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.

It may have disappeared as official guidance, but it doesn't change the zeitgeist that OP likely lived through. That sort of diet culture affects your attitude and approach to food and is very hard to shake - like a bad habit! And as you pointed out - carbs are still very much pushed when they should be consumed in moderation - unless you're a marathon runner of course!

OP has come here for advice, so understanding how she may have got to the point of eating what she is and struggling to understand where she is going wrong and why is part of trying to help her.

My experience in this is successfully losing 5 stone and keeping it off for 25 years.

Lots of people still can't shake the idea that fat is an issue.

Hop on any of the diet threads on here and you will immediately see plenty of people talking about "low fat dairy", "skim milk in my tea".

I'm not disputing the science has changed; I'm agreeing with that. But it hasn't reached the general consciousness, especially those of us who grew up in or were adults in the 80's.

OK, where to start…
First of all, cut out the snacks, especially the processed ones. Second, the portions you're describing sound really big and very carb-heavy. It’s a common myth that fat is the enemy—it’s actually the excess carbohydrates and sugars that tend to cause weight gain and energy crashes.
Try this for a week and see how you feel:
✅ Limit yourself to one carbohydrate-based meal per day. The rest of the time, focus on protein, healthy fats, and fibre.
✅ You need fat—it helps with hormone balance, satiety, and energy. Don't be afraid of it!
✅ Avoid seed oils and processed low-fat products.
Example daily plan:
Breakfast:

• Black coffee or tea (you can add milk if you like)
• 2 boiled or fried eggs, full-fat cheese or avocado with feta
• No toast, no cereal, no sugary yogurts

If you need a snack:

• Low-sugar fruit like kiwi or a small orange (skip bananas, grapes, mangoes—very high in sugar)

Lunch:

• Grilled, baked or boiled meat (chicken, pork, fish, or beef if budget allows)
• Side of fresh salad or leafy greens (not pasta/rice-based salads)

Snack (only if really needed):

• Small pot of natural FULL-FAT yogurt — avoid sweetened or “fat-free” options

Dinner:

• A solid portion of meat
• Green vegetables (boiled, roasted or fried in butter)

Focus on protein, healthy fat, a bit of fibre, and cut back hard on carbs—especially refined ones. You can absolutely live without carbs, and in the short-term, reducing them can really help kickstart fat loss. I’ve done this myself and saw results within a week. Just give it a go, and see how your body responds.

It’s just completely too much food!!! The calories per day would be so much!

So going on what you say you eat you are consuming nearly 2900 calories ( average as i dont know your portion sizes) For your height and weight to maintain you need to be consuming around 2600 calories or 2050 to lose.
Breakfast should be toast or porridge ot yoghurt and banana not all three.
If you break your 2050 calories down into three meals and 2 snacks
It would look like this
350 breakfast (you are currently consuming around 860 csls just for breakfast )
150 snack
450 Lunch
200 snack
750 dinner
150 for milk for tea/coffee

Obviously you can change the numbers aroundvif you prefer to eat a bigger lunch/smaller dinner or cut out a snack and have more for breakfast.

You would be better upping your protein andvlowering all the carbs.and tracking on an app (i use Samsung health)

I hope this helps,

Not RTFT but I only have one meal a day!
I am an oldie & not as much appetite, but even so..

Go to a TDEE calculator that will give you the amount of calories you need a day. Take 500 off that & that's your calorie intake per day to put you into defecit. You will need to count your calories daily. All you eat & drink. I use nutracheck it's about £27 a year. I suspect you are eating far more than you actually realise. By weighing your food & counting cals you will lose weight. It will also help you make better decisions how you use your calories too

That is a load of food! You need to aim to eat around 1500 calories or less a day. What you eat for breakfast is like 3 breakfasts in one. I have a small bowl of porridge only. Then a wholemeal sandwich with a light filling for lunch. Then a piece of chicken and a small jacket potato for dinner. This is my diet. It works.
You are eating far too much. Start calorie counting this will help. Maybe use a fitness app like my fitness pal which tracks the calories in the food you eat. The weight will come off if you cut down.

