Still the same weight, sickened

ghostchips

Guys, I'd appreciate any advice ye'd have for me. I'm only 5ft 3' (female) but 84kg so obviously overweight. I've never been skinny but have always led a fairly active lifestyle - GAA, horseriding, hiking, etc. I don't drink or smoke. I have always had an alright diet too (always home-cooked meals, lots of fruit & veg, etc) but a far from perfect diet all the same so couldn't really act surprised when I tipped the scales at 84kg in Jan.

Anyway, I decided to cop on big-time and have been very strict with my diet for the past 6/7 weeks. I didn't weigh myself all along because I wanted the focus to be on a lifestyle change rather than just losing weight. I'd like to point out that I feel really great since starting to eat better - more positive, confident, etc so I was absolutely sickened today when I weighed myself and came in at the exact same weight I was when I started - 84kg.

I've been jogging between 35 and 50km every week (on a treadmill) for the past 6 weeks, as well as some weight training so I just couldn't believe it.

Here's my daily diet:

2 cups of decaff coffee with low fat milk
3 cups of green tea
3+ pints of water

Snacks: 25g 85% cocoa Lindt chocolate, or an apple or orange, or 2 boiled eggs

Breakfast (7.30): A bowl of multi-seed porridge (made with water and low-fat milk) with blueberries and honey

Mid-morning (11): 2 slices of brown bread with a scraping of real butter and either smoked salmon or sliced ham

Lunch (12.30): same

Snack (3.30): A bowl of blueberries with a banana and natural yogurt

Dinner (7/7.30): Oven-roasted cherry tomatos, mushrooms, onion with boiled carrot and brocolli and either a turkey steak, or a chicken breast, or a portion of fish (salmon or cod or whiting). Just a note on this - the plate is HEAPED with veg.

Now, obviously this isn't 100% perfect (flora instead of real butter, no chocolate whatsoever, etc) but I thought I would lose some bit of weight sticking to this diet and following my exercise plan. It isn't all about losing weight, of course. I need this to be a long-term and practical diet and to be honest I'm not sure I can be all that more disciplined than I am at the moment. I know it sounds childish but I see people around me all the time eating cakes, pastries, chocolate bars, etc at work and they don't seem to carry any extra weight. It's just so so disheartening.
I'm not going to give up eating healthily, I'm benefiting too much from it but can someone tell me if I'm eating too much or where I'm actually going wrong?

Thanks

silverharp

Im no expert and its not a bad diet but if your body is not shedding weight I'd switch your breakfast and lunch, your dinner seems fine. Have a couple of eggs for breakfast , scrambled or whatever, for lunch salad based with either cheese or some chicken. You might be sensitive to wheat so i'd pretty much cut it out and try the same with milk and see what happens. Blueberries are a great fruit but bananas I would cut back on. There should be no need to snack between meals. Maybe have some nuts or dark cholocolete in the evening if you have the munchies.

ghostchips

Thanks for your reply silverharp, it's much appreciated.
You might have a good point about eggs for breakfast a few times a week instead of the porridge, I'll definitely try that (although I have to admit I adore porridge ).

Are bananas bad? I'd only ever have one a day..

2xj3hplqgsbkym

That is very dishearting after all your good work.

Your diet sounds very good. Stick with the butter not the flora pro active. Dint worry about the small bit if chocolate either.

Have you taken any measurements, e.g hip, waist etc.. I wonder if these have changed at all?

Also perhaps for a while you might consider weighing your portions of porridge and salmon or meat?

silverharp

ghostchips wrote: »

Thanks for your reply silverharp, it's much appreciated.
You might have a good point about eggs for breakfast a few times a week instead of the porridge, I'll definitely try that (although I have to admit I adore porridge ).

