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!

And what’s a “normal dinner”?

Cereal is bad for weight loss, as is snacking and wine.

2 eggs for breakfast
Veggie soup for lunch
Fish and veg for dinner

No snacks, no wine, 10k steps a day and 3x 30 min weight training sessions a week.

It'll fall off.

The OP didn't say she drank 2 bottles of wine a night or whenever she drinks.

Where's this come from in some posts?

small portion of chips

from a fish and chip shop? Or oven cooked?

OP I’ve tried every diet possible from metabolic confusion to Paul McKenna

the only way I lost weight (5kg in two weeks) was to decrease considerably the portions and stop eating while still hungry !

absolutley nothing else worked for years

Change the battery in your scales? I did this and immediately dropped a couple of kilos

If you want quick results I highly recommend Keto diet. But you’ve got to do it properly. Otherwise I think healthy eating and gentle exercise it will just take longer. Be patient. I’d also suggest weight training or similar to really get your muscles fired and speed metabolism

If you are petite (5ft 1) you need much less than the average recommended calories for a women, probably no more than 1400 and you can add a couple of hundred if you do intense activity. Try and spread that across the day. If your main meal is in the evening, you need to exercise or walk after your meal.
Can be achieved by cutting out as many carbs as possible. Keep going!

I lost 1st on Keto in 3 weeks. I was 5’7 and weighted 10 stone

You need to be drinking a lot of water. Water is required to break down fat.

Your plate should be full of vegetables and a small amount of fruit if you wish. Bulk up on those, reduce the carbs.

I am much taller than you so can eat more. I’ve lost a stone and a half in less than 3 months, including 2 weeks on holiday. My intake yesterday:

Breakfast - nothing as am doing 16/8
Lunch - large salad with lots of lettuce, 6 cherry tomatoes, cucumber, circa 10 olives, basil leaves, approx 30g chicken, chunks of brie (maybe 30), large glug of olive oil and smaller glug balsamic.
Snack - A chunk of dark chocolate, 1 tsp coconut oil and a graze bar.
Dinner - I didn’t cook and dd and dh had salad. A large raw carrot, 30g salami, 30g cheese, 4 or 5 oatcakes, handful of grapes.

Approx 3 litres of water including 2 cups of nettle tea

I tried calorie counting a few months ago and also lost absolutely nothing on 1300 calories per day. I’ve started looking at Zoe principles of a healthy gut and I’ve lost about 5 lbs in the last 3-4 weeks and my sugar cravings are gone. Have a Google of Tim Spectre and try to eat more healthily as a pp said your healthy lunch is full of processed foods which will not be kind to your gut.

And Keto principally works as you tend to eat less calories as you feel fuller, as others said it’s all about calorie deficit

I hear your pain OP. I am currently dieting and it seems to be taking much longer to lose the weight than on previous similar diets. 42 now and it’s much harder than when I was 35.

For context, I am 5’ 11” and 12.5st, so at the top end of ‘Normal’ BMI. Want to lost 14-20lbs to get the middle of ‘Normal’. Three weeks into a diet that previously would’ve seen 6lb lost. Currently at 0lh.

I am doing the following:

• Small bowl of cereal for breakfast, with a few raisins on top
• Sandwich (no mayo) and fruit for lunch
• No carb high protein dinner eg chicken breast with lots of veg.

no alcohol at all, no snacks at all unless I succumb and have an apple or a banana. My one treat at the end of the day is a single square of dark chocolate.

I am doing half an hour workout on the cross trainer 7 days a week, and walking 4-6 miles a day 7 days a week.

And I’m still barely losing anything! Apart from the will to live. Argh!

You are 53, this will also work against you with regards to losing weight. You need to add in some resistance or weight training into your fitness regime - walking isn't enough, unfortunately. Also, and as others have said, drink more water, at least 2 litres a day, more protein and be sure you're logging absolutely everything you eat and drink. Don't forget to log any milk used in tea and coffee, along with any fats/oils used for cooking.

Also recommend the Glucose Goddess, especially her suggestion of eating a leafy salad dressed with an apple vinegar with the mother based-dressing prior to the rest of your meal(s). Take a probiotic to help with your gut health too.

