What am i doing wrong?

[Crimblecrumblelover]

Hello

I have been trying to shift my "baby" weight for 2 years now but have been really trying the last 3 months. I am finally getting decent sleep and in the last 2 months i have been doing 16:8. I have also increased my protein (im a vegetarian, so this has been challenging in the past). Ive cut out all sugar in my coffee, tea and i don't have any bread Monday to Friday. I don't drink alcohol. I exercise 3 times a week and everyday do roughly 10,000 steps. In the last 3 months, ive lost 1 Pound!

I have the same breakfast and lunch every day:
Breakfast
Berry smooth with greek yoghurt
Lunch
Couscous, tofu, cucumber and peppers
1 snack - crisps normally 120 calories
Lunch
Homemade veggie curry with cauliflower rice

I have 2 coffees with milk and lots of water.

What else can i do?
Im nearly 35 and 158lbs. I have 18lbs to lose before i get back to my pre pregnancy weight. I lost my baby weight after my 1st pregnancy within 12 months.

Any ideas?

Its quite soul destroying

Have you weighed and measured your portion sizes and checked your daily calorie intake?

Yes should have said its roughly between 1600 to 1800 calories. I dont binge during the weekend or have takeaways.

How tall are you? You could be eating close to your maintenance calories if you're not very tall.

It depends what you eat at the weekends, you could be way over what you need to lose weight.

Im 164 cm tall. Im sure to lose weight i need to be 1800 calories or less.

Im know i must be doing something wrong as the scales dont lie. I dont expect to lose lbs every week but i have been trying but obviously not enough it.

164 , 70kg, female , aged 40, normal sedentary life you need Less than 1500

I'm a bit taller and wouldn't lose anything on 1,800. If you want to lose weight via calorie counting, the advice is generally to go 500 cals below your required calories and you should lose roughly 1lb a week (it's not quite that simple but it broadly holds true). I think you're probably just eating a few too many calories.

Thank you all to those that replied. I will try and go for less than 1500 calories and see if that makes a difference.

What do you put in your smoothie? Protein powder?
Why are you having crips every day if you are trying to lose weight?
Coconut cream is very calorific. Have a stir fry instead with some chickpeas instead.
You need to go lower in your daily calories

It totally depends on your meal.

Taking your 1700 average calorie intake you're probably only in a 1400 calorie deficit a week, which would be half a lb a week loss.

Except weight loss isn't linear, and almost everyone underestimates calories eaten and overestimates calories burned through activity.

Are you weighing absolutely everything and logging it?

I'm a similar weight and height and need to eat around 1400 to lose.

Basically, you're eating too much

I'd say don't go too low as you need to fuel your body for exercise.

Make sure to include healthy fats within your calorie allowance like nuts, seeds and oils but do measure or count them.

Have the changes you have made so far been sustainable? Think about the long term or you'd just put weight back on when you "stop".

Do you count your protein/carbs etc as well as calories? How about fibre? I'm sure you are a friend of lentils and other pulses and beans as a veggie- they are pretty amazing and useful foods all round. Pears are also surprisingly high in fibre. You might want to take a gentle iron tablet like Floradix also to make sure you have enough/the right type of iron.

Try varying your calories significantly each day with say 1600 as the average. If 5:2 is too much then you could have a couple of days in the low thousands, one or two at 1800, the rest around the 1600 mark. It means that your metabolism gets a bit of a shake up and doesn't get used to one level of intake every day- I also think it's better for normal life so if you ate out you can fit that into your life. 16:8 is good for all sorts of reasons, not just weight loss, if that way of eating works for you. I just eat brunch and dinner.

Coconut cream or full fat coconut milk is really good nutritionally as well as satisfying and delicious, just make sure you measure your portion and account for the calories.

If you have those same meals for breakfast/ lunch each day then you aren't getting nearly enough variety for your diet to be really healthy. Try more variety of fruit/ veg/ nuts / seeds and add a vitamin supplement.

Play around and see what suits you, I find I lose weight easier if my 16:8 is lunch / dinner rather than lunch & breakfast. I aim for 400-500 calories per main meal and then I use Huel Black to add protein to my vegetarian diet (and increase water intake). I have the Huel as a 'snack' once or twice a day. I make it more diluted, 1 scoop to 800ml water, I find it just as filling/ palatable and 1 scoop = 200 calories= 20g protein so my daily intake is around 1400 calories but I don't feel too hungry.

I have never lost any weight until I went down to 1350 calories. I agree with others. Ur eating fat too much