Stuck and don’t know what I am doing wrong

[Swoosh84]

I’ve lost loads of weight calorie counting in the last year and I’m half a stone from my target weight but I just cannot seem to get the scales to budge the past month.

I eat moderately low carb and count everything . I’ve worked out my basic metabolic rate and the tdee and adjusted it up and down to get things moving but nothing! I exercise regularly and keep active.

I know it gets harder at this stage but this is starting to make me crack up I’m worried I’m getting obsessed cos it’s so frustrating. The 7lbs mean a lot to me because I have worked hard so I don’t want to give up yet and I’m still technically overweight unless I lose them!

I don’t expect anyone can help me and I need to give it time I’m just so frustrated and my partner is sick of hearing about it

I'm 6 weeks into calorie counting and have lost 12 lb so far.

For a few weeks it was literally a pound a week and driving me mad knowing I've still got a stone and a half till I'm where I want to be but I've had to change my mindset cause I was driving myself insane.

I knew my thought process was getting unhealthy.

The closer to goal weight is always the hardest bit but think of what you've lost so far and how much better you feel rather than bollocking yourself daily about the last few pounds.

Bloody well done for getting it off it's so hard isn't it.

Thanks and well done for your loss too 😊

It is hard and I need to stop stressing about it. It is getting unhealthy to think about it this much it’s taking over my life

Sometimes I stall on keto so add in some extra fat for a few days. Maybe look at your nutrients to see if you can switch up fat or protein? I’ve done an egg fast for 48 hours and sometimes that can nudge a stall.

Maybe it's time to take a break?
I've lost alot of weight in the last year and half and frequently had a plateau of up to a month.
What I do is use it as an opportunity to practice maintenance eating, which is as important as dieting IMO. It gives me a guilt free break and often gets me losing again too.

I'm down to my last half stone as well and it's painfully slow compared to the first two stone. Adding that I am not even in the healthy BMI yet.

I'm reminding myself that years ago at weight watchers it was usual with my weekly weigh in to lose a pound or half or stay the same.

I am giving it another week and if nothing changes I will add in two lower calories days of 800.

However I do feel so much better with the 2 stone off and it's better to stay at my current weight than pile it back on again.

I’m gaining and losing the same lb or 2 this month.

I do feel much better too I’ve lost nearly 5 stone but to see I am not even under BMI 25 yet is frustrating but I’m so close!

I’ve tried taking a break to maintenance eat which is fine, I can do this but I can’t get my head into the right space away from scale numbers

Is your goal realistic?? I used to weigh 42 kilo when I was 25 and I was skinny but not emaciated. At mid forties this kind of weight would suggest that I’m terminally ill.

I assume that you count your calories well and eat a healthy, varied diet. Giving a number to this variety can help, I signed up for a challenge where I try to eat at least 30 various vegetables, seeds, fruits and nuts a week. I found it’s not hard at all but gives some accountability.

How’s your activity? The exercise is what made the biggest difference for me. I have been doing various things for several years now, first with free YouTube videos and for the last three years with Les Mills. I need to eat quite a lot, otherwise I keep losing weight even on maintenance. I strongly believe that as with food, variety is key here: I do martial arts, strength/resistance training and cardio (running). I also have proper active recovery days when I roll on a foam roller, stretch or do yoga. I walk everywhere and make sure I do daily functional training, like never taking an escalator or a lift, or carrying and pushing my luggage around when I travel. I have been doing this regularly for several years, and when I finally decided to lose weight it just fell off me and revealed a wiry person 😊. Muscles need proper nutrition and I found I lost quite a lot of body fat without even trying very hard, I was just doing what I would normally do and eating less.

I don’t do any specific diet, just prioritise variety and food with low GI. I am also gluten intolerant so that helps to eliminate 95% of crap food.

All these worked for me I hope you find something that works for you! I especially recommend martial arts 💪 It’s a journey into own fitness and self awareness and it helps to hone and take care of the things that we lose with age, such as explosive power, agility and balance.

Do you walk? Try walking 10000 steps a day plus writing or tracking every thing… if your numbers are right and you’re not misjudging then it WILL come off. Maybe weigh in 2-3 weeks but record everything that passes your lips and weigh your portions. If you’re still overweight then it will maybe be a plateau and you will then lose a few pounds at once.

