Why am I not losing weight? I feel like I'm doing everything right (for once!)

[feetarekillingme]

My weight has crept up over the years but I've stuck my head in the sand until a month ago when I went to the doctors and was put on meds for high blood pressure. It was the wake up call I needed so I (literally the same day) embarked on a healthy eating plan.

I'm 15 stone, 48 (possibly peri but no real symptoms) and I've been doing Weight Watchers plus have been walking 20-30 mins every day.

I've been 'religious' about logging my food and drinking between 2-3 litres of water a day. I've lost 6lbs in the first month but the last 2 weeks have been barely noticeable losses like 0.2lbs one week and 0.3lbs the following week.

Typical food diary which on WW works out at about 1200-1300 cals daily

Breakfast
3 x scrambled eggs, no butter, but small slice of low fat cheese

Snack
2 x snack a jacks (as a snack)

Lunch
Large spinach salad with either tuna or chicken and with a vinagerete dressing or extra light Mayo. Fat free Greek yoghurt and grapes or strawberries

Dinner
Medium baked potato
Chicken breast or fish (baked with seasoning)
Garden peas
Salad or a can of chopped tomatoes (love my chopped tomatoes!)

If I'm hungry later in the evening, I'll have some fruit or a fruit tea. In Weight Watcher terms this is about 20-21 points a day.

I don't feel hungry probably because I think I'm filling up on protein.

Obviously it's a shock to my system as I've previously been a couch potato who ate crap and maybe I'm just being unrealistic but as I'm really working hard Im hoping for better than teeny losses like that. It seems too soon for a plateau as well.

I even started to worry thinking there's something wrong with me but I feel generally ok. I just want to reduce my weight and the pressure on my body. Im not giving up but I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong here?

Plateaus are normal you just need to hold firm, often the first couple of weeks see the best loss, then it slows down a bit.

The odd week where you don't lose or even gain a little can be caused by loads of things

• hormonal week
• retaining water
• bit of a virus
• lack of sleep

They all contribute to or hold back weight loss in different ways.

Stick to the plan and wait it out.

I did SlimmingWorld but my daily eating sounds very similar to what you've listed. I never had big losses, sometimes only half a pound a week, so it was frustrating, but eventually all those half pounds added up. Then I had weeks where I felt like I'd eaten lots more and worried about a gain, only to find I'd lost 2lb.
So I don't think it's always a linear thing, you might find next week you've lost 3lb. I'd give it another few weeks and see if your clothes start to feel looser, that can sometimes be a better indicator than the scales.

Agree with pp- I always lose in “steps”. I’ll lose half a stone, then will stick at that for a week or two, then another half stone etc.

keep going! Maybe try and up the walking to 2x 30 mins or an hour?

Hi OP, I'm the same age and weight. I also have high blood pressure and no matter what I've been doing, I can't shift the weight the way I used to. I'm therefore doing meal replacements, which are finally working. I'm not hungry, I'm getting what I need and the pounds are now moving. I need my BP down and my doctor suggested this approach followed by a sensible approach to eating.

It’s likely due to peri menopause but it will come off for sure

keep going

At least you aren't gaining weight. From what OP says, perpetual weight gain was on the cards if she didn't do something drastic.

You have to just carry on. You appear to have lost a huge amount in the first month, nearly half a stone so you wouldnt necessarily lost the same again straight away in the next month, your body just balances out and it will come off

It is a lot harder in peri, hormones are all over the place but just carry on

Tbh I wouldn't say 6lb is a huge amount for a first months loss.

I don't think snacks have a place if you are trying to lose weight, rice rackets ate one if the worst, empty carb calories that don't fill you up. Eating all lie fat this and that means you are eating more sugar, switch to full fat eg mayo.

Up the protein, lower the carbs.

I've watched videos on intermittent fasting and insulin resistance. Makes a lot of sense.

The attached is my weight loss since September. I'm 46 and perimenopausal. I eats lots of snacks. Keep going, you'll get there.

Just keep going, as long as you are going on the right direction then all is good. I'm the same with SW, I've hovvered at 2.5 stone loss for 3 weeks and suddenly last week lost over a 2.5lbs for no reason at all as I wasn't doing anything different.

Didn't take long for someone to start blaming it all on carbs I see.

