestyle was ridiculously unhealthy. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, lots of chocolate, crisps etc. ate three meals a day, normally toast for breakfast, sandwich, crisps, some sort of choc for lunch and then pasta or something similar for dinner. We normally ate two takeaways a week if not more. I also drank almost a bottle of wine to myself each night. I know how bad this all is so I really want to turn my life around and make myself much healthier for the sake of my DC.

So three weeks ago I turned a corner. I stopped drinking completely (I had a couple of glasses the weekend of the first week but realised I didn't actually miss it much and haven't since then). I've started fasting which I'm actually enjoying, I start eating at about 11/12ish then finish eating at 5/6pm. That leaves me time to have two meals a day and one snack. This is usually eggs with fish or a salad and chicken for my first meal, a piece of fruit with a tablespoon of peanut butter for my snack and then a healthy meal for dinner. I've been measuring out all of my food and try to stick to 1200 calories a day. Sometimes this creeps up to 1300.

I've also started exercising, I go to the gym 4 times a week. I normally do 30 minutes HIIT training on the treadmill followed by 30 mins on the rowing machine. I'm going to swap my gym routine around a bit this week but I just started with these exercises as that's what I felt comfortable with.

When I started all of this I weighed 11 stone 12lbs. I weighed this morning and am only at 11st 9lbs. I've also started measuring myself and have lost 2cm around my waist but that's pretty much it. I really don't know where I'm going wrong! Anybody got any suggestions?

I’m 5’ 2” and have just lost a stone to bring me back down to 9 stone. It took me 14 weeks (had a week of holiday in that lot, and some big celebration events) and I’ve just checked, the first 3 weeks I lost about 4 lbs. Definitely slow and steady wins the day. I didn’t calorie count at all, but as an older shortie I know I need relatively few calories per day, even though I am pretty active. Ignore what others say about calorie needs and do what works for you - you need to balance short term weight loss with establishing long term sustainable eating habits. It’s very individual and not that easy.

As a general rule of thumb you need 10 calories per pound of body weight to maintain. I'm currently 160 lbs so 1600 calories per day will keep me at that weight.

I think you're doing brilliantly. 1lb per week loss is perfect. A few years ago I was morbidly obese and decided to try losing 1lb per week for a year, did that and carried on until I'd lost 5 stones.
You will find that sometimes you don't lose anything in a week but stick with the plan. I had one whole month, sticking to the plan, weight stayed the same, I was on a great Mumsnet support thread and they kept me on track and after 4 weeks the weight started going down again.

I weighed myself every day and had a spreadsheet to show the overall downward trend, but lots of fluctuations for example if I have bacon, my weight goes up about 3lbs for a couple of days because the salt makes you retain more water.
You've made a great start. Keep at it, it's so worth it.

10 per pound is like just over 20 per kg.
That sounfs ridiculously low unless one is bed bound tbh

I started my weight loss journey a year ago needing to lose a minimum of 2 stone, at 5 feet nothing, I was nearly 11 stone with an obese BMI.
I started off at 1500 calories per day, walking up to a mile per day, gradually introduced workouts and increased the length of my walks. I lost a steady 1-2 lbs per week, calories were increased to 1600 after about 6/8 months and within the year I’d lost almost 3 stone and went from an almost size 14 to an 8. BMI is now around 21/22 at most.
I maintain at 1800 calories and have done for about 3 months.
I did a complete lifestyle change, lots of walking, calorie counting using MFP, although I do have a couple of days a month where I don’t calorie count, mentally, I still keep a rough tally and don’t eat foods I used to. I cut my alcohol consumption by about 2 thirds and eat much more healthily 90% of the time.

That's amazing @Femalefootyfan wish I was dedicated enough to do this. I already run and walk everywhere......no matter how active I am its the diet part I struggle with!

I was really surprised at how easy I found it to calorie count, MFP really makes it easy as I can scan barcodes, I must admit I don’t always weigh everything, I sometimes do it by eye or scanning the barcodes can be easier if I’m sharing something with DH as I just halve the amount that I’m adding.
I only really find it a bit difficult when eating out as not everywhere adds the calorie amount and nutritional information, google is usually my friend and DH understands that I need to calorie count.

@Femalefootyfan I do use My Fitness Pal alongside my Garmin tracker. But unfortunately I will count the calories, but not really care if I go over! I'm struggling with fatigue and maybe a bit of depression at the moment and think that the need to get energy, fuel is making it harder for me to stick to a limit.

I think your calorie intake is too low tbh, especially if working out too!
I started my health journey a few months ago and have been really slow, but it's still goi g down.
Keep going but definitely look at calories around 1400 as a rule.

@Hoolahoophop
The walks I do have helped enormously with the depression I used to suffer from, so much so, I’m no longer on meds.
I’m very lucky in that I don’t work so I have plenty of time to go out for a walk, that said, I’m usually out early morning and I find that really sets me up for the day and that actually helps with fatigue too, which sounds odd but it really does.
Trust me, I know I cheat on my calories some days and go over but to be honest, I didn’t in the very early days, it’s only now that I’m maintaining that I feel confident to do it.
Keep going, don’t lose heart, weight is coming off and slowly is the best way

A pound a week is the normal rate of loss tbh. Remember that if you lose the weight gradually there’s more chance of it staying off.

The thing with any diet is that if you just go back to eating how you did before, you’ll put the weight back on.

The trick is to find a way of eating that you can continue after you’ve lost the weight - easier said than done, I know! I haven’t managed it yet

it's full of protein and taste delicious.. there is every need.

Well done OP, stick at it.
As someone who has been there, I can tell you that the rewards of losing weight not just physically, but mentally, are immense.

Sounds like you're doing brilliantly. It' fantastic that you stopped the wine. A suggestion would be to stay off the scales and reframe what you are trying to do. By making the changes you are making and sticking to them you will be fitter and stronger, and live a longer and healthier life.

When you lose loads at first it’s water and you can start losing lean muscle or, you want to burn fat not muscle as your metabolism will be affected and you will look better keeping your muscles toned.