Why is it that I eat well, exercise plenty and don't seem to lose any weight?

[Sops]

I can't seem to lose this little bit of weight. I would love to be half a stone less than I am now but I just can't seem to do it.

I think I just have a massive appetite! For example:this morning for breakfast I had a bowl of shredded wheat and 2 boiled eggs- but I am starving now!!

Yesterday was typical. I had shredded wheat for breakfast, a jacket potato with salad for lunch, fruit for snacks, a slimming world recipe Quorn Jambalaya for dinner with a yoghurt and a kit kat for pudding. I did a 40 min power plate workout and took my dcs swimming.

I make all the right choices: low calorie density foods, plenty of lean protein (chicken, fish, quorn), make sure I get my essential fats, eat plenty of low fat dairy, tons of vegetables and fruit. I hardly ever have any naughty stuff like a bar of choc or pkt crisps. I have cut down my alcohol consumption massively yet still no result.

I do go out at the weekends and have wine and maybe a meal out but I also go to the gym at least 3 times a week; a mixture of power yoga, body pump, powerplate, normal gym workout and a little swimming.

Other people I know eat so much worse than me and never go to the gym, yet they are slim. So what else can I do??

Clearly I eat too much. But how to stop feeling hungry??
I genuinely am hungry now, but I had a good breakfast so why?

Maybe you are hungry now because it is lunchtime?

If you are serious about weight loss, you have to stop puddings, KitKats and the like.

Half of your plate should be salad (at most a tablespoon of olive oil, and not "pasta salad") or vegetables (steamed, not fried). A quarter should be protein (one egg, a chicken breast, fish, etc), and the remaining quarter carbohydrate (a slice of bread, one serving spoon full of rice or pasta with a low calorie sauce). Follow each meal with one fruit. Not "tons of fruit".

You don't need "plenty of dairy". Have a yoghurt and a bit of cheese per day and that is it.

I don't know how much shredded wheat you eat in the mornings, but that could also have too many calories, depending on the serving size.

are you actually overweight? YOu can find it very difficult to lose weight if you are near your weight that is normal for your height. Also scales are not the best thing to use, as muscle is denser than fat you will weigh more than some one who doesn't work out.
re exercise - try HIIT - high intensity interval training. either look it up on the web or ask at your gym
good luck.

You are hungry by 12 noon as its several hours since breakfast and you had a carbohydrate breakfast. Most people would be hungry under these circumstances - that's normal and not indicative of a massive appetite.

If you want to loose weight you'll need to loose the kitkats for dessert, esp if you had a yoghurt too. Also jacket potato may not be a great lunchtime choice as its high GI and will leave you feeling hungry in the afternoon. Also yoghurts often contain sugar, even most diet ones so stick to natural ones.

With fruit, I had to cut down to get last bit of weight off. Now have 2 pieces a day but apples/pears/berries only as these are lower sugar/GI.

Same with the shredded wheat, some people can loose with eating cereal for breakfast, I did initially but got stuck - I now have eggs and natural yoghurt. I occasionally have muesli.

Today for me:
Breakfast - 2 egg omelette
Mid morning snack after gym workout - 150g fat free natural yoghurt with 50g fruit yoghurt stirred in with 10g oatbran.
Lunch - 150g cottage cheese, (flaked) coley (white fish), tomato, cucumber, pepper & 60g avocado - in a salad.

I imagine I'll have some fruit as a snack later this afternoon when I am hungry. Dinner will be lots of veggies, small portion low GI carbs (brown rice) & maybe griddled chicken breast.

I stick to 1200 calories a day, if I have any spare will have a square of 85% chocolate (10g).

Sorry, I don't mean that I have tons of fruit everyday, I just mean that I eat 2/3 portions a day and lots of veggies. I tend to eat satsumas as they are very low cal.
I have read that low fat dairy helps you lose weight. I normally have plain fat-free yoghurt and semi-skimmed milk. I rarely have full fat cheese.
Eating/exercising the way I do means I struggle to even maintain my current weight (10st 11lbs 5'7, I know this is within my healthy range but I prefer to be a bit slimmer).
I know I have 'too much' to eat but even when I have eaten a big bowl of shredded wheat and two boiled eggs for breakfast I am ravenous and my tummy is rumbling by 11.30- why?

Your tummy rumbling at 11.30 is normal because its 4 hours since breakfast. Have less for breakfast and then have a snack at 10.30am-11am BEFORE you feel hungry.

Also how much are you drinking - maybe you are thirsty not hungry. Also drink loads and loads of water) or herbal tea all morning, that way you'll make it through to lunchtime.

foreveronadiet - does your 1200 cals a day include any you take off for exercise - as in do you eat 1200 cals and any exercise is a bonus, or if you exercise do you eat a bit more?

I ask because I've popped on a bit of weight due to laziness and am now being very good re food/exercise and try to bank my exercise calories so there's extra loss, though I worry that I'm not getting enough when I work out hard.

Often eat a bit more on exercise day maybe extra 100-200 if hungry but never all the exercise calories (I don't need them) and generally have one total non diet meal at weekend - which in my mind is covered by exercise cals.

I think I probably go wrong by overdoing the refuelling, although it seems to keep my weight stable so I can (maybe) add that back in when I'm back at target. Thanks.

I am in a similar posistion, I have recently lost 10lbs after struggling to do so for a year. Giving up drinking did it for me. The weight fell off in 6 weeks. Now just need to keep it off !

Foreveronadiet, i will try a mid morning snack. I cant be thirsty cos I drink green tea by the gallon, probably 6/7 large mugs a day plus water. Never drink juice or squash or diet drinks.
Maybe I've got to make sure I don't ever get hungry, leaps more grazing is required?
Naughtymummy, I have cut down at least an average of 150 cals a day by reducing my alcohol intake compared to last year, but now weigh five pounds more than I did back then!