Why am I not losing weight?

[Solo2]

I'm trying to eat sensibly and healthily and have cut out unhealthy foods and snacks for about a week now. However, I seem either to be putting on weight still! - or staying exactly where I was.{hmm}

I'm a vegetarian and a typical day at the moment would be a banana and hard boiled egg for bkfast, an apple and small bowl of unsugared muesli with milk for lunch, a carrot, tomato, 2 celery sticks, chopped red onion, cucumber and one tablespoon of basmati rice and a v small amount of cheese for supper. Additionally I have about 3 to 4 cups of tea - with milk - a day.

I've never calorie counted before and have little idea of what calories are in each food but can't imagine I'm eating more than I need to lose weight or maintain weight?

Anyone know why I'm not losing any weight yet - and in fact some days seem to be putting it on? Have I just not sustained this long enough yet?

Also, where can I find a list of what calories are in each food, rather than in a certain weight of food - ie not the calories in a 100mg portion of something but, rather, the calories in a single average banana or carrot?

I don't know how long you've been weighing yourself over, but over the course of a month, I will gain/lose (depending on how you look at it!) about 4-5lbs. All depends what time of the month it is.

I find I have about a week delay on weight loss, it cuts both ways, sometimes I have a "good" week and gain and sometimes I have a "bad" week and lose, it's dangerous when the latter happens as then I think I can get away with eating more and then get disappointed the following week!

Don't weigh yourself every day!! You can gain up ti 4lb if you weigh yourself in the morning & again at night

TAke your average weight over the period of a month & see how you go - have a weigh in on a certain day a week, even wearing the same clothes if you fancy it

TBH your dinner could be a bit more substantial. I have lost 2.5stone in the past year following the SW plan & I eat huge amounts of food.

Thanks for the feedback. I weigh myself once a day at the same time, early am and have started to watch what I eat at the lowest weight time of the month - yet still no results!

Can anyone point me towards a list of calories per food, so I can calculate what I'm eating at present?

ConnieComplaint, can you tell me more about how you can eat more than I do and still lose weight? Thanks

You haven't been doing it long enough, ime it takes about 3 weeks to start losing weight.

Also you sound as if you are eating very little, and that tends to be unsustainable over the longer term. It would be better to eat more, lose weight more slowly but keep it off.

And you don't say whether you are exercising at all? Again, you can lose weight just by eating less but to keep it off you need to increase your activity levels.

log on to foodfocus.co.uk

its free and you can log all your food for the day and it will give you the cals per food and a total.

you can also find out how many cals you should be having for weight loss.

I'll tell you what I eat in an average day on the SW Extra Easy plan:

Breakfast: Oat so simple (This is called a Healthy Extra B) with milk (milk is a HE A) & banana (free)

Snack mid morning: Banana & Orange (free)

Lunch: Bowl of Irish stew (all the ingredients are free as I made it accordingly) & a pear

Dinner: Chicken, peppers, carrots, onions, chillis done with a little bit of soy sauce served with boiled rice (all free on EE)

On top of all that free food you have 15 'syns' a day to 'spend' on whatever you want.. ie: sauce, gravy, a biscuit, bar of choc, crisps etc....

It really is easy to follow

Food Focus looks wonderful. Have just logged my breakfast and snack and realised the dog will need a very long walk this afternoon!

Hi Solo2. My advice is also not to weigh yourself every day - as Naetha says, your weight can fluctuate by several pounds even during a day. Once a week is enough and will give you a clearer idea of how youre doing - same day each week, as soon as you get up in the morning is best. I also think at the moment you are eating too little - you need to be wary of cutting calories so drastically because it can lead to bingeing later on (your body will rebel and make you eat more!. A good breakfast, light lunch and healthy dinner, with fruit or veg snack in between is what I'd recommend. Oh, and exercise too of course!

Thanks for the ideas. I seem to be eating a lot less than some and yet just this morning, I've PUT ON half a pound again, having finally lost - only - half a pound after several days healthy eating/ limited eating.

I am fed up! - or rather feeling under-fed-up but demoralised.

I get NO time at all to exercise (see an earlier post describing typical day as single mum of twins with no family/ support and running my own business f/t singlehandedly). So I thought I'd better at least try to cut down on what I eat, as the pounds just keep creeping on.

As I'm almost 47, could it be hormonal or something? I woke feeling bloated today, although it's nowhere near my time of the month yet. If I'd cut down on food like this in my 20s and 30s by now I'd have lost about half a stone. As it is, I've put back on the half pound lost, after massive massive effort, feel starving and like giving up!

I am mostly living on fruit and veg. with some milk in tea/ on muesli and tiny bit of cheese and rice. Compared with what I was eating a few weeks ago, I've given up bread and most carbs., have NO sugary stuff or chocolate and no crisps or any 'junk food'. I don't drink alcohol anyway and haven't for 13 yrs+ now.