Are bananas bad? I'd only ever have one a day..

if you wanted to test that you can loose weight I'd drop the porridge for a few weeks, they are high enough in carbs and it might be good to start low carb and introduce carbs back in slowly so no grains, pasta rice and even milk because it seems to raise blood sugar for some people. As for Bananas they are not the best fruit for losing weight, maybe have a banana if you are doing a big workout.

ghostchips

Thanks for your reply rosebush. I know my diet isn't perfect, I just thought it was good enough (combined with the exercise) to enable me to lose some weight and also practical enough that I'd be able to keep it up. Even though I really enjoy the foods I'm eating now, there's still a lot of discipline involved so I guess that's why I'm so disappointed. To spend over 6 weeks repeatedly saying no to anything sugary, starchy, etc and to not get anywhere at all in terms of weight loss....maybe I'm naive but I just don't understand it.

It's not all bad though, I feel the benefits of it in other ways and I'm absolutely not looking for a weight loss "quick fix". It has to be practical and sustainable for me.

I'll try to change a few things I guess - eggs instead of porridge a few times a week, bananas less often, etc. and see if that makes any difference. I didn't realise bananas weren't great.

SamforMayo

It is very disheartening but you have the right attitude and it is probably just a matter of tweaking the diet, you have made good changes and stuck with them. Are your clothes looser? Do you know what calories you are taking in and using? Your mid morning snack is quite big considering it is so close to lunch an then you have very little to keep you going between lunch and a late dinner, maybe you are allowing youself to get too hungry for dinner and then over eating? Portion side is really important. I think cut way back on the bread and try a salad with plenty of lean protein for lunch, I love bread but this works for me. Good luck and do not give up.

ghostchips

Also just to clarify re carbs, I haven't eaten any pasta, rice, white bread, spuds, etc since starting this diet so that's why I thought a bowl of porridge for breakfast would be okay. Maybe a few days less a week though..

Ecoone

One thing to consider at this point is that muscle is heavier than fat. You could have burnt fat and gained muscle at the same time when working out. You say you're feeling great, so you must be doing something right. Further fat loss might follow.

It's hard to know exactly what to include or exclude in your diet. Some people are sensitive to the hormones present in dairy. Milk contains hormones geared to make a calf gain a lot of weight very quickly and they can have the same effect on a person if sensitive to them. Soya also contains an oestrogen-like chemical that can trick the body into doing the same thing. Again, some people are more sensitive than others, so it is not necessarily a problem for you.

ghostchips

SamforMayo, you're probably right about the 11am snack - too much maybe. The reason I don't eat much between lunch and a late dinner is because I usually go jogging from 5pm onwards.

Re calories, I jog 6 days a week (between 5-10km every day) and have been using a running calorie calculator which estimates I use between 450 and 830 calories at a time. Of course, I take this as a rough guide only.

SamforMayo

You should have lost weight with all those changes and jogging/running is excellent for keeping the weight off but I found to lose the weight it really came down to the food. Are you undoing your good work at the weekend maybe? There was a similar thread on here recently http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=982&order=desc&page=2 , maybe this will help. (hope it is the right link, Im not good with technology)

When you click that link , scroll down the page to the title Looking for some help to loose weight, sorry I knew I had done something wrong

Moneymaker

Weight is only a number.

Do your clothes feel looser? Do you feel better?

I'd cut bananas and bread out. Bananas are crammed full of sugar and cutting carbs is probably the best way to lose weight.

Look at how you exercise too. Short and intensive training is superior in every way to running on a treadmill for an hour.

SamforMayo

Moneymaker wrote: »

Weight is only a number.

Do your clothes feel looser? Do you feel better?

I'd cut bananas and bread out. Bananas are crammed full of sugar and cutting carbs is probably the best way to lose weight.

Look at how you exercise too. Short and intensive training is superior in every way to running on a treadmill for an hour.

