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!

I'm at my target with slimming world but have to be careful as old habits easily slip back in. Now I'm just about where I want to be I've become more interested in nutrition and fuelling my body correctly. I've been reading the body coach books and his views on nutrition v calorie counting seem a lot of sense to me. I'm hoping to use some of his recipes to improve the nutrition in my day but also use slimming world guidelines to keep an eye on things. So, instead of using syns on chocolate or hifi bars etc I would use them to count nutritious items like avocado and nuts. Hoping to get the best of both worlds and increase my fitness and general health.

I'd agree with myfitnesspal. Being hungry at the end of a meal is wrong. I think you need more of the dark green and leafies to fill up on, and replace some of the fat with small amounts of potatoes.

If I were you op I would ditch the carbs at breakfast and have eggs in some form. Maybe an omellete? I would also up the protein across your diet. So a ham salad or tuna/salmon salad for lunch.

I would also completely cut out snacks and if you increase the protein at meal times you will find you aren't hungry between meals.

Save the avo for weekends. Cut out the sugar/honey etc. And see where you are weight wise in a couple of months.

I have followed a few different diets. The only way I can lose weight now a bmi of around 26.5 is to cut out carbs and increase exercise.

It's simple enough. You're eating good food but a bit too much of it for your calorific needs. As we age our needs go down so if you continue eating the same you will slowly gain weight.

The fruit is definitely not the problem. The amount of food, in general, is. Far too many snacks, for a start.

Greek Yoghurt while yummy, is the creamy part of the milk so like scoffing clotted cream.

It so isn't. Clotted cream is about 60% fat. Full fat Greek yogurt is about 10% fat! And fat isn't bad!

If I was to eat 100 calories only white pasta a day I wouldn't lose any weight.

This is 100% biochemically impossible.

@TittyGolightly you mention maintenance diet after the 8-12 weeks of 800 calories; what actually is the maintenance diet?

If I was to eat 100 calories only white pasta a day I wouldn't lose any weight

you don't understand human bodies much

Sorry this was a typo..I meant to write 1000 calories not 100. Obviously if you were only eating 100 calories then I'd lose weight as I'd be starving.

You'd still lose weight on 1000 calories though

Again it depends on the food source. I have counted calories and did the slimming world plan thing. Didn't lose a pound. I also did SW and didn't count calories and put on 5lbs in a week and was bursting out of my clothes. As I've tried to say, everyone is different and what works for one person doesn't work for others. I don't react well to simple carbs and starchy foods.

Anyway, I seem to be going around in circles here. OP- you're doing really well, I'd maybe seek professional advice from a nutritionist or a trainer to even see how hard you are exercising and work out your calorie needs from there.

@TittyGolightly you mention maintenance diet after the 8-12 weeks of 800 calories; what actually is the maintenance diet?

You follow the same principles: low carb, high fat, moderate protein; limited number of meals; no snacking etc. You just don't count calories. I managed to lose another couple of lbs during maintenance, and a belt notch too. I still monitored my calories and was naturally having 1,000 - 1,400 cals per day (the extra was mainly cheese ).

professional advice from a nutritionist

Might as well ask a random person in the pub. It's not a recognised profession. I could become a nutritionist in about an hour online.

Jesus- People are really defensive on these threads. Best of luck OP.

It's true!

Thanks TittyGolightly

Is there a rough amount of g per protein and fat etc? One man's 'moderate' is another man's feast, and all that!

So if I get you right, it's 8-12 weeks of 800 a day and then 1200-1400 thereafter forever?

TittyGolightly would the diet be compatable or adaptable with endurance sports- marathon running and triathlons, the info and research sounds good but exercising for 2-3 hours, i guess we could apply principles of low carb or is the diet specifically strict 800kcal ?

its not for purpose of weight loss but have family history of diabetes and suffer pcos ?

So if I get you right, it's 8-12 weeks of 800 a day and then 1200-1400 thereafter forever?

Not quite. The 800 cals relates to the diabetes reversal that the way of eating is designed for. You really need to read the book to understand how it works and why.

During maintainance between rounds/afterwards is up to you. If you go back to old ways of eating you're going to reverse it all. If you stick to the principles of what and how to eat you can have some flexibility but you won't/shouldn't overeat just because of the sorts of foods you're eating.

For me 2000 cals a day would be way too much of any kind of food. I just don't move enough to burn it off. I still have reserved to use up. When they've gone it may be that 1500 is plenty for me.

The diet is superb for diabetes and PCOS.

Extreme sports aren't my thing. My husband was training for a half marathon whilst low carbing and did find it hard. On the BSD exercise doesn't earn you extra cals so I can't see it working at 800 cals!

No food is bad, but if you want to lose weight eating a high fat option is probably making it harder than it needs to be

I find the opposite is true.

I've lost 4 kilos in 2 months with MyFitnessPal, I really recommend it. I went from 68 to 64 kg, so a similar weight to you.

As others have said, it's the added sugar and the amount of food you're eating that's the problem, not the fruit. If you want to sweeten your overnight oats leave the honey out and use half a mashed banana. You haven't added measurements so it's hard to tell exactly how much you're eating, but it is a lot.

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).

Smoothies are dreadful for you, they are basically sugar soup. Cut that out. It's fine as a treat, but not as a meal.

How much of oats do you have? For mine I do 20g oats, 1 teaspoon chia, 1 teaspoon flax seeds, 1 teaspoon protein powder, 100ml soya milk, 150ml water, half a mashed banana and 20g frozen berries.

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

No need to snack. Have an apple.

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.

Looks good, but what is the size? Do you weigh your food?

Snack: greek yoghurt with berries and honey usually

Cut the honey.

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.

Save your meal for after exercise and don't have a snack. 300 calories saved, just like that, with a bit of time management.