Why is the weight not coming off?

[Lovehappychildren]

Hi, little bit of background. I am 44, have pcos and weigh 18 stone. I know due to my pcos that a low carb diet will help but I do find this incredibly challenging. I also have slightly raised cholesterol so hoping a lower carb, rather than strictly low carb will help. I recently had a medical and talked through my meals with the doctor that has great knowledge of pcos. She gave great advice and even though I have heard it all before, has given me a renewed sense of determination. Note that I have lost 6lb already a couple of months ago.
Now, I seem to have come to a standstill so hoping you can shed some light on my diet and what I need to improve to get the lbs moving again. Below is a typical day. Please be honest!
Breakfast, usually 2 eggs, scrambled on one slice of jasons sourdough with a thin layer of benecol butter.
Mid morning, an apple, pear or plum.
Lunch is usually chicken breast, tomatoes, cucumber and spinach OR 3 roasted peppers, courgette a little sweet potato and tomato with chicken or salmon.
Snack is greek yoghurt ( the real stuff!)
Dinner is usually meatballs with courgette or steak and veg, so no major carbs.
A couple of times a week I get a coffee foe the train. I drink 2 cups of instant coffee with a dash of milk, and drink a lot of water. I have 2 glasses of red wine at the weekend.

Total carbs on my app is around 150 if I have the pepper lunch as they are quite carb heavy.

No chocolate, crisps, cake or beer for 2 weeks now!

Please help!!

PCOS makes it phenomenally difficult to lose weight.

have you thought about trying injections. That has worked for me.

I have but to be honest, I am really reluctant to as I have a touch of health anxiety and I just know I would worry about the side effects. The doctor did mention them, Mounjaro is apparently good for pcos so giving myself until next April and if I have no luck, will go back and discuss again.

Op you’re neither low carb or low cal, that’s why you’re not losing I’m afraid,

Have you tried intermittent fasting or OMAD?

Do you use a calorie tracker rather than just carbon checking? Check your TDEE, the more information you give the calculator the more accurate it will be.
Nutracheck has a 7 day trial, good database of foods and will calculate the calories you need per day to lose weight (set a realistic goal)

Be honest with what you are eating and weigh it, PITA, but it definitely helps determine exactly how many calories you are eating.

I have both PCOS and endo, one meal a day was difficult to start with but it helped and I still use it but not every day. Sticking to only eating in a 6 hour window is easier, but you need to be in a calorie deficit rregardless. Roughly 1400kcal a day should lose 0.5-1kg a week.

Do you do any exercise?

The side effects of being 18stone will be worse than Mounjaro believe me.

I think I just need to rethink this completely. It is a better way of eating than I was previously and now do a 20 min brisk walk daily, before that, nothing and I have a desk job.
I will put some more thought into this. Its definitely harder in my 40s!

I do use Nutracheck, and everything goes in there and gets weighed etc. I don't go over my limits, pretty much bang on daily and I have set the nutrient goal to low carb

Yes, but for my peace of mind, I want to give it one last attempt and develop a healthy relationship with food.

You need to be at least 600kcal below the daily. Bang on is going to maintain your weight not lose any.

You'd be better setting your nutrients goal to lower fat. You eat a lot of red meat.

Alcohol prevents you losing weight too, it stops you burning fat. If you're serious about losing weight, cut it completely for a month and let your liver optimise itself.

With all the possible kindness, if you are not losing, you are eating too many calories. Your meal plan is not what I would consider a weight loss plan, just regular eating. I would probably gain if I was eating like that on a regular basis.

There isn't a one-fits-all way of losing weight, however ALL methods in the end come down to reducing the amount of calories you ingest.
Weight is easy to gain and hard to lose, even more with PCOS. Focus on fibre, vegetables, if you must snack, have a container of boiled green beans, sliced red pepper, but ideally, teach your body not to snack.

Drastically increase the amount of vegetables you eat. And I mean drastically. Buy packets of baby Roma tomatoes and eat those, without dressing as you prepare your dinner, have a big salad bowl of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, can of tuna in water, and just ONE tablespoon of olive oil for lunch. Coat chicken breast with all the herbs in your pantry and some more, and put it without any oil on a baking tray with baking paper in the oven for 20 min. Have a whole butter lettuce with 1 piece of boiled cod, a ton of chopped parsley, and so on. Slice an aubergine and cook them in oven without any oil, but generous herbs.
Make vegetables the bulk of your meals. You can eat huge amounts of them.

You are asking for honesty, so I gave you my opinion. Eggs for breakfast, salmon for lunch and meatballs for dinner is certainly in line with the "protein and more protein" trend, but I doubt it is helping you.

Weigh your food portions and be honest. Keep a food diary. Start exercising and moving more. Drink more water.

