Not losing anything - why oh why?

[Bluesheep8]

I'll try to be brief. Got to goal weight with WW over 6 years ago (10 stone 3) then lost more (by choice) to get to 9 stone 7. Maintained this weight until 1 year ago when I slowly began to gain a bit. 'Went back to WW as a gold member as I was still within target at 10st 6 - bear in mind I'd gained almost a stone in a year, despite still following WW to maintain.(As my goal weight was 10 st 3, it meant I was still within range up to 10 st 7) anyway, got my head around Smartpoints and slowly lost a bit over a few weeks but then it started creeping up again although I was doing nothing differently. I'll admit, I relaxed things for 2 weeks at Christmas. I got a fit bit type watch for Christmas and despite doing a desk job, it's motivated me to get out and walk briskly every day for at least 6k steps and I do much more than that at the weekends. Also, ive been religiously back on plan WW wise since then too.
So here's what's happened...
Week after Christmas - weight 10 st 4.5
Week after that- weight 10 st 6.5 ( 2 pound gain!)
Week after that - 10 stone 5.5 (1 pound loss)
Week after that- stayed the same.
How can I not be losing weight?! I've gone from 0 exercise to walking at least 6k steps every day and am eating ad I was before. Also, a shirt that fitted me 2 months ago will not fasten, so I'm not losing inches either!
Thanks for getting to the end of my rant, WTF is going on?!!

seekingwaxwings

I'm the same op and I'm convinced it's a combination of my peri menopausal age (47) and my underactive thyroid. Do you have any other hypothyroid symptoms like feeling cold, tired, sluggish, constipated etc?

Yes to all the above. Had thyroid tested a year ago and it came back normal apparently. Due to have it tested again as it's a year since....

I also have MS so any tiredness symptoms are always put down to that and I'm told thyroid is "normal"

maybe it's because of a slow metabolism

Slow metabolism yes, I'm trying to work out why as I'm doing as many of the right things as I can

What’s the deal with bananas?

I hear you. I have 2 stone to lose and I've suddenly gone from eating pretty much as I pleased to 1200 calories a day. I'm 40. Thought it would drop off. 3 weeks in and I've lost 5 lbs and I'm miserable.

Fwiw, it sounds to me like you have a nutritious diet and I'm sure your insides are content 😊

That average days food is easily 1400-1800 calories. Possibly more depending on things like what you deem a "weighed" portion to be. The fact is WW isn't working for you because you are eating too much. 6000 steps is nothing if you aren't getting your heart rate up. Time to switch to a different diet. Calorie counting should be easy for you if you are used to logging everything you eat.

You’re eating too much and not exercising enough. If you were in a calorie deficit you would be losing weight.

You have frozen shoulder? Classic hormonal issues from menopause. I very much suspect that is what is scuppering things. Zero simple carbs. None at all.

Weight loss isn't linear. It's very common for it to stall or even go up for days, sometimes weeks. Just keep doing what you're doing and it will come off. If you see no change after a month then you can revisit it, but for now just keep going.

Slow metabolism yes, I'm trying to work out why as I'm doing as many of the right things as I can

Your muscle mass will be low. Without wishing to cause offence, it will be very low if 6k steps is an achievement. The more muscle you have, the more calories you use whilst at rest - so even doing nothing burns more calories.

Unless you plan on taking up significant exercise, I really wouldn't worry about metabolic rate. Just accept it us low and so lower your calorie intake accordingly.

For reference, for 6 days a week, every day I do around 1h walking, 1h high intensity cardio (pouring with sweat cardio) and a 90 minute full body weight lifting program. I get over 3h exercise a day, my BMI is currently about 28 (overweight) and I'm 43. The food diary you have would have me maintaining, possibly gaining (too many carbs so not conducive to get loss). I'm aiming to lose so wouldn't eat that many calories.

I hear you that it's always worked for you on the past OP. That is probably the very reason it's not working this time. Combined with your age (late 40's hormones etc etc blah blah ) our bodies adjust to our patterns and routines and they get used to it. So the same diet will not have the same impact anymore. Plus, you weigh less than you have done in the past, so your diet and exercise regime needs to be increased much more now. You need to give your body a 'shock' to really boost your metabolism. Otherwise you are just going to have to keep eating less and less until you're on rabbit rations.

One thing which really works to boost metabolism is strength training. Trust me I have used this with great success, proper weight loss and feeling fittest I've felt in my life. You can easily just do body weight training at home with no equipment. Ignore your painful shoulders and concentrate on lower body work like squats, sumo squats, lunges, wall sits and planks (if your shoulders will let you). Do a sequence every other day lasting 15-20 minutes. Then every other day you could add HIIT training for 20 minutes- things like running as fast as you possibly can for 90 seconds then rest for 45 seconds. It's easy enough to fit in when you wake up and then it's done. There are lots of resources online and apps. I recommend James Haskells book Perfect Fit (the mans a knob but the book is brilliant and amazing for beginners).

