Why am I not losing weight? Please help

[Coconut80]

Hi wise mumsnetters I am seeking your advice and wisdom.

I am a 51year old peri menopausal woman. I am 5 ft 8 and weigh 12 st 13. I am overweight and ideally would like to be 11 - 11 to 7lbs.

I have suffered five years of I'll health resulting in medical retirement from my NHS job. Due to medication,lack of movement and eating shite I have gained weight.

I am feeling a bit better so I am trying to improve my health and lose weight. I am on regular morphine as required but no other regular medication

I walk 8-10000 steps every day, I do yoga 20mins four times a week, Zumba twice a week and two dance classes a week. I sleep well.

I am vegetarian and loosely trying to be vegan.I have been on a concerted effort to diet for 18 days and have lost one measly pound. Can you please look at my intake and suggest where I am going wrong.

Breakfast 30g overnight oats with chia seeds and oatmilk topped with banana or frozen mango. I drink mint tea,stopped sugary milky coffee.
Lunch is homemade soup like tomato and lentil,sweetcorn chowder or sweet potato, I've stopped toast.

Afternoon I snack on one apple or grapes.

Dinner is often the same soup with a wholemeal pitta or veg sausages with potato and veg or Quorn fajitas or three bean chilli.

I close the kitchen at six and in the evening will have options with fruit. I've been strict as hell no slip ups. I've cut out all previous crap chocolate,cake,diet coke and my cravings have gone and blood sugar stabilised.

I would have expected to have lost two or three pounds by now. I've cut my daily calories by five to seven hundred a day. Please help I am so close to pressing the fuck it button and going back to eating crap. I feel my body is broken and I just can't lose the weight. I can't afford a diet coach and in desperation am looking at ozempic, also can't afford and dodgy side effects.

thankyou in advance for your help x

I think it's early days, @Coconut80 . I would not expect much weight loss in the first month.

But your current diet seems a bit dull and is lacking in protein. Can you implement a modified Mediterranean diet and replace meat with legumes/pulses and nuts?

www.eatingwell.com/gallery/8025586/mediterranean-diet-dinners-for-weight-loss/

I see you're trying to become vegan, but might you consider still eating eggs while you are trying to lose weight, as they are a great source of protein? Basically eat mostly plants, plus a moderate amount of protein

www.healthline.com/nutrition/vegan-protein-sources-chart

I agree with others that weight training is hugely beneficial, especially for (pre-/post-) menopausal women. Consider getting some 3-5kg dumbbells and look at workouts by Growingannanas and Caroline Girvan on YouTube.

@lljkk I didn't say that cutting out caffeine helps you lose weight. What I did say was that focusing on my overall health and not just food is helping me feel better and I have lost weight with all those things together.

Caffeine affects my sleep. Sleep is an important part of feeling well/healthy. Is that pseudo science @Harrysmummy246 ?

I have never been able to lose weight and keep it off on a calorie restricted/counting diet - it just goes back on as soon as I stop and I refuse to be hungry and miserable for the rest of my life!

At this point, 2 cups of really good coffee per day is my only vice! Although I'm not struggling with healthy food I like it. But Joy2022 liked carrot cake, shortbread, chocolate spread and white wine.

Hello everyone and thankyou for your varied answers. I am week four and still lost 1lb.

Realised that I am very peri or menopausal I'm 51 and on day 4 of an awful heavy period, cycle 20 days or 29. My hair is coming out in handfuls. I'm getting bloods taken on Monday to check my iron levels and my thyroid as I have a family history of thyroid problems.

I've started weights just a wee 20 minute home routine inspired by Melissa Neil on ig. I'm still doing yoga and two Zumba as well as a bolly class and an adult ballet class. I know they aren't the best for calorie burning but I love to dance and will actually go to these classes because I like it.

For my steps I do do at least 10k and I do a dog walk for at least half an hour.

To be honest I feel like my body is broken and I know it's such a cliche. I'm ashamed to admit I'm looking at ozempic, I loathe my size 14 body and it just rubs in all that I've lost by being unwell. I previously was a size 10. I'm so fucked off with it,I've tried so bloody hard as I see so many of you have. Please don't pile on me re ozempic I know it's got vile side effects/long term effects but I am just so desperate.

I'm so bored of being in my head and in my body.

