Anyone about who could give a bit of advice about why I'm not loosing weight?

[mycatplotsdeath]

Started seriously trying to loose weight a month ago.
I've been sticking to 1200 calories a day, walking at least 10000 steps. I've joined the gym and been doing cardio and weights and a few classes. And I've literally lost nothing.
Since the menopause I've gained 3stone ( mostly around my waist) and I just can't shift it!!!
It's soul destroying and I'm getting desperate.
I don't expect miracles but would be happy with a slow 1lb a week.
According to scales
Body fat 39.4
Water. 39.3
Bmi 30.3

Anyone got any advice please??

Are you drinking lots of water? We get a lot of our water from food, so if you're eating less you need to drink more to make up for it. If you don't drink enough water then you'll end up bloating through water retention. Hormone changes can cause this as well, so if you've recently been through the menopause that's probably contributing to some extent, though it's not likely to be the whole explanation.

Are you tracking absolutely everything (milk/sugar in tea etc)? And are you 'eating back' your exercise calories? If so then apps like MFP tend to massively overestimate the calories burned during exercise, so you might not be at aa much of a calorie deficit as you think you are.

The Scarsdale Diet will fix this! It's on Amazon. Buy it, read it, follow it, it's super simple and easy and weight just vanishes.

Try the Keto way of eating.
I’m peri menopausal and my waist was thickening and I was always bloated.
I’ve lost 9lbs so far and have no bloating.
You must drink a lot of water though.
I’m on a few fb groups for support for LC and/or Keto way of eating.
I feel so much better.

If you absolutely are eating only 1200 calories you definitely need to speak to your GP.

it's grim isn't it - I'm 60 (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???) and find just keeping at the same weight is as hard as losing weight used to be. I believe one issue is that as we age our muscles become less lean, have more fat marbling built in, and fat burns fewer calories than muscle.

I've gradually lost about 5lbs over two months by calorie balancing - I eat about 500 calories fewer than I burn on the average day according to my fitbit. I've decided it will just have to be as slow as that. Boring boring boring.

Is the Scarsdale diet the same as the chemical diet? I’m on 1000 calorie low carb diet and not losing weight at all, so I’m thinking of trying this next week....

What are you actuslly eating in your calories?

I only started to see a difference since I cut dairy out as I really do believe it messes with your hormones. I’ve also given up wheat. Alcohol unfortunately had to go too as that also stopped my weight loss

I’m 39 and was stuck at 10.4lb I had to drop

Dairy
Wheat
Booze 😭😭

Only seen a diffemce then

Thanks for all the replies.
I'm at work so will read them all properly later.i have just skipped through at the minute.
According to fit bit ( which I don't consider totally accurate) I burn 2400 calories a day and eat 1200.
I'm definitely not drinking calories. I only drink black coffee and coffee.
I do feel I may be retaining water.
I don't understand macros so will look at that later .

I lost 3 stone and I've kept it off for 3 years. I had a surgical menopause 5 years ago.
I started with MFP but it didn't work for me.
I can't understand how it has different calories for the same food ie beans on two buttered toast was x calories, but buttered toast x 2 plus serving of beans totalled a completely different amount of calories!
Also I had a compulsion to eat my allotted cals even if I wasn't hungry!
I got my head round the reasons and factors of my over eating
(2 spring to mind, food, especially sweets, were a reward or bribe or consolation when I was a child and I struggled to shake that as an adult.
As an adult working in the NHS on a busy ward, I was shovelling food down whenever just in case I got hungry as breaks were erratic. Easy to eat stuff, biscuits and cakes etc. On my days off I simply ate when I was hungry, the food was there when I was ready).
I vaguely follow HFLC, I keep Paul McKennas line of "eat as much as you want, whatever you want, BUT only eat when you're hungry".
It took me sometime to teach myself how to recognise hunger, not thirst/ boredom/ blue mood etc.
As for exercise, I started HIIT routines. Davina Mcalls 7 minute fat blaster and tone and sculpt were my favourites. Weight training burns fat.
And I walked as fast as I could, until I was sweaty and breathless. It was probably about half the amount of steps I did on the ward, but were twice as effective because I was pushing myself.