Combine the above with using MyFitnessPal (entering your height and weight etc) to really keep track and compare with your own assumptions from your WW classes.

The strength training requires high protein low calorie food, so skip your evening rice and try to eat smaller meals more often, so eg a tiny protein snack every 3 hours, eg a spoon of 0 fat cottage cheese, half a glass of skimmed milk, a small slice of chicken breast- this will keep your metabolism kicking throughout the day. Keep your lunchtime walk going too obviously.

Finally you could try intermittent fasting alongside the above- reducing the window of hours in which you eat. There's much evidence that this helps you lose weight. Dr Michael Mosely has some good tips about it. So eating between say, 12noon and 7pm, with only low calorie drinks either side, or even 1-6.30 if you can manage it with your job. This is fairly easy to do and really helps.

Good luck!

Bloody hell FATE, is your weight all muscle? With that amount of exercise I'd want to at least have a healthy bmi.

I've just had a baby but other than that I've been pretty slim as an adult. I had a bmi of 19 when I got pregnant. I'm a runner though and training for long distances means I can eat everything and my weight stayed low. But it's a serious amount of exercise I'm talking about and that's what you need to do to be able to eat what you want.

6000 steps a day is nothing. I do that walking round my house, all I've done today is take my son to nursery in the car and I've done 9000. It isn't enough to do anything OP, so forget about that for now.

Just focus on logging every calorie. Ditch WW for now if it isn't working and use my fitness pal religiously. It will show you if you are eating too much.

I'm nearly 40 btw.

I only took up weight lifting in January mistermagpie, because of an injury. I'm also a runner with a preference for long distance.

Injury now mostly healed but finding I'm loving lifting at the gym so will prob keep it alongside running. Not all muscle tho - I put tons of weight on when getting injured in September and spending 3 months eating like a runner... Without running

(Which is exactly your point to the OP. To eat what you want needs a significant amount of exercise)

damnthatanxiety that's very very interesting info re frozen shoulder, thank you. This is the 2nd one and I also have tennis elbow in the same arm. I've had my hormone levels checked a year ago. Apparently they are "normal" which my surgery seems to say of everything....on a positive note, it was my weekly weigh in this morning and I've lost 1 pound!!
Thanks to all for taking the time to read, consider and advise

You simply aren't in a calorie deficit!

Being in a calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight. Doesn't matter what you eat or when you eat it - as long as your calorie input is less than your calorie output you WILL lose weight,

Hmmm, not sure how I managed to lose over 6 stone and maintain it by eating too many calories on WW though.

You presumably were creating a calorie deficit when you were younger. However, as pp's have said, heading towards menopause really changes your metabolism. You need fewer calories just to exist. Therefore, you need to decrease your calorie intake further in order to lose weight.

When I was younger, I'd put on weight over Christmas and on holidays. I went back to normal life and, within a month, the weight was gone. I hit my mid 40's and suddenly I had to change eating habits to get rid of the weight. I'm now mid 50's and have put on a stone in the past year, something that has never happened to me before. For the last month, I've been walking 8-10k steps a day (I always did that though). I've also joined the gym and am doing 3 circuit classes a week and swimming 1km once a week. I've lost the sum total of 1kg. It's the bloody menopause. I reckon i need to limit my food to a couple of lettuce leaves a day in order to lose anything.

whyami yep that's EXACTLY it. It was purely a calorie deficit due to the age I was throughout all the years of doing it. Age 46, I need a rethink

FATE I was the same - carried on eating like a runner while I was pregnant and couldn't run (advised not to due to recurring bleeding) and put on two stone!

OP, unfortunately for a sedentary person to lose weight you are looking at about 1200 calories which isn't much at all. But if you stick to it you will see it come off.

Yes OP, collagen is affected by the drop in hormones - oestrogen in particular. So frozen shoulder is classic along with tendonitis.

That's so interesting. I've got a rotator cuff-type problem in one shoulder and tennis elbow in the other arm. No injury, no wrenching, no heavy lifting. I'm really pissed off at these twingy buggers and likely peri-menopausal. Gah.

mister there is a difference between totting up 9k steps on the Fitbit pottering round the house and the more purposeful 6k steps the op Is doing at lunchtime which she should feel motivated to keep up. I think it was dr Moseley who said it’s not the number but the quality. Well done op for the walking - I echo other posters who say cut out the carbs.

A half hour purposeful walk will be about 3000 steps

@mistermagpie

This^^^

A friend of mine is a doctor and a fitness expert

He always says to me. Whenever people want to lose weight. All you have to do is eat less calories than you use. It’s incredibly simple

The medical reasons are thyroid (which slows down with age) and steroids. There’s also some anti psychotic drugs that can make you gain weight.