Weight loss has stalled even on 800 calories

[Sylver75]

Quick synopsis: I'm 48, need urgent neck surgery or could end up paralysed. In Ireland, private hospital. I was told to get below BMI 50. Did it. Then told 47. Did it. Then told I had to lose 10% body weight compared to my last appointment.

I'm 7.5lbs away from that. My pre-op appointment when I'll be weighed is in less than 4 weeks. A dietitian from the hospital told me to increase protein when she got involved a couple of weeks ago so I went from 500/600 calories per day to 800. I lost 21lbs in 22 days.

I gained 3.5lbs last Saturday (I weigh daily), put it down to my period starting. Lost 3.1 by Tuesday. Lost 0.8 by Wednesday. Gained 0.8 this morning.

I'm only 1lb less now than I was a week ago. I will be turned down for surgery again if I don't lose 7lbs. Realistically, I need to lose more than that as I weigh first thing in morning in just my underwear. At the hospital, it will be in the afternoon/evening and wearing the lightest clothes I can find but still more than what I wear when on my own scales.

I am weighing and tracking and drinking lots of water. I spend the first few hours after going to bed getting up and down to the loo, it's exhausting.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, hard boiled or scrambled, tea
Snack: Fridge raiders or a cheese stick
Lunch: 100g cooked chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion
Snack: Easy peeler orange 🍊
Dinner: 100g cooked chicken, stir fry veg or salad
Two litres of water at work plus what I drink when I'm at home or on lunch break.

I have one slice of dry toast on a Sunday as a treat. Pretty much no carbs outside that. I tried protein yogurts but I don't like them. I add cottage cheese to scrambled eggs occasionally.

I really can't miss this surgery again. I will end up paralysed without it.

Has anyone any idea what I'm doing wrong? I was doing great but everything has ground to a halt.

Exercise?

Exercise isn't really possible at the moment. I did a 15 minute walk a couple of weeks back and it meant being in pain with my neck for a week. I'm already on strong pain meds but even they don't hit the pain levels. There's also the issue of the risk of causing catastrophic injury, the surgeon warned me that any sudden jerk of my neck could cause further compression of my spinal cord which would mean paralysis from neck down.

Milk has a lot of sugar & imagine there is milk in both scrambled eggs & tea

How many teas with milk are you taking a day?

Can you cut out the tomatoes (sugar) vegetables (sugar in many) & bread (carb converts to sugar) and swap it with protein?

Not sure what fridge raiders or cheese sticks are but they sound processed & likely unhealthy, best swap the cheese stick for a slice of tasty cheese

In your position with that BMI number I personally would just drink water with electrolytes (magnesium) & go on a fast

Also when you say "stir fry" what sauces & oils are you adding to cook with?

Do you free pour the oil or measure it by the teaspoon?

Two cups of tea with skimmed milk, calories counted for it. No milk in the scrambled egg and no oil. I don't have bread either, just one slice on a Sunday.

Fridge raiders are chicken pieces, 44 calories per bag. The cheese is those mini cheese portions, it's regular cheddar portioned into 80 calorie pieces so it is basically a slice of cheese.

It's stir fry veg, cooked in a wok, sometimes with spray oil which I count the calories for per spray but mostly I add water and cook it in that.

If I use a sauce, it's a pouch type one that I count the calories of or I'll add spices like paprika, chilli, etc.

Could you switch to meal replacement foods for the last 4 weeks just so you can be absolutely certain of the calories; stuff like lighter life you could eat their total meal replacement range which would have you at 600-800 a day and you would definitely lose a stone in a month that way.the benefit is they have all the nutrients in that you need and you won’t be hungry if you’re in ketosis so it’s a very very easy way to lose weight fast. All you need to focus on is getting through the first 3-4 days of it and you’d then find it very easy once ketosis kicks in.

Make sure you’re drinking lots of water too.

id also start weighing myself at the end of the day so you have a realistic idea of where you need to be.

you can definitely lose this weight in 4 weeks, and knowing you’ve got a very significant focus will help you stay on track.

Have you looked at the principles of Michael Mosley’s The Fast 800 programme? It’s around 800 calories but also highly recommends intermittent fasting 16:8 to help control blood sugars and speed up weight loss.

In a nutshell - skip breakfast and eat at 11-12noon instead, and then eat your second meal within 8 hours of the first meal.

The basics are:
No snacks
Drink 2-3 litres water (can put a slice of lemon/cucumber etc to liven it up), herbal teas. No sugary drinks, incl diet versions

High protein, low carb, medium good fats (ie avocado, olive oil)

Limit fruit to 1 portion a day and only eat berries, or pear/apple and always eat them with a protein food (so no tangerine as it only makes your blood sugar spike)

Get a couple of the Fast800 books (library?) that explain the principles but also give a traffic light guide to the best to eat, what to limit etc. Some vegetables are definitely better and lower in sugar than others / I’ll see if I can find the list for you.