You need more water than that.

I'm really sorry to break it to you but that isn't eating 'like a bird', particularly for a short (middle aged) woman - and I say that as a short, middle aged woman. The amount of calories we need is actually really quite depressingly small, so it's hard to be in calorie deficit which is what you need. Without knowing the portion sizes that sounds like probably about right to maintain.

I am about your age and I would probably gain weight eating this.

So sorry but it does sound like you have been gaining weight by consuming far too many calories. Now you have cut right back and found your maintenance level.

To actually lose weight you will need to cut back further on your calories. Ditch all the alcohol for a start. Useless empty calories.

The exercise is great for overall fitness but it won’t do much to offset your calorie intake.

I know it’s shit. My maintenance calories are 1352.

@CollagenQueen
Okay, so breakfast has been cereal like bran flakes. Snack would be a hard boiled egg. Lunch has been some lean chicken, 2 slices of ham, cherry toms, coleslaw. Dinner is just a normal dinner, nothing outrageous.

I used to have wine every night and I’ve cut that right back to 2-3 nights a week.

I’ve upped my steps from 7k a day to about 17k a day.

Zero weight loss.

where's the vegetables? Cherry toms and coleslaw are not enough. You need to put a lot more veggies on to your meals. Plus how much water do you drink?

Celebrate the wins. You have successfully cut down on alcohol and increased your walking. This will have improved your health. How do you feel? Does you skin look better?

You say your tummy looks less bloated. That is a massive win.

I’ve recently swapped to yogurt with fruit and nuts for breakfast, and I am finding it surprisingly filling. Then up your fruit and veg count.

Remember you have making changes for you overall health, not for a number of a scale.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, by reducing the alcohol, chocolate and crisps you have made some great changes in terms of your health. I am older than you but not on a diet but if I ate what you did I would be putting on weight and I’m 9 inches taller than you.

Diet is about habit. I think you need more fruit and vegetables, I would only eat chips as a very rare treat out of the home - I have never cooked or served chips at home. Likewise, I can count on one hand the number of takeaways in the past decade although we do eat out quite a lot. The best indicator of what you eat is what is in your shopping basket - if you don’t buy it, you don’t eat it. My Achilles heel is biscuits so I will buy one expensive cookie rather than a packet of biscuits.

That is disappointing - I would feel the same.
But don’t give up- you’ve made a great start and haven’t gained at least.
You need to calorie count. Everything.
Wine is a diet killer- so high in calories.
Also, whilst walking is great, it won’t get you thin. 90% of loosing weight is in the kitchen, not working up a sweat- excercise is just the icing on the cake.
Get your calories under 1500 every single day. No cheat days at the moment or it will undo the week.
You can do it/ just track track track

I am sorry to disagree, but calories counting is rubbish!

There is excellent science on this by Prof Tim Spector on the Zoe website.

Also the idea of a 'diet' is also outdated.

You could eat your calorie 'allowance' in a day with crisps and Mars bar, but would that be healthy?

It's all about eating healthily.

If you make your diet mainly plants, and add in some protein (meat, fish, eggs, dairy, pulses) nuts, seeds, and cut out the refined carbs, apart from an occasional treat, the weight should fall off.

Cook from scratch-it takes no time at all to bake or poach a salmon fillet and make a bowl of salad with avocado, leaves, grated carrots, peppers, etc.
or the same with a chicken breast, or prawns, or even quality burger (ditch the white bun.)

Lunch can be homemade veg soup made in a big batch, frozen into portions.

You can still eat spag bol, curries, etc but swap the pasta for wholewheat, white rice for brown, watch the portions and make a salad to go with the pasta.

A portion of carbs should be fist-sized, not enough to fill the entire plate.

"Rubbish" or not, I've just lost two stone in 3 months from calorie counting. I can't really exercise due to a neurological condition. I haven't felt hungry because I picked healthy foods. So it's definitely working for me.

Maybe you didn't eat the right things. Or maybe you weren't overweight before. Otherwise, I'd be surprised if you haven't seen any change.