Dieting for 6 weeks and guess how much I’ve lost?

[CollagenQueen]

I’ve been dieting for 6 weeks. I’ve been eating like a bird during the day, with a normal evening meal.

I’ve cut out crisps and chocolate (which I used to eat daily).

I’ve dropped my wine consumption massively, now having several tee total days a week (I used to drink every day!)

I’ve also upped my exercise enormously, I now usually walk about 15-20k steps a day, rather than my usual 7k.

After six weeks of this, I’ve just weighed myself and guess what I’ve lost?

Absolutely nothing.

What the hell? Can anyone explain this? I really don’t want to give up, but this just seems insane!

Some of the diets people are recommending on here are considerably lower in calories than what I was eating when I was anorexic!!! No wonder people fail at diets. Some of the advice on this thread is dangerous.

Op doesn't need to competitively undereat, she just needs to cut her calories enough to have a small deficit and then do that consistently. (First step will be for her to be honest about every calorie, even the ones in alcohol/drinks/sauces etc)

If you eat too little, you will inevitably lose weight. That is what starvation does to you. This myth about the body holding onto weight when calories are cut dramatically needs exploding. Any lack of weight loss will be very temporary. The truth is more prosaic: people feel they aren't eating much, but they are not in calorie deficit.

Can you point out those you mean please?

@Janieforever OP is calorie neutral but is in fact building muscle walking (check the medical journals) aside from a myriad of other benefits. To loose weight she needs to add steps and adjust her diet more. As I mentioned.

Doesn't cost a lot to encourage OP to continue and make changes that will get her to her goal weight.

Due to finally being stable since may for the first time in my life (bipolar) I decided I needed to change my lifestyle and adopt new habits and better coping skills. So I signed up to a gym and I have overhauled my diet. I am in a calorie deficit of 200 and I weight train 5 days a week and walk at least 10,000 steps a day.

My diet is high in protein and low in carbs
I sleep 9 hours a night.
I weight train as this is a new coping tool for stress and anxiety.
I use my fitness pal to track my calories
I have been doing this for 11 weeks now and I have lost 3 stone and I have also gained muscle.

I have never felt so good in my life.
Sorry if this is not worded correctly or misspelt. Grammar is not my strong point.

What I'm trying to say is diets only work short term. What you need is to adopt healthier eating as a lifestyle.

There is no need to be so restrictive AKA taking all the enjoyment out of food in order to lose weight.

Most people who can't lose weight are eating more than they think they are and therefore more calories. You have to accurately weigh and measure food and drink and record your calorie intake.

She won't be building enough muscle to make a big difference on walking alone and a moderate protein intake.

Anyone looking to lose weight should weigh themselves and use a tape measure to record bust, weight and hip measurements. If you have a tummy measure that too. Sometimes the scale weight doesn't seem to change, but the inches decrease. This can keep you motivated.

You are basically drinking at least 2 days worth of calories in th wine you drink, Even if you cut down to 2 nights at 2 bottles a night you are going to be drinking about a day and a half worth of calories every week before you put a single bit of food in your mouth. You need to stop drinking to excess as this will be having a huge impact.

Dozens of posters have asked you what your portion sizes are. You keep coming back with a bowl of cereal, slices of ham, a spoon of coleslaw, a piece of fish but that dosen't actually tell anyone how big the portions are. Is the cereal weighed and the milk measured? If not then a bowl of cereal means nothing in terms of how it is impacting your weight. Is the ham cheapo wafer thin or thick cut deli? coleslaw can vary from 50 cals per 50 g to over 150 cals. What type of fish , is it baked, fried, grilled, in breadcrumbs etc. The butter on your potatoes will easily add another hundred cals.

