Am I eating too much fruit and therefore not losing weight?

[Marushka82]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone here could help me answer the question of why I'm not losing weight (and always feel hungry!).
I currently weigh 11 st (70 kgs) but ideally would like to get rid of 11 pounds. My weight seems to be stuck and fluctuates between 68-70kgs (and has been like that for at least a year). I don't feel overweight, but I used to be slimmer (before DD) and just want to feel better about my shape.
I exercise (usually a mix of HIIT, weights, some cardio, but not too much unless I go for a run) usually 3-4 times a week for about 40 mins (can only do evenings after DD goes to bed)
I don't smoke, barely ever drink alcohol (I'd say once a month), barely ever (less than once in two months) get a takeaway. I don't eat out, cook all my lunches (bar an occasional sushi from Wasabi once every fortnight) and dinners from scratch. Don't keep any sweets at home and I don't really eat any sugary snacks/fizzy drinks etc.
I would say I eat clean and healthy most of the time with an occasional treat once in a while. Yet I'm not losing weight and feel like I'm hungry all the time so feel like snacking at work (doesn't help we're not too busy at the moment, I don't do a lot of snacking when busy!).

I usually have:
Breakfast: overnight oats with chia seeds, almond/cashew/coconut milk and some berries (plus 1 Tbsp honey or agave for sweetness) or smoothie (usually banana plus some frozen fruit and almond milk) -
with homemade granola (1/3 cup). On Sat/Sun I'd have some boiled or scrambled eggs, rye bread and avocado instead :D Love my eggs and avocado!
Snack: carrots and houmous (about 1 heaped Tbsp so it's not like I'm pigging out!) or cucumber and cottage cheese
Lunch: usually a salad made at home: e.g. roasted sweet potato, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, some black beans, a bit of olive oil or I'll have a salad with brown rice, edamame, spinach, avocado and smoked salmon with a tamari dressing. That kind of stuff.
Snack: greek yoghurt with berries and honey usually
Dinner: either some made turkey meatballs with tomato sauce and wholemeal pasta or turkey chilli with avocado and brown rice or some salmon and prawn curry with mange tout and courgette etc.
Snack (I am starving after exercising): sometimes greek yoghurt with berries, sometimes banana with peanut butter, sometimes apple.

I can see from this that I might be eating too much fruit.
I also drink lots of water and green tea (no black tea and only occasionally coffee). Where am I going wrong? I'm tempted to see a nutritionist/dietitian but scared I'll spend money to hear I need to eat wholemeal rather than white carbs, no processed food, no sugar etc, which is something I already know hmm

I'd be grateful for any feedback, I'm getting sick and tired of reading stories of people who give up one thing and miraculously lose weight!

@OwlinaTree I thought it was a good comparison!

Well done on your weight loss @TittyGolightly

Lots of research into how it works and the benefits. It's not a fad. People have reversed type 2 diabetes on it.

The diet was devised by Dr Roy Taylor and Michael Mosley (a GP). It was my GP that recommended it to me. I wouldn't touch a nutritionist with yours, foodie

You could eat 3 snickers a day and nothing else and still lose weight.

Not eating very much means you lose weight.

Research has shown that weightloss is 80% diet and 20% exercise.

@TittyGolightly my what?

You'd be hungry eating 3 snickers a day, not to mention meal nourished. I'm full of energy, don't often feel hungry (but also don't fear hunger), have amazing brain clarity and my skin hair and nails are so much better than before. I feel absolutely great!

Your anything. It's a saying!

*malnourished.

I'm not being funny I honestly don't know what you mean 😔 never mind

Titty is this the Newcastle diet?

I thought you were on about the Blood Sugar Diet?

It is the blood sugar diet.

The fruits fine. You're eating too many calories.

Marushka your diet looks amazing well done for sticking with it for 2 years. Thinking about joe wickes, clean eating alice - they recommend similar food to that but they seem to recommend saving carbs for after workout as someone else mentioned and lower carb the rest of the time. 2 portions of fruit a day seems to be quite a common recommendation. I also think the snack between lunch and dinner would be ditchable.

You're also having rice/pasta twice a day with oats in the AM which is extremely carbohydrate heavy in conjunction with all the snacks. You could just have salad for lunch without a starch?

Like Tittygolightly I also did BSD (partly based on Newcastle one) and it is good for fast weightloss but also learning we don't need as much food as we think, constant eating keeps blood sugar elevated.

It's quite a high fat / carb diet for trying to lose weight. You say you pick full fat yoghurt because others have stuff added, but you're then adding a large amount of sugar anyway in the form of honey.
One easy way to drop calories would be to replace with low fat Greek or natural yoghurt and / or wean yourself down to less sugar in it. More protein and save some calories.

Looks pretty healthy but too carby for weight loss, particularly breakfast. Reducing fruit and eating it whole not as a smoothie would help. Try to reduce or cut out out the honey/agave as it's no different to sugar. Lower carbs and higher fat should stop you getting so hungry and try not to eat extra if you are exercising. Also just check your portions of rice etc and oats; try oat bran instead of oats if you can't manage eggs on a weekday.

Your diet sounds very good to me! If you want to lose weight I'd suggest completely cutting the honey/agave (after a while of going without you'll realise you don't need it) and cut back on avocados and nut butters.

I've started not using any oil when cooking and just using vinegar/lemon juice as salad dressing and I've noticed a big difference. I still get fats in their whole form from avocados etc but I try not to go overboard.

I don't think the fruit is a problem at all unless you're going crazy on multiple bananas every day. Also make sure your plant milks are unsweetened!

I don't think it's strictly about calories in vs calories out although I do think that's part of it. If I was to eat 100 calories only white pasta a day I wouldn't lose any weight. It's calories in out and also what those calories are made up of and how they are used/ stored. As I said in my post, I think if she utilised her carbs better (had them post workout to refuel the depleted glycogen stores) and reduced her carbs on non exercise days them she'd see a big difference.

But again it's hard to make a judgement without seeing how hard she's working during exercise, how heavy she's lifting and if she's exercising to max effort etc.

Your diet seems to be made up of lovely healthy food, well done, I wish I was eating as well as you. Perhaps just reduce the portion sizes a bit (although I'm a fine one to be giving advice!).

You mentioned wanting to see a nutritionist but not wanting to waste loads of money - my friend recently lost weight (and says she feels amazing) after using an online nutritionist, which I suspect is a cheaper way to go about it. She only had good things to say about the one she used, and I'm really tempted myself to give it a go too. Although to be honest, it looks as if you know what you should be eating, but just need to eat a bit less of it..?