Not losing weight and out of ideas

[CheeseToasty]

No matter what diet I have tried each one follows the same pattern and really not sure what my next move is.

I am a very slow looser, I eventually plateau and then give up. The only time I have any reached goal was on weight watchers 16 years ago but I don’t want to do this again as I don’t want to calorie count for the rest of my life and even when I did eat on that diet there was no joy because at my height they were fairly restrictive meals.

When I found fasting it seemed like a way of life I could manage and it is and can do it easily but I am not losing weight. I have done 5:2 a few times and lost about a stone each time before hitting plateau.

I am currently doing omad and it is not difficult at all to fast. I was confident I could do this without strict calorie counting as I know my meal I eat at dinner will incur some deficits in my daily calories and was happy to lose slowly if it meant I did not have to calorie count. Despite this knowledge I reduced my portions to what I feel comfortable with, drank more water and had more salad/veg with dinner.

If the only way to get to a healthy weight is to create more of a deficit I don’t know what to do as less than around 800 (this is my usually daily calories) calories a day strips me from the joy of sharing meals with friends and family.

Op no one is focusing on cake. There are no tips. You need to eat less than you currently do. We could get complex and discuss quality of calories but on a macro level, you need to eat and drink approx 1300 calories a day averaged over a week to loose a pound a week.

That diet plan sounds terrible - far too much processed food and sugar. It might work in the short term, but you'll be worse off in the long term.

I feel the same OP. I recently did 6weeks of

[quote BeaBeaBuzz]I feel the same OP. I recently did 6weeks of

Averaged out at 1350 per day for the week, with a TDEE of allegedly 2050 so absolutely should’ve been enough to lose some weight

@BeaBeaBuzz

Averaged out at 1350 per day for the week, with a TDEE of allegedly 2050 so absolutely should’ve been enough to lose some weight

Yes you should have lost just over a pound a week, which indicates you under estimated your calories and were eating more

Honestly there’s no magic to it.

That diet plan sounds terrible - far too much processed food and sugar. It might work in the short term, but you'll be worse off in the long term

I’ll be worse off in the long term if I allow my weight to creep up the way it has over the last 10 years.

This was an impulse, last ditch attempt having tried pretty much everything else, and it’s working so I will stick with it until I have reset my portion control and got to a point where I can exercise properly.

I’m actually eating way more fruit/veg/salad than I used to. Yes it would be better if it were home made soup and curry, but I’ve tried that and obviously can’t work out the calories correctly, or underestimating portion size.

Everyone always knows better, but bottom line is this is working for me, and long term it will be far better for my health if I’m not obese.

@CheeseToasty.
Here's what I do.
Eat lots and lots of leafy vegetables. Eat very little carbs - no rice, pasta, pastry, bread, biscuits, no sugary things etc and I don't eat in the evenings.

If I want cake or chocolate, I have it but it rarely is as nice as I think it's going to be, so I can take or leave it.

I'm not overweight but I have been. The first thing is to stop thinking about weight and diets. Diets don't work, lifestyle changes do.
Live your life - you are you regardless of size- and get used to eating lots of lovely veg.

I can’t create a bigger deficit than average of 700 per day/without being miserable it’s so disheartening

Similar height and weight to you, I’ve never really been able to lose before and like you I got fed up eating so little all the enjoyment was lost.

Since Xmas I’ve lost 1.5 stone by tracking everything on mfp and weighing it too - I’d estimated how much milk was in my tea by 50% and boom that’s 700 calories a week, likewise a Saturday pie and veg could easily add in an additional 500 calories . The trick for me was more protein to fill you up and replacing toast with fruit yoghurt & a bit of granola for breakfast, and a sandwich for a protein salad wrap for lunch. Soup or a mugshot on a cold day.

I’ve also started going for a 45 minute fast walk before breakfast , with a 20- 30 minute exercise session every day ( run or kettlebells). Perhaps a long walk at the weekend.

I’m not obsessed with food or exercise , but it does help you see the relationship between them - its relatively easy to rack up 200-300 defecit a day so when you want more calories at the weekend you’ve built a buffer. Honestly I’m not hungry or lusting after food, sometime I relax (on holiday for a week coffer and cake twice a day!) but I know what I need to do and so far, without loads of effort or sacrifice I’ve lost weight and can still eat a good diet without feeling deprived - cliched as that sounds.