Good point, try interval training on the thread mill

MRledzepo

Hey you should try musli for breakfest , it's in lidl or cheap and is full of almonds , fruit , oats etc , fills you up with very little portions and keeps me going all morning and on match days is a charm

2xj3hplqgsbkym

Even taking all of these comments into account it is still hard to believe you haven't list weight. I am certainly no expert but maybe are you exercising too much? Should you have 2 rest days a week?
Also how about carb cycling? Have more carbs one day then less for subsequent days etc..

jane82

Relax. Dont let all the info get to you. Write down the portion sizes and slowly cut them. Take your time its for life not for march.
At the start building muscle can make the weight look like its not going sometimes. Try sub veg in for the fruit at times. Its quite sugery.
Get the portions down slowly is my advice.

ghostchips

Just to answer some of the questions - as I said, I feel great. Much better than before so no complaints on that front. Re clothes, I was starting to think they were a bit looser with the past fortnight but now I think I just convinced myself of it. Saw and felt what I was expecting to.
At the weekend, I follow the same diet except that I wouldn't eat as much bread. I'd have a couple of boiled eggs or a baked pepper stuffed with low fat cottage cheese and some baked beans or something at lunchtime instead of brown bread with salmon. I haven't had any "days off" at all. That's why I thought what rosebush thought above, that it's hard to believe I haven't lost any bit of weight at all considering I'm not cutting any corners. That's not to say I can't improve of course, some of yer suggestions have been great, it's just that I kind of thought I was sacrificing enough as it is to see some difference in weight...maybe I'm being naive and arrogant with that notion though

SamforMayo

ghostchips wrote: »

Just to answer some of the questions - as I said, I feel great. Much better than before so no complaints on that front. Re clothes, I was starting to think they were a bit looser with the past fortnight but now I think I just convinced myself of it. Saw and felt what I was expecting to.
At the weekend, I follow the same diet except that I wouldn't eat as much bread. I'd have a couple of boiled eggs or a baked pepper stuffed with low fat cottage cheese and some baked beans or something at lunchtime instead of brown bread with salmon. I haven't had any "days off" at all. That's why I thought what rosebush thought above, that it's hard to believe I haven't lost any bit of weight at all considering I'm not cutting any corners. That's not to say I can't improve of course, some of yer suggestions have been great, it's just that I kind of thought I was sacrificing enough as it is to see some difference in weight...maybe I'm being naive and arrogant with that notion though

Nope, I think you certainly have put in the effort and should be seeing the results, pick a dress from the wardrobe that's too tight at the moment and use that as your guide, write everything down and watch the portion side. Feck it, it is very de motivating, but remember you do feel better and eventually your hard work will pay off. Keep us posted.

homemadecider

How many calories are you eating?

How many calories are you burning off?

jane82

Yep, use this thread as the diary now if the mods allow it.

ghostchips

Thanks a million for all the support, advice, etc. I'm doing this alone so I really appreciate yer help.

I'm going to make some of the changes that were recommended here - cut down on porridge, brown bread, bananas. It'll be a few days before I can post here again but I'll let ye know how things go.

Thanks again to everyone who posted.

vitani

The only thing that jumps out at me from your diet is there's a lot of bread in it. Your breakfast, dinner & snacks look grand to me, but for mid-morning and lunch, I'd try and plan your meals around a protein and some fruit or veg, and leave the bread out for now.

Soup and salads are my go-to for lunches and they're foolproof to make.

In terms of calories and running, the rough estimate I use is 100 calories burned per mile run. So if you're running 5k, that's 300 calories gone. If you're running 10k, it's 600. If you can, I'd also try and get outside for a run - it's much more satisfying being out in the fresh air than indoors on a treadmill.

thegreatiam

1stly.
Do you know how much energy you use a day?
And do you know how much energy you eat a day?

If those figures are off then you won't lose weight.

2ndly.
Did you read the stickies in the health forum?

If not then I would advise you take a look.

They will explain how to figure out point one. Basically you will burn a certain amount of energy a day and you will get it from food and drink. Until you are burning less than you consume your weight won't drop.

You need to be aware of these figures. Then you need to eat the correct amount of food or do enough exercise to create that deficit.

Once you have your calorie total for the day you can start to decide which food you wish to eat to get to that total.

I would advise weighing everything you eat and drink. At least for 3 weeks. After that time you will have a good idea what your food adds up to.

