One year into my Unsuccessful diet (food diary included)

[weightloss21]

I'm looking for advice on where to go next as I feel I have hit a brick wall and not sure what else to try.

I'll try and make this as short but informative as possible.

I have always struggled with my weight. From last January I decided to track my food more carefully and start intermittent fasting by not eating breakfast and having black coffee instead. Within this time I have done the strict keto diet but didn't lose any weight.

Instead of going over every diet I have tried etc I will just write down my food diary more recently. Snacks can be from 0-3 per day and / means or.

More recently:
Pre - 2nd lockdown - work full time 5 days a week, on my feet all day job.
Breakfast = black coffee
Lunch = nothing/apple/babybell
Dinner = soup/stew/jacket potato/salad/meat&veg
Weekends = roast/spag bol/pasta etc - higher carb food

2nd lockdown - wfh sitting down most of the day. Upped exercise to 2/3 days a week (at home) either exercise bike or HIIT.
Breakfast = black coffee
Lunch = Salad/omlette/soup
Dinner = meat & veg/ fish & veg/ salad/ soup
Snacks = fruit/cup of tea,coffee,hot choc/babybell/boiled egg

Since last Monday (25th Jan) - reduced eggs as was eating a lot before.
Breakfast = black coffee
Lunch = Protein shake
Dinner = meat,fish & veg/ salad/soup
Snacks = apple,orange/sugar free jelly/teaspoon of peanut butter/cup of tea,coffee

I have a cheat meal once a week which usually consists of something like = lasagne/cottage pie/pizza/pasta and bowl of ice cream and a choc bar eg twix, mars bar etc

Since last January I haven't lost any weight. The first lockdown I didn't have a cheat meal but it didn't seem to make a difference (or I was losing it and then putting it back on).

My current meal plan isn't working so I am not sure where to go from here. Please do you have any suggestions/share your food diaries as I am at my wits end!!

I read something that stuck with me the other day. It was basically saying about trying to enjoy the journey you are on. Don’t torture yourself with eating the fewest calories you possibly can but treat your body well with vegetable dense and tasty food. Learn a few good decent meals, double up so there’s a portion for a dinner the next day and one to freeze. Try and walk more and try and enjoy some nature (if you have some nearby) Instead of punishing yourself by being heavier than you want to be, be kind to your body and celebrate small victories. even if it’s just doing more steps than the week before.

There’s an acc on Instagram called @weightlosswithrosie. She’s really down to earth and shows what she eats in a day which is about 1700 Cals and recipes with lovely looking food in.

I also think a Drs check up is a great idea to rule anything out.

@alphaechokiwi it really is not a good idea to throw another diet name in on a thread like this. But happens.

I agree with @PurpleDaisies that maybe op should have this deleted because people will just keep putting more info in and confuse her even more. Just save the links.

I think low carb, high fat might suit you OP. Maybe take a look at the bootcamp threads. What I think might be good for you is that you don't count calories or carbs or macros, you must just follow the rules. The rules are basically no sugar and food has to be below a certain number of carbs per 100g. But you would be eating real food and it would be healthy - meat and fish and green vegetables and you could cook with butter and cream and cheese.
I've lost a couple of stones doing this and although it seems counter intuitive to everything we've ever been told about diets and weight loss it does work if you can stick to the rules. I think it might help you to get out of the weighing and counting, which can't be good for your head and you won't be hungry.

@SchrodingersImmigrant metabolic syndrome / insulin resistance is a metabolic disorder not a diet plan. It can interfere with attempts at weight loss and is very common in people with a lot of abdominal fat. It's a precursor to type 2 diabetes and a serious health condition.

There are ways to address it, some dietary but if it seems like I was recommending anything by mentioning it I didn't intend to, and it's my poor prose at fault..

I won't post again, I agree, there's a lot of confusing and contradictory information here which isn't helpful.
OP, maybe talk to your GP and get a blood test when you can.

I suspect you are eating too little oP

But honestly I would go see a dietician, either privately or through GP and they will sort you out

I am slim and always eat a decent breakfast e.g porridge and fruit or fruit, cereal and toast. I think maybe that's one area you might be going wrong in.

