Why am I not loosing any weight?

[sporkandnoodles]

I am following team RH, I have done this in the past and it worked. I weigh ALOT.
I have stuck to this religiously eating high protein meals. I have drastically cut down on my sugar intake and junk food/snacking.

I have weighed everything! I have checked the recommended portion sizes when putting my food out and have stuck to them. Before I would pile my plate high with rice and pasta etc.

I am moving more! I am drinking more water.

I weighed myself this morning and I have put on 4lbs!!! How is this even possible? I have been doing this for nearly 3 weeks.
I am so disappointed. I have to lose weight, I am killing myself with how big I am and feel like I am going to have no other option than to go to turkey and get a stomach bypass. I can not carry on like this. I hate myself and the way I look and I keep getting bigger and bigger!

Because you’re still not in deficit and you’re still not moving enough.

You need to track your calories and work out how many calories you should be having a day to be In a deficit to lose weight . Bodybuilding.com have a calculator to work out your calories

That won't make any difference

read "why we eat too much" - jenkinson will explain why you can't lose weight this way, and what you should do instead

What are you eating in a typical day and what exercise/movement do you do?

😂 It’s a very very good place to start

Are you taking in any 'sneaky calories' without realising it? Milky/sugary drinks, cooking with more olive oil then recommended, eyeballing measurements like teaspoons and tablespoons etc.

You say you've cut down junk food and snacking, not cut it out completely - are you counting every calorie, including the snacks and junk that aren't included in the plan the app has put you on?

When did you weigh yourself Vs when did you weigh yourself to get your starting weight? 4lbs isn't a huge amount and it could just be your body's natural fluctuations, for instance I can weigh 2-3lbs more in the morning than the evening, and I'm ALWAYS heavier the week of my period. So if I weighed myself of a morning after a healthy day, and then weighed myself the following week in the evening on a period day where I'd been too grumpy to stay properly hydrated, I could easily be 5-6lbs heavier on the second weigh in even if I was eating in deficit.

Just to clarify I am doing 10k steps a day plus some videos on youtube for additional exercises every other day. I am putting everything into MFP and have stayed under my calorie target every day and have hit my protien goal every day.
When I say I have cut down on snacks, I have been having a fiber1 bar in the evenings as a treat but its under 100 cals and all tracked. I used to regularly eat a packet of biscuits to myself, multiple bags of crisps a day. I have stopped all of that and refuse to have them in the house so there is no temptation to cheat. I did have a rocky bar last week and a packet of crinkly cheddars but it was all counted in my allowance and each were under 100 cals.

The only day I wavered was when I met friends for dinner and I shared a pizza with my friend. We had half each with salad - no dressing. The menu didn't provide any calories etc so it was difficult to plug that into MFP so I chose the option that was the worst case scenari and made sure I was good the rest of the day.

yesterday for example I had
breakfast: toasted bagel, eggs, 2x heck chicken sausages and some ketchup

461 cals (I counted and weighed everything, including the oil and ketchup)

Lunch was a chicken burrito which was 484 calories

dinner was Chicken salad with some veg on the side - everything was weighed once again. 410 cals

and in the evening I had a fibre 1 bar and a can of diet coke. 90 cals

so that was 1445 calories. I weigh nearly 19 stone so I am well under what I have been told to aim for.

I don't drink tea and coffee so no forgotten calories there. I drink sugar free squash. I know people will be saying I need to drink water but I don't like the taste of it and this makes me drink 2l a day.

I have been weighing myself in the mornings before I eat anything.

Not sure where I am in my cycle as I had the coil fitted and it has stopped everything.

I feel completely defeated by this :( I really have done a massive turnaround from where I was before. I have been really depressed, I don't drink or smoke so food ended up becoming my crutch and I have ballooned. I really thought by now I would start to see the numbers coming down, even if it was just 1lb a week.

diet coke and sugar free squash are going to be part of the problem. Artificial sweeteners cause an insulin spike, as the body thinks it is taking in sugar - and this will be interfering with your metabolism badly

surely pretty much everything low calorie now a days has artificial sweeteners in? Equally so many people plough these things into their body and still manage to lose weight?

