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.

That looks about 3000 calories a day to me. If I take a standard pasta salad from the supermarket that’s about 400-500, a handful of nuts is a few hundred.

none of it sounds satisfying as it’s so low protein. There’s a lot of ultra processed food and carbs which really fuck with blood sugar.

I would start by counting the calories up of what you’re eating and cut that to 1800-2000, then replace the bready things with chicken/eggs/slices of beef

are you doing a lot of weights or anything that would make you think you need a high calorie load ?

It’s pure carbs!

Fat and protein are your friend for weight loss. It’s nature’s Ozempic.

You are eating way too much OP. Have you tried joining WeightWatchers or similar?

So much processed crap and not a single vegetable.

I think it's way too much food and high carb too. Oats, bread, spaghetti and biscuits in one day.

You need more veg too.

You had a very high sugar diet before and it’s still very high sugar, all your carbs now are just converting to sugar

About twice as much food as I eat! I have no breakfast (just black coffee) and zero snacks. Lunch is a sandwich followed by fruit. Supper is grilled fish or chicken with tonnes of vegetable and either Greek yogurt and fruit or a few squares of dark chocolate. And that’s it. Would love to eat more but put on weight if I do.

I think you need to get your head around the calories you need and portion control.

Your breakfast alone sounds like 3 courses.

If you work out how many calories you need and portion control everything, you will be on your way to make wise choices.

You will be hungry for the first week or so, you need to drink lots of water and then your body will get used to it.

You are clearly still eating a lot more calories than you think you are. It's not complicated - you need to weigh and measure everything, work out the calorie total and compare it to your TDEE. You can use a site like https://tdeecalculator.net/ to work out your daily calorie total to maintain weight.

But you havent cut down youve swapped some things out for healthy things but your still eating to much food.
like why do you need crisps with pasta? And 3 courses of breakfast? You just dont.

And that's great, but you're not losing weight because you're eating what sounds like the equivalent of 2-3 normal breakfasts, 1-2 normal lunches, and having 2 desserts after dinner. Plus snacks.

You've presumably been steadily gaining weight for some time? So you've been eating in a calorie excess for a while. You may have cut out the excess by reducing what you eat, but that doesn't mean you're now in a significant calorie deficit. You'll probably just maintain your weight if you continue eating like this.

Sounds like you're now eating better which is definitely a good thing...but in terms of amounts, it sounds about the same.

I don’t want to kick you when you’re down, but my first impression after reading your list is that this is a LOT of food and probably double the calories I eat in a day. Not to even mention the high carb content.
More protein will likely make you more full.
But to answer your question, no you cannot lose weight by eating what you’ve described.

So - your new diet is certainly an improvement on you previous one - so I think you can be proud that you are making changes. The biggest thing is calorie content, though - you can eat the most nutrient-dense diet in the world, but if you are eating more calories than you body needs, you will gain weight.
Eating more protein will satiate your appetite better than lots of carbs (I’d never recommend cutting carbs entirely!) but I think it is worth actually counting how many calories were in your outlined day of food. Measure everything!

Everyone already mentioned carbs, more protein and less food. Please also monitor your water intake, drink lots throughout the day and you will also feel less hungry. And add some veggies.

Your diet is an improvement, but it's still pretty bad.

Ditch the carbs and download the Freshwell app. I was recommended it by someone who’d lost 5 stone in 3 months. I’ve lost a stone in 5 weeks. No need to count calories, just eat full fat of everything and plenty of meat and fish. Carbs are mostly sugar so any diabetic issues are greatly improved. I don’t get any food noise. Highly recommend it.

You've made a really great start, and you should be very proud of yourself, so let's focus on what next steps can be! I would say you need to cut down on the double carbs, so maybe drop one to start, then drop another after a few days, then another etc. What kind of veg do you like? If you let us know we can help you come up with some ways to get more veg into what you are eating now. How long have you been on your new diet, how are you feeling generally? What kind of drinks are you having, could you be drinking a fair few calories?

You are eating huge amounts, at least twice as much as your body needs.

Some very smug posts on here. You've done really well so far OP, it's very hard to make changes when you've lived a certain way for so long.

Have you ever seen the plates that show you the proportion of carbs, fat, protein etc you should be aiming for? When I need to lose weight they help me, I'm always far too carb heavy and not enough protein or veg. What I tend to do is allow myself to eat as much as I want of vegetables and protein (because the hunger that comes from eating 'normally' after years of overeating is UNREAL), but make sure that my meals are proportional to the percentage plates and then never snack on carbs. I have to really tell my brain that if I'm not willing to eat another carrot as a snack, then I'm not actually genuinely hungry for the toast im craving instead!

You'll get there - the weight didn't go on ovednight so it wont come off overnight either but you can do this x

Hi OP - It’s easy to consume extra calories due to over estimating your portion size. The only thing that works for me is calorie counting. Look online for a calculator that will work out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and deduct 20%. This is your daily calorie allowance.

The download the my fitness pal app and log everything that you eat, weighing everything if they are not pre portioned. If you do this and stick to your daily calorie allowance and I promise you, the pounds will fall off.

Without knowing portion size, that still looks over 2000 calories. You need to be weighing things like oats and pasta - you'll be surprised at portion sizes. And like pp, more protein.

OP is this a fat-shaming thread?

Because most people wouldn't eat anything like that - and no, not even larger people. Plenty of overweight people eat far less and far healthier than that and don't slim down. I feel as though you are trying to make a point here.

If not, then you need to cut back much further. I would halve the carbs, at least. Try having at least one meal that isn't built around heavy carbs, so chicken and salad for example.

OP is this a fat-shaming thread?

Because most people wouldn't eat anything like that - and no, not even larger people. Plenty of overweight people eat far less and far healthier than that and don't slim down. I feel as though you are trying to make a point here.

If not, then you need to cut back much further. I would halve the carbs, at least. Try having at least one meal that isn't built around heavy carbs, so chicken and salad for example.