What the actual fuck? This makes no sense, what can I be doing wrong?

[Smithermetimbers]

Ok so I put on weight over the last year through stress and emotional eating. Almost two stone, the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life (even when pregnant) not at all my natural weight.
I gave up drinking alcohol in January (not started back up) plus stepped up on my exercise and really tried to reduce stress and increase sleep. I always drink plenty of water and herbal tea. Nothing happened, in fact I put on a few more pounds. I thought, I just need to be consistent and patient so carried on. Still nothing.
So last Sunday, I went back to intermittent fasting (16:8) which I’ve tried successfully in the past. On top I cut out all added sugar, which I would have said was impossible for me but I have done it, not a single bar or biscuit or sweet thing. I have just allowed myself two portions of fresh fruit a day. I cut out all snacking between meals. My meals have been healthy too- no junk, plenty of protein, loads of veg, otherwise fairly low carb.
I got a fitness watch and have been working out all week, averaging well over 1000 cals each day. It’s been a mix of hiit, cycling, weights, yoga and walking all of which I’ve really enjoyed. I’m also meditating a little and getting more sleep than usual.
So this morning I have weighed myself and put a fucking pound on?!!!! What the actual heck is going on here? Surely the first week of any diet you’d expect to drop a couple of pounds pretty easily? I am mid 40s but not experiencing any peri-menopausal symptoms. What on earth can I do more than this?

Honestly- my weight varies according to where I am in my cycle. This can be two or three pounds different, and I only weigh around 8st 4.
Muscle weighs more than fat, and 1000cals exercise a day is huge! (HOW do you have time??) That will convert some of the fat to muscle in no time.

1000 cals burned in exercise is going to leave you very hungry. Exercise alone won’t help you lose weight. It’s all to do with how many calories you consume. I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the past few months and on my best weeks losing I’ve not exercised at all. I eat 1540 calories a day so it’s not even that low and average about 2lb a week loss. No idea why but it works for me

Even if you don't want to count calories, you need to keep a close eye on your portion sizes, especially for the carbs. Just weigh them out. Also beware how much fruit you're having - loads of sugar!

I think you definitely have to calorie count for the first two to four weeks, just to check that you're in the right ballpark. It's actually pretty easy when cooking big family meals or batch cooking - just run down the recipe, add everything up, then divide by ladle/volume/portion and note what your personal portion size is for that meal. You only have to do it once for each recipe you make, so after the first weighing it takes no time at all.

The other thing is that are you sure you are burning 1000 cals a day? That is absolutely phenomenal! I would have to walk/run 14 miles to burn 1000 cals (I weigh about 10.5 stone). I could do that on a weekend day but fitting that in every day would not be possible! Maybe double check your calorie burn rate with a few reliable online calculators, and take an average from them all as your benchmark. They can vary wildly.

I suspect you might be overestimating calories burned, and MAYBE underestimating calories eaten. So so easy to do.

Share your average day's menu?

1000cals exercise a day is huge! (HOW do you have time??)

I used to burn 1000 calories in an hour in the gym - stairmaster (600) & stepper (400) although having started at a new gym, I'm now wondering if those other machines weren't that accurate as I now burn 2/3 of that!

However if my fitbit is correct (which is should be) then I'll burn 600-650 in an hour which is no time at all. It does make you hungry but if you keep to the mantra of "nothing tastes as good as slim feels" then it's worth going to bed hungry!

Well, I run three times 5k a week, and that's only about 180cals each run. With a rowing machine, that's still only about 600cals an hour, I think the cross trainer was about the same. How can people have two or more hours a day to exercise?

Keep going 💐

Do count calories if you can face it but I wondered if you had any other success metrics going on. You could take progress photos or measurements (chest, waist and hips minimum, upper arm, thigh and calf if you can be bothered) to check you are on track?

I saw a TED talk where a trainer said that women should always only compare their weight loss to where they were a month ago. That way you are comparing your weight to where you are in your monthly cycle. Maybe it's more about playing the long game?
Stick with it OP. It is so frustrating when you're really doing everything right and not seeing results.

only weighed myself again today in case yesterday was a random aberration!

Food wise, evenings I might have chicken curry or beef chilli with small portion of rice/bread and veg/salad or maybe salmon and veg. I don’t eat potatoes but have allowed a little bread as decided to focus on giving up sugar and thought bread at same time would be tough. Reckoned I could get away with a few carbs with exercising so much.
Last nights dinner was grilled chicken with mushrooms and halloumi and salad, again I did allow myself one piece of bread with it.
For lunch today I had half a tortilla wrap with an m&s salad, my middle meal (late breakfast cos I’m doing intermittent fasting) was two boiled eggs. Yesterday’s lunch was a wrap with a couple of tablespoons of humous and salad with a cup of home made soup.
My only sugar is after dinner I have a bowl of frozen berries (cos they’re pretty low in sugar) with plain yoghurt, I may have a piece of fruit with lunch too (usually an orange or apple, sometimes banana).

Have you checked your scales? Preferably with a 8 kilos weight or more.

Is your period due? My weight tends to hold 2-3 kilos about 4 days before my period is due and until the last days.

