I don't know what to do :(

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Hi everyone

I'm feeling really deflated and not sure what else to do.
I'm calorie counting, I walk around 4-6 miles at least 4x a week. I go to the gym 5x a week and have a PT once a week.
I have been to the Drs to check my thyroids etc all clear.

I just can't lose the weight and it's really getting to me. I lose a Lb then the next day the Lb is back up and its constantly like that. I don't understand what else I can do. I'm eating lots of protein, I'm in a calorie deficit and drinking around 2-3 litres of water a day. Everyone says it will happen but I've been doing this for a while now and no change does anyone have any advice?

Nope, I run 5ks now and am much more active.

Ah yes, @TeenLifeMum - it's the whole 'eat less and move more' brigade. Which, patently, really doesn't work in the longer term. A calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie, as you have discovered. The type of calories you consume is more important than the number of calories.

@Biwi absolutely. I did your low carb boot camp but I’ve found low carb top that degree gives me urine infections so I’m doing a different approach. Still lower carb but I do include some carefully planned ones.

Eat less move more does basically work

What happens is that most people see that as a short term fix for a weight problem not a way of life

This is not true. If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. Energy in; energy out.

Protein calories will help you feel full for longer but a calorie deficit is a deficit.

Your very last line agrees with me though!

And if you read PP's posts, you'll also see that 'across the board' calorie counting doesn't always work.

Have a read of

No, cos you could lose weight just eating Mars bars and crisps if you were in a calorie deficit, but you’d be hungry.

The simple fact is that if you consume fewer calories than you use you will lose weight.

Take a look at the fitness chef, Jordan Syatt, or Ben Carpenter, or James Smith. All really good on this

Then you have probably been underestimating your total calorie intake.

@BIWI "Your very last line agrees with me though!" - which last line are we talking about?

A calorie of protein is the same as a calorie of fat or a calorie of carbohydrate. A calorie is a measure of energy.

That's not quite true. The calorie measures are, afaik, still determined fairly crudely by combustion. That's not how we use them - we don't get as much usable energy from different types of food. An obvious one is that quite a lot of fibrous food goes through! Lots of veg are satiating and nutritious but won't be the same usable calorie load as white bread.

You don’t have to count calories. You do need to be in a calorie deficit.

It’s easier to count as most people underestimate

After 45 I found that I could not lose weight doing the same things I had always done. After listening to and reading the work of Dr Jason Fung i dropped 20 kilos easily by going low carb. I do not count calories, I eat food which satiates and which does not cause spikes in my blood sugar. Forget bread, pasta, rice, fruit juice, potatoes. It is so much more than calories in calories out. Metabolism changes after menopause.

Are you including the calories burned by exercise in your allowance?

DH and I did Zoe, which although expensive gave us some useful insights into how we responded to different foods (and timing/combinations) and ideas for improving our diets. (Lots of veg, beans/pulses, essentially no junk and 'white carbs', less saturated fat. Pretty common sense stuff really)

Now we're using nutracheck which is pretty easy to do calorie logging on and seamlessly integrates to our Apple Watches for exercise calories. As I'm 63 and 5'1" and not very overweight my TDEE is very low so I do need to eat some of my exercise cals for a sustainable long term solution. I'm gradually losing weight without feeling hungry.

Nope, logging everything - same as I did when I lost weight in my 30s. In my 40s, the type of calories matter - some are easier for the body to use.

@NigelHarmansNewWife

A calorie of protein is the same as a calorie of fat or a calorie of carbohydrate. A calorie is a measure of energy.

Yes, it's a measure of energy. But those calories are not the same in terms of their impact on your body.

I find cronometer easier to use than MFP.

All of these diets simply amount to calorie deficit, be it low carb, or whatever.

If eating less didn’t work, there wouldn’t be several million people dying from starvation in the twentieth century alone.

My old pt told me you see no fat people in prison camps

I'm 38 and 5ft3

If I stay under 1200 I currently lose fairly reliably.

But I'm also eating dinner really early and not eating anything from 6pm through to breakfast.

I've also stopped having carbs with my evening meal, I'm a carb fiend but I got used to it surprisingly quickly.

Not sure that would be classed as “healthy” weightloss 🙄

eating 1200 calories in cream eggs v 1200 calories in actual egg and steamed veg has different outcomes.

I was the same. Would have sworn I was only eating 1200 cals.

in desperation I forked out for a meal plan. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a snack. Controlled calories.

i lost 5 lbs in the first week, and 2-3 thereafter. Clearly there was something wrong with my calorie counting, either my portions were too big, or I was not counting everything.

you need to be really strict. Weighing and measuring everything, until you can tell by eye what’s 30g of cereal and not throw in an extra handful for luck.

it was an eye opener.

It would have exactly the same weight loss outcomes.

No they don't.