2.5 months in and nearly no weight lost. how?

[Reservoir13]

Early April I stopped eating sugar, snacks and carbs. Basically, my days are now filled with full fat greek yoghurt and nuts/seeds for breakfast; salads for lunch and meet/veggies for dinner. 'Snacks' are a handful of raw nuts, carrots etc. I am not doing keto as I don't want to be too restricted in what fruits/vegetables I can eat.
While I feel good and I have the feeling I am getting slimmer (trousers sit better etc.), on the scales there is hardly any difference. I am not calorie counting as I don't want to show to my kids that I am officially dieting (I am, but as a child from a mum eternally on one fad diet after the next, I've seen the unhealthy effects of that personally).
I'm 47, have been too big for the last 15 years. Is it a yoyo thing, where my body holds on to the weight as it has dieted before or should I still eat less/differently? Have you experienced similar?

Well if you're not calorie counting how can you know you're in a calorie deficit? Basically you do need to be in one to lose weight, either through diet or exercise. You may have just swapped unhealthy calories for healthy calories, which still has amazing benefits obviously, but not necessarily weight loss.

If you eat roughly similar things every day, could you weigh and count one day's worth of meals when the kids aren't looking, just to check what ballpark your calories are in?

Or up your exercise?

Or try cutting portion sizes for a couple of weeks and see if that works?

In simple terms you are eating too many calories.
You need to be in a deficit.
For example

BMR - 2500 calories
Junk - 2500 you won't drop weight
Healthy - 2500 you won't drop weight

Healthy options often have as many if not more calories per gram.
Work out your BMR and eat less calories than that per day and don't let your weekend blow out your average.
Good luck OP!
FWIW - Calorie counting is not a fad diet it's simple metrics, put in less fuel than needed to run your machine and your machine will tap into your reserve tank for energy (your fat cells) put in more fuel and it's stores them (as fat)

You can calorie count without having it be very obvious, just use an app. I was really shocked to realise that my healthy snacks of nuts and seeds and dried fruit were really eating into my allowance. Maybe swap them out for veggies?

I think the thinking on nuts and full day yogurt etc is that it satiates you so that you eat less of it, and stay full for longer. However if (like me) you are used to eating handful after handful of nuts, big bowls of yogurt and fruit, and still having big meals - it won't work. Sadly the portions need to be smaller and the snacks need to be replaced by vegetables and water! I know. Its hard!

Full fat yogurt

Full fat greek yogurt and nuts amd lots of fat are very calorific

If you read the most recent bootcamp threads there's a few that have lost loads of weight over the years. One of them eats two small meals a day with no snacks. The fact its low carb seems irrelevant as she's probably eating less than 1000 calories a day.

If you weigh a portion of nuts I think you’ll be surprised at how calorific they are. 100g is close to 600 calories.

100g of full fat yoghurt, some fruit and 75g of nuts could be close to 600 calories for breakfast. Salads can add up too, especially with dressings or mayonnaise.

The chances are you are eating close to your maintenance calories so you won’t gain or lose weight.

Nuts are healthy but very high calorie, from that standpoint alone I would suggest you're not in a calorie deficit.

If your aim is to slim down and you are getting slimmer, I don't think it matters too much what the scales say. Obviously something is working!

Thanks for the input! I do indeed keep portion sizes very small to avoid this calorie trap. I drink a lot to compensate (green tea). In the beginning I was hungry all the time but now I think my body has adapted to the new healthy eating plan. In the morning I have 3-4 tablespoons of full fat yoghurt with a small handful of seeds/nuts (more seeds than nuts, but can leave out the seeds). I think eating less in the morning will get me too hungry/dizzy before lunch. I don't think I can take more out of breakfast/lunch as I work all day and even less would mean getting too dizzy by evening. The evenings used to be my weak point (coming home and realising still 4-5 hours of child care to go) but now I'm really sticking to dinner only (veg+meat). The handful of nuts will be 2-3x a week (mostly indeed in the weekend I admit).

@Reservoir13 as I get older (43) I'm just shocked by how slow my metabolism is getting, and how little I really need to eat to lose weight 😭 it is just awful when you are doing everything right, and would have lost pounds eating this way 15 years ago, but now nothing budges. I think for some women of a certain age, the intake needs to be a lot smaller than we're used to/ happy with.

You sound like you're doing well though. Your jeans fit better, surely you have more energy and feel a bit more 'glow-y'. I would be tempted to ditch the scales, focus on your new way of eating, up the water and veggies as much as possible and stop the weigh in. Sounds like you're doing really well as is

@Reservoir13 have you tried overnight oats? I use 40g oats with 100g almond milk, 100g fat free greek yogurt, 10g chia seeds and some fruit. Without an apple on top it comes to around 330cal and keeps me full until lunch time and I am a massive snacker usually. It just helps to have something healthy that actually keeps me full :)

Keep with it, I think what you are eating is fine.
Are you exercising?

thanks for the encouragements! Yes, I also started with a personal trainer once a week. That's too little, I know (she herself told me so) but all I can manage for now next to work and family. I try to walk 8000-10000 steps each day as well.
I also think it has something to do with age and perhaps with the fact i've yoyoed before - in the past sticking to a diet for a month would be enough to lose 4-6 kilos. Now I'm doing it for at least double the time and weight loss is minimal. Perhaps I should try measurements to keep motivation up.
Just for the record: it is better to stick to full fat yoghurt instead of half full isn't it? I'll try to take out more of the nuts and get rid of the vinaigrette for lunch for the coming weeks.

I think it has everything to do with age. After being really slim my whole life, the pounds went on every year from my early 40's. It took a while to realise peri menopause was the cause.
I already walked 14k+ steps a day and worked out 5 times a week, but now have to calorie count too to make sure I'm in a calorie deficit and just about manage to keep in shape.
When I think back, my mum spent most of her 40's, 50's and 60's at Weight Watchers or similar, and it's only in her 70's that she doesn't hold on to the weight the same.

There's a lot of debate about low fat options but if weight loss is your primary goal then I would go with 0 or 5% fat Greek yoghurt. You don't need to eat less at breakfast but swap nuts and seeds for less calorie dense options. You could have a lot more all bran or oats with your yoghurt for the same calories as a handful of nuts so you may find it fills you up more. Add some berries in as well and for about 400 calories you can have a nice big bowl.

I agree with PP that you need to work out the calories in your regular meals to ensure you're in a calorie deficit.

@Reservoir13 do you actually get dizzy if you have a meal a bit late/ lower calorie than usual/ skip a meal? That doesn't sounds right at all!

Have a read of Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson.

Track progress using measurements rather than use the scales. I use the army calculator to calculate my body fat loss, this is much more important to your health and appearance than what you weigh.
https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator/