Not losing weight why??

umboma

umboma

umboma

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Hello all,

I’m not sure how to explain this but I’ll give it ago.

About 4 months ago I decided I wanted to lose weight at the time I was 21st 2lbs, since then I’ve lost 4stone and I’m now 17st 2lbs.

But the last 2/3 weeks I’ve not lost anything and it’s starting to bug me as I set myself a target of 16st. I’m in touching distance but I just can’t lose anymore weight.

I’m on a IF 16/8 diet and I’ve really cut my food down / making better choices.

My average days looks something like.

No breakfast because of If

Lunch:tuna sandwich 350cal
Alpine bar 70cal
Bag of crisps 70 to 108cal depending on the crisps

Dinner: chicken breast, colliflower rice, 200g of sweat potato Home made chips. Dinner in total comes to about 450cals

So I’d have about 1200 cal per day I don’t want to go lower then that. At no point do I feel hungry.

I’m a postman so I do about 6-10 miles walking in all types of weather on all types of terrain, hills steps, flats.

I also go to the gym for a weight programme first thing in the morning for about an 1.5 hours. So I think I’m getting plenty of exercise.

Now the bad side that I think you lot will point out but in my head I don’t want to believe it lol.

I do drink a lot of Pepsi max a 2ltr bottle per day, it’s 0 cal right? And I might treat myself if I have lots of cal remaining to a ice cream ‘magnam’ but the Pepsi and ice cream is something I’ve always had when at the start of the diet when I lost 4st.

So after a long read, what am I doing wrong?
 
First of all I would drop the Pepsi for water, see if that helps.
I think some times you do hit a plateau and it will level out for a while, just keep at it, you are obviously starting to get healthier just keep cracking on with it :)
 
17st and 6-10 miles of walking per day on 1200kcals and you don't feel hungry, something isn't right there.

I'm around 16.5-17st office job and train in the gym 3 times a week, at 1200kcals I'd be eating my colleagues and not even feeling bad about it.

I'd say you may well be vastly underestimating what you're eating.
 
You say average day, you don't binge on the weekend do you? I'm quite bad for that, do really well in the week, eat too much on the weekend and get nowhere. As others had said 1800 calories would still be a cut, eat a bit more. To put in perspective I eat around 1800 calories, probably a bit more at 14st and am losing weight. I'm reasonably active, go to gym 6 days a week and go to rugby training twice a week as well.
 
tom_e said:
17st and 6-10 miles of walking per day on 1200kcals and you don't feel hungry, something isn't right there
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agree - and given your active job sounds surprising you do not need carbs in the morning;
are those being consumed at the end of the day 'stored' since they are not needed then, so consider adjusting your IF period ?
 
MikeTheNative said:
about 100 calorie a slice, bread dependent, don't think tuna is that calorific but with spread etc you would think it's probably over that.
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Why would you need "spread" if you have tuna mayo in there? When I was on a diet I cut it out because you don't notice the difference. 350 cals is possible if you don't eat a whole tin of tuna.

OP, sounds like you body could have adapted. Maybe you need to take a break for a few weeks at a normal calorie level before going back down to 1200 cals again?
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Why would you need "spread" if you have tuna mayo in there? When I was on a diet I cut it out because you don't notice the difference. 350 cals is possible if you don't eat a whole tin of tuna.

OP, sounds like you body could have adapted. Maybe you need to take a break for a few weeks at a normal calorie level before going back down to 1200 cals again?
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I meant spread/sauce.
 
I use an app called ‘Lose it’ to track cal etc, I just scan in the barcode and it brings up all the info, sandwiches are home made I eat the Dutch smaller bread bout 70cal each. I don’t like butter in sandwiches so it’s just a light mayo, tuna, cucumber maybe tomato.

All chips are hand made without oil in a air fryer. And I only have them really to bump up my intake to around 1200cal.

I’ll try ditching Pepsi and see how that goes for a week or two.

It’s just disheartening to be good all week jump on the scales and not lost anything.

On my off days I don’t binge eat I just up my cals from 1200 to normal 2000 to 2300.

I’ll have a small takeaway when I hit smaller goals like every stone lost. But it’s still only around the 2500cal mark for the day.
 
Underestimating calories for sure, a guy your size eating 1500 a day with bits of excercise would make you lose weight for sure. Also worth noting it doesn't matter where your calories come from as long as your in a deficit. Body composition would just suffer but 80/20 good to bad food ratio on a daily basis would give good results. I'd go back and make sure the weight of what your eating and products are what you think they say also my fitness pal is the choice of tracking app.
 
