Why have I not lost weight?

[MamanSparkles]

So, I've been counting 1400 calories a day (average) for 2 weeks now and have absolutely no change in weight at all! So fed up. I'm disabled so exercise is very hard and involves a carer to take me to a disabled swim session, and it's been really hard to cut my calories this low already! DH does so much for me and DD already, i don't want to ask him to add a swim session in too, so exercise is out.
Any ideas anyone? Do I need to look at the types of food I'm eating? This is restricted too as I have multiple allergies.

@BIWI usually coffee and cereal (weighed out to 50g) for breakfast plus milk coming to 300 cal, then jacket potato or pasta salad from the work canteen at lunch (around 350 calories), then standard meat, veg, carb for dinner - whatever my husband cooks (about 500 cal portion size) plus a couple of coffees during the day, and a piece of fruit for a snack. Then i do occasionally give in to a biscuit at work and that's when I go over or have to shrink dinner to compensate.

I suspect that your issue is the amount of carbohydrate you're consuming, based on what you've listed there. I think you'd be far better counting/restricting your carbs than your calories! Everything you've listed there is high carb.

The thing with all that carbohydrate is that it's delivering a huge amount of glucose into your system which it will be really hard for you to use for energy.

So you'd be far better off having something like poached, scrambled or boiled eggs for breakfast, a salad with some kind of protein for lunch (but not with pasta) and then the sort of meal you're having right now for dinner.

OP, you have too many carbs, that’s why you aren’t losing. Carbs stimulate insulin which encourages fat cells growth. Cut out cereal, replace with eggs, bacon, avocado, ham, light salad. Lunch - a good serving of protein, e.g chicken breast, cheese, fish with some veggies/salad. Obviously give any pastry/biscuits a wide birth, they add zero nutritionally and trigger insulin with their flour and sugar, plus questionable fats if commercially produced. Dinner you are having is fine.

Watch sugar in drinks. It is a biggie.

Do you mean I could try the same number of calories but less carbs, or maybe just slightly less calories and more protein? Maybe I'll switch to no added sugar low fat yoghurt for breakfast for protein. I'm going to give that a go, thanks! This is what I mean, I've never done the different types of food dieting before, whenever I've wanted to lose a few pounds before I've just calorie cut to 1500 and done it. I'm still confused how if I need 1400 calories for maintenance how I wasn't piling weight on when I was eating 1800 a day though. It's like my metabolism just adjusts!

Same calories, different type of food to make up those calories. Yoghurt is best natural, no flavourings, just add berries to it to spice it up.

It is about the type of food you eat more than anything, rather than amount of calories.

... and don't go low fat! Just cut your carbs right back, eat natural, unprocessed and high fat foods, with quality protein. As long as your portion sizes aren't massive, you probably don't need to worry so much about calories.

Good natural fats are insulin-neutral, i.e. don’t elicit insulin response. One can only eat so much hard cheese or so much fat from a lamb leg. You’ll find you can’t eat too many nuts or too much olive oil. So it is pretty much self-regulating. You will stop quickly enough because you are full. Fat gives satiety and keeps you comfortably full for a good few hours until your next meal. The things to watch are sugar and refined carbs, alcohol. Ideally cut them out completely. Good luck!

1400 sounds too many calories. I'm 5ft 8 and run 30 miles a week and I need to eat about that to loose weight. I'd suggest cutting to 1200

definately too many carbs, cereal is a no full of sugars and processed.

Porridge with blueberries is a great alternative, or scrambled eggs and bacon (no toast)

Stop with the jacket potatoe and pasta...try lean meat, vegetable, nuts ....

Lunch, small steak grilled with leafy salad, large chicken salad or bacon and egg salad, soups are good too.

For dinner miss or cut right down on the carbs as you won't burn it off.

Snack on fruit with the skin on with almonds to slow the sugar hit.

Blueberries and tiny oatcakes/

Greek youghurt with a few strawberries.

Good luck for the next two weeks...

If you have been tracking with MFP do you look at the nutrition balance for each day? It gives you the balance of carb protein and fat you are eating...

