Why am I not losing weight ?

[specialk9]

Hi

I've always calorie counted to previously lose and maintain weight but it doesn't seem to be working this time ! Any ideas?!

I'm short (5ft) , 9st 9lb
My goal is between 8st 10lb and 9st.
I'm 40 with 3 children (one under 1).

I'd say I'm fairly active, naturally do over 10k steps a day with school runs and general life. 3x cardio sessions per week and some hand weight workouts at home.

I eat between 1000-1200 calories during the week and increase slightly at the weekend to allow an extra treat plus I have a gin and slimline tonic with dinner on a Friday and Saturday. I always ensure the average daily consumption is 1200 calories.

An example of what I eat

Yesterday 1150 calories

3x Tea with semi skimmed milk+ 1 sugar
1-2l of water
Breakfast- 30g porridge with semi skimmed milk + 1 teaspoon peanut butter
Lunch - 100g roast chicken breast (no skin) + salad + 1 tablespoon light salad dressing
Dinner - Fishcake + rice/veg
Treat - 2 low calorie biscuits

Today 1020 calories

3x Tea with semi skimmed milk+ 1 sugar
1-2l of water
Breakfast- 30g low sugar muesli with protein yoghurt
Lunch - 30g mature cheese + 1 boiled egg + salad + 1 tablespoon light salad dressing
Dinner - Grilled cod + light dressing + broccoli/peas
Treat - 2 low calorie biscuits

I'm getting a bit desperate now and really trying hard not to turn to a 'fad' diet.

Surely I don't have to eat less calories than that?!

Why are you not losing weight?

You're 40. That's it, sorry!

@specialk9 what app are you using to track your calories? I didn’t find MFP very accurate and companies are allowed to be off by 10%.
ive just started cc for a second time and am using Cronometer. Online and desktop/laptop app.

Some of the good places to get advice are the meta-analyses of RCTs mentioned in the video above, rather than relying on what Joe Bloggs one here says. That's why that video is so useful: it quotes many, many respected, up to date scientific studies, and also highlights how some of the stuff many of us regard to be 'fact' is, in fact, old and disproven, or without foundation.

Don't take notice of us, OP! Have a look at the scientists who quote the studies.

I was going to start the same thread !!

But I'm really weighing everything and measuring oil in salad (if I put any in ).

I'm eating lots of lettuce and lots of chicken breast. Some tomatoes too. Apples etc. I weigh all of it.

I'm not exercising, but I rack up lots of steps due to toddler and newborn and cleaning / cooking etc.

My Apple Watch says I do between 8k- 10 k steps every day.

Apparently my BMR is 1.500 calories and my maintenance if I'm sedentary is 1,800. According to my watch, I'm burning around 2,500 calories a day. I'm not eating more than 1000 a day. It's been a week and I'm starving and nothing is shifting. So depressed.

Not breastfeeding. I have a 6 week old, so sleep is an issue.

Please up your calories, 1000 will just leave you hungry, miserable and completely unable to maintain the diet beyond a week or 2.

If your maintenance is 1800 then anything under that should result in a loss.

Aim for 1500, plenty or water, enough sleep and give it 2 weeks then re weight and measure. If you don't see scales and/or tape measure changes I'd be surprised.

Your body can deal with a calorie deficit in lots of ways. It has a lot of systems running, day and night, that it can alter the power balance of. Fat loss is one of its least favourite things to do with a calorie deficit. Fat storage is a very clever thing we do to allow our species to survive, and without it, the human race would not have made it through the lean times it has. Our bodies are evolved to want and to prefer to store fat. Those of us who have done it best, evolutionarily, are the ones who have made it through. The ancestral humans who were not skilled at storing fat simply died of their thinness, when supplies got low. Survival of the fattest, if you like.

Pitch that against the availability of foods now. Of course lots of us are going to be overweight. And when we cut back on calories, our bodies all have a different ratio of 'Shall I burn some fat, or shall I fuel the hormone balance more meagrely?' and 'Shall I burn some fat, or shall I stop throwing energy at keeping this skin clear?' and 'Shall I burn some fat, or shall I take a bit more risk of letting an infection in?' etc. Some of us have bodies that will choose to burn fat more easily than others.

That's why a calorie isn't a measure of weight or fat, and why a certain number of calories doesn't equal a certain amount of weight loss. It's why some diets work well for some people, but not for others. It's why 'This diet worked for Bob, so how come it doesn't work for me?' makes sense.

Why you are not losing fat is to do with not eating at a calorie deficit, but that's too simplistic. It's like saying 'Your car won't run without petrol', and then filling the tank and wondering why it won't go, when it's got no pedals. You have to encourage your body to fill its calorie deficit with burned body fat, otherwise you just end up depleted in some way or other. That's why people can diet for years and end up carrying at least as much fat (or more, if their muscles atrophy), and feeling depressed/lank hair/poor skin/mood swings etc.

