Scale not going down

[TheBluntCrab]

Just that really. I've been back on it for three weeks. Massive calorie deficit and walking 10k steps everyday as well as some you tube workout videos. I'm following the Team RH plan and meticulously tracking. I've lost NOTHING is three weeks. The trend is staying the same. No loss, no gain. But how?! From someone of my size, 280 lbs, 5.4. the weight should be falling off seriously? I'm getting so disheartened and I'm trying so so hard. Why is it not moving?! Can anyone tell me what's going wrong? As far as I know I'm doing eveythung right. I even lowered my daily calories last week. Still nothing. I weigh every day, at the same time, in the same spot.

Focus on high quality foods with good protein. Avoid any shitty carbs - stick to the good ones. Check your progress with photos or a pair of tight fitting trousers for now. Keep going! X

You mentioned you don't eat a lot but that you do add cheese to (some of) what you do eat. If you're anything like me, cheese might be the culprit. I did start on Orlistat in mid-2024, but I also totally gave up cheese at the same time.

If I'm honest, I was eating a lot more cheese than I cared to admit. I would grate it on anything savoury I ate. Giving up cheese alongside taking Orlistat led me to losing 3 stone. Absolutely nothing else worked until I did these two things in conjunction.

@ShawnaMacallister OP is not losing weight. This suggests that she could cut more calories. Not dramatically but perhaps slightly less? Her basic functions will use the calories they need and excess weight will come off.

OP please speak to your doctor and ask them what is reasonable.

It’s very hard to lose weight and keep it off if you are insulin resistant. You mention you drink Diet Pepsi which leads me to question what other things in your diet may be working behind the scenes to scupper all your efforts. The bottom line is that our bodies don’t have a little furnace where we burn the foods and drinks we consume, we are complex and extremely finely tuned and calories are a crude and somewhat unhelpful measure of how any substance will affect our weight.
I strongly suggest listening to the Zoe podcasts (selectively initially as they are not all weight related). There’s an interesting program you can watch called ‘What not to eat’ which you might find helpful. Take a look at The Glucose Goddess too. Further suggested reading would be Ultra Processed People by Dr Chris Van Tulleken and The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung.
All of these sources are based on modern scientific evidence backed by scientific studies and delivered by leading scientific experts.
Lastly get your thyroid function checked and if you are peri/menopausal consider HRT.

@TheBluntCrab , “If your weight hasn’t changed in 3 weeks, you are eating too much, period.”
This is dreadful advice and completely wrong and not backed by any scientific evidence. It makes me so cross that it is constantly trotted out. It is perfectly possible, indeed not uncommon to be eating too few calories and still not losing weight.

She's done 2 weeks at 2200 calories and just dropped to 1800. She's just had a period and increased exercise in that time. She's not a medical mystery, she will lose weight if she's in a calorie deficit. However the answer to her current situation is to give it some time on 1800 calories and let the water retention from period and exercise subside before making any further changes - not reduce calories even further!

How? Over one to two weeks, maybe - due to other factors balancing against fat and muscle loss thereby masking loss - but over a longer period how are you claiming people can eat too few calories and not lose weight?

@ShawnaMacallister , because I’ve studied the scientific evidence. Do you really believe that our bodies process 100 ‘calories’ (such an unhelpful metric) in exactly the same way as 100 calories of doughnut? They don’t. So if your diet is very low in calories but very high in those foods and drinks which encourage insulin resistance then you will be malnourished and your metabolism will crash at the same time as your body being in a fat storing mode. To add insult to injury being malnourished easily leads to muscle loss and muscle is more metabolically active than fat (uses more energy).

@ShawnaMacallister , that should say ‘100 ‘calories’ of avocado (in the same way as 100 calories of doughnut. Apologies.

Update. I'm just getting through everyone's replies.
I've been eating way less that 1800 calories the last week or so. That is my new goal, I aim to be UNDER it and usually am by a couple hundred.

Anyway.

Weighed this morning at 275.5 😍 so a 3.5 lb loss literally overnight 🤨

Fantastic news! Well done 😀

I can only assume that she posters were right and I was maybe just a bit inflamed and holding onto some water.

There you go.
Don't reduce calories any further. It's not a race, and if you go too low you'll damage your metabolism, muscle and energy.

Awesome news, keep going 💪🏼

Respectfully, you’ve said that the calories they’ve given you just don’t work for you, but you’ve lowered them and this also isn’t working for you by the sounds of it.

if you’re not losing weight you’re not in a calorie deficit.

What on earth are you talking about, there is no such scientific evidence.

our bodies use calories to fuel itself.
if you do not put enough fuel in, it burns muscle or fat to fuel it.
when you burn muscle or fat, your body becomes lighter.

thats how it works, there is absolutely no scientific evidence saying the human body fuels itself with air. It can only burn its own stores.

the only way weight loss can be offset is with fluid retention, but for 3 weeks would be highly unlikely. The op has dropped her cals and lost weight, so likely during her period regained water.

op, well done, you now know how much to eat to lose. You need to keep assessing, as you lose weight your body needs less, so cals to lose drop.

You could always read all the OP's updates?

I find my period means my weight stays static or even goes up. It then drops after my period has finished so it could be that. I would speak to Team RH for advice or assessment of your diary. Good luck with your weight loss. It is motivating when the scales start moving. 🍀

Do you have any evidence for your assertion that 1400cals isn’t ok?

Have you watched any episodes of “My 600lb life” on YouTube?

Dr Now is a highly respected bariatric surgeon in the States who advises his massively morbidly obese patients who weigh at least 600lbs (that’s over 42 stones) to go on his 1200cal high protein/v low carbs. diet to lose weight before he agrees to give them weight loss surgery.

He expects them to lose at least 40lbs in 1 MONTH, sometimes more. And many of them manage to do it.

So I don’t think 1400cals a day for someone who at around 20 stones and half that weight is unreasonable, unless there are other health factors to be considered?

The 600lb life patients are crach dieting deliberately in advance of surgery. That doesn't mean it's ok or healthy to put your body on starvation rations in order to lose weight.

1200 cals isn’t starvation rations in any world.

@TheBluntCrab my prediction is that your body is holding onto excess water for some reason. My guess is that it will release all in one go over the next few days. So you might see a big drop on the scales seemingly overnight, a good few pounds off. Good luck.