Why is my weightloss plan not working? (calorie restricting)

[itsasecret1]

Hi everyone!

Hoped that someone might be able to offer some advice here. I'm desperate to lose some weight, not loads but enough that I feel confident in myself again. Currently I'm 11st3, 5"3ft and I had a baby in Jan 18. I work at a desk so pretty sedentary lifestyle although the baby runs me ragged and I walk my dog daily.

My aim was to lose 1lb a week by cutting my calories down to 1430 per day. I've been doing it for just over 2 weeks and hand on heart I know I have stuck to it completely, been super strict on myself! Somedays I even eat nearer 1200 calories.

The weight has not changed, and whats worse if I weigh myself in the evening the scales say 11st4! I don't understand it. I know its only been 2 weeks but for the intense hunger I feel I would have thought I'd lose a pound or something!

I'd be tempted to cut the calories more drastically but I have started feeling genuinely weak and dizzy at times, it really feels like a struggle!

Ant tips / pointers / ideas very much welcome?

Oh forgot to add, I am tracking using MFP and I tend to eat 300cal breakfast, 400 cal lunch and 600cal dinner approx. My snacks are always fruit.

Anyone struggling to lose weight please can I recommend you read the Obesity Code. It’s been amazing for me and made me understand why I wasn’t losing weight even though I was restricting calories. I’ve lost seven pound in less than two weeks.

Thanks again for the help @MhysaMhysa apologies if I sound like a complete noob, its because I am one

Going to work hard on upping my protein and halving my carbs.

I think lunch is the bugger for me, because I never fancy a full on meal like chicken or fish, I'm more of a sandwich girl.

I was in the same boat as you OP regarding lunch, I love a sandwich meal deal! I'm eating low carb with calorie restriction on some days (Michael Moseley's blood sugar diet as mine was high and I have family history of diabetes). I've started having veg sticks with hummus every day at work, or occasionally veg sticks with dairylea. It's working for me because you can swap the veg around and have different hummus flavours.

Popcorn is carb
Oats are too
Beans are carb but do have protein.
For those who follow low carb we concentrate on upping your fat intake. Keto/High Fat Low Carb (LCHF)is a high fat diet, not a high protein diet. To enjoy the metabolic benefits (eg I’ve not eaten since 8pm yesterday and I’m not hungry) it must be both LC and HF.

I'm glad others have discussed lowering carbs. If you are prone to dropping your blood sugar, you may well be someone who has "insulin spikes" after consuming carbs, leading to a low blood sugar some time after a meal. If you lower your carbs and increase your fats you should find this problem reduces a lot. As well as fats being good for reducing hunger. Hope you can plan meals that you like that will work - you should find it gets much easier.

For lunches, you could try what I think of as a "lettuce sandwich" - ie sandwich fillings with lettuce instead of bread. At breakfast try a fried egg if you don't like boiled. I also got on very well at one point with celery or carrot sticks and a pot of tinned salmon mashed with mayonaisse and herbs; alternated that with (cheap supermarket) pate.

Most people are noobs so I wouldn't worry. There are loads of fad diets and bad information and it's hard to decipher it all and know what/who to trust! Keto is the biggest example, it's been proven to only really benefit people with certain types of epilepsy, it's not healthy for most people to follow without medical instruction and restriction has been proven to decrease chances of weight loss as well as increasing the likelihood of weight gain after you have lost it. Only carbs are a problem, no carbs is a problem, balance is what you need

If you like sandwiches eat them. Wholemeal bread is a good source of fibre and if you can make them with chicken, tuna or turkey etc, will be a good source of protein too.

Whatever you decide to do, try to focus on what works for you, so that you aren't fighting or starving yourself all the time, esp with a young DC! And think about overall health, not just weight loss.

I also suffer from low blood sugar sometimes (sweating, shaking), but honestly have had fewer incidents when dieting than before. I like to think that lowering my carb intake has generally helped.

I also like bread/sandwiches. My way to go around is having an 'open sandwich' at lunch. So only one slice of bread, usually topped with avocado & something else. For example, avocado & a fried egg or avocado & smoked salmon. Hummus, veggies/salad & falafel is nice also. When I make them, these come in at about 300kcal.

Hi @itsasecret1 I am losing on a 1200 calorie plan, and am much older than you (post menopause). A couple of things I'd like to mention: firstly, two weeks isn't long at all, so it could be that next week, you drop three or four pounds. Secondly, it is normal to feel hungry for the first two or three weeks, this does pass (honestly) and thirdly, I lose more quickly if I have cut back on the carbs, than if I've eaten them with every meal, even though calorie wise I don't exceed 1200. I can't go too low carb, because it doesn't suit me, so I stick to having unrefined (brown) carbs once a day, sometimes twice. I would advise you to drop the cereal bars and have just one piece of fruit a day. Cut out any processed foods and sugar if you can. Stick to your current calorie allowance, but introduce some healthy fats, like avocado, oily fish, eggs, greek yoghurt, a few almonds etc. If after a further two weeks you haven't lost any weight, then go down to 1200.
Measure everything, half a cup of uncooked pasta, small cup of allbran, 3 tablespoons of uncooked brown rice, 2 small rounds of wholemeal bread is my carb allowance, and I usually have only one of those options a day. Add lentils, pulses to bulk out, but not loads. You can only have loads of two things calorie counting if you want to stay full: water and green leafy veg. I munch on a bag of salad leaves during the day now, instead of crisps! Good luck.