@alphaechokiwi I know. I was reacting of "The Fast 800 plan is very good at tackling this. I don't follow it, but have pulled together something based on the principles that works for me and I'm now losing a kg per week." and getting rid of x and y on a thread where Op tried to do that with diets and banning foods and ended up in this mess. People before mentioned possibility of insulin resistance. I didn't diss it much, because what do I know, it can be that. What I take issue is with someone jumping in with stuff which has been dealth with earlier.

Though you are nkt the only one ignoring the possible ED, sorry for jumping just at you

@CottonSock

Ww and slimming world have their faults op. But it might get to out of the ready meal and shake rut.. sounds like you need to explore and enjoy fresh food again. When I read your post first, I didn't realise your treats were instead of food. What about a weekly veg box or something. Do you like cooking? Sorry if you've already said above.

That is what I meant by recommending them. I did WW but it was a few years ago now, maybe it's changed.

For me, from this thread, I think that two things stand out - your disordered relationship with food. And your keenness to "give it a go". I'm sure you can make some changes to your lifestyle to increase your nutritional health, OP!

I do appreciate everyone's advice and although some people are saying different things they all have the same end message which is to eat more nutritious food.

Oh one thing I meant to say OP is that Ranjan Chatterjee’s book Loose weight feel great Is really great. He doesn’t advocate a particular diet, it’s just a very sensible overall guide -

@weightloss21

Do you track your calories on an app? Can you share a screenshot of a typical day?

Wed:
Lunch = protein shake
Dinner = roast chicken with mixed veg
Snack = cup of coffee, peanut butter

Thurs:
Lunch = protein shake
Dinner = tuna and salad with a tablespoon of salad cream
Snack = cup of tea, apple

Fri:
Lunch = protein shake
Dinner = tomato soup
Snack = orange, peanut butter

This isn't a proper food diary though.

How much did the chicken weigh? Did it include the skin? Which vegetables (do you count potato in that?)? Did you have gravy?

You've already said you have milk and 2 sugars in your tea/coffee. That's over 10g of carbs and 60 calories.

How much peanut butter? Did you weigh it?

I think you are having waaaaay more calories than you realise and before worrying about why you're not losing weight on x calories you need to honestly learn what that x number really is.

Scales and measuring spoons. If it passes your lips you need to know what's in it.

Just for a few days but I really think that must be the issue.

This isn't a proper food diary though.

This was what I logged into myfitnesspal I don't just write down what I have.

The chicken packet says how much it weighs - sometimes you need to divide my two ect. The veg were in the birdseye pre-packaged bags where there are four individual packets and it says on the back the nutritional info for each one and it has green beans, broccoli and peas in.

Most days I don't have tea or coffee and I stay low carb but not zero carb so 10g of carbs isn't an issue. I used to weigh the peanut butter out but I know the weight of 1 tsp on MFP so I don't need to do it anymore. But to be honest even if I was off on my peanut butter I can't see how 1tsp is going to push me waaay over my calorie allowance if I am a couple hundred under it.

I think you really would be best not counting calories for a set amount of time, maybe a month, not restricting any foods as such and not weighing yourself. You need to reset your relationship with food. You can do that with intermittent fasting but I really think you would be best just trying to get healthy food back into your routine and not worrying about anything else, then you can start thinking about weight loss again. Once you have a better relationship with your good and find what you enjoy again, then you can find a way of eating that suits you and aids weight loss.

That doesn't mean pigging out on chocolate and sugar mind but try coming things you enjoy, follow healthy eating principles (no diet) plenty of veg and that kind of thing.

