Not losing weight, what am I doing wrong?

[Iamthedogsmother]

I'm 45 and I need to loose about 3 stone. I've lost weight before with pout any problems, couple of ponds a week etc by calorie counting and exercise.

So I starting dieting four weeks ago, calorie counting (1400 a day). Is that ok? I'm often not having that much, around 1000 - 1200. I've completely cut out chocolate which was my downfall and I don't drink .Anyway, I lost 4 pounds in the first week and nothing since. I've been good etc but nothing. Still the same. Clothes no looser.

I can't go to the gym at the moment as the kids are off. When they go back to school I'll be back st the gym.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I'm really fed up.

It is not so much the calories but which calories. 1400 calories of crisps and bread vs 1400 calories of cauliflower, cucumber and boiled eggs are processed differently by your body.

Try to cut all processed food and the mini snacking. The sauces, mayo, curry, ..... go fresh. For a week and see if it makes a difference. Big fruit bowl with nuts and seeds for breakfast, a steak and lettuce for lunch, a soup (no bread/cream) in the evening . No snacking in between.
Of course, no cheese, biscuits, cracker, ....

I completely disagree with the above post. Eat real food and plenty of good fats so butter, cheese, cream. Cut out carbs like bread, pasta and rice. If you have to have rice make it brown.

No snacking. If you must make it a boiled egg. You shouldn't need it if you eat good fats as they will keep you full.

You can't be eating 1000-1200 calories a day and not losing weight, it's impossible.
Unless, perhaps, you are quite literally lying in bed all day.

Make sure you're logging your calories accurately, are you weighing everything? I can only conclude you're miscalculating your intake, depressing as that is, it's the only rational explanation.

If you can't go to the gym ATM, try walking up and down the stairs for, say, half an hour at a time. Try and increase the number of stair climbs you've managed in that half an hour each time.

Try cycling your caloric intake, 1200 one day, 1500 the next, 1400, then 1300 then repeat.

Also depressingly your TDEE decreases as you get older, so a caloric intake that worked in the past may not be so effective any more - although at 45 you're too young for this to have any major effect.

Hope that helps, it's very frustrating I know. I've lost 7 stone, and had several plateaus along the way - but they were all explained away, sadly, by miscalculation of caloric intake.