Calorie deficit not working

[Username06]

I am a lifelong yo-yo dieter, if truth be told I definitely have some issues with food, I've been on/off a diet since my teens, basically I'm either on a diet losing weight or eating like food is going to become non-existant hence the constant yo-yoing.
I've always gone to slimming groups, always lose the weight and think I've changed my life around and then end up back at square one.

So i have decided now to try a calorie deficit in order to eat the things I still love in moderation and try to learn to eat healthy with occasional treats and lose weight. I have also started jogging a couple times a week as I'd like to be able to exercise and then have a treat without putting on the weight again when i reach my goal. At present I have a stone to lose to get back to a healthy BMI.

Here's the issue, in a month I've lost a couple of pounds despite feeling starving everyday and bloody exercising! I lose weight much faster following slimming world, what is going on, do calorie deficits just not work on some people, feeling so disheartened 😔

Why not try mounjaro

@Username06 a few questions, apologies if you've already answered these and I've missed it.

What is your current height/weight?
Which app are you using?
What have you set as your weekly loss?

I would second this advice.

It's also available as a podcast on Spotify and you don't need an account to listen.

The issue with calorie reduction is your body gets use to the deficit so then you have to reduce more. The key is do say three weeks at 400 deficit then a week at normal calorie (so no weight loss or gain that week. At 400 deficit you should lose .5-1lb a week but ideal you need protien annd fibre and less sugar, saturated fats and trans fats.

I think you should look at Slimpod. Very helpful for yoyo dieters.

You might not be up for watching a 40+ minute YouTube or listen to it as a podcast but the idea of reverse dieting is an interesting one and the ideas behind it explain a lot for me in terms of my own history with yo-yo dieting.

https://mindpumppodcast.com/2250-how-eating-more-can-make-you-leaner-how-eating-less-can-make-you-fatter/

Literally any "diet" requires a calorie deficit, whether it's WW, SW or injections. If you don't eat fewer calories than your body uses , you will not lose weight.

Different diets might focus on the kind of food making up those calories, such as low carb, high protein etc.

But the bottom line is, you need a calorie deficit and to get that you will need to keep account of how many calories you are ingesting .

This is essentially where I'm at. I'm eating more calories than I ever was during years of yoyo dieting and 30 kilos down. Your body needs fuel to work properly.

The most significant change for me is that I don't have to be restrictive, so I have broken the restrict-binge-obliterate any calorie deficit I had cycle

How old are you OP?
Once I hit my late 30’s everything changed and the old methods for losing weight didnt work anymore.
i agree with others, you’re better ofd focusing on weights and a few short sharp sprints/bursts than jogging. Endless cardio just isnt the one anymore.

I am having the same issue, in my early 40s and I have always had issues with my weight, but I did always used to lose quite effectively once I actually reduced my food intake.

Now I can eat 800cals a day for a week (carefully tracked) and only lose whatever difference has been pooped out. I wonder if it's insulin resistance. Have you tried keto? I only seem to get anywhere now when I'm doing that, or fasting.

A lot of the food you describe is quite high in sugar, additives, fat and carbs - porridge with jam, mugshots, pasta salad with mayonnaise, pork, sweet treats and ready meals - it’s not really conducive to losing weight or being full for a decent period of time.

I would swap the porridge for poached eggs on toast with avocado as a healthy fat. Ditch the mugshot pastas and just stick to regular salads with a protein added. You need a quick go-to in the evening that’s not a ready meal - maybe vegetable soup and bread, or a quick pan-fried fish/chicken dish with vegetables, or something oven baked that you can prep beforehand and cook while doing other things.

You aren’t doing enough exercise to affect your weight, don’t count that and eat the calories. Excercise for mental health, body health etc but it’s not for weight loss. If you burn 500 calories exercising your body will slow itself down to get that 500 calories back. It’s clever it doesn’t want you to starve.

This just won’t work. So you’ll allow yourself to be starving for a few months to lose the weight and then what? You’ll start eating more again and put the weight back on. You need to change your diet and lifestyle permanently, not starve yourself for a while. Also weight is more than just eating less and moving more, it’s not that straight forward.

Doing something is better than doing nothing, surely?

It is because you are eating food that gives you blood sugar spikes. If i eat carbs (i.e hgh GI ones), I crave more of the same.

Switch to veg+a bit of protein meals and that will stop.
Eat only at mealtimes.

Something like scrambled eggs and wholemeal toast for breakfast, salad (not pasta salad) and tuna for lunch, and protein+veg for supper, and you'll feel full after a meal. Aim for lots of leafy greens and variety.
If you need a snack, eat an apple or something.

If you have milk, have full fat - it's not even 4% fat.

You will feel hungry. I'm hungry now, because it is time for my breakfast. It's not the same as that growling feeling you get because your last dose of carbs has been messing up your blood sugar.

10k steps a day will add to your daily movement surely? At present I'm a bit of a lazy sod, I probably do around 6k steps a day. Making myself do 10k steps a day would mean taking myself out for a half hour - 40 min daily walk. Is that a bad thing?

Doing it for your wellbeing is fine, but it isn't going ro change your weight.