Take a read of the stickies. They take you through step by step how to figure out those numbers and tell you what foods to eat.

jane82

People coming in from no training at all need to take it slow getting in. I think telling them to start weighing food and talk of macros and stuff like that is just going to scare them away.
Baby steps and all that.
Healthy food then reduce portions then use the tough science to get the last few miles I thinks the way to go.

thegreatiam

jane82 wrote: »

People coming in from no training at all need to take it slow getting in. I think telling them to start weighing food and talk of macros and stuff like that is just going to scare them away.
Baby steps and all that.
Healthy food then reduce portions then use the tough science to get the last few miles I thinks the way to go.

They already did that. Now they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. The next step is to measure what you are eating.

And it's not exactly hard science. It more about learning what your putting into your mouth and how it affects your overall weight and hunger.

Being aware. Even on a basic level. Of what your food is.and how it affects you is a huge step into making the whole process easier. Ignorance of this is why the vast majority of people waste their time "eating healthy" by loading up on pasta. Salads. Brown bread and avoiding fats. Leading to an unpleasant experience and/or failed weight loss.
Then then become frustrated and the attitude of I tried every diet and they don't work on me sinks in. Then they start looking for short cuts and extreme measures.

If they start early on.spend a.few boring minutes learning the information in the stickies. Then an extra few.minutes at meal time measuring some food for less than a months worth of meals they would save a lot of long term frustration and set backs.

99.999% of people who request help on line are either eating some notion of what they mistakenly thought was a healthy diet. Or they are way underestimating their food intake/overestimating their daily requirements. Both are going to make it hard to do any weight loss and both can be easily remedied in minutes.

tictac88

Would be worth having your thyroid levels checked. If your thyroid is underactive (and this is quite common, especially if there is a family history), it can be very difficult to lose weight.

Also I would recommend weighing yourself on a weekly basis. It is easier to track your progress this way and keep you motivated. Bear in mind that around the time of your period you can gain 3-4 pounds, but it drops again after it.

Jogathon

Op, sorry, but I think you are eating too much.
Your snack of two boiled eggs is an extra meal, not a snack. The same is true for your mid morning snack, it's also an extra meal, not a snack. You have put in your snacks as meals, and then put in a selection of extra snacks too.

I'm taller than you, more active and would eat less. I am slim but not a starved skinny malinks. So, that's my totally unqualified to judge opinion.

Well done on taking your weight issue in hand and good luck with it!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

two boiled eggs is 200 calories for large free range eggs. that's a snack, not a meal.

smcgiff

The greatiam is correct. The OP has tried the estimated hopeful approach and it didn't work. She sounds motivated and would be willing to learn a bit about basic metabolism. She is at the beginning of her weight loss attempt and should be seeing the easiest/biggest losses.

Basically - calories in less than calories used equals weight loss.

I would recommend the OP looks up their Metabolic Rate and use CalorieKing.com to measure her calorie intake.

I would also suggest some light weight work.

Hopefully, you drank loads of water just before you weighed yourself and you'll soon see the benefits. Good luck.

Shazaaam

Ditch the diet - ANY DIET. Eat like you ate before, eat everything but eat 50% less. For example, if you're having pasta then eat just one plate. Eat only 2-3 slices of bread per day - no more than that. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner only. And also, DO NOT EAT ANYTHING AFTER 18:00 - trust me it will be hard until your body gets used to that regime but it will be worth it and after 2 weeks you will start to lose weight rapidly. Sunday is your free day, you can eat as much as you want whatever you want - that way you will confuse your metabolism and keep your hedonic needs satisfied.

remember! 18:00 is your dinner time and the last meal, after that you can only drink water.

Alf Veedersane

Shazaaam wrote: »

Ditch the diet - ANY DIET. Eat like you ate before, eat everything but eat 50% less. For example, if you're having pasta then eat just one plate. Eat only 2-3 slices of bread per day - no more than that. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner only. And also, DO NOT EAT ANYTHING AFTER 18:00 - trust me it will be hard until your body gets used to that regime but it will be worth it and after 2 weeks you will start to lose weight rapidly. Sunday is your free day, you can eat as much as you want whatever you want - that way you will confuse your metabolism and keep your hedonic needs satisfied.

remember! 18:00 is your dinner time and the last meal, after that you can only drink water.