As PP have said, your diet is way to heavy on carbs:

Breakfast:
Porridge oats with honey and chia seeds
Carb-heavy - you'd be better off having something like boiled eggs, or poached eggs on a slice of wholewheat toast.

^Lunch:
Small bowl of edamame beans with soy sauce^
Oat bar
Popcorn
Cacao bar with almonds

All of this is high in carbs, and to be honest doesn't really sound very satisfying! Little protein and/or fat, which you need to keep you going and feeling full.

A bowl of salad, with some kind of protein (tuna or chicken, for example), with an oily vinaigrette and some mayo on the side would be better.

Then I usually have a tangerine about 3pm

Again, carbs. The thing is, too, that if you keep your carbs low, your protein moderate and your fats high, that you will also suppress your appetite and you won't need to snack between meals.

Dinner:
Smoked salmon with Charlotte potatoes (roasted in fry light) and about 1/2 plate of veg and salad

The fish and veg/salad are perfect, but not the potatoes, I'm afraid. But you could simply substitute for other low carb veg, like cauliflower, or broccoli, or celeriac or leeks - green veg are especially good. Don't fry in Fry Light though - use butter or olive oil

Thanks everyone. I have been researching and planning all day, and now I see where I was going wrong. I'm going to cut carbs right down, to around 40g a day or less.

I had 2 chipolata sausages and scrambled egg with butter then a side of tomatoes for my lunch today, it was around 330 calories and it filled me up so well I am not even ready for my tea yet. Success!

Also whilst researching I came across something called lo-dough, its a dough/pastry replacement thats low carb (2.2g) and only 39 calories, you can use it instead of bread or a wrap or even as a pizza base. I've ordered some to try as I think this could help me massively. Just thought I'd share!

Well done that sounds good. You don’t need to count calories on a low carb diet by the way so don’t worry about that! Plus if you’re not hungry or just want a snack that is fine too.

I am same height and weight and wanted to lose weight because post menopausal my body shape has changed from hourglass to that of a toddler. I replaced pasta and potatoes with broccoli snd cauliflower. I still have the bolognese but try and cook myself so lots if tomatoes snd fresh ingredients. I find fish also good eg. Smoked haddock and white fish and iccasionslly salmon. All cooked in microwave. You will struggle if you are hungry. I lost 20lb in 20 weeks. Sonetimes nothing for 2 weeks then would lose 2-3lb. Hope this helps.

High fat, low carb. You won't be hungry. No need to count calories because your hunger/satiety hormones will be working amazingly and you won't overeat. No sugar at all. No snacking. If you can introduce some intermittent fasting, that will also work wonders, even if it is just 16 hours fasts

You might find this section useful :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/low_carb_bootcamp

Note that not all the threads are about bootcamp, there's a few recipe threads and lots of general query threads too.

Please be aware also that it can be seen as a bit 'extreme' - I eat carbs in the form of lentils, squash etc and feel great but keto /LCHF wouldn't recommend these.

You need to find what works for you.

Join Weight Watchers, they are a great help.
Lots of good advice, keeps you focused.
I lost 5.5 lb last week, they don't count calories but work on a points system for all foods so much easier to track.
Go on the Internet and type in weight watchers workshops it will ask for your post code and tell you the nearest one to you.
Good luck, stay strong 😊

I had 2 chipolata sausages and scrambled egg with butter then a side of tomatoes for my lunch today, it was around 330 calories and it filled me up so well I am not even ready for my tea yet

Sorry OP but that sounds like WAY more than 300 cals. I think you are underestimating how much you are eating.

I am 5"4 and I maintain on 1300, so I do 1000 to lose weight! Go lower.

@ohcanada

how so?
2 scrambled eggs with butter = 182 calories
2 chipolata sausages = 133 calories
3 plum tomatoes = 9 calories
total = 324 calories

The butter - a tbsp of butter is 100 calories alone. 2 large eggs is almost 150.

@ohcanada I included the butter in the scrambled eggs, which were from my mother in laws chickens and nowhere near large, medium at best. I used 1teaspoon of butter.

Calories don’t count on low carb OP if that’s what you’re doing. I tracked calories out of interest on MFP doing Keto and I was way over my daily calorie allowance and still lost weight because my diet was about 80% fat.

Keto is one fairly full-on way of doing things. I saw it as an induction to HFLC, a kind of kick start. But you don’t have to do keto as HFLC will still work. However it really helps kill those cravings.

Haven’t read the thread so analogies of it’s already been said, you could try your largest meal earlier in the day so just a small evening meal 250/300 kal
Also higher protein and less carb, Or just no carbs in the evening

Sounds like you're on the right track

Just wanted to report back that I've basically been sticking to a keto diet since I made this thread and all you kind people advised me about my carb intake.

now 3lb down!

Well done @itsasecret1. Drink loads of water and eat as much green leafy veg as you can.

3lb?!

RESULT!

And it wasn't that hard I bet, was it?