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?

I've always liked that saying! I think it would be worth a try!

Oh yes I know that! But its just so frustrating when it then takes weeks again to see it 'lost' on the scales. Am just grumpy and menopausal and fed up of being fat whilst trying so hard to lose it.

Well that’s spiffing for you. People have different food requirements. Your thinking is so outdated.people need different amounts of calories different type of food. Bodies are very complicated.. your mind is stuck in a thin superiority rut generated by the diet industry

What age are you? You said carbs are nothing to be afraid of, but pasta, bread and potatoes turn rapidly to glucose which goes straight to fat storage if not used. This effect intensifies in your 40s. It's crap but a fact of life for many women. Do you eat later in the evenings (after 6/7) because that's linked to weight gain too.

@RoseisMadder thanks for the info on fibre and protein, I had to up my fibre as read it was the best thing to fight high cholesterol as my readings were a bit high. The effect by having Mums nut and seed cupboard has been positive for the cholesterol but I have also lost weight. I was a bran flakes and big veg eater anyway so did have an ok amount but now it’s quite dominant.

You've made that assertion a couple of times, I'm interested to know if you have a citation for it?

I don't think anyone is suggesting that our bodies can actually convert fat into muscle. I think what is happening is that the dieter can continue to lose fat (through diet) whilst at the same time building muscle through weight training, resulting in zero movement on the scales.

The good news is that muscle burns more energy (calories) at rest than fat does, so the weight loss should start again eventually.

Intermittent fasting kick started by body into losing weight. I stopped running but carried on with the gym and walking while doing it.

Well you can keep asserting it, but unless you have a citation I'm not going to believe you 😁.

It’s not the calorie counting it’s could be the fat/muscle body change.

A colleague started a strict diet, similar to your own, gym four times a week, weight bearing, swimming etc.
She cried her heart out to find she put on a stone!

She had certainly changed shaped too, nice trim waist for the wedding dress she was aiming for. Muscle is heavier than body fat.
She changed her exercises to swimming and running and then lost the stone again, but also her waistline and the dress was a wrong fit…

Don't dispair, maybe ask for more advice at the gym on another option for exercise.

If you're not losing weight on 1500 cals then you need to cut to 1000. It sucks but the equation is calories in vs calories out, if you're in deficit you'll lose weight.

A "drizzle of honey" needs to go IMHO. Its hard to measure and if you go cold turkey on sugar you forget you ever liked it after a few weeks. I can't think of anything worse than taunting yourself with an occasional taste of sugar.

Fill up on something with few calories like bare naked rice or salad and veg.

Good luck, it's totally doable.

You need to weigh and measure everything (yes tedious i know) you'd be suprised how many calories are in things and how much they weigh. Have you entered your details in a TDEE calculator?
Also a calorie counting app on your phone can help x

No. Muscle increase (hyper trophy) is actually difficult to achieve. It's not just a result of lifting weights. Additionally, muscle has to be created from energy. If the body isn't taking in enough energy to create muscle then muscle can't be created. I also don't understand your question about clothes feeling looser - increasing muscle makes them bigger not smaller

It sounds like you are doing everything right and going about it in a sensible and sustainable way. If your clothes are looser then you will have lost fat and toned up. Fat is bulkier than muscle so you could lose the same weight in fat as you gain in muscle and look slimmer without weighing less, as seems to be happening. Don't let the disappointment derail you as you are doing brilliantly. It sounds like you've hot a plateau so it might be good to not weigh yourself for a while, as it's demotivating, and then weigh yourself after you've next seen a change in how your clothes fit. Good luck, it gets so much harder as you get older but you are really working to make the changes and it will happen.

I second intermittent fasting.

Basically, no breakfast, early lunch/dinner. An apple for a snack.

I would stop running as it makes you hungry and walk instead. Have you measured yourself? Your body composition will change through weight training.

No.

I. Weigh. Everything. The drizzle of honey is at most 12g

Intermittment fasting. Works a treat.

I am missing quite a large chunk of bowel, due to surgery. This makes digestion of fibre extremely difficult so my diet tends to be very carb heavy. I have managed to lose over five stone in the last 10 months by calorie counting. I don’t for one minute thank you are lying about the calories you’re consuming, but it is possible that somewhere a mistake is being made. I don’t follow an app, I weigh everything myself and stick to about 1500 cal a day. I write down everything I eat and I’ve had to ban butter, cheese, and crumpets from the house because I can’t control them 😊
I hope I’m not being patronising, but are you sure you are accurately weighing everything, including any spread you put on bread, milk and drinks, mayonnaise et cetera?
Just as a guide and I hope it helps, this is what I eat on a daily basis.

Breakfast is usually two slices of granary toast (Hovis with a triangle of laughing cow low-fat spread and marmite.
Lunch is usually a sandwich (I know, bread again) with Philadelphia light and ham or smoked salmon, and a packet of mini cheddars.
Dinner tends to be chicken or 5% mince, with pasta or potatoes, carrots, broccoli, tinned tomatoes.
Treat is either two ginger biscuits or 11 Maltesers.
I don’t drink tea, not much coffee, mostly water.

Good luck

Is this all about body re composition - would one of those fancy scales help?

That's because your calorie expenditure has gone down as you get older. The science hasn't changed.

If eating 1550 calories a day isn't helping you lose weight or you're losing weight very slowly, cut back to 1250 calories a day for 2 weeks and see how that goes

Ditto. It takes about 3 days to see movement on the scales and around 5 days before I can add back in a small amount and still continue to lose weight.

Pre packaged food is wildly inaccurate in terms of calorie content. Cooking your own food from scratch is likely to be far more accurate.

There is an obsession with being slim/thin etc, which honestly isn't healthy for women over a certain age. Our bodies retain fat stores to protect our bones. We tend to plateau at a higher weight as we age. Sure, cutting calories further will see you lose more weight, but at a certain point, you are risking not getting a sufficient balance of nutrients. If you have a balanced diet, are exercising and feel well, have no markers of risk, etc., I would not obsess over the scale. I would get rid of the scale. I firmly believe that NHS calculator (like all medical science) does not fully understand the extent to which women's bodies naturally and healthily retain weight as we age.