You need to stop the wine, eat good quality lean meat and fish, a good variety of veg and fruit, not just a spoonful at the side of the plate. Aim for more than 5 a day and make sure that it is veg heavy rather than fruit heavy. I would aim for 80% veg 20% fruit. You need to choose fruit wisely, go for berries rather than apples and pears if you can as there is much less sugar. Eat beans and pulses, nuts and seeds in small quantities. You also need make sure you are getting enough calcium as it is very important for woman of menopausal age to look after their bone health. This can be got through greek yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, but can also come from leafy greens. , Veg should take up half your plate and you should also try and have one or two meat free days a week.

Finally, pay no attention to the absoluet loons on here banging on about how they only eat 600 or 800 cals a day or they can't lose weight.

Coming back to reiterate that exercise will not do it and that pretending it will is only going to add to disappointment and frustration.

Again: a 12st person needs to walk an additional 35 miles at a quick pace to lose 1lb of fat.

Spending long, arduous hours exercising hard is going to make barely any difference at all to OP's weight, unless diet is also changed significantly.

Exercise is important and is great for your health, but it should be fun and enjoyable, and not just a chore you endure in a misguided effort to lose weight.

Everyone is giving her advice to make changes to help her loose. No one is saying it’s a bad thing to do so.

What you’re being told is you are giving erroneous statements, she is not building muscle in six weeks by doing an extra 8-10k steps a day to such an extent it’s impacting her weight as you suggest.

it’s simply wrong to tell her that’s where it’s at.

If you’re still drinking 3 times a week and drinking two bottles each time, that’s 6 bottles a week!! That’s a massive amount of calories and also a pretty dangerous level to be drinking regularly. I think cutting down to two bottles a week is the first thing you need to do.

Not all calories are the same, as your body metabolises different foods differently. Introduce things like quinoa or couscous into your diet to fill you up. Having a portion of couscous with mixed veggies (you can cook it and add chilli flakes and other spices to make it tasty), along with some chicken or fish would be
healthier than what you’ve described. Snack on a handful of nuts to keep you fuller longer. There’s loads of good advice online and you don’t have to have a restrictive diet at all, just change the way you eat.

Yes I agree with others. That’s not eating like a bird. I am 46 and 5’3 and if I eat more than 1200-1300 cals I will gain weight. And I do plenty of exercise! Every day. Hot yoga, running, weight lifting HIITs. My metabolism is slower now than it used to be. A lot slower. I gain weight easily. Age is a massive factor.

If you’re serious about losing weight then calorie monitoring is essential to start with as this will help you work out what your personal calorie maintenance threshold is. Everyone is different. I suspect the food you’ve described is more calories than you think. Don’t forget tea and coffee count too. And walking doesn’t burn as many calories as we’d all like!

I also think your attitude, though perfectly understandable, isn’t helping. You’re focused on all the things you’re NOT having (chocolate, crisps, wine). But your body doesn’t count what you’ve not eaten. My MIL used to do this and it was really demoralising for her. She would say “but I didn’t have that ice cream when you all had one and I’ve had a low fat yoghurt for my dessert!!!” As if somehow her body should know that the rest of us had ice cream and deduct her weight accordingly. But it doesn’t work like that. Focus on what you’re putting IN instead. You’ll feel like you’re constantly in denial otherwise.

Bran flakes - full of sugar. Try a boiled egg and slice of WW toast (no butter) instead. Don’t forget to include milk in tea and coffee when you calorie count as that counts too!!!

Lunch - forget the ham and the coleslaw. Chicken salad. Quarter of an avocado. Lemon juice, no dressing.

Dinner - not sure what a “normal” dinner is for you. But cut down those portions and avoid pasta. Fill up on veggies. Fats are good but really small portions!! No lasagne, no risottos….

And even then, if I ate the above I would put on weight!

It’s really hard. But cutting back all that wine is an amazing accomplishment and you should feel really proud of yourself for that!!!

And yeah exercise is great and makes us all feel good (maybe while we’re actually doing it!!) but losing weight is about 80% diet and only 20% exercise. So yeah, do it. Especially lifting weights is really important. But you can’t put exercise a bad diet!

