Help! Not losing any weight!

[Coco3535]

Hi, I am really struggling to work out how much carbs, protein and fat I need to lose weight. I was reducing my carbs as much as possible and having around 700-800 calories each day but not losing any weight. I’m still eating low fat foods to keep my calories down. Is 20 grams of carbs too low?

If you aren't losing weight on such low calories then your body is in shock starvation mode. What is your current weight and height? How much exercise are you doing? You need to figure out what a healthy and well-nourished weight-maintenance regimen would be for you (so stop starving yourself and eat normally for a few weeks but adjust your exercise levels to keep at a steady weight). Once you know what your expected calorie needs are for weight maintenance then dropping 400 cals per week should lead to losing weight at a steady rate unless you are already very skinny. (Sorry - I have no idea whether this applies to you but we have seen OPs like this before on this board who turned out to be someone who was already unhealthily underweight and wanting to get even more so - and your op doesn't give any clues about whether this might be a repeat)

Why are you keeping your calories so low?!

A good low carb diet will be:

high fat
medium protein
low carb

20g carbs per day is pretty low - unless you're following Keto, or you're on Atkins induction.

What exactly are you eating in a day? Are you weighing things?

Are your portions of other things too large?

If you're low carb, you need to do high fat and plenty of protein. You'll just get tired and hungry otherwise and reach for the crumpets ( or whatever carbs you like)!

I wouldn't worry about "starvation mode" - it's not something you're likely to be experiencing. "starvation mode is a confusing term, because although it isn't a made-up concept, it's not something the vast majority of people are experiencing when their fat loss progress plateaus...[it] occurs in people that are severely, severely malnourished and that have burned all their fat away".

www.insider.com/truth-about-starvation-mode-and-weight-loss-2020-5

I agree with PP that you should not be doing low-fat and low carb at the same time, and you will probably need more calories in the form of protein, or it will be hard to sustain.

This article is really helpful thank you!! I have already increased my calories slightly over the last couple of days and feel better already and surprisingly have lost a couple of pounds!

Yesterday I fasted through to lunch then for lunch I had Greek/ feta salad, egg and tuna

Then for dinner I had white fish, veg with a few potatoes and snacked on 2x Greek yoghurts

I haven't found it easy to find high protein snacks I like other than Greek yoghurts...

Why the potatoes?! That's not low carb at all.

It was 2 small potato's - 50 gram, which is just 12grams of carb