To think I’ll be stuck at 16 stone forever

[justmeandthedogs]

I’m in the process of losing weight and since the start of the year I’ve lost about 13lbs.

But I seem to be in a loop. I’ll hit 16 stone 0.3 on the scales and then go back up to 16 stone 4, then go back down, then back up. It’s like an annoying cycle.

I eat well:

breakfast - yoghurt with berries and sometimes a drizzle of honey. On low protein days I’ll add some skyr.

lunch - something from home. Usually soup, a salad or a bit of meat with some veg.

dinner - again something prepped. Can be another big salad, cottage pie, pasta bake.

I eat 1550 calories a day, which is a deficit for my height and weight. I go to the gym twice a week (under the direction of a PT, to lift weights), try to run 3 times a week but I’m waiting on some new running shoes, and the other two days a week I’ll walk 10k steps minimum. I try to drink 4 litres of water a day at least.

my clothes fit better but the scale just won’t change 😥 do I just accept I’m stuck here?

??? You do realise she's not cooking for you, right?

As someone who was 16 stone and was convinced I'd be the size for my whole life, going up and down a few pounds for YEARS, I am now finally down 4 stone (it took 3 years!)and still losing. it was slow and I had plateaus constantly but it can be done. If your clothes are feeling looser that's a great start. I say this very kindly. I was absolutely convinced it wasn't what I was eating. It was. Your body cannot hold fat if it is burning it. An average body (smaller than mine and yours) burns 1200 calories just to be awake and pump blood around your body. At 1500 calories at your size you 100% would be losing. The only way you aren't losing is if you aren't eating 1500 calories. My MIL drives me to the fair, she says she barely eats anything at all and is a size 18. It's because what she eats is absolutely s*. It's cake and scones and sausage rolls. Small amounts of high calorie food adds up to a high calorie diet. Anyway I digress, you have said you aren't doing that but I encourage you to actually weigh things, to count the milk in your tea, the butter on your bread, the oil you use to book. Science doesn't lie. Calories in, calories out.

It was only when I stopped telling myself oh that extra bit doesn't count that the weight came off. Very slowly. Also inflammation and water weight are also a thing. If you have just started exercising, for body may well be reacting by becoming inflamed and holding more water, the scale then stays up. I have times of this and then will have a big drop of 1-2kg seemingly out of the blue. That may explain looser clothes but the scale remaining.

But generally it's calories in, calories out. The WLIs have done a fabulous job of exposing how everyone who just couldn't lose weight actually can when they stop eating so much, because that's what WLIs force you to do.

Again, I mean this all very kindly as a woman who has been obese my entire life until recently.

One last hack that may work. Eat more for a week. Eat your maintenance calories for a week, can help reset your metabolism. Then back down to 1500. Sometimes it can be the jump start you need.

Good luck!!

The difference in quality of life you will have when you get that weight off is incredible. I know it has massively changed my life.

Are you counting the calories burned by exercise? I use My Fitness Pal and it wildly overestimates calories burned that way, so I basically ignore that and just track food intake.

I would say that’s a good thing because it can take months to get on top of. When this has happened to me before I’ve found doing less at the gym and more steps has helped. I’ve got my steps up quite high and this has shifted things.

Stop weighing yourself and start measuring (e.g. waist measurement) instead? Seems like you are losing fat but the strength training etc may mean you are recompositioning rather than losing weight? And focus more on your health-based metrics like your weights and running stamina?

Don't be a slave to the scale, if that's not motivating you focus on other measures that do.

exactly women’s health is so poorly treated and misunderstood. A woman I know lost 5kg due to fibroids being finally treated .

She was having severe pains for ages and doctors kept telling her to lose weight. Had they done a scan earlier and saw fibroids and removed them that would have been 5kg instantly lost.

I take scale readings of my weight and BMI with a pinch of salt. I take into account a wide range of metrics including waist measurement, how my clothes feel, body fat, and muscle density percentages.

I know home body analysis scales are not always super accurate but they can provide some kind of idea. I know people who have said dexa scans (which are very reliable) more or less backed up what their home scales have been telling them.

I've never had a problem losing weight while eating carbs. I love carbs. I have had some success getting over a plateau by having a "cheat day" (I hate that phrase) not sure if it's backed by science but I've done it a couple of times and it worked. It's also an excellent excuse for a slap up meal

It will pass eventually, you're doing all the right things op

Haven't rtft, but 4L of water every day?! Is that necessary? Don't you feel bloated?

The "three meals" structure is a construct of society and technology.

We haven't physically evolved much since we were hunter gatherers - and there wasn't a whole lot of breakfast lying around the cave.

I don't eat until I move, however long that takes.

And it might be worth cutting back on the exercise briefly - try one weights and two cardio for a month. I had similar hiatus at 16st, and a month of 1800 and lower activity cracked it for me.

(I know there's a lot of querying about starvation mode, but there are few to no studies of how varying your exercise and diet affects weight loss. And for me, varying it helps. Sometimes that means less exercise and less calories, sometimes more calories less exercise, etc etc. The science isn't perfect yet, so the best thing to think is "how would a caveman eat and drink and exert himself" - because that's what our biology is geared towards.)

I wouldn’t listen to half of the shit people spout on these threads OP. We’ve had ‘muscle weighs more than fat’ and ‘fat converts into muscle’ … all given as a fact and not a completely incorrect opinion

Everyone’s metabolism is different.