BTW, I looked at Foodfocus but it implied once they'd got your details, they could start billing you at any time, when their service stopped being free. So I didn't join up.

Further ideas as to why I'm not losing any weight, despite probably eating two thrids of the calories I was eating???

I would cut out the cheese and have some protein like grilled chicken or salmon. Protein takes a while to digest.

Are you having skimmed milk?

I do Weight Watchers and that makes it very clear what you can eat. i got the book from ebay so i didnt have to go to meetings

There is also a theory that if you dont eat enough you body hangs on to its weight as it thinks your in trouble and will need them.

Thanks Verin. I'm vegetarian so don't eat meat or fish, which means I can only then rely on eggs, pulses, cheese for protein.

No I have full-fat milk but maybe should go for the skimmed (although I hate it!)

Which book do you have? I need something that gives calorific content of typical foods and amounts, eg one slice of bread, one banana.

It was after someone else here suggested I might not be eating enough that I ate a tiny bit more - but only of the fruit/veg. categories and seems subsequently therefore to have put back on the tiny bit of weight I lost!

I have this sense at the moment that even if I ate nothing for one week, I'd remain the same weight!!!!

I did read your post, honest! I missed the part where you said you were vegetarian, doh! Sorry.

WW attributes points to each food so you dont worry about calories. You also eat enough becasue you are aiming for x number of points. Slimming world is supposed to be good for vegetarians especially, they have red and green days. It does sound as if something like WW or Slimming World would help you.

Definatly switch to skimmed milk! Its not forever Porridge is good for filling you up.

Thanks for the messages. Does anyone know how many calories I've had today then?

One slice of wholemeal toast with veg. pate thinly spread. (bkfast) 2 cups of tea with full-fat milk (not had time to shop for skimmed yet). Small bowl of sugarfree muesli with milk.(brunch) One banana. (snack) Small bowl of cooked veg. - broccoli, caulifower, carrots (lunch)?????

I'm still looking HUGE and swollen and this am had lost no weight at all still.

Don't look for miracles straight away. I always used to find (with WW) that I could have a really good week, but it wouldn't show on the scales til the following week.
What you've had so far today sounds very reasonable (compared to what I've had!). Stick at it and it will come off, I guarantee.

And, fwiw, I've always believed it's counter-productive to weigh yourself every day. How about once a week, at the same time of day? You've got to look at it long-term, which is an average weekly weight loss of 1 - 2lbs. So some weeks it'll be 4lbs, and others none at all. But over the course of a few months, you'll slowly and surely deflate!

Good luck.

I am not by any means an expert, but tbh i think you are tying yourself up in knots, and not giving your new eating plan a chance.
I lose weight very very slowly, onwhat I feel i can manage as an eating plan.

Sometimesyour body goes into self preservation mode, if you eat too litle suddenly. it doesn't sound like you are eatingenough of the right things. I am veggie too, so know it's not as easy to find those proteins.

Can you have a look at slimming world for inspiration?

Are your scales reliable Solo? I ask as I had some crap ones which would register massive losses which made me perplexed yet ecstatic and then massive gains which made me and . I have since invested in a Weightwatchers one which is far more sensible.

Also, you talk about being "huge and swollen." Could you be suffering from water retention?

You seem to be eating very little to me. In fact I would think the amount of calories you are consuming is too low.

My advice would be to keep a food diary for a week and pop to the Doctors.

I think you're probably not eating enough!

You need to get some more protein in to your diet so consider adding some quorn or tofu, more eggs and some cheese for your calcium.

Switch to semi-skimmed milk if you don't like skimmed. Try porridge instead of muesli.

I would recommend you have your cereal at brekkie then have homemade soup at lunch - very filling and lots of veggies to ensure your vitamins. Way more fruit and veg needed. Also maybe some dried fruit like apricots or something to get some iron. As a veggie you really need to look at other ways to get iron and protein.

I would faint if I ate what you had in a day.
Your body is like a car - it need fuel to run properly and actually you are not doing your metabolism any good with this small amount of food and that's probably why you're not losing weight.

Also - don't weigh yourself every day. Your weight fluctuates so much in a day - once a week will give you a much more accurate view of how you are doing.

Hi, you are not eating enough here is what I would eat (veg) on a slimming world day. Breakfast, two weetabix with skimed milk and sweetner sugar sprinkled on top. Mid morns snack, ryvita minis or a two finger kit kat with a coffee and sweetners. Unlimited fruit.

Lunch
Jacket potatoe with beans and small amount of cheese plus a salad.

Dinner, pasta with tomatoes and lots of veg...

hope this helps...x

Thanks again. It's possible that my old bathroom scales are faulty. I think I might try to buy some proper modern ones. The ones I've got can alter if you stand on slightly different parts of them!