I do low carb, I’m never hungry and it works very well for me. Th first two weeks are the hardest. But once I’m fully fat adapted (Ie in keto and my body burning fat for energy) I find it very easy. I can still eat out, although clearly I don’t eat cake or sugar but I’ve no desire for it.

Pub dinner is usually steak, mushrooms, salad, veg etc.
Indian is chicken/lamb/fish tikka with a mixed and onion salad.
Chinese is any of the meat and veg dishes maybe with an egg foo young or sautéed veg.

There are always choices for any way of eating.

I've just heaved myself over a 3 week plateau by having strictly no refined carbs for a week - i.e. only carbs from fruit and vegetables.

Could you do some weight training, it builds muscle and more muscle makes you burn calories faster.

Do you have a gap of 14 hours between your evening meal and breakfast? I find that a fasting period helps me to burn calories. O don't feel deprived as I know I will eat breakfast, albeit later.

Have you tried a keto diet? That way you don’t have to restrict your calories but you will need to change what you eat. Myself and friends have had amazing success with this style of diet, and it’s also an anti dementia diet so has a lot of benefits.

Quite frankly any diet that includes fasting is doomed to fail in the long run. As someone else has already pointed out, you are making a permanent lifestyle change.

OP, you sound like me when I was fat. I was defensive, I was insistent I'd tried everything, and I managed to convince myself that what I ate was "normal" and to be a healthy weight I'd have to give up cake and treats forever. Which wouldn't be "fair."

It's amazing how the brain can convince yourself of what you want to believe. Some of the things I genuinely thought included:

1. I can't be overweight, I can still squeeze into a size 12
2. I do a lot of exercise
3. The amount of alcohol I drink is normal
4. I'm definitely in calorie deficit
5. my metabolism is slow
6. I'm just made to be this size

The list went on...
Funnily enough, it was when I started doing proper exercise, ditched the fad diets and started eating well every day, and stopped drinking alcohol, that I lost weight. I now easily maintain a size 8-10, and genuinely cringe when I look back on what I was like before.

You need to accept that only a permanent lifestyle change - eating better and moving more - is going to work. That doesn't mean never eating cake again. But everything in moderation. Doing no exercise and flitting from one fad diet to another will not help you - but to make the change, you need to take ownership and accept that this is something you can control. There's no magic quick fix.

Couldn't agree more @fellrunner85

I'm 5ft, 50 and weigh 10st 3lb. When I met my husband at age 19 I was 7.5 stone. I'm also very much an hourglass, 30FF boobs and at 19 a tiny waist (not so much these days, thanks menopause). From my twenties I started putting on about a stone or two and began a cycle of dieting to lose it which used to work, I've always exercised with running, aerobics etc. Roll on 30 years, two kids and the menopause and it seems impossible to even get back down to a healthy BMI and enjoy family life, meals out etc. I exercise everyday with cycling, swimming, hiking and have recently added in weights hoping this will help and the fact it's recommended for women my age. I'm also now on HRT. I don't want to be constantly calorie counting either it's miserable so have decided I will aim to just be as fit and healthy as possible, eat healthy with occasional treats and who knows, maybe the weight loss will follow.

If you're not losing weight on 800 cals a day then you're either not measuring portions and counting cals properly or you have a medical issue.
Have you tried using MFP, weighing and logging everything ? Even drinks, tea, especially alcohol, etc.

@CheeseToasty from the details you posted your bmr is around 1279 and free based on sedentary lifestyle is 1534.

I think you probably should be achieving a deficit on OMAD but you'd need to measure cals to understand how much of a deficit...

If you did that for a week or so and log any treats too, you should be able to see what deficit you are creating in a week?

I'd guess it's probably only around 2-300 per day on average? And maybe that means you'll only lose a lb every 2-3 months.

If you want to lose more quickly, you'll need more extremes and ruthless logging of everything you eat and drink.

I do get how annoying it is ... I'm 5'3 and trying to lose 30 lbs (about half way there just now) and I am logging everything, cut alcohol to only a gin or red wine a couple of times a week, no refined carbs at all, no chocolate, no crisps, no potatoes, rice etc just meat/ fish and veg or salad most of the time - occasional curry etc eaten just with veg...

It's bloody hard!

The next thing is to make sustainable changes as I get near target to keep it off... and I'm looking at Why We Eat (too much) for a long term plan