That craic about not eating after a certain time is nonsense.

It doesn't matter when the OP eats.

jane82

Shazaaam wrote: »

Ditch the diet - ANY DIET. Eat like you ate before, eat everything but eat 50% less. For example, if you're having pasta then eat just one plate. Eat only 2-3 slices of bread per day - no more than that. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner only. And also, DO NOT EAT ANYTHING AFTER 18:00 - trust me it will be hard until your body gets used to that regime but it will be worth it and after 2 weeks you will start to lose weight rapidly. Sunday is your free day, you can eat as much as you want whatever you want - that way you will confuse your metabolism and keep your hedonic needs satisfied.

remember! 18:00 is your dinner time and the last meal, after that you can only drink water.

Jaysis. Is this one of them new weightwatcher group things. Im surprised telling her to start smoking cause it decreases appetite isnt on there.
In fairness though after 6pm is when your home alone and nobody can see what your eating so I think thats the point of it. Telling somebody who started eating healthy but large amounts to going back on the crappy foods is negligent though.
Decrease the food amounts. Your stomach will get used to it after a bit of hunger.

smcgiff

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

That craic about not eating after a certain time is nonsense.

It doesn't matter when the OP eats.

That's probably the closest thing in that post that comes close to decent advice. The later you leave eating the longer your body will be busy digesting food when your body should be concentrating on sleep and repair. I would think you'd be able to get at least to 7 or 8 though depending on sleep patterns.

Alf Veedersane

smcgiff wrote: »

That's probably the closest thing in that post that comes close to decent advice. The later you leave eating the longer your body will be busy digesting food when your body should be concentrating on sleep and repair. I would think you'd be able to get at least to 7 or 8 though depending on sleep patterns.

It's a bit puritanical to say you can't have anything after 6/7/8.

I wouldn't be eating a main meal in the hour before I go to bed but I might have something small and more solid than water.

bladespin

Not an expert but have shared in frustration like this, I have noticed some things:

I set unachievable goals to start and lost heart when I couldn't get there.

I got completely caught up with the scales, I started by loosing a fair amount of weight and then it stopped, very annoying, I did 'look' a lot better though, my guess was my body composition was changing as I got fitter - muscle weighing more and all that.

To try to loose some more weight and lean up I tried a fasting plan (2 day diet type thing), to 'shock' my bod back into action, it worked, lost over a stone after that.

That's my 2c, best of luck and keep up the good work, don't be disheartened.

thegreatiam

Shazaaam wrote: »

Ditch the diet - ANY DIET. Eat like you ate before, eat everything but eat 50% less. For example, if you're having pasta then eat just one plate. Eat only 2-3 slices of bread per day - no more than that. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner only. And also, DO NOT EAT ANYTHING AFTER 18:00 - trust me it will be hard until your body gets used to that regime but it will be worth it and after 2 weeks you will start to lose weight rapidly. Sunday is your free day, you can eat as much as you want whatever you want - that way you will confuse your metabolism and keep your hedonic needs satisfied.

remember! 18:00 is your dinner time and the last meal, after that you can only drink water.

...and this is why you need to read the stickies. There is so much wrong here I'm not even going to bother pointing it out. Suffice to stay you can safely ignore the whole diatribe.

Read the available info. Calculate how much your body uses a day and simply eat less than you require.

No need to confuse your metabolism (such a thing is not really possible) no need to strictly limit your food. No need to binge on a Sunday and undo your work. No need to worry about meal times.

Whiplashy

OP as a few others have pointed out, your diet is healthy but you do seem to be eating too much to lose weight. At 5ft3 you're body naturally requires less calories than a taller person. You should try something like my fitness pal to track all your food for a week. You can input your daily exercise and the app works out how much calories you require in a day. Remember that ALL food, including fruit and veg contains calories. Bananas are pretty high in calories so best to cut down on them.

