Weight loss has stalled

[downloadtoad]

I’m 5.4ft and weigh 11stone, I have lost 8 pounds recently over the last couple of months or so by being in a calorie deficit, I would say my body has got used to this as I can no comfortably go without snacking and just eat main meals.
For example yesterday I ate -
piece of toast and a protein shake
Greek yogurt with flax seed and blueberries
for lunch I had a tuna salad
dinner was actually a bbq, I usually let myself have carbs etc for tea.
I’ll usually have another protein shake in the afternoon.

I haven’t been calorie tracking for a while now but I was trying to initially stay under 1500 but I found it miserable, so I’d say it’s around 1800 calories, some days less.

What am I doing wrong ? You would think the weight should be falling off but it’s definitely stalled.

If relevant I do have pcos and bloat terribly from carbs, even the good ones. I also take metformin for insulin resistance due to the pcos.

I don’t know how old you are, but while I would have lost weight on that when younger since menopause I need to be under 1200 calories and I’m reasonably active.

Hi, I’m 36

Counting calories is a sure fire way to misery and failure. Certainly in the long term.

You’re highly insulin resistant hence the pcos & use of metformin. So your body is being told to store fat.

I would highly recommend you look to slowly, over the next 2-3 months, transition to as close to a zero carb diet as possible. There are no essential carbs. Be careful to take extra salt and electrolytes. You may also want to consider becoming fully carnivore.

Experiment with intermittent fasting and you’ll be surprised how good it can make you feel and help.

Good luck.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Do we not need some carbs?

How active are you? Have you calculated how many calories you need to maintain vs lose weight? Are you carefully weighing and tracking your food so you know exactly how many calories you're consuming?

Unless you're very active, I would expect you're probably eating too many calories to be in a deficit, given your height and your expectation that you're consuming 1800 a day. Also, I would guess that unless you're weighing food carefully you're likely eating more than 1800 a day.

Getting certain on these numbers and confirming you're actually in a deficit is probably a good place to start discovering weight your weight loss has stalled. It takes a bit of time, some scales and a food tracking app, but it's relatively easy to do if you're serious about losing weight.

I wouldn’t lose weight with that calorie intake. Two protein shakes a day is probably quite a lot of extra calories. I’m older than you and it’s just depressing how much harder it is to lose weight than it was ten years ago!

I agree you need high protein and very little carbs. I do find intermittent fasting helps but I don’t always find it sustainable.

Scrap the protein shakes. Try and aim for 1500 max and do a bit of cardio 💓

Intermittent fasting only worked for me for 6 weeks. I get hungry.

I am post menopausal and nothing works.

I do eat carbs though. Maybe this is the culprit. I cannot afford lots of protein.

Catch 22.

Hi, I have started similar recently due to health issue not for weight loss…but I am losing weight fast tbh. I am coeliac and I have pretty much eliminated most carbs…BUT you need to understand carbs vs net carbs. A lot of foods have carbs. Blueberries were a good choice but raspberries are lower carbs. If you’re eating something with carbs, it has to have a high fibre content to carry it, otherwise I wouldn’t be eating toast in the morning. (Presuming it was white toast?!)
What I do is I tried to eat as much protein and fibre as possible. I do a 16:8 IF also. I eat two large enough meals a day. If I get hungry at any point though between 10-6 I will eat so I’m not depriving myself a snacks (but to be honest in the last two weeks I have only had a snack 3 days. And that snack was a slice of turkey or a few pecans etc.

I would also lose the protein shakes

@downloadtoad , insulin resistance is weight loss public enemy no 1!
Try aiming for a diet that minimises insulin spikes, take a look at the Glucose Goddess.
Psyllium husk is very good if you have it an hour before eating at blunting the insulin spike from meals and it swells in your stomach to help you to feel satiated more easily. You could also try intermittent fasting, I don’t ever eat breakfast so as to prolong my overnight fast.
Unfortunately most of us have surprisingly modest calorie requirements and at 1800 a day you’re probably eating at your maintenance calories, you need to try and get that down to about 1400. Cut out processed food, eat plenty of protein and fibre with lots of vegetables and a modest amount of fruit preferably only berries. The weight should shift then.

Why the protein shakes?