I hope that doesn't sound argumentative.

Would I be better off switching to sugary squash and making it fit into my calories for the day?

It does sound like you should be in calorie deficit by what you are eating. Although your food list does show quite a bit of bread and also some sugar in the ketchup, so I’d watch out for too many refined carbs.

Is this the first time you weighed yourself since you started? Has your weight gone up every week? If this is the only time you’ve weighed, I’d be thinking that it’s a fluctuation and you should probably weigh every day to get a true picture of what’s going on.

I think I’d consider seeing a nurse practitioner or GP for advice if nothing else is working.

Are there any positives? Do you feel any better for the changes? Are any of your clothes fitting better? How is your skin? You should focus on everything that’s good too. It’s not all about numbers.

Well done for making such massive changes - I know it’s not easy.

at 19 stone, 1400 calories a day isn't enough. Team RH give you a calorie goal for a reason and you should be hitting it not falling well under. I weigh much less than you and I was on 1700 a day and loosing weight.

Have you ever been on a diet before and lost weight? I am asking because different people lose differently. Not my case but i have friends who lose in whoosesh. So lose nothing for a couple of weeks then bam! All gone within a day or two. Not sure how it works in your case, but maybe that's it. Also depending on your cycle it could go up and down etc. So stick with it for at least 6 weeks

Other things i would say is I always found MFP to be crap as it's user added data. Highly inaccurate. The example you listed seems like a lot of food for only 1400cals. Try Chronometer instead. The interface is a bit weird, but the data is MUCH better.

If you started working out at the same time as the diet, that could also be a factor. You might either be retaining water or putting on some muscle. Have you been measuring as well as weighing? Not the belly as that varies a lot but do the thighs or the arms.

Best of luck!
If it still doesn't work, i am a big fan of IF. Try skipping breakfast or pushing breakfast later. That might help too.

There is very little whole food or fibre in your diet. I would ensure all your meals (including breakfast) include a decent amount of vegetables which will help to slow the absorption of fat and glucose) and provide food for your gut microbiome. You will struggle to loose weight if you have an imbalance of bad gut bacteria.

This seems to me like the wrong type of calories which are slowing down your metabolism and making it really hard to loose weight. The bread, chocolate treats and pizza, although not necessary high in calories are not helping weight loss. You are probably eating these when your mood is low. They don’t do anything for nutrition wise and are probably making your mood even lower.

I would try this for the next 10 days. If you like fish, I would stock. Up
on this and when you have a craving, steam it in the microwave either on its own or with a few vegetables. Avoid anything with wheat for two weeks and see how if you feel healthier.

Two scrambled eggs with butter, to start the day. Lean chicken on its own or in a light sauce. Lean meat, with vegetables. I think you need a lot more to keep you motivated.

Instead of Diet Coke and sugar free squash drink water

That should read you need to eat a lot more

With increased exercise you can sometimes gain water weight.

Intermittent fasting.
It's easy once you're over the first few days because you naturally eat far fewer calories with a small eating window, and while you're not eating you are training your metabolism to burn fat for fuel rather than sugars. So you lose weight fast.

I recommend a 16 hr fasting window, 8 hr eating window. Every day. Once you're in the swing of things then start to improve WHAT you eat too, to see further results.

I would cut the processed carbs, drink lots of water, eat lots of green veg and fast for a minimum of 12 hours.

If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. However you do that.

You need a lot more calories to make it sustainable. And more protein to fill you up.

eggs and bacon medallions or turkey rashes for breakfast, with toast, tuna, or prawns with salsa and bread for lunch. protein rich dinner.

Can calculate the calories you need on the James Smith Academy Calculator and then log religiously, including sauces, oil butter et cetera.

And weigh rice and pasta for the correct portion. You can do it ☺️