Why can't I lose weight?

[borowren]

I am so frustrated! Whenever I try to lose weight I have the same pattern. I have been dieting for 5 weeks. Not no carb, but very low carb. Plenty of vegetables and some fruit but no sugar or refined carbs. No alcohol or processed food.
2 meals a day, based around whole foods, lean protein, at least half the plate salad or vegetables every meal. Fruit for snacks if I need it. Eating about 1000-1200 calories a day. Drinking at least 2 litres of water.
I lost 9lbs in the first 2 weeks. In the past 3 weeks I have lost nothing. Not a single pound. In fact this morning I'm actually up 1lb! I don't even know how that's possible. I'm so fed up. Anyone got any advice? It is so hard to keep going.

Are you exercising as well?

what is your current height and weight and how active are you?

your calorie intake is low but if you are fairly inert then your body may not need more than 1200cal per day.

you could try wearing wrist and ankle weights to make your muscles work harder for all your movements (caution - willpower needed to make sure you keep moving around just as much if not more - being weighted down may make you want to stay put which would be worse)

9lb in 5 weeks is a huge weight loss OP. That’s still almost 2lb per week. Unless you are seriously overweight, a 4.5lb loss per week is totally unsustainable and not realistic. In my experience weight loss is never really linear anyway. The important thing is not to give up. Jordan Syatt has some good videos on You Tube on exactly this point.

I'm slim and I eat 3 decent-sized meals (including a filling breakfast) a day with lots of complex carbohydrates and 2 healthy snacks.

Typical meals: pasta bake, cauliflower cheese, vegetarian chilli con carne (quorn), stir fry, jacket potato.

Snacks: nuts and seeds, fruit etc.

If I ate your diet, my metabolism would probably slow down and I probably wouldn't have as much energy.

Well done on the water intake and good luck.

See, this is the problem. One person says I'm still eating too much @YinuCeatleAyru and another says I'm not eating enough @firstimemamma
How are you supposed to work it out? I have 3-4 stone to lose so should be able to lose weight easily.
For those who asked about exercise, I'm no gym bunny but I wouldn't say I'm inactive...walking, gardening etc. I've tried doing more exercise in the past, couch to 5k etc without positive results.
I'm just stumped, 3 weeks, no cheats and no weight loss!!!

I think you're being too hard on yourself op and you might need to be a bit kinder to yourself in terms of your expectations. Weight loss isn't always linear with the weight always coming off.

Instead of looking at it from the angle of '3 weeks and nothing' how about remembering that in just 9 weeks you've lost 8 pounds that's a great achievement.

I'm sorry if I added to the confusion by contradicting other posters. The nhs website has got some good info on healthy eating (I think) so that might be worth a try.

Imo it's better to lose weight more slowly (including some weeks not losing anything / putting the odd pound back on) in a way that you'll be able to sustain long-term than to lose it more quickly. Less likely to put it back on then. Anyway I'm no expert, all just my opinion.

Well done again.

@borowren I most certainly did not say that. it's about the same calories as I am eating and I made no criticism (saying "low" does not mean "too low").

as you have answered one of my questions - Unless your walking, gardening etc is so vigorous as to get you breathless and sweaty, I think it's more likely to be insufficient exercise rather than eating too much. you can't lose weight from diet alone or from exercise alone. a body doing lots of exercise will crave more calories. a body being given less calories will try to slow down and conserve energy.

regarding the unanswered questions - your current weight and size is relevant as a 14st body and an 18st body both on 1200 calories a day will have very different calorie deficits due to the different energy requirements of moving that amount of body around.

a previous poster on another thread did say that sometimes weight can plateau for a few weeks then suddenly it all comes off (described as the "whoosh effect") - other posters disagreed and I have no idea which pov is true scientifically but it could just be that you are doing everything right and you will suddenly see progress if you stick with it.