I do activity, I walk a lot of steps briskly and I usually go for a 2-3 mile brisk walk every evening and try to walk in my lunch break too, average 4-5 miles walking a day. I do weights and Pilates frequently too.

My goal isn’t unrealistic it’s top end of my BMI weight range. It would be 24.5 BMI if I lost 7lbs so I have even more range I could lose without looking like a skeleton.

I’m a curvy person I have big legs I assume at this point some of my mass is muscle mass as I can see muscles but I am not overly muscly just toned in some areas. Not toned in the tummy quite yet.

Balanced and varied diet and I don’t really drink alcohol. I love wholesome food so it’s good in that sense I am more than happy to eat this way forever. Not sure if my calories are now too low though

@CortieTat why is that? At 24 I remember being 68kg and thinking I needed to lose at least another 5kg. At 38 I was 70kg and got the 'too slim' from people and it was very hard to maintain without exercising every day and walking loads and watching every morsel. I was 5'11" in my youth, now over 60 I've lost an inch. My current goal is 80kg which is 'overweight' according to the charts but would be a size 12-14 which I'd be very happy with. Being a size 10-12 at my height is not a number I need to chase.
OP that last half stone is frustrating and is it really worth it? Would it make that much difference? If you're fit and carry some muscle the BMI charts aren't that good an indicator of 'health'.

@mondaytosunday I am considering this as well, perhaps this is what I need to accept. I can still see fat that I am not happy with and I’m on the middle bit between size 12 and 10

I'd say keep at it.

If you exercise at a gym, I would try to join some classes - you always push yourself more if someone is giving you tempo guides, if I just casually "do weights" then I tend to lose focus and spend time staring into space instead of working hard.

Set yourself some fitness goals, they can be small but they give a sense of progress. Last year I wanted to do 20 technically correct push ups. I did not succeed, I can do about 18 right now and the remaining ones are pure survival mode but it is something to work towards. Same with the belt system in martial arts, it clearly marks progress.

Try something new. Dancing? Swimming? Running? Aikido? You might find a new sense of joy in a new activity and you won't even notice that the weight shifted. On another thread someone suggested to set a goal of trying many new activities. I think it's an excellent goal, you do not need to like any of them in the end, it's only about trying.

I have no idea! Probably in part due to anabolic/catabolic equillibrium (or something, I do not know the correct technical term). At 25 I was in child-bearing years, ready to grow humans, at over 40 I am gearing towards closing that period of my life.
For me it is also the body proportions, after pregnancies my pelvis is wider and my ribcage is a LOT wider, I used to wear 28-30 band bras and now I wear 32; visible ribs and back muscles in both cases.
Also sarcopenia (muscle loss) starts at around mid 30 and then accelerates. To keep my muscles I have to actively use them and in turn they are wiry, I remember being much "softer" when younger although I also did sports. I reckon the same happens with animals, people roast whole chickens but old hens are only used for broth. So for me it's the case of becoming a wiry old cow :-)

A bit counterintuitive maybe, but I have found that when trying to get rid of the last couple of pounds then a weekend of cheat days metabolism revving does the trick. Saturday and Sunday forget the deficit and instead eat your maintenance calories, plus a bit extra such as a couple of treats. eg two bakery style cookies or whatever floats your boat. Monday start your deficit calories again and that might do it. The slightly piggy weekend breaks the plateau for me.
It does put you at risk of falling off the wagon though, depending on your psychology!

I’ve done that too on weekends. By Saturday morning I have a really good loss from a good week. Then by Monday and Tuesday I have gained the 2lbs back and then lost them again by Saturday. So now I am not going up to maintenance at all on weekends to try to get it shifting.

Good idea about activities I might go back to swimming now it’s warmer. I’m not very good at it but it’s a good activity

If you're jumping up 2lbs overnight/over a few days then that is not body fat! It could be any number of things but body fat does not go up nearly that quickly.
I would focus on how you feel and maybe take measurements. The less you have to loose the longer it takes. Patience and consistency is key. If you really want to, then drop cals by 50-100 a day then reevaluate in a month. At this stage it really is the long game.

@Girlintheframe it’s not fat it’s water I agree, I’m am just not dropping past this plateau