You’ll get a lot of comments from people telling you you must be snacking, or miscounting, because their experience is calories in/calories out works. I used to believe this too until I had to start a medication that changed my metabolism. Never had problems with weight in my life, then suddenly I was gaining weight despite barely eating and really struggled to lose it. I’ve been eating at a deficit for 6 months now and it’s only just started to budge. I haven’t magically forgotten how to manage my weight or suddenly started sleep-eating cake: it’s a difference in metabolism. Would never have believed the impact it has until I experienced it myself, and my doctors tell me that some people’s bodies are naturally like this.

Even in a calorie deficit, your body still has to trigger the pathways to actually burn fat, and some people’s bodies don’t do this as easily as others.

The most useful true thing I can say is that I’m sorrry, it may just be a bit harder for you than for others, but if you keep at it you will see the scale start to shift.

If you don’t and it’s been a long time trying, or if you’re maintaining a genuine deficit but still gaining, see a doctor, show them a food and exercise diary and emphasise forcefully that you’re experiencing “unexplained weight gain” as this can be a sign of health issues.

I was going to say this. I have discovered that if I stay below 1,800 I lose weight and then it stalls. I go back up to 2,000 for a bit and I start losing again. As long as you keep the movement going, it will be fine.

You burned 1950 kcal just doing exercise? What were you doing?? I play tennis, which is intense and considered high calorie burning, and even an hour of play only burns 700 calories. More likely that is your overall daily calorie burn which is totally normal.

I haven't read the whole thread OP, so someone may have suggested this already, but I wondered whether if you are extremely sedentary when you're not doing the two workouts of the week, this may be the explanation, and your TDEE may be lower than you think. So I would try and walk 10k steps a day if you can, in addition to your formal exercise. Or if not 10k, as many as you can manage. Take stairs not lifts, walk up escalators etc. Whatever you can fit in.

I saw somewhere that you should be drinking 1oz for every KG, not sure how true it is but that’s where I tend to feel best to be honest!

Btw Op it took me 2-3 years to lose 3 stone. So to me you are early days and are off to a good start. Just keep pushing and eventually the weight will come off.

I know a stone a year sounds slow but for me it was sustainable. Due to some injuries and illness I’ve focused almost solely on diet for the last year or so since even walking isn’t possible for me some days. And I think that leaning towards diet more helped.

My journey wasn’t linear, I lost 10 pounds within my first few months then put that back on then within another few months. I plateaud for months then finally lost that ten pounds again and more , gained some back, lost some, plateaued and so on! I started at 13 stones I’m now around 10 stone. Half a stone more to go! Finally. lol.

I actually don’t know how many times I can say I track every single calorie. I count the 5pm of squash I put in my water, the half scoop of oxyshred I take before the gym, ever. Single. Calorie. Is counted. I weigh my food and track it on nutracheck.

Could you be insulin resistant? I couldn’t lose weight at all until I addressed that, and I tried some pretty extreme diet and exercise regimes in desperation. I started metformin and immediately stopped gaining weight, and after 3-months the weight just started coming off. I could eat a balanced diet and lose weight. My challenge is now the reverse. I lose too much weight on metformin but my insulin resistance returns rapidly when I stop taking it and I pile on weight even though I eat much less. It also helped reduce the intense water weight gain during my period, as I was in the same cycle where I could gain 3kg in the days prior to my period, and I would then spend the 2 weeks after trying to just lose that retention gain!

How would I know? I had a full panel of bloods and my HBA1C was at 30, so I guess that’s the only indication?

I did Noom for a while, and one thing I learnt was that sometimes the scales don't move, but like you say, you can see the evidence elsewhere, in your clothes for example, so trust yourself, you are going great!

OP have you had a recent blood test? If not I think it’s always good to have a blood test before starting any new health programmes. I didn’t realise but I was increasingly anaemic over the last decade .

That affected my sleep which in turn affected my cravings. And I believe the iron deficiency gave me some cravings too since my body was searching out certain nutrients. And even when I fought against my cravings I felt as if I didn’t lose weight as quick when I was sleep deprived and I looked more bloated.

Not suggesting you’re anemic but more generally it’s just good to get checked out anyway.

I didn’t think of it myself unfortunately but I really wish one of my GPs had suggested a blood test all the times I’d go to them with various ailments. So it’s something I’m now proactive about.

Yes, but you need to do it carefully (with electroyltes and magnesium supplements etc). I actually only intended to do three days but suddenly felt great on day 5 but pushed through! You don't have to fast at all, though.

I believe you OP. I am exactly the same. I’ve been stuck at the same weight for ages although my scales also said 15:13 this morning.

I am post menopausal though. Like you I track and I exercise and try to eat enough protein. The one thing I don’t do is drink enough water but I find it very difficult. I hate the stuff. Drink loads of tea though.

If you find an answer let me know!

Firstly congratulations on your weight loss so far.

Secondly muscle mass weighs more than fat.

Thirdly, and I really say this with good intent, pasta, cottage pie and lots of sourdough don’t support weight loss.

We are all different but the only thing that worked for me to lose almost two stone back to a size ten was cutting that stuff out. I actually eat more than before but a balance of protein and greens with a small snack of nuts or cheese.

Oh and I cut out wine. I have a vodka soda with fresh lime if I’m out or have a hankering at home!

I eat in a calorie deficit. What you eat in that deficit doesn’t affect weight loss. 100 calories of pasta and 100 calories of fruit are 100 calories. Simple as that