Cheer me up a bit? Where am I going wrong?

[fat13]

I was 17 and a half stone at Christmas and have worked really hard to lose it. I lost a stone and a half pretty much without trying at the start of the year and when I saw February 1 was a Monday decided to go for it (logical, right!?) I know I weighed exactly 16 stone then.

Obviously the losses have slowed down and I’m now hovering around the 12 and a half mark but the scales just aren’t bloody moving and it’s driving me nuts!

I am on an 800 calorie a day plan, it’s those prepackaged shakes/soups etc so I know I’m not overeating.

I am active, I walk usually around 15,000 steps a day.

I just can’t think where I’m going wrong. Last week I made DH hide the scales as I was getting obsessive. That was Wednesday. I just got on the scales at the gym (yeah I know!) and I haven’t lost a pound!

I know I’ve done really well but it’s frustrating because the end is in sight now but it’s taking forever to get there!

You are expecting too much weight loss too quickly. It's normal to plateau for a few weeks. Stick to 800 calories and weigh in three weeks. Dropping a product sounds insane, sorry.

That’s really interesting Nomoremuchin , thanks for that link.

I was exceptionally grumpy yesterday sorry!

Target no 1 is overweight not obese, so 12’1.

Target no 2 is under 11 and a half stone, as I remember weighing about 11’5 on a friends hen night a few years ago and looked pretty good (though I say so myself!)

Then I want to get to 10’10 - a stone off target.

So all these things are within sight but so far away too.

I was exactly 12’7 this morning, I’ll weigh myself again in a week. Will need to ask DH to hide the scales again!

I do appreciate the advice but upping my calories at this point is insane. I think I’ll try dropping one product and see if that makes a difference.

Sorry, but restricting your intake to 800 calories and not eating proper food is insane.....

I think that sounds like a plan, OP. Hide the scales for a week and just see. This hot weather doesn’t help with water retention either. Please don’t drop a product though, that really won’t help you longer term.

As you feel what you are doing is not working, why don't you just try going back to eating 'proper' food for a couple of weeks and see what happens. perhaps aim to up your calories to 1200.

Shakes and 800 calories a day sounds really miserable to me, I could not do that for 2 days days let alone months.

@fat13

That’s helpful - thanks. I’ll get to the weekend and weigh again. But surely the laws of science demand id lose weight sooner or later this way?!

No. Your body just compensated by using less energy

I suspect those slimming products are highly processed, and that causes weight gain through insulin resistance. Try eating fresh non processed food instead

You need to try reverse dieting. Your body has got used to the diet and exercise but it needs more calories than what it is getting. You need to slowly increase your calories- try increasing by 100 calories a week. You are likely to gain a kg because there’s more food inside you but don’t panic- if you gain more than a kg then stop increasing and stay the same for 2 weeks. Once you at a decent calorie amount for your weight and height and maintaining it only then start to decrease again but never go that low again (you really don’t need to).

It sounds crazy but this is what I did (under the advise of my PT) as I’d been on crazy diets for ages. It really works and I ended up losing lots of weight eating a decent amount of calories (around 1600).

Just be very careful with shakes and soups; long term it can be incredibly hard to keep the weight off *speaking from personal experience and the stats.

I know it sounds crazy, but I also suggest it's time to pivot from 800 cals to seeing a dietitian for a series of sessions. For me - PCOS - what I find is working is intermittent fasting with low carb eating and minimal processed food. I do not calorie count. Support from my GP and dietitian was game changing at the start of my weight loss.

First of all - congratulations on your weightloss! That's phenomenal progress!

I can think of two things that mean your weight loss has slowed:

First of all, back in January, every bit of movement was accompanied with additional weight - to burn the same number of calories on a walk now you would need to fill a rucksack with weights.

Secondly your muscles will decrease in size as they longer need to move that additional weight around. Muscle is what burns energy and the less muscle mass you have the slower your metabolism.

A little weight training everyday might put you back on track, although I'd still prepare for weightloss to be a little slower as you approach your goal.

Thanks.

I haven’t eaten normally for a long time. I didn’t get to 17 and a half stone lightly: that was years of eatings six packs of crisps and McDonald’s and doughnuts and bacon and eggs. I can’t honestly say I’ve eaten ‘normally’ for a long time. I can’t just transition to healthy eating tomorrow. I need to prepare and make a plan.

I want to get to target. This is working for me where nothing else has. Yes I’ve hit an annoying place where the scales aren’t moving fast but they are moving!