Why the f*** can’t I lose weight? I’m doing everything right

[Sorryagain]

Postmeno, 55, want to lose half a stone. I don’t like my weight. I’ve always worked out, done lots of heavy-ish weights and eaten healthily but in the last month I’ve really upped weights a lot. I’ve also

• kept to a low calorie count (20% off my TEE - track food most days. Try to keep to 3 meals but some days I do graze but not over cal limit
• upped protein most days to around 100-120g a day
• upped walking to try to do 7.5-10k a day
• added at least one HITT class onto 3 days weight training
• drink more water (my weakness)

i don’t drink, I eat v little sugar and almost no white stuff

the scales have moved by 1lb! I’m so fucked off.

I know post meno it’s hard but this is ridiculous.

I feel stronger, though, and I sense more muscle definition. But I don’t believe muscle will weigh more and keep me at this weight

thoughts? It’s v un motivating

I'm peri meno and I know for me i have to either pick fat loss or building muscle, I really struggle to do both at the same time. Which is frustrating because I want to lose the weight but at the same time weight lifting is so good for my head and building muscle is probably far more beneficial health wise at my (and probably your) weight than fat loss is.

I know my recovery would really struggle if I dropped my calories any lower than what you are on now, and i wouldn't even entertain dropping protein intake like other posters are suggesting.

It's a hard balance when you're training - when i was losing weight for an event my pt at the time advised me to still keep up lifting weights at my current level to prevent muscle loss, but put the notion of gaining muscle and progressive overload on the back burner until I had reach the fat loss I was aiming for.

She also advised me to curb my cardio sessions (as for me these just ramped up my hunger levels) and focus on keeping my NEAT high (so keeping my step count high and trying to be as active as I could during the day).

So I effectively did a cut (similar to a bodybuilder cycle but obviously less extreme, just same conceot) where i dropped my calories for 8 weeks, still hitting my 100g protein and lifting maintenance weights to make sure I lost fat and not muscle, aimed for 12-15k a day (mostly through lifestyle changes and building good daily habits rather than mindless treadmill walking or going on ridiculously long walks).

Once the 8 weeks were up, I brought my calories back up to maintenance, and went back to progressive overload on the weights for 8 weeks and added my HIIT cardio back in, then repeated the cycle again until I'd lost as much fat as I needed.

Losing weight while training is a completely different ballgame - but i do think it's important, because the more muscle mass you have as you age, and the higher your vo2 max is (from your cardio), the higher your quality of life as you age will be, and you'll be independent for much longer into your old age, so I think you're completely right in prioritising your training and active lifestyle. It's just frustrating that it means fat loss is much much slower.

I know, I really don’t doubt how hard you are trying. I’m 50, and I had about 2st creep up, over 3 to four years. I spent those ‘creeping up’ years actually trying to lose, but I slowly gained! It was driving me slowly insane. I started to think it was perimenopause, it was metabolism, it was, I don’t know, something some THING was responsible for it.

now I’m not saying this is you, but I wasn’t being straight with myself. I would have bet the farm I was telling the truth!!!! I only got to realise this after committing to a calorie limit of 1,200, drooping some of my exercise regime (because of the hunger it creates, and the belief of earning calorie deficits that is just impossible to truly track). At that point I realised where the calories were sneaking in. and LOADS of them.

I’ve lost an average of 2lb every week while on 1,200. I’m down 19lbs. I have another 7lbs to go I think. My BMI is 22.4, I’m tall (5 10) and weigh just over 11st now. Now I’m eating clean, I realise peri wasn’t the reason. My eating habits were atrocious.

this sounds so, so so so boring what I’m saying and I don’t mean it to sound preachy and I really hope it doesn’t. But I’m left reeling at myself - what was I thinking before? The little fibs and bending of rules (one example - I would grab snacks on the go and forget entirely about them and that kind of fast, on the move food doesn’t fill you up but pours calories into you. I’d also drink a lot of lattes and not mentally register the calories). When I read your first post I felt the same small little issues were in there too. If you perfected your plan it’ll give you the results you’re after.

But it also sounds like you are in great shape, so don’t sweat over 1lb, that might be fine tomorrow!! I’m exercising again now (cycling and running) and I’m not eating the calories afterwards, but I notice for 24 hours or so, the scales could tell me anything! Intense sweating and drinking huge volumes of water, electrolytes etc to normalise as quickly as possible, it takes a day or two for that to settle, and it throws the scales off.

good luck!

If I followed that I wouldn’t lose weight either.

I'm just coming in with solidarity. I'm 64, and I want to just lose a few pesky pounds - that's all! I cut my calories down, started spinning (in addition to running four miles 5 x a week and Pilates 3 x a week, plus physical job 3 x a week). I was STARVING hungry and managed to put on a kilo.

However, last week I had lost that kilo and a weeny bit more, so I'm hoping it was just a blip and my body hanging on to the last bits of weight. I'd say keep going. When you're close to your ideal weight (I've a BMI of 21 and only want to lose those pounds for a family wedding, just for my own satisfaction) it is SO MUCH harder.

Good luck.

Up the steps, drop a bit more calories. Do you intermittent fast? I have two meals a day (maybe sometimes one) works for me.

