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.

Honestly, OP, I'm morbidly obese. Today being Sunday I had a big breakfast: banana and yoghurt with a drizzle of fruit, and a poached egg on toast. That's still fewer carbs than you are eating.

That's a massive breakfast, I either have porridge or a slice of toast, and I'm not hungry until about 11.30 when I have a piece of fruit, then lunch either soup wuth a slice of bread or a sandwich. You are eating 2 lots of carbs at most meals eg pasta and bread, so you really need to stick to just one carb choice per meal

They do say that the combination of fat and sugar is like an opium hit to a human brain! When I’m craving, I crave sweetened cream … go figure!

So I try to replace that with Greek yoghurt and honey, or protein powder (which is UPF but also pretty nutritionally dense). It’s close enough to the sugar/fat combination that it hits like it in my brain.

But I find the advertised “low fat” yoghurts are full of sugar and not satiating. Part of the trick of trying to eat for health and well-being for me is to seek nutritionally rich foods that are also satiating. Hence I’ll have a bowl of steamed broccoli and grilled tomatoes with a teaspoon of mayonnaise or a sprinkling f soy sauce and sesame oil. The trick is not to overdo the oil/fat bit but to use it to help you feel you’re eating something satiating with that umami kick.

You have 3 breakfasts.

• porridge is one
• toast is another
• fruit & yoghurt is another

i imagine all that food in a day is at least 2500 cals, if not more.

you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

Sugar is the enemy, not fat.
Forget "low fat" options, sugar is often used to replace it.

You could have a tradiotnal UK bacon & egg breakfast for less calories than your current unhealthy carb-laden one.

Fill up on protein; lunch with pasta + bread + potato is not a good idea.

You may have cut down a lot, but you are still eating a lot.

My breakfast would be porridge and berries OR toast OR banana and yogurt. My lunch would be a sandwich or pasta. Is have that sort of dinner but given what you eat earlier in the day your portion size could be big. Don't be fooled into thinking healthy means less calories either. You should start weighing food and counting calories.

15 (usually pretty beefy) men can be fed on 2500-3000 calories. Batshit.

sense of humour fail?

Olive oil is very good for us, especially the virgin and unfiltered sorts.

We should all supposedly eat it every day.
But you can't do that and binge on choc biccies, crisps, muffins and whatever as well.

Well yes because the OP is struggling with her weight and feels she has made a big effort to make changes. I cannot see why it’s funny to make shitty remarks about her eating enough to feed a rugby team, unless trying to kick people when they’re down is amusing to you. She specifically said that she is already finding it hard to stick to this amount of food - why the f do people think it’s ok to
make sarcastic remarks about how much food she’s eating?

No you haven't. You have changed things to items you consider 'healthy',

What you eat for breakfast is as much as I eat in a day.

To be honest, I see no difference between the two diets.

I see quite a lot of difference.

The first one was almost entirely empty calories had hardly a nutrient in it - maybe a little iron in the sausage roll and bacon and some calcium in the cheese cake and yoghurt. I honestly cannot fathom how she could have survived any length of time on it.

The second is still quite hearty calorie-wise, but has fruit and nuts and other useful nutrient contributions, and fewer empty calories.

thanks everyone but people keep dating I’m eating 3 breakfasts etc, I’m not.

Breakfast is 40g porridge oats which is the recommended serving size on the box. When cooked (semi skimmed) it barely fills 1/4 of the bowl. The toast is wholemeal from a 400g loaf, 64 calories a slice. The yogurt is fat free.

I don’t have pasta salad and a sandwhich, it’s pasta salad with a small wholemeal roll. Nothing in it other than low fat spread. The crisps are 88 calories.

Spag Bol made with 125g lean mince and the rest is just veg. 75g spaghetti. The garlic bread is sliced small baguette.

You really are having 3 breakfasts! For context if I was doing a 20 mile run I’d have 45g of oats made into overnight oats with natural yogurt and a bagel or a banana. You’re eating more than that on a regular day!! Why do you need a bread roll with pasta salad?

I would bin the porridge, toast and fat-free yogurt for breakfast. A couple of boiled eggs eggs, or some natural or Greek yogurt with berries would be a far better, and more nutritious option.

Well I am sure you will be feeling better on it anyway op. There are some useful swaps in there nutritionally. And its good there are lots of veg in the bolognaise.

If you really were eating the other and survived it, you have improved the quality of food enormously, which is, I think, actually a more important step than the weight loss.

For loss you will just need to cut back. But I wonder if a couple of months on a more nutrient dense diet to build up your reserves would not be wise before cutting back?

That's a lot of double carbing though. There are countries where people would really stare at you in disbelief for that. (Not saying that I would as I'm familiar with it). I personally wouldn't have porridge AND toast AND yogurt just because it's a lot of faff. Why not just have a bigger bowl of porridge?

today I had
At 9:30- 2 rice cakes with a spoon of peanut butter and a chopped banana drizzled with honey and a cup of tea.

at 2:30 I had a bowl of sausage casserole which consisted of 4 sausages, carrots, leeks, butter beans and mashed potato.

at 7:00 I had a small bowl of grapes and a herbal tea.

honestly I think it’s all too much. Like others have said pick one thing for each meal.

Unfortunately its still way to much food. Skip the porridge & banana and just have toast & fat free yogurt if the porridge doesnt feel enough.
You dont need a bread roll with pasta. Its a lot of carbs.

im on a calorie deficit and today I had

1 slice of wholemeal toast with sliced banana on top.
1/2 can of tomato soup with a protein shake.
dinner was chicken, broccoli, brussel sprouts, parsnips, carrots, mashed potato.
Then I just drank water all day just to give you an idea what people eat in a deficit.

You are having three breakfasts, whichever way you look at it. It’s great that you’ve made significantly better choices, but it’s still a shed load of nutritionally mediocre food. There’s lots of factors at play; age, weight, activity. But being honest with yourself is crucial, and probably is the reason many of us on here have struggled or are struggling. Good luck.

Wow, I am amazed someone could read this whole thread and still insist it's not that much. Yes 40g recommended serving size, so that is the breakfast there, with maybe some fruit. Then toast then yogurt is multiple meals. And as many have said fat free yoghurt is a fucking scam and disgusting