Pcos and your age are against you.

Im older than you and I wouldn't lose weight on what your eating and I weighed more than you. Did an office job so quite sedentary.

Since peri Ive had to cut out breakfast or have brunch which would be the size of your breakfast. Then dinner only. Maybe a snack mid afternoon of a piece of fruit. Reduced carbs as diabetic and a good amount of protein and low calorie veg. Yes I'm hungry. I don't lose weight unless I'm hungry.

Gym daily for 45 minutes concentrating on cardio, heart rate over 150 for most of this time. I retained muscles through strength training. I was very strong, overweight people tend to be but this Is levelling out now. Walked every day for an hour on top of that. My appetite has increased with the exercise so I'm having to be more aware of what I'm eating.

I don't drink alcohol.

I was barely losing a lb a week but it's coming off. Consistency is key

I am having the same issue with my weight just not coming off. And that's training with a PT and exercising several times a week, plus having personalised eating plan. I had full blood panel done and met with a senior doctor who told me it's my age. And suggested 3 months on Ozempic to get my body to start shedding weight while continuing exercising inc weight training.

Nutracheck gives you are target calorie intake if you want weight loss. You don’t need to subtract 600 cals. I have lower carb as a target goal, and it gives me approx 1200 cals.
OP if you’re not losing, and you are weighing everything maybe the target is too high? What target does it give you? What you’re eating should be perfectly fine if staying within the limits. I’d be surprised if the target is too high though.

150g of carbs with minimal exercise is no where near low carb. You need to cut 50-70g carb off that if you want to do reduced carb.

Yes this

@NeedANewOne25 I know how nutracheck works, clearly it's not working for OP as she's not losing weight so needs to lower the calorie intake.

PCOS makes it difficult enough, eating red meat every day causes it to be worse. Women with PCOS need to minimise the inflammation-causing red meats in their diet.

@Lovehappychildren eats red meat daily, so she needs to reduce her calories further. Especially since she's not eating low carb either.

Eta really should have 2 or 3 meat free days a week, not meat twice a day.

Op low carb is generally 50g. You can go a little higher. 150 is normal to high carb. Did you not have this explained?

you are eating healthy, but is your goal just eating healthy or to lose weight?

Both. I want to eat healthily, and lose weight. I have cut a lot of upfs from my diet too and I do feel really good about that. I know my diet is healthier than it was, and I feel good about that too.
I struggle with strictly low carb as I find it unsustainable, I have tried many times. So, after discussions with my doc and gynea, they advised lower carb but be mindful of the carbs going on, so low GI options. I don't eat any bread except sourdough, no rice, cereals, white potatoes etc. I am eating more protein, to fill myself up.

Thank you everyone for your input. I will take all of this into account and try to plan better and see what happens.

Ok, then if you wish to lose weight then you need to reduce your calories, well done on the healthy eating, it will have lots of health benefits. But you need to start calorie counting. The menu above is clearly in sizeable enough portions to maintain you at your current weight. Nutracheck must tell you what that is calorie wise. You need to create a deficit of at least 500 a day to lose up to a pound a week.

When calculating your TDEE, don't use your current weight. Excess fat doesn't contribute to metabolic rate, use your adjusted weight.
Try to swap one of your animal protein meal with plant protein, such as lentils, beans, quinoa, tofu, ...
It will be a long process, so you need something that works for you. Low carb is not for everyone. If you struggle, you will never be able to keep going. Cut sugary stuff, fried stuff, ultra processed stuff, but have small amount of complex carbs. A don't think a carrot will make you fail.

Yes, but for my peace of mind, I want to give it one last attempt and develop a healthy relationship with food

you do know that that’s the goal of using Injectables don’t you? It helps you reset and kick starts weight loss. You still have to make healthy choices. The difference is you want to. And the effect on your blood sugar.

Pcos it notoriously difficult to lose weight due to insulin resistance. I've only seen success with a very low carb diet, no bread, no rice, no pasta, no cereal, no potatoes including sweet potatoes.
Only carbs from non starch based veg

Pcos it notoriously difficult to lose weight due to insulin resistance. I've only seen success with a very low carb diet, no bread, no rice, no pasta, no cereal, no potatoes including sweet potatoes.

or….perhaps there’s something easily available that addresses the medical issue of insulin resistance…oh, maybe not. On you go with a restrictive diet for life.

Eat more plants for your insulin sensitivity
"Animal protein consumption activates glucagon secretion and therefore intensifies insulin resistance whereas vegetable protein enhances insulin sensitivity. Improving the quality of the diet by increasing plant-based protein while reducing or excluding animal food has a prominent beneficial effect on insulin sensitivity "
Better for your weight, insulin sensitivity, you and the animals.