No, so many people thrive without them. The body makes all the glucose it needs from fat via gluconeogenesis. Think about an egg that literally gives rise to a new life - all fat and protein. Anyone telling you that carbs are essential is lying or ignorant. Equally, the so called ‘good carbs’ rocket blood sugar. It’s been well demonstrated that wholewheat bread raises blood sugar as much as a mars bar or more. Oats, disaster for blood sugar.

Regarding your blood sugar medication, it is designed on the assumption that you’re too stupid or lazy to make the changes your body needs. It assumes you will carry on eating plenty of carbs. Docs trained that T2 diabetes is permanent - wrong! That lie only benefits big pharma.

If you do proceed with a low / no carb diet, please monitor your blood sugar levels thoroughly. You may be surprised how quickly you can come off metformin. But if you stay on it at the same dose and with low carbs, there is the risk of hypoglycaemia.Talk to your doctor but don’t be surprised if they know nothing about a low carb diet or even try to discourage you.

Protein shakes are full of shite, I’d honestly drop them and have some pieces of chicken or cheese instead.
Other than that just keep calorie counting, work out your TDEE and eat a little less than that. I’m your height and need to eat a lot less than 1800 calories.

Same height as you. On Mounjaro I had to eat between 1200-1400 kcals a day to lose weight - I am very active but older and in peri.

I do think the drug's mechanism of stabilising my blood sugar also played a huge role in my weight loss, not just the calorie deficit.

This!

Plus as you loose weight your calorie requirement drops and you need to recalculate your TDEE. Usually that’s after a stone.

im 5 foot 5, very active and need to eat 1500 for fat loss. If you’re struggling with being hungry have a look at volume eating to help keep you fuller.

End of the day tho don’t drop your calories too low if you’re struggling. Your far better to stay in a small deficit but be consistent then you are to drop cals too low and end up regularly overeating.

For me, I need to eliminate wheat and red meat out my diet to successfully drop weight. But everyone’s different so this might not apply to you.

I do eat some carbs, but limit them to brown/wild rice and boiled/baked potatoes, as I digest those easier.

How many calories in the protein shake? Could you do without that, and slightly increase the protein amount in food you’re eating?

Are you doing any exercise? I need to do a mix of cardio and weights 4x a week to help everything along.

Specific medical issues aside, if you aren’t losing weight, you aren’t in a calorie deficit. That’s it. Maybe you’ve relaxed on weighing out portion sizes and are eating more than you think. Or maybe the calories you are eating are too high for you to lose weight. 3500 cals is a pound so to lose a pound a week you need to be in a deficit of 500 a day roughly
If you think 1800 is a deficit then you must be really active at the height, weight and age you are.
Im older than you and shorter and not very active and my maintenance is 1700 so to lose 1lb a week I need to drop to 1200.
Before anyone tells me that toddlers need to eat more than that, I’m in the care of a qualified nutritionist who has calculated my deficit for me.

Hi all. So my TDEE is 2,000 calories a day. I’m confident I’m not eating that many. The protein shakes I take because I do Pilates 3 times a week, and they help with hunger, I dont eat loads of meat either so it’s to keep my protein up. I use ‘bulk’ protein powder and I think it’s only 122 calories per shake which is quite a little compared to some.

Unfortunately I think you need to eat less. I'm 5'11 and need to eat 1800 to lose weight.

As an aside, Skyr (as an example) is very high protein and very low kcal. I have this with oats as an overnight oats and bulk out with fruit, (40g oats, 200g yogurt) I usually have it around 11am as a brunch and it more or less sees me through until dinner at 5 ish. If you can't tolerate the oats the yogurt is still filling.

If your tdee is 2000kcal and you're eating 1800 give or take, it's going to take you over 2 weeks to lose 1lb of fat.

The reason your weight loss has stalled is because you're not tracking calories. Sorry, but if you're estimating then you are certainly going over 1500 and losing your deficit. You can tinker around the edges of your macros if you want but essentially you're eating too much to lose fat.

ETA you're aiming for 1800 to lose weight? Obviously that's not going to work if you're not tracking.

The idea is I eat the same things pretty much every day so I tracked for a week or so to know where I was at. Maybe I will start track again then.

Cut the protein shakes or at least remove one. They are probably doing very little for you except adding to your calorie intake. I am similar height to you and gain weight if I eat 1800 calories so unfortunately its a case that you need to cut calories from somewhere.

1800 sounds like maintenance kcal not weight loss kcal

Protein shakes are no good have nuts for a snack instead I found them pretty good for hunger cravings and they have fibre in them. I have pistachios.