Also are you weighing your porridge every morning? A serving of porridge\muesli etc is actually a lot smaller than most people think! I always have to weigh any cereal I eat or I'll end up having 3 portions in the bowl. If you track the calories accurately and cut down on portion size you should see results.

Replace mid morning and afternoon snacks with a small orange, apple, pear or a handful of grapes. You should hane no need of more, judging by your breakfast, lunch and dinners. Have chololate once a week only. Same with bananas as they've loads of calories. If you've an iphone, theres a calorie counting app you can download. Get a small weight watching scales and weigh everything. Having a plate heaped with veg might not be the best! Theres still caloreis in it all!

Alf Veedersane

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

That craic about not eating after a certain time is nonsense.

It doesn't matter when the OP eats.

smcgiff wrote: »

That's probably the closest thing in that post that comes close to decent advice. The later you leave eating the longer your body will be busy digesting food when your body should be concentrating on sleep and repair. I would think you'd be able to get at least to 7 or 8 though depending on sleep patterns.

I thought the idea was to stop evening snacking.
Still I mean saying 6pm only is a bit daft especially if OP isn't even home from work then or whatever

thegreatiam

Deleted User wrote: »

Replace mid morning and afternoon snacks with a small orange, apple, pear or a handful of grapes. You should hane no need of more, judging by your breakfast, lunch and dinners. Have chololate once a week only. Same with bananas as they've loads of calories. If you've an iphone, theres a calorie counting app you can download. Get a small weight watching scales and weigh everything. Having a plate heaped with veg might not be the best! Theres still caloreis in it all!

there will be "calories in" everything you eat. and an orange apple pear or handfull of grapes will likely contain as many calories as a plate of veg, most of it sugar.

Where weight loss is concerned veg is king, packed with nutrients and fibre and low calorie. When in doubt eat a carrot. not an apple.

nearlythereacca

Theres a soft test you can do for thyroid , http://www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testing/basal_temperature.html

Also, resistance and strength training is far more effective than endurance for fat loss. I would swap out your routine a little ,see what happens.

TimeToShine

ghostchips wrote: »

Here's my daily diet:

2 cups of decaff coffee with low fat milk
3 cups of green tea
3+ pints of water Negligible

Snacks: 25g 85% cocoa Lindt chocolate, or an apple or orange, or 2 boiled eggs

Breakfast (7.30): A bowl of multi-seed porridge (made with water and low-fat milk) with blueberries and honey

Mid-morning (11): 2 slices of brown bread with a scraping of real butter and either smoked salmon or sliced ham

Lunch (12.30): same

Snack (3.30): A bowl of blueberries with a banana and natural yogurt

Dinner (7/7.30): Oven-roasted cherry tomatos, mushrooms, onion with boiled carrot and brocolli and either a turkey steak, or a chicken breast, or a portion of fish (salmon or cod or whiting). Just a note on this - the plate is HEAPED with veg.

Hi OP,

I'm sorry to say that I'm quite firmly in the "you're eating too much" camp. I think your diet is very varied and healthy and would suit many people but I'm afraid in my view it won't work for you. You are 5'3 and female, I would estimate your daily calorie expenditure at roughly 1500 calories, aside from any exercise you do. Your dinner seems fine but some of those snacks just won't cut it. If I were to estimate I would say you should aim for roughly 1500-1800 calories per day. Including your jogging you should be at around a 500-800 calorie deficit which is perfectly reasonable at your height and weight. Snacks such as "a bowl of blueberries with a banana and natural yoghurt" could easily add up to 300-400 calories depending on how many blueberries and how much yogurt. 4 slices of brown bread a day is a lot, could be anything from 50-80 calories a slice. Top that off with butter and whatever else and your snacks could be accounting for two thirds of your daily diet.

I'm not trying to berate you or anything but I think you should maybe have breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then a small snack before bed. Try and write down what you eat as well and use google to find out approx how many calories you're ingesting.

Good luck.