The same bl**dy pound!

[timeistight]

I’ve been calorie counting since 4 August, 1,400 calories a day, at least 10,000 steps (more like 20,000 at weekends) and not eating back my exercise calories, and getting plenty of sleep. I’ve cut out almost all alcohol and am generally eating really well.

I lost 7lbs in the first five weeks, which I thought was a bit slow, but ever since then I have been going up and down with the same two pounds, so today I still weigh the same as I did a month ago. I’ve been a pound less and a pound more since then, but never got any lower. It’s depressing.

I must be going wrong somewhere, but I don’t know where. I have another 7lbs to lose, but can’t see how I am going to do it.

Help!

What are you using to track your calories? What are you eating?

Fitbit tells me how many calories I'm using. I'm logging them on a spreadsheet from info from packages and from my trusty Rosemary Conley book.

Eating cereal and fruit for breakfast, protein and salad for lunch with yoghurt and more fruit, evening meal varies, but always home cooked. Most days I'm coming in between 1200 and 1400 calories, whereas Fitbit says I'm using using over 2000.

I have quite severe osteo arthritis so can't physically do any more exercise, but yesterday I managed 17000 steps.

I'm resigned to the fact that if I don't want to be overweight I will have to monitor closely everything that goes in my mouth for the rest of my life and that any treats will need to be compensated for, but to do all this without seeing the results is another thing entirely.

Maybe swap the cereal and fruit for a couple of hard boiled eggs? I've found ditching carbs worked for me.

@timeistight

You’re going about weight loss the wrong way. Stop counting calories. Your body readjusts to the lower calorie threshold so your approach will work for a while but it will stop working. It’s not about calories. It’s about hormones.

Look at this vid. And if you need further help let me know.

Another month on and the situation is still the same. Oh and the video thT was posted is’unavailable’.

Try high fat low carb (Atkins)
Or 5:2
Or a combination of both.
These won't slow your metabolism.
Walking isn't a great form of exercise for burning calories and losing weight. You need to do something that's high in intensity. Try weight lifting if your able to?

Are you weighing and measuring every last morsel that passes your lips or just using the rough guides on packets? Your example daily intake seems to me that it is very likely to be significantly more than you think it is. What about drinks? Every last calorie counts. Also calorie burnt estimates are always way over generous. If you want to lose weight you need yo consume less than you burn and you will lose a pound for every deficit of 3500 calories. If you're staying the same then you need to burn more or consume less. It's that simple .

Of what you say is right about your calorie intake and expenditure, you should be losing at around a pound a week.

I use MFP and the only way I can be guaranteed to lose consistently is to come in at 1200 per day regardless of exercise.

I don't eat back exercise calories either, although I always log them.

It's a pita, but I daren't fall off the wagon because I know that that bloody pound will be back if I do! It's a constant battle.

I'm older (58) and it's even more difficult. I acknowledge that this is it, for me.

How are you doing now time? It has taken me ages to break the plateau!

@Sodaface and @timeistight

The way to break thru a plateau is not to starve your body of calories but to starve your body of carbs.

If you focus only on calories here is what happens:

1. the carbs you eat - likely over 30 g per day - convert to glucose. Protein does that too if you eat too much.

2. glucose spikes blood insulin

3. insulin is used to transport glucose to cells

4. any excess because muscle cells are full of glycogen goes to fat cells

5. insulin blocks glucagon which is the hormone that signals to the liver to break down body fat

6. low calorie intake slows metabolism down

Point 5 is the key.

Ergo: to burn body fat reduce blood insulin levels. Do that by shocking your system (pancreas) to produce glucagon by eliminating carbs.

And intermittent fasting just turbo boosts it all and is v healthy for the body. A bunch of other great hormones are created like HGH and testosterone.

Try increasing your calories for a week or two and then starting again on 1600 and you should begin to gain muscle. 1400 calories when you’re doing 10-20k steps is fairly low

What’s your bmi? And age? You may need to slightly up your calories then drop again.

So I kept going with the result that I have put on a stone since Christmas and now weigh half a stone more than when I started last August.

Depressing, or what?

Weight loss can be depressing!

A few thoughts here from a bit of an amateur. As you lose weight, your calorie needs go down. Eg, I lost 5lbs in my first month and then had to recalibrate my MyFitnessPal account with my new weight. My calorie allowance has therefore reduced. It's not clear if you adjusted your calories after the half stone loss, but if you didn't, thats one thing you could look to change. The less you weigh, the less effort it takes your body to run in normal operation mode; therefore, the less calories you need. If you're aiming for a deficit (as you are), it needs even less!

The other thing is exercise to boost a bit of fat loss. Are you doing any? You could up your intensity for a week or two, or change the workouts, to shock your body.

At the end of the day, you will ALWAYS hit a plateau during any weight loss or exercise kick. It is your body's survival strategy, to adapt and maintain. When you hit a plateau, you need to do two things. 1) Make sure you have the right mindset to not let it derail your efforts as I guess you have now, and 2) shock your body again through diet and exercise to get it into weight loss mode. Sometimes as other PPs have said, you can do this by eating at controlled, healthy maintenance calories for a week or two, then back to deficit.

It's hard - get back on the wagon! If it was easy, we would all look like Jennifer Lawrence...

I'm very limited in what exercise I can do as I have osteo-arthritis in both knees, so anything high impact is out as is anything that requires flexibility.

Eleven months on from trying to lose half a stone, i now need to lose a stone. In the meantime I've developed a heart condition as well, so need to lose this extra weight, but I simply don't know how. It depresses me and affects my self image really badly.

In the last year I've overhauled my diet, given up chocolate and alcohol except on rare occasions and done much more exercise within the constraints of my physical condition. I just don't know what else I can do.