That seems like quite a lot unless you have a very physical job. Certainly a lot of carbs. I don’t think you really need the toast, the baguette and the biscuits do you? These are habits and if you want to lose weight try and cut them out.
Now, my really helpful suggestion is this: check out intermittent fasting. I fast 10/14, meaning I don’t eat between 8pm and 10am. I realise that might not work for you and you need to research what's appropriate for your lifestyle, weight, age and body shape but to my astonishment, it works. I've yoyoed all my life, tried all the usual diets and this has been the easiest way I've lost weight, 15lbs in just over a month. Honestly OP look into it, I wish I'd known about it sooner. Good luck!

As others have said, that is a HUGE amount of food for one day!. Agree with others, cut the portion size, get into the habit of weighing everything so you can work out the calories and add lots of low calorie veg to fill you up eg lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, green beans, carrots. Not carb heavy veg like peas, potatoes, sweetcorn for instance. You don't need garlic bread with spag bol - have it with a huge salad so you feel like you are eating lots but only adding very few calories. Oh, and cut out the biscuits, find something else to do like go for a walk or a bath at the times you would normally reach for a snack at night. Find an on-line diet plan that counts out calories/portion size and weigh EVERYTHING. Agree with others, go to an on-line calculator to work out the number of calories you need to be in deficit according to your height, age etc. Would joining a slimming club help give you some moral support and info about what you should be eating? Above all, keep your spirits up and keep trying!

You're eating the right amount of calories to maintain your weight. To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories. Other posters are right - you're eating too much food. It IS three breakfasts. Have the oats and the fruit. Or the toast and the yoghurt. If you want a bread roll with your lunch, don't have a pasta salad - have some protein and salad leaves. Fill yourself up with vegetables and protein, not carb.

I’m a large person with a big appetite who exercises regularly. To me, this looks like an awful lot of food. Three very large filling meals plus snacks. Without portion sizes it’s hard to confirm but I expect you are not in calorie deficit. What sort of diet plan are you following?

Congratulations on the changes you’ve made so far! Don’t get discouraged, experimenting is part the change process.

If you could do just one thing cut out the nuts, they are very calorie dense foods. (And the biscuits if you can). I think you’d be surprised at how many calories they are contributing.

As others have said, it would really help to calorie count, there are free apps for this and it will highlight areas where you are taking in a lot of calories, but not really getting the enjoyment / nutrition from them.

You are having 3 breakfasts for a start.
Pasta twice in a day, bread 3 times in a day.

Based on your example menu the estimated calories are below (I have estimated 'normal' portion sizes)

Breakfast = 450-500kcal
Lunch = 750-800kcal
Afternoon snack = 500kcal
Dinner = 1200kcal
Evening snack = 250kcal

Try to cut out snacks and choose 1 of your breakfast options, no bread with your lunch, no bread with your dinner etc.

I used to have for example a Chicken Curry, 300g White rice, 1 Naan, 4 poppadoms. I now make a lower calorie Chicken Curry, 200g White rice and 75g peas. The sides are not needed.

It is really hard, and I'm sorry you feel you have made a great reduction already but the bottom line is you are still over eating.

Good luck and I hope you get some helpful tips here.

Disclaimer: I am no expert (far from it), just a fellow person also on a weight loss journey

OP started a thread asking why she wasn't losing weight, so she should be eating fewer calories than she needs, which she clearly isn't or she'd be losing weight.

OP would have to be more than six and a half feet tall to be at the top end of a healthy BMI at 16 stone, which is where she's maintaining. I'm not saying that's impossible, but it's unlikely.

ETA - she's told us she is 5'8 therefore her top healthy weight would be 11 st 10.

