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’s not an excessive amount in general but if you want to lose weights it’s too much: that’s two breakfasts and two carbs with your dinner.

Well you just carry on then. You've asked a question, been given advice and refuse to take it. It's carb heavy end of.

You’re very carb heavy on your days eating example . What you have put you eat in a typical day would be a cheat day for me . Try putting my fitness pal on your phone I’ve lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks by cutting back and only eating 1200 calories a day and doing a 15 min workout . I have however been blown away by my portion sizes . I weigh everything now and I was way out in my mind . A 300g of homemade spaghetti Bol was what I would consider an infants portion . Bread is also an enemy I’ve switched to crisp bread because one slice of bread can be as much as 100 calories .

its hard work I’ll grant you

You're doing great making those adjustments.

Ideally pick one carb - if you go for porridge a 1/4 bowl sounds good. 1/4 fibre such as blueberries or raspberries , and you need at least a 1/4 of protein . Could you add protein powder to your porridge ? Fat free sometimes means high in sugar, but we do need good fats so full fat yogurt is more satisfying than high sugar, and is usually higher in protein.

just make sure you're filling at least a third of your plate with vegetables / fruit, a third carbs and a third protein for every meal and you will lose.

Well done 👍🏽

You need to exercise too if you actually want to shift the weight.

I’m sorry to agree with others but that is just too much food.
im trying to lose a bit and my day looks like:
Breakfast - no, have never eaten breakfast but need something around 10.30 so usually a banana or a small portion of high fibre cereal ie bran flakes or fruit and fibre.
Lunch - either soup (homemade) with crispbread/ omelette with veg or protein with salad
Dinner - eg tonight I’m having a jacket potato with homemade low fat chicken curry and a high protein yogurt.
I know myself well and don’t buy biscuits or crisps etc as I don’t have an off switch 😆

There’s probably quite a lot of stuff you’re not tracking. Some good advice in some of the comments here but definitely worth giving this channel a watch on YouTube, it’s a coach I’ve worked with and she knows her stuff!

8 Weight Loss Hacks That Helped Me Lose 50lbs

8 stone loss is amazing.

In the kindest way, you are eating about 2-3 adults intake of food. There’s NO WAY you need all that food and snacks. You are also having almost two meals per sitting. Breakfast is toast or porridge or a yoghurt and banana. Not all 3.

That's a lot of food especially for breakfast!

Based on the information you gave about your height and weight, your daily calorie needs are about 2380. I put the food you listed into nutracheck and it came to 2512.

If you start calorie counting you can afford to include plenty of things you like, and will lose weight pretty quickly below about 1800.

Honestly that’s a lot.

substitute the oats for scrambled egg or an omelette for a start. The extra protein will help keep you fuller for longer.

you need to work out what calories you’re having. The amount you’re eating isn’t necessarily the problem, you can have a huge plate of salad and be under calorie but you do need to be in calorie deficit.

It’s because you’re eating too much you’re basically having a three course breakfast you need to eat three times a day.
If you’re hungry in between these three healthy meals cut out all this high carb stuff eat more vegetables, fish et cetera I suspect your portion size is a huge, and you maybe addicted to sugar hit from carbs
many people with weight problems are addicted to carbohydrates. I think this could be part of your problem if I ate your breakfast every day I would be 20 stone let alone all the rest.
Have a good look at portion size and make some adjustments to what you’re eating. It seems like you’re trying to feed an underweight teenager who’s doing masses of sport,
buying low-calorie food is expensive and a waste of money eat healthy vegetables if you need yoghurt just buy regular yoghurt and have half a portion,
I haven’t noticed any fruit in your diet either something that really helped me was I do not eat any ultra processed foods at all, losing weight like that is so much easier
Start reading the packets of actually the stuff that you’re eating, home-made porridge with salt and skimmed milk and just 1 teaspoon of honey should keep you sat up till lunch time

It is actually shocking how little food you need to maintain weight as you age let alone lose weight, especially on a non- exercise day. I am down to two meals a day , doing time restricted eating - don’t start eating till 10am or lunchtime and try to finish eating by 7pm, and trying to only snack in between brunch & dinner on fruit/nuts/yoghurt and eat healthy and still not radical weight loss, but at least no weight gain. Only thing that really works is fitness pal where you track your exact calories/portions against your recommended calorie intake.if you have Apple Watch/ fitness app you can see your basal metabolic rate ( calories burned if you did no activity in The day that your body burns just to function)). I think the formula is 10 x weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm - 5 x age in years - mine says I only need about 1400 calories a day which isn’t much! That’s why I excerise too.

Thank you ! Got 1 -1.5 more to go for the perfect weight but its getting very difficult. In fact the low carb diet has sorted out few other issues I was having! I highly recommend to anyone, sugar and processed food carb based is so so bad for us.

Too many carbs. Fat doesn't make you fat, get full fat yoghurt, and butter, not fat free spread. Instead of pasta you need more protein. And not everyone has biscuits every day. Read Tom Watsons book or similar.

Do you eat wholegrains?

Fat doesn't make you fat

So true but I think this thinking is what lies at the heart of so many failed weight loss attempts.

A friend (mid 40's so grew up in 80's) said to me the other day when I was eating avocado "Ooh I LOVE that! But I'm on a diet and its rather fattening."

She couldn't grasp that fats does not equal fattening. I mean it does SOUND intuitive, that fat should make you, well, fat.

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You're double carbing at each meal. Cut out the toast, bread roll, crisps, garlic bread and ideally the biscuits and choc mousse too. Add in more veg and meat/fish/protein alternative. Swap to Skyr plain yogurt. Swap banana for berries. Swap mousse for couple squares dark chocolate. Treats are occasional not every day. You're eating about 3000 calories and maintaining 16 stone. Reduce to 2000 calories and you could maintain 12 stone. It's not easy, I know.

You have not in any way shape or form cut down. You’ve made healthier choices. Not to mention portion sizes probably huge because you think you’re eating healthy. It sounds like you’re eating more, just a healthier version.

and it’s a lot of food tbf.

Occasionally. I replaced it with chia seeds and flax seeds to get similar benefits. I have times like holidays where I will have a break but on a whole rotate those 2 diets or more eating habits. I stopped measuring stuff long time ago but will choose meals in line with it even when out i.e. steak and veg but no chips

Clear you don’t HAVE to listen to what people are telling you. But if you want an answer to your question then please listen to what people are telling you. My eyebrows were in my hairline reading your list. Where’s the protein and veg? I hope you manage to find something that works for you. It is hard!

To lose 1lb per week you need to reduce your weekly intake by 3500 calories so 500 calories per day.
I personally think you are eating a lot, also fat free does not mean calorie free. Fruit also has calories. It’s miserable to do, but I lost 3stone on that slimming club. I hated every minute of it, fighting against the food noise and hunger (mainly food noise). Also work out how many calories you are eating and work out your tdee. Good luck. Ps if you can afford it, the jabs are brilliant.

https://tdeecalculator.net/

There is lots of bread in there, I would remove the bread with lunch and dinner. Fill up the spag bol with more veg.
I think it depends on the job you do : I work remotely and often don't need snacks or lunch (and still overweight). If you are on your feet all day or working long hours, you'll need more food.

Also, stop eating fat free crap, it’s quite often got extra sugar in, and it isn’t filling.