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.

Well no, I have butter on my bread/ toast. At 34 calories it doesn’t make any difference to my day.

You're having a hard time OP but to give you a comparison , my average day is-

200gms full fat Greek yoghurt with blueberries, 1/2 banana, mixed seeds, raspberries in season.

lunch- homemade veg soup, or a cottage cheese salad ( lettuce, watercress, peppers, carrot, anything else in the fridge.) Apple.

dinner- salmon fillet, roast mixed veg, broccoli. Maybe some brown rice or jacket spud (depending).
More yoghurt and fruit.

Snack mid afternoon might be an oat cake and almond butter or a few nuts.

Finished by 7pm .

It IS a lot of food, or it would be for me, but maybe not for a 16 stone person. If it's a lot less than before, she should be losing weight...

Well yes if you want to be literal, you can lose weight if you stick to a couple of slices of dry bread. Just as you will lose weight if you have a couple of potatoes.

But but that's not how people generally consume bread. It's used as a carb heavy carrier for even more calorie heavy filling.
Only so many ways I can say it so.......

It's a lot of food. For anyone of any size. It's 3 x what she needs.

I use the WeightWatchers app as it's very easy and you can still eat quite a lot! As others have said, your diet is very carb-heavy!

And everybody isn't you but well done .

I think you’ve made a good start by swapping unhealthy foods for healthier ones e.g. porridge oats instead of granola or wholewheat instead of white bread but you’ve got to reduce the calories as well. I am currently overweight and struggling to shift the weight but the only time in my life that I’ve managed to lose weight was when I counted calories. I lost about 30lbs in a very linear and predictable way by sticking to my calorie deficit. So I know what I have to do.

You seem to be having your own conversation. This point is about the posts saying you should eat no bread- none- if you want to lose weight. Which is clearly bollocks, orthorexic language and uneducated.

Try downloading the MyFitnessPal app and entering what you eat. I think the food industry has been brainwashing people into thinking pasta salads and low fat speads and yoghurts are healthy … they’re not really.

Have a google on macros … you want to eat more protein and veg, fewer carbs.

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

Try just the porridge with the banana/berries or toast with an egg or avocado and toast.

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

That’s three carbs when you only need one. Get some protein (chicken, eggs) and veg in there (just loads of anything, salad broccoli).

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

Fat free yoghurt is a con and often has more sugar in there. Try natural Greek

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

Wholemeal spaghetti isn’t going to really move the needle. Again lean proteins and veg with just a bit of carbs

I’m trying to say this nicely but if this is real it’s a bit of a dated idea of what’s healthy. There’s sooo much information online about this stuff - just don’t take advice from the big companies with an interest in selling you random crap - look up personal trainers and stuff, even Chat GTP would come up with loads of ideas

If you’ve been slowing gaining weight for a long time, you’ve now cut down and are maintaining, you need to cut further to actually start losing and eating into your fat reserves. I agree with everyone else that’s still quite a bit of food and very carb heavy. I’ve always had good success with intermittent fasting.

You are eating too much to lose weight - it's that simple. Let's break it down:

You don't say if the pasta salad is one you've made yourself or a bought one. If bought, some of them are fairly high in calories - e.g. Tesco chicken & mustard is about 500 calories. If you're having that plus a wholemeal roll (typically about 140 calories) and low cal crisps, say. 100 calories, that could be over 700 calories 'spent' on your lunch.

Then breakfast - porridge about 200 cals, 2 x bread, 200 cals, low cal spread let's say 25 cals, yoghurt 60 cals, banana 90 cals, that's 575 cals spent on breakfast.

Dinner - spaghetti bol - hard so say as you don't say quantities & content but conservatively, 400 cals, Garlic baguette slices total 250 calories, WW mousse 125 calories, fruit (say) 50 calories - 825 calories for dinner.

2 biscuits - conservatively - 80 calories.

So that is 2100 calories without adding any you may drink, e.g, milk in tea or coffee.

Unless you have athlete or manual worker levels of daily activity, you will not lose weight eating over 2000 calories a day. Most women would gain on that, you're lucky not to be.

You need to cut down to 1500 a day maximum to have any chance of seeing a loss. It depends on your activity levels/age/metabolism, personally I have to cut to 1000 a day to lose, but I'm post menopause.

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

Porridge OR toast OR yogurt and banana not all of them.

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

Pasta salad is fine but not also the roll and crisps, too much carb. Have extra veg instead.

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

okay

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

You already had pasta! And if you are having pasta you don’t need to add more bread. Try making a large salad with chicken or tuna instaed.

evening snack - a couple of biscuits

Just don’t have them!

Personally I find porridge to be the worst breakfast....last time I had it I was starving hungry as soon as I'd finished it. I was gnawing my own arm off by lunchtime! I also bought some fancy porridge oats recently and weighed out a portion...it's was absolutely tiny and over 600 cals before you'd even added anything to it. It's still sitting in my cupboard uneaten! I can actually eat a cooked breakfast for less calories.

If it was me…

breakfast, keep the oats and add a protein source, Greek yogurt and berries for example. Ditch the toast

lunch, pasta salad, reduce amount of pasta used and add chicken or fish or cheese or something

dinner, spag Bol, no garlic bread, bulk the spag Bol with veg.

I would just ditch the snacks completely, apart from a bit or fruit or something if you really feel like you need it. Tbh 3 good sized balanced meals a day is plenty. If your really hungry in between meals you probably need to increase your protein intake your meals.

Sorry OP but you seem to have lost sight of what is a sensible amount of food.

Do you live alone or does your partner and any DCs eat this too?

For a start, you don't need snacks. No one does.

You're having huge meals but you can't go for more than 2 hours without a snack, when in fact you've just eaten enough for 2 people.

This is disordered eating and maybe you need to consider if it's a food addiction.

Is this comfort eating?

Yes but it wasnt me who said it , it was the poster. Share your bread rage with them I really don't care.

That is a huge amount of food, and I say that as someone who runs 50 miles a week, that’s more than I’d eat and I eat more than my 6ft3 DP!!

Lots of carbs

I didn’t say it was you who said it, you just blasted into a conversation that you weren’t involved in and misunderstood it.

Are they the right changes though because it looks like you still consume quite a few calories on your new plan

A portion is around 50gms of dry weight.
I can't see how you got to 600 cals unless you mean it was an instant pot with 3 teaspoons of added sugar in it.

Expert in what? Fun-sucking?

I eat between 2 and 4 slices of bread a day and I'm very healthy.

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.

you could probably save around 400 calories by just picking one breakfast so porridge or toast with a banana and yogurt and same with dinner pick a pasta salad or a wholemeal roll.
You are consuming quite a lot of calories in your meals and snacks

It wasn't just oats...it's was a date and pecan porridge mix...not one of those pots. Obviously I'd expect it to contain more calories than plain oats and dates and nuts will be high....but honestly the portion I weighed out look shockingly small for such a high amount. But regardless, even plain oats don't fill me up at all...and I'm always hungry so soon after.