Suggest to reduce weighing yourself to once a week. Keep a food and exercise journal (100% logged). If you continue to gain weight during this time, go see your GP for thyroid and hormone testing.

I am tracking cals on my Apple Watch which I hope is as accurate as any of these devices can be. I have been off work isolating so had time to workout a lot this week.

To add, you may need to consider your carbs.

I'm currently doing IF 16/8 with low carbs and grains (potato, rice or pasta once a week in one meal). 3 meals during eating window, low GI fruit only, minimal sugar.

For example, I break the fast at 12ish with a protein smoothie, lunch is a salad + protein (1 teaspoon olive oil dressing), and dinner is protein + unlimited vegetables (no nightly potato). Once a week I'll have pudding - might be 1/2 banana with melted dark chocolate and some cream. I tend to eat out once a week, but make healthy choices, once a fortnight I might indulge if I really want to.

Exercise is 3 x HIT classes, 2 x spin classes + 30 minutes weights.

This is working for me at an average loss of 1 to 1.5 kilos a week. I only recently realised my thin/slender/healthy weight friends eat this way.

You need to be much more patient, OP. You've barely started. Weight loss takes time, and consistency. Don't panic, keep going. Don't let impatience keep you fat (been there, got the XL T-shirt).

I only ever lose weight when I follow an actual diet plan. There’s not a lot of information in your food posts - what kind of soup? There’s a huge difference in calories between (say) a low-fat tomato soup or a broccoli and cheese type.

How much bread? What kind of curry - creamy, with rice? That could be really calorific.

They say losing weight is 80% controlling your food and only 20% exercise.

I’ve had massive success doing the Scarsdale Diet (a 70s diet, the book is on Amazon) and WW.

They say losing weight is 80% controlling your food and only 20% exercise.

This applies to people who don't exercise this amount of calories imo. It's not expected to be able to burn close to 1000 a day on top of normal doing stuff. If OP genuinely works out 1000 cal a day (wow), then the percentage would be quite different.

However, it doesn't look like that is an accurate count (ime all this things overestimate), I would as suggested look at the diet.

OP are you sure you've got the calorie burn right? Working out to the point of burning 1k calories a day would be a long and very intense work out. Running a marathon only burns 2,500. So it would have to be the equivalent of a 10-12 mile run.

Exercise cals is based on my Apple Watch stats. I was doing 30 mins strength, 10 mins core, 10-20 mins hiit on apple fitness. Then some gentle cycling while doing a bit of laptop work from home, then probably an evening walk (around the garden) and/or a bit of gentle yoga before bed. Then just some housework etc during the day.
That was during isolation so had the time! Back at work today. I did 30 min workout first thing. Just got home from work now and its 600 cals so far today.
Dinner is pork saltimbocca with lots of veg.

Actually I think I did more exercise than that, I’ll have to check properly in a sec.

Burning 1000 calories would be some serious exercise! I burnt that according to my Fitbit doing a 12 mile bike ride the other week but that was 2 hours of solid cycling with some tough hills. I don’t think you could be burning as much as that doing the types of exercise you’ve said. Fitness trackers are notorious for over estimating calories burnt and I take mine with a pinch of salt!

You’ve said you aren’t counting calories but are you factoring in those burnt with your eating? I think you are just eating too many calories to be honest. Also if I weighed myself after eating something salty like halloumi I’d probably have gained a pound too.

@LostInTime Surely you burn more than 180 calories per 5k run? I'm just in from the gym and did a 30 min run (just under 5k) and the machine and my fitbit said I'd burnt 425 calories.

Back to the OP, it's so disheartening when you put in the effort and don't see any reward. Keep on with it all the week and next and I'm sure you'll start to notice a difference 🤞

According to my Apple Watch 30 mins hiit was 337 cals for example. The watch records all your movement, not just workouts so all the incidental movement of life which do add up over the whole day.
But, the precise calorie count of my food vs exercise is actually not the point. What puzzles me is that I have lost weight successfully many times before eating more volume of the sort of things I’ve been eating this week. Never have I ever gone sugar and snack free (I’d always have a sneaky nakd bar or similar at least once a day plus regular low cal snacks). Never have I ever done anything like as much exercise at the same time.
Just thinking maybe it has something to do with quitting sugar. At first I felt like shit and had horrible headaches, had to go for an afternoon lie down a few times. So perhaps it’s that adjustment that is causing the issue.

@MrsJBaptiste well, I'm going off what my iPod tracker says I've done. Takes me 35min to run 5k, calories between 170 and 190 each time.

The watch records all your movement, not just workouts so all the incidental movement of life which do add up over the whole day.

I wouldn't count that as extra burn. That's in your tdee, isn't it. A normal daily burn.

[quote MrsJBaptiste]@LostInTime Surely you burn more than 180 calories per 5k run? I'm just in from the gym and did a 30 min run (just under 5k) and the machine and my fitbit said I'd burnt 425 calories.

Back to the OP, it's so disheartening when you put in the effort and don't see any reward. Keep on with it all the week and next and I'm sure you'll start to notice a difference 🤞[/quote]
Depends on your weight and fitness I guess.

Takes me 30mins to do 3k and I burn 300 doing that.