I don’t put on weight. I don’t lose it either and need to!

[Hakunatomato]

I never put on weight. In 2010 I weighed 19 stone 2, and still do. I should have put on 2-3 stone during lockdown due to eating twice as much and being largely inactive.

I can’t lose weight! I swim around 2-3 miles a week over 4-5 sessions and do a couple of aqua aerobics classes most weeks.

i have kept a food diary, being totally honest with myself and eat 1500 - 1600 calories a day. I don’t drink. During lockdown there were many many days I must have eaten 4-5000 calories.

It’s like my body is locked. I never put on weight, despite pigging out over Christmas. It’s like I’m locked ar this weight. It would be great if I was 8 stone with this problem, but it is obviously dangerous.

How do I kickstart a loss? Can I re-set my metabolism? I’m not looking for a quick fix. I have tried fasting and VlCD and they won’t work. Has anybody been in the same position?

I don't have a good answer, but perhaps it would be worth asking a GP just in case there is a medical reason? I know thyroids can affect weight gain and loss, for example. No idea what it might be, but I'd keep a precise food diary with daily weight for a couple of weeks, ring for an appointment, keep it for the probably two weeks before the appointment, then you have a decent amount of data to discuss with them.

If you aren’t experiencing any medical issues like thyroid problems then your metabolism needs… to move more and eat less.

there is NEAT which is what you burn as a human through being alive and every day movement but not exercise so you can even improve your NEAT too by getting up frequently, standing, walking around a little. Your NEAT will be low if you don’t move much so your daily energy burn might be quite low.

You will not lose weight at all if you over consuming calories and although you are a little active, it’s not clear if you are swimming very slowly or how much exertion you use in aqua - I used to go to an aqua class and although it was fun, it wasn’t actually getting my heart rate up much at all. Yes I was moving but I am also moving if I walk slowly but I am not necessarily using much energy to do so and it’s not really exercise. Swimming is good for your joints and mental health and such like, but unless you are going for it, it’s not going to do much for burning more energy that you are looking for

You could briskly walk at least 2 miles a day (which should take 30 mins) so swimming 2-3 miles a week is not really that much. I walk 5 miles a day which is 10,000 steps and takes me around an hour in one go or 2 x 30 mins and then I have added on the non exercise steps usually comes to 10k

your metabolism will improve if you move a lot more on a daily basis as it will then naturally use more energy, alongside reducing portions of food that ought to put you into a calorie deficit over time. You will have an increased NEAT and you will have more calories burnt from 150 mins of exercise a week and it will get your energy burn up a little.

Adults are advised to get 30 mins exercise a day. This actually means you are exercising to the point of being a bit sweaty and slightly out of breath to even count as exercise. You should still be able to hold a conversation but know you are working hard - a fast paced walk is enough. You don’t need to join a gym or run.

you don’t specify anything about food other than calories so it could be that you are more sendentary than you realise and are therefore eating at your maintenance calories across a whole week/month.

I was settling down at over 15st and have lost over 3st by walking more, Pilates, some weights and counting calories

Have you tracked your heart rate when you are swimming/aqua?

you can’t out exercise a bad diet but you can help move up your energy burn by moving around more every day

I was like you, except my weight kept creeping up even though I was eating around the same as you. I went to an endocrinologist, try that.

People often need to create a deficit of at least 500 calories a day on average over a relatively prolonged period to start burning fat.

You can calculate your total daily energy expenditure here https://tdeecalculator.net/

keep a scrupulous food diary, weighing portions etc. with a 1000 calorie per day deficit for 6 weeks. Weigh yourself at the same time every morning and record the weight and the date. You 'should' burn 6kg of fat, at a rate of 1kg a week. If at the end of the 6 weeks you still haven't lost any weight go to the doctor, for your food diary and weights for further investigation as to the cause.

@stillplentyofjunkinthetrunk for this to be accurate OP might need to work out how active they actually are. If you are sedentary your TDEE will be a lot lower. People assume that they are more active than they really are when it comes to these calculators

you're right @menora but I like this calculator because it shows you the range.