The biggest key to sustainable weight loss is finding a way you can eat FOREVER. If you lose weight and then go back to "normal" then you will regain as ypir "normal" eating gained the weight in the first place - sometimes, like me (BMI 30 and currently on VLC diet and losing very slowly ) not helped by peri or lack of exercise. We have to change our eating. Look at kids who can eat and eat and not gain weight. We are the same. We have have to find a new baseline. And I really believe insulin comes into it too. Balancing blood sugar. For me I seem to be only able to lose if I eat loads of veg and no carbs. Sad but true

Literally every single one of these stupid “diets” (including weight watchers and slimming world, that I detest) are calorie deficit. The rest is all just marketing nonsense as the only way to lose weight (well, fat) is by consuming fewer calories than you need so your body uses any excess fat as fuel.

There’s a chance your body has gone into starvation mode where it’s adapting because it’s got less fuel and is having to exercise more so isn’t burning the fat off. That said losing the weight gradually and sensibly, whilst building healthy and sustainable habits (like exercise and a balanced diet, including treats) is by far the best way to do things and it sounds like that’s what you’re doing.

Exactly right - plus jogging when one is overweight puts a load of stress on the knees/back etc. Far better to do circuit training and a variety of different exercises - including weights - to get the body properly moving and experiencing a variety of different muscle-firing triggers. I love circuit training, swimming, walking, and using a punchbag. The cardio from the latter is superb. I also love peloton - but have a stupid foot problem (dreaded morton's neuroma!!) that seems to get really aggitated from bike riding no matter which shoes I've tried - so I'm giving that a rest at the mo.

Hooray for squats!!!

Of course it will contribute to an overall weight loss. Weight loss is basic calories in v calories out. Every bit of exercise and movement you do makes up the calories out portion of that. A brisk 40 minute daily walk helps.

Come on

Starvation mode isn't a thing and never has been, as you lose weight your TDEE decreases ergo the amount you need to eat to maintain your body mass in number of calories decreases. Starving yourself does not defy the rules of thermodynamics.

OP, respectfully your food choices are garbage, high sugar, carbohydrate which will spike your insulin and drive the sweet evening craving you describe meaning you cheat on your diet.

The reason you're not losing weight is because you're not tracking properly.

Eating well doesn't take a lot of effort and I defy anyone who states they don't have time, make time. It takes 10-12 minutes to prepare some lean protein such as chicken or fish with steamed vegetables and some rice.

If you can plan a bank of 10-15 meals that you can calculate the calorific and macro content within a specific range to keep you in a calorie deficit it's pretty straight forward. Make multiples at a time so you have a quick meal to go the next day.

The key to losing weight is consistency, as others have stated exercise makes up a very small percentage of calories expenditure, it's all about diet.

Eat quality whole foods high in protein and you will feel satiated for longer. Ditch the mug shots and other crap, 1200 calories of real food IE not overly processed is often 2-3 times the volume physically of a similar quantity of calories of poor quality processed food such as mug shots and sweet treats.

100g of greek yoghurt with a few grams of honey and some fruit will set you back 200 calories and satisfy your sweet cravings.

People over complicate weight loss by following shitty fad diets such as slimming world which are nothing but marketing tools designed to keep you paying that weekly subscription forever. I don't know if anyone who has successfully lost weight with slimming world and kept the weight off forever.

It's a change of life style and proper nutritional education you need, not a fad diet that will teach you bad habits and help you develop an unhealthy relationship with food.

Also to those recommending GLP jabs, do one. I can't weight to see those that have abused these jabs in a few years time crawling for support from the NHS for their various heart and mother vital organs related issues. Mounjaro and the likes taken your calories so low that your body eats it's own muscles (your heart is a muscle) and will ruin your endocrine system through hormone imbalances. Save it for the morbidly obese and diabetics it's intended for.

@WellINeverrr , Walking briskly for 40 minutes would probably only shift you out of the sedentary category, and you will not lose weight by going for a walk.
A brink 40 minute walk for me would burn up about 275 calories.
Sitting on my butt would probably burn about 100.

I appreciate your opinion but I wouldn't say my food choices are conmplete garbage? I have a teaspoon of jam/nutella with breakfast somedays, it's 40 calories for the jam. A mugshot once a week maybe, I have limited time for lunch when I'm working and it satisfies my cravings, which is far better than eating crisps and biscuits surely?
Someone said to eat salad and not pasta salad, but pasta salad is salad with plain pasta thrown in and 11 calories of light mayo, is that terrible? I have a ready meal for dinner once a week instead of a takeaway which again is surely better calories wise.

I do agree I need to cut down the evening treat, I don't think I could cut it out completely straight away as it is a lifelong bad habit but also my way of relaxing after a long day after my DC are I bed, I am home every evening, I don't go out and have a social life so a cuppa and a couple of biscuits/bit of chocolate is what I look forward to each evening.

Exercise is also hard as I have no child free time, running I can fit in around my DD and I'm not trying to use the exercise solely to lose weight its more to feel better about myself and create better habits.

I'm 5ft 4 and current 10 stone 7, aiming to get back to 9 stone 6 ish which just about puts me at the top end of a healthy bmi.
I'm using my net diary.

I don't actually know what I set it as originally but I have changed it to lose 1.5 pounds a week and it has shaved 100 cals off what i was eating so I am going to try that this week.