Thankyou for all your advice x

To be honest I feel like my body is broken and I know it's such a cliche

Cliche or not, this is exactly the way I feel as I struggle through menopause at the same age. I used to be an effortless size 8 and be able to eat everything, including all the carbs. I don't know what the answer is. I have just orderd some dumbbells and will look at my diet again, but by god it is frustrating.

@Lentilweaver thankyou, it is good to know others are in the same boat. I just don't feel like me with a fat face,huge boobs and stomach rolls. Like you I was an effortless size 10. I feel I have tried every diet going I'm looking at juicing or ozempic so fecking tedious.

Can I ask did you go for hrt? I'm mulling it over xx

I am also mulling over HRT. Not sure if it will help with weight gain.; it seems to depend on the person.

I did HRT for a year, when I was broken. Got my sleep back up to an normal level. Also my desire to kill my entire family vanished a few days before the energy to do it returned (they will never know how lucky they are).

Don't press the "fuck it" button.

If you had an alcoholic friend who had a stiff whiskey after the death of a parent, would you say "Fuck it" lets go to Stringfellows, drink the bar dry and sniff everything sniffable?.

Broken perimenopausal women deserve a long chat about HRT with a GP.

I started it 4 weeks ago, so already in a plateau for three weeks. I haven't put on weight but I haven't lost a gram yet either. I'd kind of hoped that it would shake up my metabolism but no....................... I think I feel less sad about having a bmi of 29 though!! So, every cloud

Hi OP

I have struggled with my weight for the last few years. It all started when I had post natal depression so hormones in question here too.

Starting in january I started tracking calories with my fitness pal. The first week I was aiming for 1500 a day but my body quickly adjusted and I dropped to around 1200 a day. I don't weigh because the scales can drive me mad so dont know how much I have lost but can see a big visible difference in my face and stomach already. The dress I wore on christmas day is now loose around my stomach. Side by side photos show a massive change in my face.

Why does someone always have to come in with something crazy like an apple or banana is as bad as a mars bar. It's clearly not'

It's carbs - carbs - carbs = and no, it's not as bad as a Mars bar - but it is still carbs.

@Coconut80
I'm 58 and also had a very slow weight loss initially (ie none for 2 weeks!!) when being very 'strict' about not eating sugar/crisps/snacks etc.

I've stepped it up by eating twice a day - protein and vegetable based meals. I'm pre diabetic, so eat low carb anyway.

Your diet does sound carb heavy with grains. Cut the carbs and keep going. I've lost 5 pounds now, but it's been hard.

Try eating cutting fruits for a month to kick start, then introduce blueberries/raspberries/strawberries.

Be honest re portion sizes - I'm not 100 per cent sure what you've listed adds up to 700 kcals?

Best of luck - lets keep going!

I weigh less than you and my weight can go up and down 2-3 over the course of a day. Your body is 60% water, so about 7 stone 10 pounds of your current weight is water, that’s a fair amount of day to day variation right there that will disguise fat loss.

To maintain your current weight according to an online calculator you would need to eat 2000 calories a day. You have to eat 3500 fewer calories to lose a pound of fat. To lose a pound a week you would have to restrict yourself to 1500 calories which is bloody hard and it doesn’t take much to accidentally eat another 100 calories a day.

Accept that if you lose half a pound a week you are doing bloody well and it’s more likely to be a pound a month if you are eating a diet you can stick to for life and that will get you to and keep you at a healthy weight.

According to the NHS BMI calculator you need to lose 9 pounds to get into the healthy range. So by this time next year, on a sensible healthy eating plan (rather than a really restrictive diet), you can easily be a healthy weight. Stop aiming to lose so much overnight and concentrate on your health.

If I understand this right, in absence of a faulty drainage system, fat ppl especially fat women are << 60% water.

This is very useful, thank you. I find 1500 calories a day a challenge and the idea that I might have to slash to 1200 in peri-menopause is so depressing. I will focus on getting fitter and healthier. I am Asian, so building muscle is harder and all excess fat goes to my belly.

My weights have just arrived:)

I've been watching dr mindy pelz on youtube, a lot of the advice is the same as everywhere else but she acknowledges that being this age makes things harder which i find more helpful that stumbling on to videos from 35 year old male body builders who say metabolic adaptation is a myth.

@Coconut80 if I could go back in time, instead of congratulating myself on how successful my quick diets were, I'd only restrict every second day to avoid my body getting used to 1200

It's psychologically more doable as well.