However, I agree I would cut the snacks and stick to meals only. You might also try an eating window.

A couple of years ago I did a 100 day weigh in challenge as part of my diet plan, every day I stepped on the scales and recorded my weight, the idea was to see how much it fluctuates and to focus on the overall trend rather than the numbers that day. This is what it looked like. You can see how up and down it was but how overall the number consistently trended down over a bigger time scale.

You are losing weight. Just much more slowly now. That's how it goes - particularly when you're older. It's a marathon im afraid.

Think about size and fitness too. If you increase your exercise, particularly weights, you will start to get more change in your body and be able to wear a wider range of clothes. Try on a 'challenging' pair of trousers now and then again in a month. Or do an exercise class every week for 8 weeks and notice how much more you can do at the end. Don't only focus on the scales.

Another one saying you just need to carry on and it will come off. Weight loss is never linear in my experience (nor fast at our age) and 6lbs in your first month is really good. It's not always a popular opinion on here but as long as you are eating less calories than you are expending almost everyone will lose weight. (For all the naysayers, I know not all calories are equal but as a basic principle this one holds true in 99% of cases).

If I were you I would start to add in some resistance work - if you can start to build a little more lean muscle mass you will naturally burn a very small number of calories more a day, even at rest, and every little helps. For me also if you can do it consistently over a period of time your body will just start to look a tiny bit more toned which is a huge boost and a motivation to keep going.

I also eat mainly carbs. Carbs are not the evil people make out. I'm consistently losing on around 1500 calories. Slow and steady is best for long term weight loss that stays off. You'll get lots of posters telling you to cut carbs, up protein, fast, take ozempic, or starve on 1000 calories or less as is always the case on threads like this.

Yep. Grimly predictable isn't it!

I feel exactly the same OP.
I need to drop a stone but feel like I'm not losing anything.
I eat well and exercise 4 times a week but alcohol is my downfall

Are you still getting periods? I would plateau and then have a big drop after my period, I assume some kind of water retention but the fat loss was still happening in the background.

Check your measurements as well as weight

You've lost 6lbs in 6 weeks. Don't look at it weekly.

To be fair to the carb cutters some of us have PCOS/insulin resistance/pre-diabetic in which case carbs are a problem. I can eat carbs but not refined ones and some like oats massively spike my sugar levels which affects weight loss.

That being said, no food group should be completely eliminated, it's about figuring out what works for you and having a good balance of all the food groups.

It only makes a lot of sense in that reduce the time you spend eating= you eat less.

the insulin stuff sounds sensible on the surface. But metabolic biochemistry is a finely tuned machine that is much more than just insulin = fat, or even that carbs= insulin.

if it works for you and you can stick to it then it’s all good. But there isn’t any magical metabolic process that means you can be in a calorie surplus and lose weight.

I've come to the conclusion it's just harder in middle age without being more active, even with a calorie deficit.

Thank you so much for the positive replies. I am feeling a little better knowing this isn't that unusual.

I have an unhealthy relationship with diets and have pretty much always gone on weight replacement products or 800 cals a day which has led to rapid results but then a quick return as soon as I started eating normally again. I'm mentally trying to break out of that bad cycle and commit myself to the long haul but my brain is desperate for instant results. I actually don't know how to lose weight the 'ordinary' way without going on something quite extreme!

But thanks to the PP who's suggested resistance exercises. Hadn't thought of that so I've just been online and bought a resistance band which should arrive later today. I realise that in addition to my walks, there's nothing to stop me doing some resistance stuff while we're watching TV at night etc. I could definitely be using evening downtime more effectively.

As for snacks, I'm on the fence. Major trigger for me (as an emotional eater) is cutting everything out. If I feel like I 'can't have' something I get stuck on wanting it. It's for that reason elimination diets don't really work for me. So if I reduce my carbs, I obsess about bread etc so I'm trying to have a moderate approach and include a bit of everything.

Gggrrr...I think three quarters of the struggle is in my head. But if I'm doing all the right things then maybe I just need to cut myself some slack and focus less on the scales. I would say that despite a 0.3lbs loss this week, my tummy does feel a bit flatter so that's good. Ultimately although it's slow, all of this good eating and extra movement has to be good for my body.

Yes @slimdown Periods are still like clockwork and don't really have any peri symptoms other than the occasional rush of irrational anger. 😂