Thinking that the human body is just 'calories in = fat storage/less calories in = less fat storage' is far too simplistic. Do we really believe that, with everything our bodies are doing, perpetually, to maintain homeostasis, we can balance calories and weight so neatly?

I guess it's easy to tell people they're just being lard arsed and grossly over estimating what they take in. What do you suggest works then ? I'm really frustrated.

Over the years I've lost weight on different types of diets. I used to do low carb for years, it did work, but I'm scarred from it, so the last few years I've done calories in vs calories out.

But it's really getting harder and harder for me to lose weight with that. I keep failing. The only way for me to lose is to literally exist on a couple of apples a day and lots of water and that's not sustainable. Even at 1000 calories, I'm finding it so hard. I'm so depressed about it.

@seriouslywhyisthis

I posted a video upthread, it's 40 minutes long. Sounds like it might be worth a watch. I hope it helps get you on a happier path.

@Watchkeys

This is the person in the video you have linked to- her entire career is based on spouting unscientific crap- have you seen her Twitter feed???

www.wcrf-uk.org/our-blog/is-zoe-harcombes-advice-based-on-solid-scientific-evidence/

rationalwiki.org/wiki/Zo%C3%AB_Harcombe

@seriouslywhyisthis , i believe recent research suggests there is some genetics at play as to which of these two options work best, low fat and low carbs.
controlled studies were done and the results were inconclusive as to why certain people do well on one type vs another.
but back to basic nutritious non processed foods was by far the biggest long term weight loss in both groups.

@Ethelfromnumber73

I'm not really bothered about Harcombe. It's the studies she cites that make the points.

@Ethelfromnumber73

That Wiki's full of rubbish too. If you want to take down someone who does scientific analyses of randomised control trials, you'll probably need more than a wiki link.

Scientists who first said tobacco was bad for you received the same kind of vitriol as this. People who stand at the forefront of new science usually do. People who said the earth was round, etc.

Things change.

@Watchkeys

I do analysis of RCTs and other types of study for my job. The key is not to cherrypick the ones that support what you already think. She advocates a diet that in many many robust, population- wide datasets has been associated with poor health outcomes.

@Ethelfromnumber73

I do analysis of RCTs and other types of study for my job

Wow!

This isn't so much about you and your ego, though. It's more about the studies. If you're bringing it down to your individual traits, you're missing the point.

She's not the only one. It's not about her. I don't mind if you don't agree, and I don't think anybody else will. We all draw our own conclusions, and are entitled to.

All the best.

All calories are not the same, and a calorie is not a weight measurement. If you watch the video above, you'll see what happens when you ask the authorities where the 3500kcal = 1lb of fat 'fact' came from. They don't know.

Quite simply that is the calories in a lb of suet.

Interesting article on how calories used to be measured and how they are now measured. Bloody metric systems
www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/nutrition/how-caloric-value-food-determined#:~:text=A%20food%20calorie%20is%20actually,was%20measured%20in%20a%20calorimeter

For easy to understand information I like Michael Mosley. He is a competent researcher and presenter who likes to back info up with research.

Quite simply that is the calories in a lb of suet

What is the relevance of this to the human body and how it gains/loses/maintains fat?

@Watchkeys

Nothing to do with my ego, I'm just saying that her 'scientific analysis' is no such thing.

Yup, got it @Ethelfromnumber73

All the best.

Sometimes scientists forget that we are not closed system combustion engines.

If you want to diet, don't eat diet food. Eat real food, palm size protein, small portion complex carbs, loads of veg. Make sure you make it taste nice, you need to eat like this for the rest of your life. Birthday cake is part of a balanced diet, don't punish yourself. Diets are a lifestyle and need to be sustainable.

Nobody makes money from people eating sensibly, loads of companies make money from low fat, low sugar, high protein, low carb, blah, blah, blah

@PestorPeston

Was there any relevance in the suet/kcal comparison?

If a lb of suet = 3500kcal then presumably someone just decided that therefore a 3500kcal deficit would lose a lb of fat.

If you work off calories in = calories out, that could be considered logical

No it doesn't

If it was that easy, it'd work.

How long are you at it? It's takes a few weeks for any losses to be seen on the scales in my experience.

I'm 5ft (aged 41) and I've recently lost weight with:

One skinny cappuccino, 2 x 100 cal protein shakes and then my regular dinner. No Alcohol sun-thurs and no snacks. It took a good while for me to see any difference and then it began to fall off, hang in there!

We have a weight loss thread for those of us who are vertically challenged if you'd like to join us!