@partyatthepalace

I suspect you are eating too little oP

But honestly I would go see a dietician, either privately or through GP and they will sort you out

Yes, yes, becayse when you eat too little you maintain or gain weight, totally. Ask anyone who suffers from anorexia

OP here is my fitness pal food diary for Thursday. This is probably a pretty average day except for the ice cream. The calories for tea aren't properly worked out so I need to do that but as I only have a splash of skimmed milk and no sugar then it's not going to make or break my daily allowance.
My current aim is 1500 because I find 1200 too restrictive and I don't have much weight to lose (about 3 or 4kg). My tdee is 1700. Average intake for this week is 1325 but I've been ill today and only had rich tea biscuits and toast. I'd lost a couple of pounds by Friday on this snd as you can see I don't really deprive myself of anything. I like food and I like good home cooked food especially my pizza. Nothing is off limits, it's just worked into the overall allowance. I ate more than you do now when I was anorexic so something isn't right here at all. Please get help for your food issues because it's so miserable living like that. I had my ED for 30 years and it doesn't take much to trigger that way of thinking off which is why I don't restrict too much. My aim is for relative balance health. I'm pretty active so easily burn what I eat but lockdown reduced my activity levels massively and my clothes got tighter. Hope the photos come through ok. I need to eat less biscuits generally but this allows me to see where I can make changes if I want to.

@PurpleDaisies

You should be losing if you’re really only eating 500-1200 calories a day. Are you weighting and counting absolutely everything?

Maybe you need your thyroid checking.

^ this.... I’m a similar height, weight and with 1400/1500 cals and 10k steps a day, the weight has been falling off easily, often 3 pounds a week

You either have a hormonal/thyroid issue (or some condition/unusually low metabolism) or something is off with your tracking

Can you post what you are eating on 500 & 1200 days (including quantity). Do you drink a lot of your calories and not track those?

Do you have occasional days/weeks when you are off plan which eliminates progress? 1 year is a VERY long time to be dieting without results

You could also look into Intestinal Methanogenic Overgrowth. People with this harvest more calories from food than people without it and often really cannot shift weight even on very restricted diets.

Indicators would be IBS-C or IBS-M type symptoms.

Try this for a week OP - one week only mind (trying to attach image). If you don't lose weight on that I'll be surprised, but it will also show you what a very minimal diet is and if you don't lose on that, something is amiss.

*Don't mind the one stone in a week thing

Wed:
Lunch = protein shake
Dinner = roast chicken with mixed veg
Snack = cup of coffee, peanut butter

Thurs:
Lunch = protein shake
Dinner = tuna and salad with a tablespoon of salad cream
Snack = cup of tea, apple

Fri:
Lunch = protein shake
Dinner = tomato soup
Snack = orange, peanut butter

Yes, yes, becayse when you eat too little you maintain or gain weight, totally. Ask anyone who suffers from anorexia

I agree. People might keep this up for a few weeks at most - anyone eating this for a over a year, even with ‘1500 calorie’ cheat days will lose weight, even to the point of suffering a serious health impact. If this is really your food diary OP then you are a medical marvel. Or as others have suggested, this isn’t all you’re eating. Be honest with yourself OP.

@lighteincastlewindow

Try this for a week OP - one week only mind (trying to attach image). If you don't lose weight on that I'll be surprised, but it will also show you what a very minimal diet is and if you don't lose on that, something is amiss.

Would lose a will to live on that one

I do know someone who was gaining weight on around 1400 calories a day, it turned out she had a thyroid problem and once she was on medication she started to lose weight on much the same diet she was previously gaining weight on. Of course she had some other symptoms and was suffering severe fatigue so the doctor was willing to do a blood test.

@lighteincastlewindow

Try this for a week OP - one week only mind (trying to attach image). If you don't lose weight on that I'll be surprised, but it will also show you what a very minimal diet is and if you don't lose on that, something is amiss.

Omg what an earth diet even is this?! It’s absolutely nuts. Do not do this!!!

Omg what an earth diet even is this?! It’s absolutely nuts. Do not do this!!!

I will tell you what diet it is. It's the "Why is my body behaving oddly and not happy???" type of diet. The diet people use for quick fix and then again and then again because it builds no good habits. It's a quick, starve yourself for a week but let's make it organised starving so it doesn't look so bad.
And then people wonder why their digestive system and whole body is not happy...

Which reminds me, healthy digestive system. OP as a healthy part of eating include some nice ferments😁
Have alook at instagram if you have it. So many amazing tips on how to ferment justa bout anything. I do onion to add to salads as well. So good.
All you need is jar, water, salt and vegetables. And warmish darkish place for a week.