Why the heck am I not losing weight

[Chattycathydoll]

I’m 5’5, in my 20s.

Breakfast- nope usually just coffee (black). I am not a breakfast person
10:30ish- some fruit. Apples, dried pineapple, cherries, whatever. Fruit.
1pm- an ordinary sandwich, with a naice coffee (my only one of the day with milk in)
3pm- a graze box
7pm- DD has supper & I have something proteiny with her, usually an alpro yoghurt or 2 hard boiled eggs
8:30pm- dinner. Lately I’ve been doing allplants meals. Average 500 calories.

I walk 8 to 10 thousand steps a day and go to the gym 3 times a week (weight machines that don’t aggravate my arthritis, and cardio) but my body fat percentage keeps increasing and I’m gaining 3lbs a month on average. I’m now overweight, whereas in the past have always been around 8 stone, even after DD. Wtf is going on with me? I’m arthritic and experiencing the middle aged spread and I’m not even 30! Beginning to loathe my body. WWYD?

Listen to @Reallyreallyborednow ! It’s much more likely than thyroid/medication etc etc. just try tracking for a couple of weeks, literally everything that goes in your mouth, no fooling yourself.

I do this every few years - can’t understand why I’m gaining weight with tracking, then it turns out I’ve pinched a bit of something out the fridge, or a few mouthfuls of dinner whilst it’s cooking, or said I’m not having cake then cut myself a minuscule slice when no one’s looking…it’s really easy to kid yourself!

Yes, I have other symptoms, but a lot of them get lumped in with the arthritis. I actually have all those symptoms except air hunger which I’ve never heard of.

Appointment with the GP is already booked but is weeks away and I was feeling very fed up when I posted 😂

I fully appreciate I could be miscounting and simply greedier than I think I am, though I did measure and weigh every pathetic gram of things for the whole week last week ahead of booking the GP appointment & thyroid check to see if it was something I could solve myself, and I was actually averaging 1347 calories (I tend to round up when doing meal plans rather than down, just in case). And I really didn’t think dried fruit was a poor choice! Clearly I need to talk diet to the GP at least. I figured, it’s fruit, it’s not crisps or biscuits, surely it’s a decent snack.

My mother, both of her parents, two of her grandparents, and two of her siblings all have hypothyroidism hence why I asked the GP for the check.

It’s much more likely than thyroid/medication etc etc

Thyroid disease is both incredibly common (especially in women) and incredibly misunderstood (some connection there?!)

For someone with hypothyroidism running in their family, and an existing autoimmune condition, putting on weight at this rate is concerning.

It's certainly possible that it's down to overeating. But there's a risk in cutting calories more that the adrenals will become stressed and further tax the thyroid, meaning that OP could cut calories and gain weight at the same time. So it's obviously sensible to rule out thyroid issues before cutting more calories from an already quite modest intake.

I bet cutting out gluten will very quickly make a difference too, regardless of calories.

Graze boxes are quite calorific.

You are snacking. But I don't see how that can give you that much weight gain

Cut the milky coffee
Cut the carbs eg a cheese sandwich would put on weight more than a tuna salad
No alcohol

Yes, I have other symptoms, but a lot of them get lumped in with the arthritis. I actually have all those symptoms except air hunger which I’ve never heard of.

Air hunger is when you feel like you can't quite get enough air. The thyroid is responsible for so many basic bodily systems, so when it goes down, you will have a lot of different symptoms. The fact you have all those symptoms would make me think you need more investigation. Unfortunately it can be tough to get a diagnosis, partly because GPs often rely on TSH alone which doesn't give a full picture and can be very misleading. It could be down to your arthritis, but as I say, if you have one AI condition, you probably have more. Certain diets can help (gluten free is the main thing you need to do asap) but you may need meds for your thyroid before you feel better.

Loads of resources and support here - www.tpauk.com/main/ Feel free to PM me too.

To gain 3lbs in a month you need to consume a 9000 calorie surplus which is an extra 300 calories a day. It’s very easy to over consume that across the day, say 70 calories in the morning, 120 in the afternoon then 110 in the evening.

How are you measuring your steps?

You're eating dinner too late.

You need breakfast. It should have more protein in it and a lot of fibre. Porridge plus greek yogurt or nuts would be nice.

Lunch should have more protein too. The mid morning fruit is just a sugar hit.
Lunch ideas:
Tuna salad, granary bread
Quinoa salad with cucumber, feta, tomato, red onion
Egg salad with granary bread
Low fat cheese plus raw baby spinach sandwich on granary bread
Cottage cheese on rye crackers

You should have a balanced snack in the afternoon, not straight fruit. Fruit plus a low fat cheese like string cheese or cottage cheese would hit the bill.

For dinner try a homemade soup - veggie, chicken noodle, minestrone, mushroom, cream of broccoli, etc. Have it when your daughter eats her evening meal, no later.

What the others said.

Doesn't seem anything really sumptuous or indulgent in your food choices. I mean, fillet of salmon on brown rice with chopped onion and avocado. Not daily, but once in a while - otherwise the body thinks, right, you're trying to starve me, I'm going to play dirty with you, you're not getting rid of me! Makes sense, in primitive times any human going hungry would have their body shut down, go into starvation mode so weight doesn't get lost too easily, it's a protective measure.

Actually, not sure how you can live on that stuff AND go to the gym. Are you doing weights, is that putting on weight? I only really lost weight when I did interval training on the running machine, you know, one minute at full tilt (13km/hr) then one minute jogging (8km/hr), all for about 25 mins. Avoids that dreary 'let's slog it out boringly for half an hour' feeling where, again, the body tunes in to what you're doing and adjusts unhelpfully.
I also lost weight suddenly when I stopped doing the gym but ran round the block, etc for a month or so. This after some healthy living tbf. One does plateau otherwise.
Agree that with the gym input, dried sweets may be clung on to gratefully by your body as a way of maintaining weight. It does not actually know what you are aiming to achieve, it just thinks, this is hard work.

I should also add that currently I am a fat knacker and have not gone to the gym in two or three years.

I’m quite lucky in that I fuxking love the gym I got a new job a few months ago and could finally afford a good gym pass again- I only have time to go 3 days a week but on the days I don’t go I miss it! Do some resistance bands and a Pilates workout at home but there’s nothing quite like the focus you get from an hour in the gym. I do interval training on treadmill, cross trainer, cycling machine or stair climber (though that one does knacker me every time), and weight machines for chest & arms. However I’m not putting on weight from that, my gym has body composition scales and my fat percentage is still a problem.

Late dinner is definitely a problem but a difficult one to solve because I’m pressed for time in the evenings. DD eats dinner with her childminder & I’m a single parent so by the time she’s in bed and I’m having to cook, it is late. While she has supper (hot milk and porridge usually) I’m reading her story so can’t very easily make my own dinner without pushing back her bedtime.

HOWEVER I’ve had the idea to swap stuff round a bit and have main meal at lunch instead. That will keep me full enough to not be needing a snack later, and can have something quick and lunchy in the evening so it won’t be so late… hurray for plans!