Why am I not losing weight?

[EdinaTheConfessor]

I lost 7 stone over the last couple of years with mounjaro.
I have been of MJ and maintaining for a few months and then put on 7 lb at Christmas 🙈
I have been trying to shift it since the new year and it’s just not going anywhere.
I thought it would be dead easy as whenever I first start a diet (in the years before MJ) I’ve always been able to shift the first half stone or so dead easily. But that of course was with a much higher starting weight.
I’m 9 stone, I want to get back to 8st 7 which was where I was most of last year. My maintenance calories are pretty low as I have a very sedentary job.
I have calorie counted everything using nutracheck. Every day is coming in below 1000 calories (which really is what I need for a decent deficit) I’m trying to increase protein, I have not touched alcohol, I’ve started running (C25K) and do Pilates 3x weekly.

Why am I not losing weight?

You’re eating too little?

Well done on the major weight loss, and for maintaining well. Keep going! Unfortunately, at lower weights, it takes longer to shift notable numbers, and your body is likely keen to hold on where it is.

Lots and lots of water, maybe try a different type of exercise?

Also, when I restart ways of eating, sometimes I have little shortcuts or favourites that were only effective in long term weight loss strategies rather than at a fresh start. Could that be the case for you? Eg for me, delicious low carb pizza substitutes that were very fatty - fine as a treat but I was eating it too often because I enjoyed it!

Have you started the new ‘diet’ at the same time as the exercise? I find that confuses my body sometimes, it’s a recipe for panic and water retention, which means the scales stay stagnant for longer.

I don’t think it’s eating too little. I was eating a similar amount while losing on MJ.
I have started the running at the same time as the diet. Also, which doesn’t help I am going vegetarian January (veganuary is too hard!) so protein is a struggle.
But I’m not snacking! And not drinking, which is a biggie for me, I am partial to wine.

I’m eating mainly whole foods, lost of veg, pulses, wholewheat versions of pasta/rice etc.
I’ve tried to not to be too carb heavy which is difficult while eating veggie.
I think the only processed food I’ve eaten all month is some veggie sausages last night.

But calories in vs calories out right? And nutracheck says I’ve been in at least a 500 calories deficit every day

Have you very recently started running? Did you do much exercise before? As any new exercise will cause inflammation of the muscles which will show on the scales, give it a few weeks and the inflammation will settle. Are you tracking every single calorie such as drinks, oils etc.

Try weight training to build tone. Its important.

Make sure you're eating enough lean protein - eggs, beans, chicken, fish.

• Drink lots of water and some green tea.

• try hiring a nutritionalist at a lower cost than weight loss drugs.

I would say if you're only going vegetarian for 'veganuary' to consider dropping it or just focussing on not putting any more weight on until February.

Not that you can't eat healthily on a vegetarian diet, but if you're over-reliant on carbs and maybe not getting enough protein your body might be doing some insulin-related stuff (yes, as you can tell I am not a qualified dietician!) and holding on to weight.

Thanks all!
I think I just need to keep at it, hopefully like you say my body is hanging on to water etc, and I’ll start to see the numbers drop down in the coming weeks.
Defo tracking everything. I’m putting all the recipes I cook in to the app with all ingredients. To be honest I’m probably not even eating all the calories I’m logging as when I’m dishing up a recipe for 2 for example, I always give him a bigger portion but log it as if I am having half

Are you eating at least BMR calories daily?

I assume that’s a joke post?

Do you record body measurements ie waist, chest etc?

This is interesting, thank you, I have thought about going back to meat in order to up my protein. Otherwise it’s cheese which is not conducive to weight loss!
But I do really enjoy vegetarian food. I love cooking and it’s so much easier to be creative and try new things while I’m doing veggie. I can do a bit of both though I suppose, I do the rest of the year.

No I haven’t been. Probably should. Although my clothes don’t seem to fit any different to what they did before I put on this half a stone

No it’s genuinely not! Under 1000 calories a day is very little and your body needs a basic amount each day just to function.

Are you sure you’ve put on 7lbs in fat and not muscle? Have you been working out?

For reference I’m similar weight to you and I lost weight at Christmas because I stopped weight training, 2 lbs. I ate and ate, cheese and chocolate and whatever was going. It takes a lot more than overeating for a few days to gain weight. You could just be retaining water, or a bit constipated.

Why not just try to stay at 9st?
If it's within your healthy BMI, maybe 9st is the perfect weight for you? Stay fit and active and eat what you need to stay at 9st. Not a good idea to go on a crash diet, as we all know it always ends in tears.

It’s funny you should say this as 9 stone was my target weight but I went down to 8.5 to give myself a buffer (in the event of things like Christmas!) which I’m glad I did. I just want that buffer back again just in case.
Maintenance is bloody hard, harder than losing the weight was on MJ and I would just be more comfortable getting back down to 8.5 rather than risk going any higher than 9.

According to my smart scales my body fat % has increased.

You definitely are not eating enough.
Your body thinks it's starving itself.. so it's keeping the "fat" to protect to you.
What does your provider say? I email mine when l have a problem.. they either e mail back or ring me ( Ashcroft pharmacy).

I’m no longer on MJ.

I lost weight eating similar if not fewer calories while I was on MJ so I’m not sure I buy into that theory.

Actually, just checked my stats, and although my body fat has increased since before Christmas it is actually coming down very slightly each day this last week even though my weight isn’t budging. And my skeletal muscle is increasing by tiny amounts, so looks like the exercise is working and the fat is converting to muscle. I feel better for knowing that.

This is nonsense about not eating enough. It’s more likely one or a combo of these things -

you are calories counting incorrectly in some way and you are taking in more calories than you think you are

yiur body is responding as it should to new exercise with inflammation. And this holds water, and masks the weight loss temporarily.

the fat % on home scalea is not particularly accurate. My home scale (Garmin) is not particularly reliable in the breakdown, but very accurate for showing trends overall

are you sure you’re counting drinks/butter/olive oil/fruit correctly? (They are the ones I seem to let slip back in)

I bet you see some loss soon!

good luck!

fat doesn't convert to muscle ffs!! You burn fat and build muscle. Unless you're lifting heavy weights several times a week it's quite hard to increase muscle mass as woman, and if you were you'd actually be smaller in size at the same weight because muscle is more dense than fat.
Home body fat scales are pretty inaccurate and largely depend on how hydrated you are. I wouldn't compare readings on a daily or weekly basis, you need to look at longer term trends.