No starchy carbs for 8 weeks

[maxiboo]

But I haven't lost a single pound. Not one. Every morning I tell myself it's bound to work at some point. But it's just not making any difference at all. Surely I should have lost some weight? What am I doing wrong?? I've replaced bread, pasta, potatoes with only fruit and veg and keeping calories down to 1200.

Look i dont mean this unkindly but It's scientifically impossible not to lose a single 1lb if you ate 1200 calories every single day for 8 weeks.

Are you very tiny and inactive? If not, I agree, you'd lose on 1200 calories.

I find cutting out carbs makes me lose initially but I'm so hungry and looking for a treat that I eat loads of cheese. Also, things like cheese, that you eat instead of the carbs are practically impossible to eat in small portion sizes, I always underestimate how much a serving is. You don't actually get much fruit for 1200 calories, so you need to be careful there too.

How much weight do you have to lose? If you’re a serial dieter and don’t do much exercise plus don’t have a lot of excess fat then maybe your body has become very fuel-efficient. But I suspect under estimation of portion sizes, as others have suggested. Either that or you have cheated or had days off your diet. I eat way way more than that and haven’t cut out any carbs and have lost because I am in a deficit.
I can understand the frustration though. Hopefully you will find something that works better.

If you are replacing the sugar from starchy carbs with sugar from fruit then you won't lose weight.

Have you cut out alcohol? All sweet things?

If you are replacing the sugar from starchy carbs with sugar from fruit then you won't lose weight.

That’s not true. It’s entirely possible to lose weight eating both fruit and starchy carbs and in fact they’re healthy sources of vitamins and minerals. The most important thing is a calorie deficit. The main reason most low carb diets work is not that there is some magic formula in cutting carbs but that you tend to eat in a deficit when you’re cutting carbs and they tend to make you feel less hungry.

@Shedtheload I have a different opinion to you, from reading Gary Taubes "Why we get fat" - and from pretty spectacular results from low carbing myself. It's not a simple calories in/calories out model and sugar from fruit is the same as sugar from potatoes once it's broken down by the body.

Vitamins and minerals from fruit are plentiful from other sources.

I’m glad you’ve had good results. I have also had very good results and I have not cut any carbs out. Saying that someone who eats fruit is not going to lose weight is inaccurate because other than in a small number of cases, a person eating in a caloric deficit will lose weight regardless of whether they eat fruit. I do know that the body processes different foods differently but that doesn’t necessarily go to the issue of weight loss. If you think potatoes are akin to refined sugar from the body’s POV, then we’re probably never going to agree. There’s also no evidence that low carb is any better than any other sort of weight-loss diet for keeping weight off long term, although some people obviously like eating that way and it works for them, which is fine.

Yes it's frustrating and thank you for all your comments and advice.

I'm 3 stone overweight and not that active, I go on an hour's walk or cycle a day with DC. Not a serial dieter, weight has crept on over last few years, friend lost shedloads with no starchy carb diet so thought I would try it. Got MFP and log daily, staying under 1200. Eat v healthily, good mix of protein and carbs from fruit and veg, don't drink, occasional chocolate failings though...

I've always been quite a healthy lifestyle person, so the only real change has been to cut out these 'bad' carbs for the last two months, and what confuses me is that it's made no difference AT ALL!

@maxiboo and @Shedtheload I would recommend the Gary Taubes book I mentioned above, it may help. Good luck.

Are you logging your exercise in MFP as well as your food and drink calories and are you then eating those calories from exercise back? If so, you won't be in calorie deficit and won't lose weight.

When you log foods, are you weighing everything you eat or guestimating the portion size? Can you post a typical day's intake of food and drink here?

If you are eating sufficient quantities of chocolate occasionally, but frequently enough to bring you've average daily calories up to the amount you need to maintain your current weight, then you won't lose weight.

As Shedtheload has already stated, if you are in calorie deficit you will lost weight whatever you eat.

@dorislessingscat Thanks, I will check it out

I disagree with Doris btw - it is calorie deficit that makes you lose weight, plain and simple.

