Not losing weight despite massively cutting back

[Morgun]

Can anyone analyse what I’m eating and tell me where I’m going wrong? I’ve cut back so much yet the scales are not shifting. I’m 5ft 8 and 16st

breakfast - porridge oats, 2 slices of wholemeal toast with low fat spread, a fat free yogurt and a banana

lunch - pasta salad with a wholemeal roll and a packet of low calorie crisps.

Aftetnoon snack - apple, nuts and sometimes a fat free yogurt but not always

dinner - homemade spaghetti bolognese (wholemeal spaghetti), 2 small slices of garlic baguette, a weight watchers mouse and a piece of fruit

evening snack - a couple of biscuits

this is far less than I used to eat yet the scales are not budging. I’m being told to cut down further but I can’t see what else I can do, I’m struggling as it is.

If you don't want to calorie count forever, you should still do it for a couple of weeks just so you get an idea of what a day's food should look like. Well done for cutting back, but you're still eating a lot.

That was my first thought on reading it as well, very carb heavy and also quite calorific

That's true but weighting your intake towards vegetables is even healthier. I can't see any veg on op's revised diet plan (let alone her original eating plan).

The only place I can see it might have a sprinkling of vegetable is in the bolognaise sauce or the salad - but as it's a pasta salad, she'd have to eat quite a lot of pasta to get much veg.

Can you possibly cut out breakfast so you can intermittent fast. That’s would be a good amount of calories and fasting potentially. I’ve never been a breakfast eater so understand it’s harder if used to it - but just an idea

Well I got snapped at for saying that above, but descriptions like "a big white roll" and " a whole packet of biscuits" smacked of making fun of overweight people to me.

Some people are convinced that people are only overweight because they consume vast quantities of low quality food, which is just unfair and simply not the case. I have a couple of friends who try quite hard, but the weight doesn't fall off. And many, many of the answers on this thread attest to that too.

@Morgun
Youve not mentioned anything about what you drink?

As others have already suggested, I think you may need to tip the balance away from carbohydrates toward proteins. There is quite a lot of food in each of your meals, as well as scheduled snacks.

To start with, I would really reduce carbs as the sugars will keep you trying to maintain that level of blood sugar, keeping you 'tuned in' to food and snacking.

Intermittent fasting is fantastic for 'tuning out' of food noise; eat your last bite by a decent time in the evening, say 6.30, and then fast until midday the next day. It gives your body a nice rest from the preoccupation with eating. You have a 'window' of 6ish hours within which you eat the calories of the day, the rest of the time you get 'off'. You don't need to do it every day, maybe every other day to start with.

Another good tip is to let go of ideas of what a 'meal' should look like. I think about my food based on how much of a food group or particular nutrient I need so my plate can look a bit mad, but it works. I might eat some fish with a dollop of coleslaw and peas, or a plain beef patty with a bean salad and hummus. Only having stuff on my plate because it 'earns' it's place there, as opposed to "Well, I need to have a bun with a burger, or potatoes with fish", is really liberating.

If you thrive on breakfast and don't fancy intermittent fasting, try starting your day with a hard boiled egg, a handful of almonds and an apple, for instance, and ditch the grain carbs. Have a nice bowl of lentil soup with vegetable crudites for lunch -no need for bread. Dinner can be a main protein with supporting vegetables: a grilled chicken thigh with creamed spinach and tomato salad. You'll be surprised to notice how quickly you become disinterested in sweet and carby foods and snacks. When you reduce those, it's suddenly very easy to find yourself in a comfortable calorie deficit every day.

But you must make sure you strength train so you don't lose muscle mass. I couldn't see how old you are, but as we age and approach perimenopause it is crucial to hold on to your muscle mass when losing weight through calorie counting.

Best of luck, OP.

You could easily be hitting 4000 calories in this "low calorie" diet. You need to work out how much energy you're putting into your body and how much you're actually losing.

I’d be putting on weight eating that much.

