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

Imo under 1400 calories is so depressing I'd rather change my lifestyle to add enough exercise I can actually eat food- or just embrace being fat!.
Although given the stats you have stated you definitely are not! Where are you on the BMI range? As it is perfectly possible that aiming for the very bottom end of if it just not right for you.

@Sorryagain 🙁

Go careful.

@LunaNorth 🙌🙌🙌

Try this. It's worked for me. The lifestyle stuff is really good.

I think at 5'2 you are eating too much at 1350, I suspect you will maintain if you don't drop below 1200

Swapping out meat for cereals/beans/pulses makes a huge change to your digestive tract. Dairy is very high calorie and also best avoided.

This one is easy. Too much exercise. Why burn the candle at both ends and stress you body out? Just eat less and move less. Stopping exercise (which caused me to overeat the calories back due to tiredness) is what made the weight come off me. 15k steps a day to still be fat I just snapped and did nothing and stayed within calories.

Is there a reason you're not on HRT?

My tdee told me I needed 1875 a day for maintenance and 1200 calories a day for weight loss. If I had only taken 20% off my maintenance calories I wouldn’t have lost weight. I tried to stick to the 1200 by using MyFitnessPal and weighing my food carefully. The weight dropped off. This is what you need to do, work out you tdee for weight loss.

Watch Abby Pollock talk about this on YouTube.

You’re supposed to actually eat more when your weight lifting, healthy food and protein only obviously. Try upping your calories. People who say you’re eating too much haven’t factored in your weight lifting.

At this stage you shouldn’t even be hopping on the scales, you’re past that stage and in the stage where weight don’t matter and body shape/muscle tone seen by the eye does.

I'm 57, 5ft and last May was 10 stone 9lbs with a bmi of 29.3. I purchased the Nutracheck app. Free for one week then one off price £24 for 12 months. I set it at 1400 calories and weighed my food.

No 5:2, no intermittent fasting, no cutting out food, no hard exercise. By the end of November I was down to my target of 8 stone 8lbs and a bmi of 23.5 and I'm still there.

I had to reduce my cheese, bread and chocolate consumption but have not cut them out. I found Nutracheck easy to use and I now know correct portion sizes for me. I don't drink alcohol and apart from pizza, chip shop chips and the rare Chinese meal I cook from scratch which I've always done.

I don't do running, gym, cycling, swimming or zumba type exercises either.

Give it a go. It was the first time I ever needed to diet and it worked for me.

I have really struggled with this since hitting what i believe is peri quite early (35). A few years ago I realised I had binge eating disorder and got out of the starve/binge cycle with the advice of eating many (healthy) small meals - i lost loads of weight! Since then my brain seems to have forgotten that and latched onto bmi and less calories and although i dont starve or binge to the extreme i think i spend most of my life being tempted to starve, trying to keep cals low instead. Recently i've been trying to eat lots of small meals when ACTUALLY hungry, even if its not a meal time, and my weight has stabilised, i think i could start losing soon. Its not even good food - keto works excellently for me but i've lost my taste for meat recently. So i might have a piece of chocolate with my morning brew, couple of hours larer a slice of toast, bit later a small nowl of porridge, but later a small portion of noodles, dish up less for evening meal. Seems to be working.

Also, to add to above, I’m in my 60’s.

How long have you been trying to lose weight?

I've recently lost about 20lb over the course of the year but at the beginning the weight loss (what was showing in the scales) was very very slow. It was honestly about 6-8 weeks before I noticed any difference on the scales at all. Sometimes you just have to trust the process and be in it for the long haul and accept a slow change is also a sustainable change.

1200 seems far too low IMO. I'd be patient and stick to the higher amount. Good luck!

Why are you assuming im not?

It will be the calories, you can only test what your calorie deficit should be by monitoring carefully what you eat, everything and if you lose weight, you're in the correct deficit, if you dont, then you're not. You can go by a ball park figure to start off with like you have but then if you find you're not losing weight then clearly the calculation doesnt apply to your body

However what I would say is that you lost a lb, you dont say how long this was over, one or two weeks? If so thats fine isnt it, just carry on as you were. If its over a month or so then that might be too slow for you

Finally, I cant believe the people saying you have put on muscle!!! Doing a long walk everyday isnt going to put on pounds of muscle!!! It takes months of serious work to put on a couple of pounds of actual muscle.

Plus you dont need to be eating protein at that rate, make sure you have plenty of fibre, for your weight around 60g of protein is fine.

I’m same age, height, and weight around 6lbs more. I walk the same amount as you OP, do weights. Only thing different is I don’t do HITT class (or indeed any cardio). I have to stick to 1200 a day to lose a pound every week to 10 days.

I find this answer really frustrating. What if it is fluid? What’s the answer????

im 46,I had to cut calories to between 800-1100 in order to lose weight!nothing else worked despite having a very active job,doing 15k steps a day minimum,I was a size 12-14,now a 10,I’m 5ft 5.

Sounds like you know what you’re doing. I think as some have suggested it just takes time to see the results on the scales. In a calorie deficit you will be burning fat so at some point you will see this reflected in your weight. You will be toning but in a calorie deficit you won’t be able to grow muscle so this won’t be a result of extra muscle weight. Stick at it.

To be fair, I think they were saying I could be putting on muscle because I lift very heavy weights and don’t just walk. You might want to read my posts.

You’re 9 st 2 at 5 foot 4. Surely that’s fine? I’m 5 ft 4 and 57 and aiming to get down to 10. A few years ago I managed 9 st 10 but it was bloody hard to shift the last few pounds. At our age it is really hard to lose weight when you’re already within the acceptable weight band. You are going have to eat less - I think you’ll need to stop the snacking completely.

Stress and resilience change when we are in peri / meno. If you exercise too much and eat too little your body will hold onto weight.

I actually think you need to take a breath and stop putting some much pressure on your poor body and mind.

Mindfulness, meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, walking in nature, laughter, joy and yes eating things you enjoy.

All this focus on losing x lbs and walking faster, lifting more and starving yourself sounds utterly miserable and a bit obsessive.

But it looks like your BMI is about 23. The "healthy" range is 20 to 25. In other words you are bang in the middle of the healthy weight range for your height. So why are you putting yourself through such misery when you don't really need to lise weight anyway?

Taking a slightly different approach, how stressed are you?

Cortisol levels- if they’re too high - will impact your weight loss. I lost a stone a couple of years ago getting out of a very stressful and dysfunctional relationship.

Lots of ways to bring it down through yoga, mindfulness, stretching, vagal toning.

Worth a thought…