Re. eating, Ninablue, what you eat is sort of what I ate BEFORE trying to lose weight, when my weight began to creep up and up! This is weird! It's about 2 weeks now since I began to watch what I ate and there's absolutely NO weight come off and I fluctuate between 11st 7lb and 11st 8lbs I'm 5ft 6 and a half ins). Pre-children I was 10st 8llbs for yrs and yrs and post-twins, until last autumn, was about 11st 3lbs.

I will persist. Today I've eaten one boiled egg and a small roll, a small bowl of muesli with milk, 2 pears and my main meal tonight - two tablespoons of basmati rice, one grated raw carrot, handful of sprouting beans, half a diced red onion and some soya sauce mixed together in a salad.

I feel swollen, as the day goes on and I'm sure it must be water retention, which can start two weeks pre-period, where I am now - but even so, wouldn't you think I'd have lost half a pound even after 2 weeks?

If I eat even more, I'm sure I'll put on even more weight, given I'm not losing any - but at least no longer putting on more and more, after 2 wks....maybe I'll have a better idea in another 2 weeks.

What's average weight loss on a diet per month, if you're doing it sensibly, BTW? Dieting is new to me, as is calorie counting.

Hi again, I really don't understand why you are bloating up ( by the way I'm a mum of twins too!!) And yes I think you should at least have started to lose some weight,. Have you switched to skimmed milk yet? I also use sweetners. I think you should drop the muesli most of them contain alot of nuts and sugar which is highly calorific. I have been doing slimming world for a few months and steadily drop a pound a week. After the twins birth I was at my biggest as I was a bit depressed and shocked at having two babies, they are four now and I'm the smallest I have ever been since my twenties. Im 9st 11 I was almost 11 stone last winter...yikes!!!

Right, drop the roll with your egg and have beans instead. You must have a lunch, say jkt spud with tuna and sweetcorn or some pasta or if pasta bloats you like me then beans on toast? Lots and lots of fruit and water during the day as well. Are you drinking water? You may be dehydrated? Your main meal isnt large enough, your body is storing the fat as it thinks you are starving it so thats why you arent losing anything. Could you join a local SW club? Any chance of getting someone to bbsit the twins one eve? where aboutsa are you in the uk?
Nina x

Hi

You are not eating nearly enough good cals, Muesli is loaded in sugar and has loads of cals per portion. Bananas aren't the best on diets as they are higher in cals then other fruit and can cause bloating.

I would say if you tried something like this for a week and didn't lose weight then go the doctors for an MOT:

Porridge and Small Glass of Fruit Juice

Mid morning snack 2 pieces of fruit

Lunch - Soup and big salad

Afternoon Snack Small handful of nuts and raisens.

Evening Meal - No more than 600 cals.

Also Full Fat Milk doesn't have that much more fat in than Semi or Skimmed it's a bit of a myth!

To lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more, so I would say 30 mins exercise a day plus 1200 -1500 cals, 2 litres of water and you'll lose weight a couple of lbs per week.

But if you dont eat enough the body goes into famine mode and stores everything you eat so you will actually gain weight or stay the same.

Hope this helps, I've been following the above rules since Jan 1st and have lost a stone in weight, this is after months on WW and not losing a lb!

Hi again, I completely agree with Stylelostinlabour - follow those tips and you will lose weight but not too drastically. At the mo you are not eating enough protein (as important as carbs for helping you feel full) and your eve 'meal' is definitely too low-cal and low-nutrient. BTW the exercise is v important too - even a brisk 20-min walk a day will make a difference and will boost your mood as well.

The one thing I don't get time for is exercise, unless I sleep less than the 6 hrs I get/ night. That's why I'm trying to eat less. I am SO cross today as I've put ON about quarter of a pund and am now slightly MORE than where I started!!!!!!!!

If I allow for water retention, with my approaching perios, I still haven't lost any weight at all but just stayed the same. The most I 'lost' over the last 3 weeks is one pound and it's back on now plus another half pound.

I've swopped the museli (qhich didn't anyway have sugar in) to oats. I've dropped all carbs. except a tiny spoon of rice with my salads. I'm not 'cheating' and yet I'm not losing wght.

Could it be beacuse I started out eating less than most people do anyway? My 'normal', as veggie, mau contain fewer calories generally than non-veggies?? Dunno....I did eat choc. over Xmas (I don't drink alcohol at all) and crisps but we're talking only small amounts.

Now I'm eating ONLY healthy foods and less of those anyway and no weight loss.

Yes, I know I need to exercise and I desperately would LOVE to. But as a single mum running full-time business alone with no support/ family, my days already run from around 5am till 10pm no breaks, 'hitting the ground running' so to speak, from the moment I'm up at 5am.

If I get time, I'll try the meonpause forum today in case it's something to do with being peri-menopausal...Not sure I am, as no obvious signs but at nrly 47, it could be coming and maybe hormonal changes or thyroid changes might be making me put on wght...Dunno...

Really fed-up today but thanks to everyone's contributions. If I'd lost 3 pounds by now, I'd be really motivated. But to put ON half a pound, after 3 weeks, just makes me want to give up!!!!!!!