If this isn’t a wind up, give up the low fat stuff and eat UPF free.

and more protein

OP that is still a massive amount. 2 slices of bread and porridge AND yoghurt AND a banana for breakfast??

thats probably half your daily calorie burn right there. I think most people would have one of those things for breakfast, at a push 2.

Halve it all, lose the snack.

My mother in law once uttered the words "candy floss is good for you, it's got calories in it", so you never know!

Your breakfast alone is about 700 calories. Are you weighing everything and calorie counting it from the package information (My Fitness Pal is very inaccurate). I suspect this day’s intake is at least 3000 calories.

You’ve done super well by changing your habits and switching healthy alternatives in. But without tracking calories and macros you’re really in the dark. It’s so easy to eat more then you think you are, I’ve been there I’ve lots 120lbs in total (60lbs of that in the last 18 months post partum) and I’m tall so I know how hard it is when you first start. Just to give you an idea of what you’ve eaten I’ve done a rough estimate below.

Breakfast - did you use water with the oats or milk? Average portion of oats alone is 40g which is 150cals, fat free yogurt around 80 cals, banana around 80 cals, bread and low fat spread depends on the type and weight of both but let’s say 200cals

thats 510 cals for breakfast if you added just water to your oats and didn’t have tea or coffee etc.

Lunch - pasta salad (home made or store bought? What is in it and what’s the weight of the pasta and sauces? Any protein like fish, meat, eggs etc?)

let’s say it was store bought and around 400cal
roll without butter is 200 cals give or take
Low cal crisps about 100 cals

700 cals

Dinner - home made spag Bol (what meat fat %? Home made sauce or jar? How much spaghetti?)

let’s say it was the average portion of 120g COOKED pasta 150cals
meat sauce was 300cals
any cheese in top?
this gives you a basic average portion for 450cals

The garlic bread ( a small standard baguette) is roughly 75lbs a slice so that 150cals

weight watchers mousse - couldn’t find so picked a low fat chocolate mousse that is 80 cals
fruit - 50 cals

so that’s 730 cals for dinner

snack - 2 biscuits (let’s say bourbon) 60 cals each 120cals

that’s equates to 2060 calories roughly. Without knows actual macros it’s all guess work though. You could have had smaller portions, had water all day, not had any other snack, had a smaller banana etc

or you could have had bigger portions, used oil in your cooking, had thick cuts of bread with lots of spread, had drinks with calories, added milk to your oats or butter to your roll.

you get the point I’m sure, it’s all about numbers with weight loss. You need to weigh and measure and track. Your previous calories look like they were gaining weight calories, so you’d have been slowly putting on body fat. Whereas these might be very close to your maintenance calories at your height depending on a few things

That’s a lot of food, unless you’re doing 15 hours of manual labour a day. I’ve lost two dress sizes in 18 months through eating and exercise. Slow and steady. Example of what I eat in a day:

• brek: overnight oats with soya yoghurt, flaxseeds and berries
• lunch: a salad with beans and hummus, a few oatcakes
• snacks: fruit/homemade popcorn/crackers
• dinner: stir fry and tofu / fajitas / falafel wraps (just a few examples)
• dessert: maybe a few times a week I have an apple and nut butter, or a cup of tea and some dark chocolate

As people have said, very carb heavy and processed.

Much less carbs, get carbs mainly from fruit and veg only. Increase protein and massively increase fats.

that will make you fuller for much longer and give you sustained energy and less urge to snack. They will also fuel the body to promote weight loss.

every meal time at the moment is very carb heavy and releasing lots of insulin throughout the day, which literally prevents fat loss. Increasing dietary fats significantly and replacing the carbs will stop the release and your body will turn into a fat burning machine as opposed to a sugar burning machine. Afternoon slumps will also stop and if ever you felt tired after eating, that will stop too.

GOOD LUCK OP!!

My estimation of your calorie intake is:
(and this is a low estimate I think as I don’t have all the details)

breakfast -700
lunch - 650
snacks -200
dinner - 750
biscuits -150

Total - 2450 ( approx), could be more

unless you are doing a hell of a lot of exercise I don’t know how you think you would loose weight on this

I think you need to drop around 950 cals from your diet to expect to loose weight but I would need to know how much exercise you do in a day to know more about how much you are burning

Your diet is also very carb heavy

Well done on looking for healthy options but you are eating way too much food in one day.
Have the banana and yoghurt for breakfast.
Some protine and fruit for lunch
Dinner have a salad and some protine
And a small mouse or couple of biscuits.

