Where am I going wrong?

[Foghornleghorn99]

Current weight loss is 2lbs in 2 weeks.
Im walking upto 15 miles a week @ 1.5hs a time
Swimming x2 a week -50 lengths of a full size pool
Food is 80% good, having tuna/han salads, chicken veg story try. Naughty things a day are small bite/ handful of choc, 1 slice of bread (seeded), alcohol every other day but only 1 glass of wine/fizz
... but only 2lbs gone.
What am I doing wrong?

*chicken veg stir fry

That sounds right for the food you are eating.

I am sub-800 cals a day, exercising for an hour a day and losing 3-4lbs a week. No alcohol.

Well done on 2lbs!

First of all, well done on losing 2lbs! 1lb a week is actually really standard when losing weight so you shouldn't be too disappointed. Couple of questions though - what did you weigh to begin with? The lighter you are the slower the weight loss. And also are you counting calories? You need a 500 calorie a day deficit to lose a pound a week, so to lose more you would need to have a bigger deficit. Might be worth counting calories/tracking exercise to get into a deficit zone you are happy with! And finally, the alcohol may be making a difference. I find if I drink more than 2 (pushing it 3) days a week I struggle to lose weight even if my food and exercise is on point. But as I said, 2lbs in 2 weeks is still something to be dead happy with!

2lb in 2 weeks is good isn’t it? It’s generally the recommended rate of loss.

The wine won't be helping if you're trying to reduce calorie intake. 2lb is a great and sustainable loss, well done!

Sounds about right. To help you could Cut the alcohol down to once a wk, cut the chocolate to every other day and look at your portion sizes.

Agree that's an excellent loss. I also aim for 1lb a week which is only attainable for me if I count and record calories like a demon. As a pp said, you need a 500cal a day deficit to lose 1lb a week.

You're doing really well.

Best way to check you're on track is to measure your calories. It's so, so easy to overeat, even healthy food.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement.

Its usually at this point where I have worked hard with exercise that I give up as its not coming off quick enough. But not this time, i am going to win this battle and I'm in it for the long haul.

Going forward I'm going to try to stick to the rule that if i cannot measure the portion then I don't eat it - ie no more handfuls of treats here and there as these are un-measurable. Going to cut down the wine to once a week and start properly calorie counting too.
Its soo hard with 1lb a week loss, but i know the slower the loss the more sustainable. I'm aiming for a stone for Christmas and then another stone after.
Good luck to everyone else on their own journeys - together we can get there

Nowhere!
1lb a week is good. Don't do things that make you unhappy to lose weight, it should be a lifestyle change that you can maintain, not a punishment that makes you feel miserable if you don't lose 'enough'.
You do need to count calories properly though. If you wing it you'll make mistakes and over eat.

HI @CodenameVillanelle - Im enjoying the swimming and walking, i feel awake and energised, no more sluggish-ness or lack of energy. I def see it as a lifestyle change, eating junk and stuffing myself full of carbs upsets my IBS and makes me feel rubbish, tired and uncomfortably bloated. Watching my DH scoff his way through his 3rd bag of crisps, and see him suffering with terrible IBS pain and other related illness from eating too much, puts me right off eating rubbish. Of course he wont listen to me or let me help him stop.

I know it can be frustrating when you loose slowly or weight fluctuations due to hormones. If I get really bad DOMs I put on w pound or two and that’s very frustrating. I did a spin class at home and then got a bit lost on a walk and ended up doing 8.5 miles up some very big hills and although I ate less than 2000 calories I put on two pounds overnight. I had to wait three days for my weight to go back down and then drop 🤦‍♀️

I have no patience but I am consistent at the moment and it works. On Friday and Saturday I am still eating very well and controlled and not drinking alcohol but I do allow up to 300 calories for a treat but it’s counted and restrained ie not a generous home made pudding and custard or a packet of biscuits or a big packet of crisps and a bottle of wine.

I am lucky that DH likes treats that I don’t eat so I make sure that he has treats (he is also dieting but can have more treats than me and still loose more weight 😡)

This is a process and it will take time but you will continue to feel better and better and do more and more.

The most important thing is to accept you are going to eat too much on occasion but you need to change your mindset so that you don’t give up if you succumb to a takeaway or have a birthday treat. You don’t resign from work if you come in late one day.

