Why am I overweight? I can't work it out

[Gibralter]

It just doesn't make sense to me. I track every last thing in my fitness pal and I've been eating this way for about 5 months. I'm only overweight by a pound or two but surely I should be a lot slimmer?

Typical days food is:

Two slices of seeded brown bread with low fat spread and marmite OR porridge with blueberries on top OR a glass of fresh orange juice, two eggs and a small slice of toast.

Lunch: Rivita crackers topped with a 20 Calories laughing cow spread, cucumber OR avocado toppings, with banana and Diet Coke, OR sometimes I have for lunch a very small portion of last night's dinner.

Dinner: Vegetable curry (home cooked, low fat), OR vegetable rice and chicken, OR low fat Bolognese OR pesto pasta.

Snacks: Passion fruit (one), banana, raspberries (a handful or so), and sometimes on a Friday, a chocolate brought home by DH. It's rare I have more than 2 of these snacks a day.

Where am I going wrong?

I don't secretly eat other things, I'm also breastfeeding. I walk mostly everywhere. I go up and down a big hill with shopping etc.

I'm not very active indoors but is anyone, apart from my cleaning?

Bump

What does overweight by a pound even look like? Honestly you eat healthily and you are healthy weight so maybe it's time to think about something else? Be happy with the weight situation! Wish I was only one pound over.

You may be eating too many carbs? I lost a stone when I dropped carbs. Bread has them, bananas have a lot, low fat stuff may have them (when I dropped carbs I went full fat). I'm only telling you what worked for me anyway :)

Too much carb & fruit is your problem.

If you are only a few lbs overweight it's often much harder to lose weight. First of all are you absolutely sure you need to lose that weight? When you say a few lbs overweight are you talking 7lbs over your maximum healthy weight or 3lbs over your perfect target weight? If you are just going by looks perhaps you would be better off doing some toning exercises and getting fit that would make you look slimmer and feel healthy.
If you definitely need to lose the weight then you could look at carbs. I see nearly all your food is quite high in carbs.

The majority is carbs. Give up the bread and rice and pasta. If you do have them, weigh them. Lots of us will easily double a standard portion size so you may be eating more than you think.

I think you could reduce fruit and increase protein. I know protein = more calories but you need the protein for a satisfying meal and for a healthy body.

Your lunch would leave me hungry so more likely to eat too much at dinner.

But I agree that your diet doesn't sound unhealthy and would expect you to be light on that.

The thing is, when I say I have pasta etc, it's literally a handful. I eat less than 1600 calories a day.

I'm 10 stone 8 and 5'3. I should be a lot lighter than this.

Also worth mentioning that I usually leave a bit on my plate and don't demolish it so no idea why I'm the Size I am

Would it be worth getting my thyroid checked?

Oh and I'm breastfeeding on demand too so should be requiring more calories anyway

Apart from banana, the fruits I eat are very low in fairies (berries, etc)

Assuming you are 40 and female your TDEE is 1668 cal. So given that you are calculating a calorie intake of 1600 you wouldn't expect to lose weight very fast - if at all

Have you lost any weight over the 5 months?

For your height and weight breastfeeding makes you TDEE 1774 cal.... One banana or a slice of dry toast.

I’m 5”2 and slightly heavier than you. I’m also not overly active. 1600 is basically what I use to get through the day, if I ate 1600 I wouldn’t lose because I’d be creating no deficit. No calorie deficit, no weightloss. The 2000 calories for a women thing is very broad and untailored, and doesn’t consider the different sizes of all women. Get a Fitbit and see how many calories you’re using compared to what you’re taking in, it was a a real eye opener.

Some people do seem to hang onto a few pounds when breastfeeding- I did! I wouldn’t cut calories any more (unless your child is basically fully weaned), but I would try moving to more protein- so one slice of toast and an egg instead of 2 toast and marmite, pulses or meat with the vegetable curry, and proper cheese with lunch (dairy also being good when feeding). Plus a bit of peanut butter on the banana. How active are you?

Exactly, and breastfeeding uses up more calories too.

There was a poster on here yesterday who's thread I commented on. She ate a similar diet but was told she was Orthorexic and should be eating over 2000 calories a day

Only difference is she skipped lunch!

Or is this okay for a typical days food?http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/3214186-or-is-this-okay-for-a-typical-days-food

Link to thread!

Are you weighing things like your porridge? My personal trainer gave me a meal plan for weight loss an a portion of porridge is 30g of dry oats! Also agree with other posters that you need to be careful with your carbs. Your glass of orange juice probably has about 25 grams of carbs in it because of the sugar content! If you are eating other sugary fruits as well as carbs with every meal, you'll easily be exceeding the carbs you should be eating

Party I have a bit less than 30g, I weight absolutely everything

Also, if I have a glass of orange juice, I won't eat loads of fruit too, on the same day etc

It all varies but I never go over any limit that I have (set for me by my fitness pal).

Really with breastfeeding I should be eating more anyway, but I don't and yet I'm still overweight? 🤔

I'm on my fitness pal and my daily allowance is 1380 calories. You could reset the speed of weight loss you want and be allocated less. I just find it easier if I eat less bread and bananas and more protein - I get less switching between feeling really full and feeling really empty. I'm not breastfeeding though.

Hmm doesn't seem like it's portion size that is causing problems then. I was so shocked when I started weighing out my portions!

Party I know! It is shocking. The only reason I've weighed everything from Day 1 is because I've been warned how shockingly small portion sizes can be of the 'recommended amount'

It's depressing.

I wish I could just munch on whatever but for some reason I never can. I can't lose weight very well at all, it seems.

The only way I did lose weight faster was by eating 1000 calories or less per day. But that's ridiculous when breastfeeding

OP

I’m confused. You say you are overweight only by a pound or two.

How 10.8 at 5’3 is more than a pound or two overweight.

If you’d food diary is accurate then it is strange you’re not losing weight. However you have given it a good amount of time, so now you know you’ve got to make cuts and do more exercise as it’s just not working for you.

I'm also 5'3 and I've came to the conclusion that unless I eat like a bird, I will never be slim. We just don't need much at our height. I wouldn't worry while you are breastfeeding though. You need calories.

It sounds as if you have found your maintenance level of eating, at least. I'd just reset how much weight you want to lose and eat less.