I can’t add much more to what’s already been suggested but please know you are not alone and you genuinely seem to be trying to do what you feel is right, just perhaps a little misguided? I was in exactly the same boat and peri menopausal, as much as you’ll be sick of reading this protein does keep you feeling fuller for longer. I now follow the Menopause diet on Facebook (no marketing ploys or membership fees, just a one off for the booklet at the beginning) and it focuses specifically on foods for peri menopausal and menopausal women. So basically low carb, low sugar, high protein. I’ve lost over a stone since June (and continually fall off the blooming wagon at weekends for full disclosure!).

example breakfast would be 140g kefir
140g tinned fruit in juice (not syrup)

lunch you can have tuna salad, low salt & sugar beans on a slice of wholemeal sourdough

dinner 120g chicken with 300g veg and a small amount of gravy.

snacks could be a milky bar mousse mixed with 30g fage Greek yogurt or 20g dark chocolate (over 70% cocoa content, ideally higher).

to be fair there’s loads you can have on it but keep sugar and carbs to a minimum. It’s a big lifestyle change and I think the mental aspect is the hardest part

From what I’ve read (not the full thread), you’ve swapped your usual food for healthier choices but not actually decreased the amount. Dieting isn’t just a calorie deficit, it isn’t that simple but it is a decent place to start. Work out what you need to function then decrease it and you will lose weight. Weigh your portions and track your calories because it’s so easy to overeat without realising.

That’s a large amount of food tbh, with not a whole lot of nutritional
value. More protein, a lot more fruit and veg, a lot less carbs. More movement. And you will probably see some movement on the scales. Agree with posters saying you need to know your tdee and ensure you’re below it.

That porridge recommendation is a breakfast op.
the toast is a breakfast.
yogurt and banana is a breakfast. You are eating 3 breakfasts. And only one of
them has any nutritional value really.

Also make sure you add nutritionally dense. Foods such as vegetables, eating a rich mix of colours .
I fill half my plate with salad or veg.
My average day looks like this
Breakfast: Omelette made from 2 egg whites sndc1 whole egg, filled with mushrooms spinach and 50g of lowfat cheese.
Snack: 100g of lowfat cottage cheese and celery sticks
Lunch: chicken breast meat and lots of salad in a bagel thin and an apple.
Dinner: jacket potato (about 250g potato) filled with prawns and large side sslad.
Evening snack individual bag of sweet and salty popcorn from a multi pack.

Or
Breakfast: 2 slices of wholemeal toast (no more than 60g) with baked beans or scrambled egg
Lunch: homemade chunky soup
Dinner: chicken stirfry

Snack: pineapple and melon cubes.

This seems to summarise very well what everyone is saying! Yes you've made positive changes but I respectfully say you could definitely go further.
AND go out for a walk at lunchtime every day.

You are very carb heavy. I couldn't loose weight for years but I changed my diet to low carb and alternate with keto. Game changer, 8 stones down over 3 years

It seems to me that some people do well on low fat but moderate carbs while others lose better on low carbs. I've always found that I only lose weight when I cut way back on starchy carbs. And even with that, it's got way harder to lose the weight as I've got older. I only see the dial shifting when I reduce starches AND do plenty of exercise.
Since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I've had to really knock my lifestyle into shape. I've lost a stone and a a half and am gradually losing more.
Here's what I'm eating ATM in case it's helpful. Gut microbiome is important for health too, so wide variety of veg and some fermented foods.
During week days I eat:

• a banana blended with half an avocado, frozen berries and plain yoghurt with seeds on top
• salad leaves with tomato, mange tout, baby sweetcorn, pickled veg, a piece of cheese, and some smoked salmon/ or veg soup with one slice of wholemeal bread.
• small pasta/rice dish & low sugar yoghurt
• snacks: apples /rice cake and houmous

Download nhs weight loss app. Its free, changed my life.

Suggest you cut out the bread and make sure the pasta portions are not too large and you eat plenty of protein at lunch and dinner.