Yup, 1 lb a week is a good rate of loss. I lost 1 lb in my first week despite being obese and expecting to lose more as a result. It’s now 25 weeks later and I’ve lost 39 lbs and am very nearly in the healthy BMI category so clearly the slow start wasn’t a bad sign at all.

You don’t resign from work if you come in late one day

Love that analogy. Also, if you get a small chip on your phone, you don’t then get a hammer and smash the rest of the screen to pieces. Any slip-up can be easily recovered from. The problem comes when you think fuck it and eat like shit for a whole day, potentially undoing a weeks worth of hard work.

Jesus
Whoever is eating less than 800 cals a day must be tired 😳😳 that sounds quite dangerous to me.

Anyhoot, OP, you're not going wrong at all!! 1-2lbs a week is great. It's slow and steady. You're more likely to keep it off that way 🥳 hooray!
And if you think about it, that's half a stone in a month.

Slow is good. Slow gives you time to make those good changes into good habits.

The problem comes when you think fuck it and eat like shit for a whole day, potentially undoing a weeks worth of hard work.

///\

This totally. I am going to be remembering this every time i have a fuck it moment. Im def in the right head space, every time i want to reach for a naughty treat i remind myself how disappointed i will be at weigh in.

Keep up the good work everyone

You're not doing anything wrong. You are probably gaining some muscle which is heavier (by volume) than fat.
Concentrate on health & fitness, the rest will follow.

You don't need to calorie count, just eat healthily and ONLY when actually hungry. Stop when full. Lots of veg, good fats/protein etc to keep you full. Cut out refined carbs (white bread/pasta etc) and sugary food. Don't eat low-fat foods - they are often filled with other nasties. You need to have a diet that is sustainable long-term, you don't want to calorie count forever I presume?

Read The F*ck It diet or look up Rebelfit on Facebook. It dispels all the myths around diet culture.

Sometimes you actually need to eat more to stop your body putting on the 'weight loss brakes' thinking you are in starvation mode. That's what the uncontrollable cravings are -your body needs fuel after a workout. You wouldn't give your car less petrol after a long journey would you?!

Keep on keeping on OP, you're doing great!

I think it feels slow and rubbish but you have to stick to it. Your diet sounds good to me.

1 lb a week is great OP, keep up the good work!
I think it helps to have a bit of a countdown with interim goals.
If you keep this up, how much will you weigh by Halloween/other important date? Then you can feel really proud when you hit mini-milestones, instead of seeing one big imposing weight loss goal.
Keep going!!

Its been a long week - i have swam the equivalent of 2.3 miles and walked 11.5 miles in total the last week. Food has been 85% good, reduced the wine, made healthy choices where i can. I'm in week 3 and still only 2lb off. I'm working so hard. Joined a few different/new exercise classes for the week coming, will still be doing the swimming and walking.
Feeling pissed off at still only 2lbs, thinking of investing in one of the digital scales that links to an app and measures body fat/muscle/water - the whole lot.

Thank you to you all for your motivation. I don't know what more i can do to try to get this weight off. Feeling down today but i am certainly not going to emotionally eat or use sugar/treats as a pick me. I wont be self sabotaging

*pick me up

I am not an expert but in my experience the old adage that you can't outtrain a bad diet is usually true.
OP I don't mean your diet is bad but the sentiment is the same, if you're being 85% good but not losing weight as quickly as you'd like I would focus less on exercise as an aid to weight loss and more on the diet. Can you try a week of being 100% good? What eating plan are you following?
Exercise is great but it's always a "nice to have" in aiding weight loss IME - what you eat is 80-90%, so if you want to lose more/more quickly, it's that you need to focus your efforts on, sorry to say.

Have you thought about setting some fitness goals so you are seeing some results at least?

If you are doing so much exercise more than normal you will be building muscle.

The weight didn’t go on overnight and it won’t come off overnight so having some fitness goals will keep you motivated

Today has been a write off - ive picked all.day at everything. Healthy dinner and brekkie, but picked at crackers/low fat hummus/granola/malteasers/2x teaspoons peanut butter/ several handfuls choc buttons..
On the plus side I've swam 30x25m lengths and b walked 4.5 miles.
Tomorrow I start again. I know I wont see a loss at weigh in on sat if I don't STOP