*out exercise a bad diet

People don’t like hearing this because they can’t be arsed with it but walking just isn’t enough when it comes to weight loss. I used to be very overweight despite walking a good 15k steps a day to school and back twice with a pushchair up a lot of hills as well. I was still obese because walking alone isn’t enough to lose weight imo, it doesn’t make the heart pump fast enough.

I told my Mum this too because she’s also struggling with her weight despite walking loads and having an active job where she’s on her feet a lot. She doesn’t do any other form of exercise so I told her she needed to and she didn’t want to listen. I know hard cardio isn’t easy but it’s the only way I ever managed to not only lose all of the weight but also keep it off. I don’t have to restrict my diet now either yet stay slim. I run 3 times a week (5km twice and 10-15km once), lift weights 3x a week and do HIIT workouts 3x a week too. This is in addition to walking 20k steps a day most days.

I disagree, that diet plan sounds so restrictive.

I don’t restrict what I eat at all. I just eat whatever I fancy and I don’t gain weight because I’m super active and not just walking as I said but actual hard cardio 6 days a week with one rest day. If I want to eat ice cream or even a share bag of Maltesers I’ll do it and it’s ok because the 1k+ calories I burnt working out offsets it.

Ok you super star. I’d advise starting your own thread about how you can eat what you want. This thread is to support the op and she can’t. And all diets are restrictive. It’s the very definition.

It’s like a weight loss myth bingo card this thread. So much misinformation not limited to - starvation mode, weight set point, broken metabolism, aw maybe you’ve gained muscle, aw calorie deficit doesn’t work cos Jason Fung (is he flogging something? 🤔) and don’t eat a whole egg, a whole egg? Is it little wonder that people fail.

The reality is that to lose weight/fat and keep it off requires behaviour change. The physiology is a calorie deficit however that’s achieved. You could eat only chocolate and be in a calorie deficit and you’ll still lose weight.

Protein is so important during weight loss so that it’s fat that is lost not muscle. It is much quick to lose fat than it is to gain muscle and no, no one is gaining muscle by walking. Burning calories, yes.

To build muscle you need really intense heavy weightlifting, enough to create micro tears in muscle that can then be repaired by eating enough protein.

@Mumofazoo above has a great plan that’s sustainable and talks a lot of sense.

It is much quick to lose fat than it is to gain muscle and no, no one is gaining muscle by walking.

It's out of fashion now, but I remember the power walking fad. You could gain muscle that way if you did it properly, with the arm movements etc. You looked like an utter tit doing it, though, which is probably why it's no longer in vogue.

Then crack on. No one is asking you to eat that.

I love hard boiled eggs on (real) bread. Used to be typical light dinner where I grew up😂
If you strain yogurt, add salt, pepper, garlic powder and herbs use that as a spread under the eggs, it's a heavenly combo! (it's a dyi version of spread I grew up with). Or with nice tomato. Now I fancy it

Drink lots of water. Seriously. Weight won't come off without a lot of water intake. Every time you feel hungry or before a meal, drink a glass of water first., and more with your meal. My gym instructor told me water is key.
I also think green tea helps. I'm not that keen on it but I add a wedge of lemon and a couple of slices of fresh ginger and this improves the taste, for me at least. You can keep in the same lemon wedge and ginger all day and just keep adding more green tea. One tea bag will give you two cups if you're being a bit frugal but green tea bags are cheap as chips in Aldi and come in decaffeinated as well as caffeineated varieties.
I cut out crisps, biscuits, cake, sweets,chocolate, alcohol and I'm trying gradually to cut most processed foods. It's hard! For snacking it's a few unsalted nuts, pumpkin seeds, roasted kale (you can sort of pretend it's crisps), crudités, hummus. If I'm desperate for something sweet then a bit of yogurt and honey with some fruit. Or a couple of squares of dark chocolate. Gradually you can wean yourself off and your sweet craving button will turn itself off, I promise.
Good luck op. Let us know how you get on.
Remember water, water, water!!
💧

I think you have me confused with someone else. I did not suggest that.