Try not to use shop-bought sauces as they can be full of sugar if they also claim to be low-fat

There are some Fast800 threads on MN, Facebook etc for advice and support.

With this plan you can easily lose that weight and more (I’m doing it).

I think I might even have the book. I find it very hard to skip breakfast as I'm often light headed until I eat in the morning and couldn't go to work feeling like that. I'm also on very strong pain meds which I don't like to take on an empty stomach.

I was doing two meals a day before the dietitian got involved but she recommended I eat more often as she said I could be losing muscle rather than fat. My last meal is at 6.30pm and breakfast 13 hours later at 7.30am.

Guidelines of what to eat

800 calories too low. You need to up your calories to kick start metabolism.
Well done for the weight loss so far. Can you up to 1200-1500?
I also agree with weighing daily to see the fluctuation

Sure I read recently that fasting is scary to blame for increased cardiovascular deaths.

I think in your shoes I'd go on the meal replacements OP amd maybe just added protein if you can't stand it.

Good luck.

If that's all your eating give it a few days and it will start to come off again. I don't mean to be rude but you're very large so with that amount of food it will continue to fall off you like it has done so far.

You are going to be losing muscle, everyone loses muscle alongside fat. The speed at which you lose weight dictates how much muscle . It's near on impossible to avoid that on a VLCD like you're currently on unless you can also resistance train but with your neck injury I doubt that's a possibility.

Yes because eating more will speed up the weight loss. That's it, great advice!

Are you pooing regularly? If I had eggs every day things would start to clog up…

OP you already have a thread about this

If you're on around 800ish cals a day, you will easily lose the 7lbs in 4 weeks, just keep going

@Vegetus 🙄 actually yes it can.

The body goes into starvation mode when on such low calories for such a long time.
It will hold on to as much energy as it can and slow metabolism.

Increasing calories can have a positive effect on weight loss. As it will kick start metabolism.

Been there, done that. It's a real thing. Research it

Babe, you sound like one of the few people who have actually hit starvation mode. That's why I push against such extreme food restriction, it works for a while and then stops. Ideally you'd do weight loss at a pound a week. Your rate is immense. And your self control! To have a BMI that high and eat that little you must be starving. I'm losing on 2000+ calories a day at a similar weight.

I see this is a dire position for you and goal orientated, although I feel so bad for you that you are being pushed into such disordered restriction. I've felt the push towards it my entire life because I have lipoedema, which people see as "just fat". Check you haven't got it btw.

I have a couple of things for you to try that are a bit more advanced than starving yourself.
(1) manual lymphatic drainage. It is entirely possible at your weight you have lymph issues. MLD a few times will help shift that.
(2) Keto with calorie counting. No carbs. Lots of protein, some fat. Hard but some swear by it. And you are obviously an iron warrior already.
(3) fasting with shakes. If you have a week to go and you haven't shifted more weight then that's an emergency plan.

" I went from 500/600 calories per day to 800. I lost 21lbs in 22 days." Maybe you should eat slightly more. And even have one day off where you eat a proper amount. It's even being recognised in the fitness industry as "reverse dieting".

Honestly listen to the dietician instead of people on Mumsnet who have absolutely no idea.

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

I second swapping to meal replacement shakes as a short term solution.

Nonsense. Metabolic adaptation is real but happens over a long period of time and is only maybe a 300 calorie swing for a normal person. 800 calories is way under her BMR, I don't think it's a good diet, in fact I think it's completely stupid but she needs quick weight loss so the less she can eat the quicker she will lose weight.

After the surgery she should follow a more sustainable approach.

It is not nonsense. A quick fix yes. But as OP said. Weight loss has stalled. So up it by 200-300 and see if there is a loss.
It is called reverse dieting.

And sarky replies are not helpful either...

I really think this is the answer. You are significantly overweight so your maintenance calories would be quite high anyway. I cannot see how you will not lose 7lbs in 4 weeks on 800 cals. It would be impossible for you not to lose weight on that. Just keep going. If your weight loss has stalled this week you will probably see a sudden drop next week.

Eating more might see an immediate drop on the scale but this will not be fat, when you put yourself in a VLCD it's incredibly stressing on the body and it holds on to fluid as the body doesn't know you're doing this to it on purpose. Once more food comes in the fluid will get flushed out and most people see a jump in the scale but this isn't fat.

Don't be stupid. Think it about it logically. She says she is not losing weight on 800 calories (she is, just being impatient) so the answer is to add more food?