Sorry to be harsh but you will not loose weight eating what you have posted.

I eat a smoothie or Weetabix for breakfast, porridge sachets and a piece of fruit for lunch and whatever for dinner like shepherds pie, pasta etc. BC I consume very little into he day I can have really whatever I fancy for dinner. If I'm trying to loose a bit I wouldn't have the dinner and would have a salad.i also exercise 5 mornings a week for 45 mins.

I totally get where you are coming from OP. It's so disheartening. I have been trying to lose 10 lbs since February. I started at 10 st 3 lbs, want to get back to 9 st 7 lbs. Been cutting down and cutting down. For the last 8 weeks I have been having just one meal a day. Things like 2 egg mushroom omelette; 1 sausage with 2 baby potatoes with broccoli or some other veg; salmon fillet with salad,no dressing. If I have a snack it's an Apple or a pear. Weight this morning 10 st 3 lbs. I could cry. Feel quite weak some days but determined to get back to my ideal weight. I'm 72 and 5 ft 3 ins. I have two trainer led gym sessions a week, a Pilates session, Zumba session and I ride for two hours. Try to walk three miles a day and I also volunteer four hours a week in our community cafe. I don't know what else I can do. Oh and my pot belly is two inches bigger that it was eight weeks ago.😭

Replace a handful of pasta with two handfuls of vegetables.

Replace pasta with lentils or grains.

Fill up in fibre. Keep eating protein.

FFS what do you think your (completely ridiculous and false) first line is going to achieve apart from make the OP feel shit? Seriously, what was your aim with that comment?

You need to completely re-educate yourself about nutrition!

Eat lots of vegetables, some good-quality protein, and a little fat - plan each of your meals around these.

Your current menu is processed carbs then carbs with carbs plus treble carbs a piece of fruit followed by lots more carbs, all the processed carbs. You are utterly hooked on processed carbs ie. sugar.

I echo much of the advice. You need to count the kcal (not estimate them). Too many carbs, not enough protein.

I'd start by counting everything and making no changes for a week. Just so you can see what you are really eating. See which meals are the worst in the day in relation to kcal or bad fat and start by reducing those. Try to get to 1900 kcal for a couple of weeks, then reduce to 1750kcal, that should see you lose some weight steadily but slowly. Increase your protein by swapping some carbs. That will help you feel fuller as well. If you manage, see if you can add exercise or reduce a further 100 to 1650 kcal, once you have settled into a routine of weighting and measuring.

If you need to have crisps, make them some of those under 100kcal like wootsys, or Skips or equivalent. Try a bigger portion or oats and remove the toast. Perhaps add banana and berries. Or make it an overnight oats with Greek yogurt and berries, it feels more of a treat. Boiled eggs with your salads, sliced turkey or ham, olives for saltiness if you can then reduce the crisps. Avoid that extra piece of garlic bread. Get croutons instead. Look at swaps, that's where you will reduce kcal, by looking at alternatives that might be tastier but lower kcal. Put more meat in your Bolognese or even mix lentils with the mince. Keep the pasta portion small.

That still feels like quite a lot of food to me - especially the breakfast. Plus you add bread to your meals. Eg. the baguettes alongside the spaghetti bolognaise.

Well done on recognising you need to make changes and moving in the right direction.
I’m not going to repeat the good advice that previous posters have given you but I would like to raise a couple of points.

Do you feel hungry before you eat?
Are you experiencing hunger or appetite and can you tell the difference?
When you’ve finished eating, are you comfortably full or do you feel stuffed with food?

I was asked these questions when I was struggling with my weight and they caused me to radically change my thinking and my attitude to food.
After a while it becomes the norm to eat only when hungry and to stop when comfortably full. Weight management has been so much easier since I changed my thinking.