12 miles a week but still no weight loss!

[Chocolateyclaire76]

I have 2 children, 15 months and 4 yrs, and I'm finding it impossible to lose weight. I currently weigh 13st 9, am 5ft 6 and desperately want to get down to 11st. I eat healthy and for the past 6 weeks have been running between 9 and 12 miles a week with the only noticeable weight loss being 1 bloody pound!

I'm so fed up now and really don't know what to do. I've focused on portion control, which can be a bit too big and I've cut back on alcohol but I only really have 1 or 2 bottles of wine per week.

Does anyone have any sensible suggestions? I don't want to pay out for weight watchers / slimming world etc, I want something sustainable and based around healthy eating and exercise.

Thanks

You won't be burning more than about 1000 calories, which over a week is only about 140 calories .

Could you give an example of a typical day's food for you, including portion sizes? The only thing you've mentioned is the wine - honestly 2 bottles per week is quite a lot. Could you switch for other 'treats' or even just to slimline G&T which has fewer calories and is less bloating.

You're doing brilliantly to be focussing on your health when your children are so young - keep it up!

I'm in the same boat, have overhauled my diet by tracking everything on MFP ( I did this a couple of years ago & lost a couple of stone just being sensible about my diet and no exercise) unfortunately it's gone back on, so since the end of April I've been doing the same as before but also going to the gym 4 times a week, running, weights, cycling and I've only lost 5 pounds, am really gutted about it, I'll keep on doing it cos I do feel better in myself, just don't look any better lol

The only difference this time round is that I now have a Mirena coil & im convinced this is hampering my weight loss, my mid section is the worst, far bigger than its ever been & my boobs have gone up a cup size since it was fitted too

cut out the wine for one week then weigh yourself. good luck.

There's apparently about 600 calories in a bottle of wine ( I just looked it up!), so just cutting out wine would be 1200 calories fewer a week.

It's great that you're going running. How many steps do you do on average a day? I find it helps setting myself a target number of steps (currently 12 000 a day) so that I walk enough on the days I don't go for a run.

Otherwise keep going as you are. 6 weeks isn't really a long time. Hopefully you'll start to soon notice a difference.

Have you measured yourself? Weight is a blunt tool and can be affected by so many things.

I've stepped up my running and am not loosing weight but am slimmer.

It's not exercise. It's diet. Sorry, I happily cycled 100 miles a week at 16 stone and didn't lose any weight. Exercise is excellent for mood and health, not weight loss.

Sorry to break it to you, but running isn't great for weight loss. I can run up to 40k a week, yes it tones up my legs but nothing else. If you want to change your body you need to do hiit training or weights.
The absolute key is diet though unfortunately.
What did you eat yesterday for example?

You need My Fitness Pal.

Well on an average day I would have 1 cup of tea with milk, no sugar, 2 x Weetabix with skimmed milk & honey for breakfast. Lunch would probably be large bowl of spinach with something like tuna, cottage cheese or chicken with tomatoes, cucumber, spring onion and balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I'd have olive oil and sometimes I'd have sweet chilli sauce. Dinner on a good day would be large plate of stir fried kale with chilli, garlic & ginger with chicken breast and chopped tomatoes & chilli homemade sauce with poached egg. On a weekend evening it might be homemade curry (from scratch) with brown rice, poppadum's and mango chutney - I know the last 2 are bad so this isn't every week! Pudding would be low fat yogurt. Snacks during day might be unsalted nuts, small bowl of cornflakes or an oatcake. I probably have 4 cups of tea a day and about 1 litre of water. The wine is slowly being replaced with g&t too!

Sorry for the lengthy reply and I hope that makes things clearer!

I just feel incredibly bloated and tummy still sticks out further than chest!

Cut the snacks and eat lower carb higher protein/fat foods. I don't advocate an extreme low carb diet but doing a basic version of LCHF has worked excellently for me.

Exercise is excellent for health but in terms of weight loss means very little. In fact there is some evidence to suggest it can hinder weight loss initially as people over-estimate how many calories they have burned and also it makes them hungrier.

I am not saying you should stop exercising of course, just bear in mind it'll be a small complement to your weight loss, not the crux of it. The crux of it will be diet.

I'm back on the treadmill, metaphorically today. I agree with others that exercise does not play the biggest part in weight maintenance. That is food intake. I am going to restrict my calorie intake to 800 per day every second day. On the normal days I exercise but I don't go mad with the food, it's just a break from counting the calories. It's worked well for me in the past and in fact I find that dieting in a more extreme way works better for me than dieting moderately every day. I want to lose about 10lbs. My weight has crept up because I've grown too fond of fancy expensive icecream despite going to the gym and swimming and cycling and walking.

....pressed too soon. I have lost 3 stone and kept it off but I don't count calories, I just changed my attitude to food. Made a real effort to simply stop eating when I am full and not feel like I can never be hungry - it's perfectly OK to be hungry for a bit, I won't die. I eat relatively low carb but I certainly don't deny myself pizza or pasta if I really want it. On an average day my food would be:

Breakfast: smoothie of oats, full fat yoghurt (I don't eat any low fat dairy products), almond milk, raspberries, blueberries, spinach and flaxseed during the week, or avocado/eggs on toast at weekends. However I don't eat breakfast every day - only if I am hungry. Sometimes I find a cup of tea keeps me going til 12.

Lunch: Usually a salad or a soup - today I had tomato, olive and feta salad, always with a dressing of olive oil, lemon and salt.

Dinner: Tonight we are having thai crumbled beef lettuce wraps with avocado and a big salad

I had a handful of almonds mid morning today because I felt peckish.

Also drink loads of water - I drink 2-3 litres a day.

I think you should try My Fitness Pal. It's free, and can be a wake up call to see how much portion size, treat days, alcohol and little snacks (even "healthy" snacks) here and there can affect the amount of calories you eat in a day. Using three tbsp of olive oil instead of one when making your dinner for example means you are adding the same calories as a chocolate bar, "good" as olive oil might be for you.

Diet is key, up the amount of veg and protein that you eat while reducing some of the carbs, low carb high fat works pretty well but I can't manage no carbs at all.
Also, running can turn into a bit more of a plod, what about reducing your distance but increasing the pace, using interval sprints. They really get the heart rate going and burn more calories while having the added bonus of getting you fitter quicker.
Weights work well too, if you don't want to/can't go to the gym why don't you add a body weight session after or during your run. Press ups, mountain climbers, burpees and such like are all great. Don't worry if you can't do press ups start slowly you'll be amazed how quickly you improve!

ps, I love g&t too but I was surprised one evening to discover that a small 250 ml bottle of perroni beer had far fewer calories than 200mls of gordons ready mixed in a can g&t. So double check the cal content of g&t if you're thinking it's a low cal alternative to wine.

I certainly agree you should log your calories for a week using MFP just to see how much you are actually eating - I bet it's more than you think.

Op I just read this:

've cut back on alcohol but I only really have 1 or 2 bottles of wine per week.

That's LOADS. Cut the alcohol.

Yup, as everybody has said you're eating too much. Get a fitbit with HR readings, that will give you a broad idea of how many calories you need (minus 20%). For example on Saturday I ran a HM, and it only burn 1500 calories! That might seem like a lot, but unless you're able to create a real deficit of say 3500 weekly calories, you'll never be able to see any weight loss. It is doable, believe me but you need more than a couple of hours a week to see any real difference.