@wowfudge So a typical day would be a green smoothie and coffee with oat milk for breakfast then tuna and avocado salad for lunch, chicken or fish with veg for dinner then fruit. MFP puts that as around 1400-1500 a day then gives me back 250-300 for exercise a day. And yes, I religiously weigh and log everything as I'm fed up with not losing ANY weight??!!?

Have you had your thyroid checked? It could be underactive. I have to keep very low calories per day - if I ate 2000 I would put on

OP on 1200 you should have lost some weight. Are you sure you count your calories correctly? Has your weight been constant or going up and down? Are you drinking enough water? Are you taking cheat days?

Agree with PPs who said you have to be in a caloric deficit to lose.

Last resort option - weigh your food, like literally everything that you put in your mounth, weigh it first and calculate calories.

Yes I should get a thyroid check, had one years ago but not recently.

I'm quite rigorous with recording what I eat and don't have cheat days. Weight has been exactly the same - no ups or downs.

I just worked out my TDEE and it gives me 1600 so I'm deffo in deficit.

@anaviasalamanca Sorry, should also say I should drink more water so that's something to start, thank you. Plus I don't weigh everything so that's another good tip 👍

@DevilsSpawn

Look i dont mean this unkindly but It's scientifically impossible not to lose a single 1lb if you ate 1200 calories every single day for 8 weeks.

I disagree with this.

The body gets used its rations if they are consistent.

@maxiboo try intermittent fasting or zig zag dieting. If fasting not for you try 16,000 cals one day and 800 the next. Do that intermittently. It shakes up the metabolism.

Also, consider how many times a day you're eating. Each time you eat, that creates an insulin response. So rather than three snack type meals, have two substantial ones. Better for feeling satiated as well.The less insulin in your blood the better.

@ketowinnie thanks will look i to this again. I tried AF last year with again, no success 😩

@maxiboo how tall are you? I am petite and have about a stone to lose, but my BMR is 1240 so if I eat 1200 I probably wouldn't lose anything.

If budget allows, buy a fitness watch like polar or garmin. These would show how much you are actually burning.

And perhaps buy a new scale. It should go up and down a bit!!

You do have cheat days though as you've mentioned eating chocolate. When you've eaten chocolate, have you logged the calories?

Plus many ways of estimating the calories burned by exercise are flawed and over estimate those calories. I would suggest not eating the exercise calories, i.e. don't put your exercise into MFP.

The fact you haven't lost a single pound in weeks, but, presumably from what you've posted, haven't put weight on means your consumption is what is needed for you to maintain. Most weight loss if down to what you eat rather than exercise.

I lost a stone in 8 weeks through a diet high in protein which included carbs and fat in moderation. My daily calorie intake was around 1400 and I did weights workouts three times a week. On workout days I was allowed more calories - around 100 more, but no more. I'm 5'4" tall. I have built more muscle, noticeably so, which means my body will be burning more calories when I'm doing nothing than it did before.

@Shedtheload

If you are replacing the sugar from starchy carbs with sugar from fruit then you won't lose weight.

That’s not true. It’s entirely possible to lose weight eating both fruit and starchy carbs and in fact they’re healthy sources of vitamins and minerals. The most important thing is a calorie deficit. The main reason most low carb diets work is not that there is some magic formula in cutting carbs but that you tend to eat in a deficit when you’re cutting carbs and they tend to make you feel less hungry.

This is a really outdated way of looking at things.

If it's viewed as a hormonal issue, then success will come.

I suspected I had a bit of insulin resistance OP because I was overweight, a stone and a half overweight, but I didn't binge eat or emotional eat or drink heavily or late at night. It was carbs. As somebody with an almost vegetarian diet, I just ate mostly carbs.

I am eating the same amount of calories as I ever did but much more fat so I so full now.

Fasts (the occasional ones I managed) were torture when my diet was 90% carbs, but the last few fasts I've done have been so easy.

This oldfashioned belief that it's just calories in / energy expended and that's all there is to it, that is outdated and the approach is doomed.

@AnaViaSalamanca I'm 5'2 and nearly 13 stone :(
I've got a fitbit so I know number of steps, and approx calories burned. And this is my second set of scales haha!!