@raisinsraisins

Is the Scarsdale diet the same as the chemical diet? I’m on 1000 calorie low carb diet and not losing weight at all, so I’m thinking of trying this next week

Good luck with your diet! No, Scarsdale is more like a keto diet than anything else. Low-carb. I loved it because:

It's simple, no weighing or measuring;
He tells you what to eat every day, and it's simple stuff. Fruit, veg, eggs, fish, meat.

It's two weeks on, two weeks off, so you don't get sick of it.

It works fast.

Ditch the 'sad step' and measure yourself, especially if you've increased activity.

Age is a bugger though I need less and less calories to maintain.

I find if I don’t eat enough calories I don’t lose weight. I am same height as you and have weighed up to 12stone. A couple of years ago I was using MFP and running lots and lost 3 stone on 1700-1800 cals a day. Unfortunately due to ill health I stopped being able to exercise and regained it. I have just joined team rh fitness. I have lost a stone eating 1700cals a day and walking 15000 steps a day. I think they would have you on 1800kcal a day. Sounds a lot but it definitely works
Previously when doing ww etc if I didn’t eat all my my bonus points for exercise I didn’t lose weight.
I also weigh myself daily. Something I had already figured out works best for me - there is a great app called happy scale that then shows your average weight loss and you realise that sometimes if you just weighed yourself once a week it might look like you hadn’t lost weight but actually by weighing daily you just had a blip that day (TOTM/high sodium meal etc) but overall the average weight is going down.
Team RH fitness also advocate the daily weighing. Good luck

Also peri

I swear to GOD if I are what I eat now in my 20 and 30 I would be tiny

I have lost a lot but by sheer willpower and basically cutting and exercising

It’s much harder at our age

And - keep persisting and it will eventually shift

And yes . I am sad to say but a very restrictive diet is the only thing that worked for me . I am eating mainly vegetables !!!!

I totally understand this feeling🙁 I'm 5'6" and 17'10 I eat between 1200-1500 calories a day and now cycle 8 miles every Other day at a rate that is pushing my heartbeat up a lot so I'm in the zone and nothing for over a month. I use fitness pal too it's seriously disheartening I'm peri meno too

I just want to cry

Sorry I haven't replied sooner been working all weekend.
My diet is mostly egg base breakfast
Salad based lunch or soup
Chicken or salmon with veg for dinner
With the odd bit of fruit thrown in.
I don't understand macros so I need to read up on them

Well, I am in a similar position OP.

Its a tricky situation. Here's my half penny of thoughts:

I think a month isn't enough though. I am coming round to the idea you have to give yourself longer - 6 months or even a year - to see how things really are. It also gives you time to "tweak" things a bit and change your habits. It also encourages a positive but calm approach. One tweak that may help is maybe doing a day or two very low calories a week might shake things up? But I do think you have to be in the right place to do this healthily IFKWIM. I did more serious intermittent fasting (Every Other Day) about 7 years back. Before it was fashionable. I did lose weight quite easily. But in photos I look a bit strange I think as the weight loss was too fast e.g. chin a bit wobbly, and it messed too much with my everyday life. I also tried the same IF type of thing a year ago. Zero results! Perhaps because now over 50 !

I think the menopause means you have to change your outlook on dieting - its different for everyone. But I think your body is simply not the same and I don't think will respond in the same way.

More recently like a poster further up, I gave up alcohol for a month, was pretty healthy eating etc and lost about 1 pound. LOL! I guess at least I didn't put it on.

So I just jacked it all in, and I think I have probably put on weight as a result. I daren't check.

I think one really has to try and take the longer view. Looking for short term results rarely works now.