At your age I don’t think you can’t eat 3 meals if you want to loose weight. I am 52 this is what works for me;

breakfast with no carbs: avocado, egg, cherry tomatoes, feta, tea

lunch:
one piece of toast with cheddar cheese and fruit. Or a very small salad or soup with no bread

dinner: most or less normal, but keep carbs to a minimum

basically you have to eat like a bird to loose way.

you probably have quite a bit of muscle weight?

Needed to see this today ♥️♥️♥️

I feel your pain, OP. I'm 54 and vegetarian/type 2 diabetic so can't go near starchy carbs. I have to stay under 1200 calories a day - one day over means a gain. I walk 12k steps a day briskly thanks to 2 hyper spaniels - but what i have done lately is weigh everything, track calories on Nutracheck and watch the fat. I've got some low carb granola and had only read the carbs section of the label - turns out that a 30g serving is 453 calories so I'm watching my fat intake too. No more cheese and less peanut butter etc. It's fucking miserable most of the time - DH eats about 6 times what I do and never gains a lb.

Are you certain you have got ‘fatter’? I word it like that because it is quite possible you have gained weight but in form of muscle rather than fat?

I don’t have scales in the house, I rely only on measurements and how my clothes fit. I went off scales when I first started the gym 20 years ago and put on a stone yet went down a clothes size.

To be fair though, you don't actually need to lose weight. You're 5ft2 and 129lbs which puts you at an ideal weight. So you're doing everything right and toning up which you've said you've noticed.

Go easy on yourself as victory is not defined on the scales, it's noticing you feel a bit fitter, your jeans aren't as snug, your arms look more toned, you can lift heavier weights.

You really are doing great!!

I upped my calorie intake (from around 1200 to 1600 per day), lowered my carb intake to 20 - 50g a day. Upped my fat intake (animal fats, EV olive oil, butter).

Lost 1 and a half stone since 1st Jan this year.

You are stuffing your face with far too many kcal. You also know this to be true as you aren't losing weight. If you reduced your intake you could lose weight. It's just that simple.

@Sorryagain

You don’t need to further cut calories. PLEASE don’t listen to this and fall into the same trap as a lot of other women (many of whom seem to be on this type of thread). You will end up being able to eat virtually nothing.

Forget the scales. How do your clothes fit? How do you look? I put on 5-6lbs when I started doing more weight training but all my clothes still fit and I look better. I’m heavier but just as slim.

If your clothes don’t fit and/or you don’t like how you look, you could lay off the heavy weights. I know people say women don’t bulk up from weights but it’s not true — it massively depends on your body type.

If I lift heavy I get bulkier than I want to be because I build muscle easily. You might be the same.

Try swapping out the heavy weights for resistance Pilates using just your body weight. That’s all I do and I still have a lot of muscle but I look slimmer than if I lifted heavy.

Horribly put and simply not true. 1350 calories is NOT too much.

Not likely. There's a vast difference between gaining a little muscle and gaining fat - muscle will be concentrated in arms and legs mostly whereas fat increases size all over. It's also very difficult to grow more than a couple of grams of new muscle as a woman. Certainly not enough to be visible on the scales.

Insane. Reported.

Also ABSOLUTELY not true.

I found my TEE was wrong and when I realised I decided to quit dieting but keep being healthy for my insides instead of my outside. Im not overweight and my TEE was so low to try and lose that I decided -fuck that, life it too short to try and be skinny

That's so unnecessary. And untrue. No one, on 1350 calories a day, is 'stuffing their face'

‘Stuffing your face’ 🙄 hardly. We all have to eat to survive you know, OP is not ‘stuffing their face’ with the amount of calories they are eating. Not helpful.

Strange to report the truth. Unless there is a more unequal balance between kcal burnt and kcal intake OP won't lose weight. OP seems to be doing a lot of exercise so that leaves one option.

When professionals say to reduce calories, they don’t mean to drastically reduce the amount of food you eat (unless you are severely overeating).

Having smaller portion sizes of higher calorie foods or swapping for lower calorie alternatives, works better than starving yourself.

It took me years to work out that starving myself didn’t make me lose weight.

Some people say there’s no such thing as starvation mode but I found that when I started eating more food, the weight loss was much easier.
I still stayed within a calorie deficit but tried to eat as much food as I could within this.
The easiest way to do this is to pack every meal with loads of veg.

I think everyone’s bodies are different too.
Some people can eat loads of carbs or diary etc and not put on weight, whereas some will eat a smaller amount and put on weight.

Instead of dropping your calories, I personally would start by reducing certain food groups like diary but replacing them with something else so you’re not eating fewer calories.
I would chose different foods for a month and see if any make a difference.

I also wouldn’t focus on the scales.
You sound very healthy and like you’re doing everything right.
Sometimes our bodies take a whole to catch up or you could be physically fine but just have muscles.

People who use weights are typically going to be heavier than those that don’t, but that’s not a bad thing.

They're a little mouse with clogs on, under the stairs, tap dancing away.

You obviously have no idea about weight loss or calories, so I don’t know why you’ve been bothered to comment.

If it was a simple as reducing your intake then everyone would be underweight by just going a couple of days without eating.

If your 5’2”, 129lbs and want to lose weight, it is! What is so difficult to understand??