I would monitor your calorie intake still but you need to ensure that the carb balance is lower. Up your protein lower carbs.

Even fruit is loaded with sugar!

I've been steadily losing weight using the my fitness pal app. I have noticed I never quite hit my protein quota.
Have made myself an egg fried rice recipe, put a pouch of microwave brown rice in the microwave. Whilst it's heating I boil a few frozen peas and scramble 1 or 2 eggs in a frying pan. When the microwave pings, throw the rice in the pan with the eggs, add the peas and stir it together with a splash of soy sauce. A handful of prawns is good too for a bit more protein. It only takes a few minutes to cook.
I eat most of it for a main meal, it tastes OK but keeps me full for ages and stops me craving food and going to bed hungry.
I'm having 1 crumpet for breakfast and usually half a tin of soup for lunch with a couple of ryvita with hummus on.
Good luck

I agree with the cutting of carbohydrates. When you eat carbohydrates your blood sugar rises. Your body has to respond to prevent your blood sugar rising too high by producing insulin. Insulin has the liver and muscles store the excess sugar as glycogen. As you go about your day to day activities the glucose in your blood and the glycogen in your liver and muscles will be used as energy.

If you are trying to lose weight what you would like your body to do is use your body fat for energy. But if you keep eating carbohydrates your body has no need to use your body fat because it keeps getting a supply of sugar it can use. If you reduce the carbohydrates in your diet then the body needs to find an alternative fuel and that is when it will start to burn body fat for energy instead.

1400 calories is actually not a significant cut in caliries. Studies have shown that the body is more than capable of adjusting it's metabolic rate to adjust for changes in diet.

Ok today is a low carb day :) last time I dieted it was really easy (even with the carbs!) But I was a decade younger... this is much harder this time.
The 1400 was calculated by MFP, not sure why. (Actually, it says 1390). If the protein doesn't work I'll cut to 1200.
Btw, when I said cereal for breakfast I meant muesli - is that ok proteinwise? It keeps me going pretty well so I'd rather cut my carbs later in the day.
Thanks for all your help!

I’d hazard a guess that a ‘pasta salad from the work canteen’ could come in at miles over 350 calories since you’ve no way at accurately measuring what’s in the ingredients - how much mayo, olive oil, dressing, bacon, tuna, whatever else has been added, even the pasta itself.

Also, how big was the jacket potato before being baked? Trying to lose weight by measuring calorie has always failed for me unless I take responsibility for cooking all my own food - does your DH weigh and measure all your evening meal ingredients and portion yours out before telling you it’s 500 calories?

PPs might be right in suggesting LCHF as a better route to go down when you don’t have much to lose, good luck!

Everything dragongirl says. To the letter. You need to cut the addiction to empty carbs and sugar. Otherwise you will always feel hungry and get miserable.

If you hate ‘leafy’ salad make your own coleslaw (tastes nothing like the shop stuff and is much healthier), and try a can of mixed beans with chopped cucumber and tomatoes and some flavour of your choice (paprika or jerk or whatever you fancy). Add spice too - morroccan and Thai salads in particular are really good.

Muesli is still a very high carb option! If protein is your concern, you'd be far better having eggs, in any form - or even bacon and eggs, sausage and eggs (low carb sausages, obviously!)

Depends on the museli brand... how much sugar in it etc...

The mueslis I've checked out on Sainsbury's website are all around 54-65g carbs per 100g, which is incredibly high - even Alpen's No Added sugar muesli is over 60g carbs per 100g!

Bugger off with your spamming @Pixipoo. This is the fourth (badly written/punctuated) post you've made and you can't even be bothered to write something different each time. Did you think we wouldn't notice?

Four times with exactly the same post? Looks more like you're spamming the boards.

I'm a bit over 5'3" and I also need 1400 to maintain; 1200 to lose (slowly). I'm very sedentary.

I agree so much with the poster who mentioned sleep. It's sooo much harder to stay away from carbs and sugar when you're sleep-deprived.