This is something I never understood, I'm around 6 foot, 12 stone and could eat like a horse for weeks, eat anything and put of very little weight maybe a stone at most. The opposite is true also, I can lose weight in days. A genetic thing maybe.
 
I am a certified greedy barsteward, and life as a carer means the kitchen cupboard is now my best friend. Not healthy at all, and I'm experimenting with becoming the world's worst yo-yo dieter. So far it's going well, sadly, but I think I still may have some useful thoughts after many years of regular 'calorific restriction' to keep in a healthy range for me (I have a bad back after 25 years in retail, so can't afford to get chunky).

In your case I wonder if the hot weather and outdoor life is encouraging some water retention? No harm in that, I'd have thought, if it is the case. You've got to stay hydrated in a job like that at times like this. However ultimately I know from personal experience that it's very, very easy to underestimate what you're eating. And I also know that if I don't knock almost all carbs on the head, the only thing I'm losing is time. Given that you've done brilliantly and are no longer carrying about 25 bags of sugar around with you, your body will also need fewer calories, so that and your underestimation may have reached stalemate.

Having said I cut out all carbs, I do usually have a rice cracker smeared thinly with peanut butter for breakfast though, because it seems to set me up for abstinence until much later in the day. I find that whether it's advisable or not, I tend to save the bulk of my intake until the evening, because if there's one thing guaranteed to kill weight loss for me, it's going to bed hungry. My willpower is far better earlier in the day. Says the man who just cracked and ate a wholemeal bun with Marmite. Do as I say, not as I do. :-)

My other rule is no sugar. Magnums are lovely, but if I eat anything sugary it just kickstarts cravings and ruins the flavour of apples etc, which all taste so much better if your palate's weened off a 'normal' diet. There is a Magnum in our fridge though. There used to be many more. Remember the do as I say, thing. ;-) Best rule for this kind of thing is 'if you don't want to be tempted, don't buy it in the first place!' but that's easier said than done unless you live on your own and can strip the house of temptation.

Another tip I use is to clean my teeth after eating. I know they say you have to be careful how soon you brush after eating, but it's more to freshen my mouth than to actually scrub. I used to use mouthwash, but these days I'm worrying about a potential connection with a variety of diseases which may be connected to the bacterial cocktail in our mouths and guts, so I try not to use it very often. Anyway, a minty fresh gob tends to limit the desire to eat more, if only because everything will taste minty fresh if you start eating again.

Of course that doesn't always help. Especially if you like mint Magnums or mint jelly sandwiches.

One thing to consider as well is that intense exercise usually makes people more hungry. It also usually uses up far fewer calories than most people expect. So your gym sessions might actually be making things harder for you. On the plus side you might be gaining muscle instead of fat, but it's not as if muscle weighs a huge amount more than fat.

Anyway, I'm off to burn some calories scrubbing a carpet. Don't ask why I'm scrubbing, let's just say I definitely won't be hungry afterwards. Typing this has been displacement activity. :-)

Good luck.
 
jsmoke said:
A genetic thing maybe.
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Some people will be at the high end of the metabolic spectrum, but it's more likely that your definition of 'eat whatever I want' is different to those of us with more badly behaved willpower and/or hormones. Ultimately calories in greater than calories out is always the problem, but I've been convinced lately that some people's brains don't have very good appetite suppression hormones. It means that some people only stop eating when their stomach's straining rather than when their brain is telling them 'ok, that's quite enough of that for now'.
 
Andrew_McP said:
Some people will be at the high end of the metabolic spectrum, but it's more likely that your definition of 'eat whatever I want' is different to those of us with more badly behaved willpower and/or hormones. Ultimately calories in greater than calories out is always the problem, but I've been convinced lately that some people's brains don't have very good appetite suppression hormones. It means that some people only stop eating when their stomach's straining rather than when their brain is telling them 'ok, that's quite enough of that for now'.
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Well as of tomorrow let's post our calorie count?
 
I can eat till my stomach strains eat what I like and not put on a stone, I hang around 10.5-11 stone.

Don't think walking is enough even if it's your job need to get heart rate up and sweat a bit, so that every day an hour a day for months and lose that fat. Like 10-20 mile cycle ride 5 days a week
 
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