Why I am not losing weight?

Mammapinkbear

Hi I've just recently been to a nutritionist and had a food intolerence test done. I am intolerent to dairy, eggs, wheat but not gluten, a few varieties of fish and shelfish, potatoes, and a few other bits. I have been following a strict diet over the past 2 weeks and I have lost a total of 1.2lb over this period. Now I know any loss is a loss but having gone from a really unhealthy diet to eating much more healthy should I not expect to have lost a lot more especially in the beginning?

A typical day is as follows:
Breakfast:
Glass of hot water with freshly squeezed lemon.
Porridge oats made with water, tsp. honey and cinnamon to taste, with almond milk and goji berries.
Snack:
Piece of fruit e.g., apple
Lunch:
3 unsalted rice cakes or 2 slices home-made spelt bread; topped with organic peanut butter and sliced banana. Cup of tea with almond milk.
Dinner:
Oven cooked chicken fillet with spices and oven roasted sweet potatoes with steamed broccoli and cauliflower.
Supper:
Cup of tea with almond milk and 2 oat cakes and piece of fruit.
I try to drink lots of water every day but just average 1.5L most days.

I should add that I take a lot of medication as I am recovering from a serious illness and also because of that I am also unable to do any form of conventional exercise but I do attend physio/rehab once a week.

So can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong or what I need to do to get on track to lose weight. Since I became ill I gained 50lbs and therefore this extra weight is making my physical recovery more difficult and don't worry my doctor is in favour of me losing this weight and agrees it would do my recovery no harm by doing so.

Thanks in advance for any feedback or tips offered.

LeinsterDub

First bit of advice go to a real dietitian

http://www.ion.ac.uk/information/onarchives/spotthedifference

Alf Veedersane

Part of it may be down to medication but in order to get a better handle on it you need to know what level of calories you need and what level of calories you're eating.

You can get an idea of the calories you burn every day (TDEE) and you can use MyFitnessPal to see what calories are in the food you eat. You can get a small digital kitchen scales for less than a tenner - will be useful in seeing the quantity of porridge oats etc.

You could also do with getting more protein and fats in there instead of some of the carbs. The breakfast is porridge, lunch is rice cakes/spelt bread, for example.

Bear in mind, it's only two weeks which isn't that long.

Rayne Wooney

1-2 pounds per week is what's recommend so you are not far off. At the end of the day it's all a numbers game, if you eat 500 calories less than your body needs per day you will lose 1-2 pounds per week. Your nutritionist has probably explained all of this already, about TDEE. Weight loss is simple in theory but being consistent is where people struggle.

Step 1 if you haven't already is add up the calories in all of the food in your post and see really how much you are taking in per day, be as accurate as possible it's very easy to underestimate how many calories you are taking in!

goldenhoarde

As others have pointed out try and get a real figure on all you are eating - write down everything over a few days -> butter on bread/toast, sugar, no of cups of tea with milk, high sugar drinks etc. Use the calculators Alf Veedersane has linked to.

Portion size is another thing. Eating healthy is all good and well but if the portion size is twice what it should be!!!!!!

As you say you are on a lot of meds so take a look at the instructions with these and see what the side affects are. Weight Gain may be one of them, if so a chat with the GP or chemist regarding this might lead to a change in meds that don't have weight gain as a side effect.

Mammapinkbear

Thanks for the replies guys. I have done that TDEE test and my daily calorie intake is coming in way below what that states even for weight loss; is that a bad thing as I've heard before that not eating enough could be a factor for not losing weight? Basically according to TDEE I should be consuming up to approx 1550 cals for weight loss but according to my fitness pal tracker I am taking in around 1100 on average on a daily basis.
My meds mostly do quote weight gain as a side effect although there is one that states weight loss - and there is no chance of changing any of my meds as it has taken a few months of chopping and changing for them to find the balance that gives me some pain relief so I ain't messing with that right now!
I just need to find out what I'm doing wrong that is causing me to not lose weight. Also have any of you any ideas how to increase my protein intake for breakfast when I cant have eggs? Thanks

Irishcrx

Ok , easiest way to see what's going on, what is your current weight and height?

Mammapinkbear

Irishcrx wrote: »

Ok , easiest way to see what's going on, what is your current weight and height?

I'm 5ft 8 and weigh 190 lb

Pat Mustard

Mammapinkbear wrote: »

Glass of hot water with freshly squeezed lemon.

Please excuse jumping off topic but I thought that I'd stick in this link, which has some advice for limiting damage to tooth enamel from lemon juice.

Irishcrx

Mammapinkbear wrote: »

I'm 5ft 8 and weigh 190 lb

Ok now were getting somewhere , Your not eating enough.

1100 calories is too low IMO , your body is probably thinking it's in starvation and trying to hold on to what it has, either that or your calculation's are wrong , but lets assume their not for now and that it is 1100 a day.

Your daily maintenance is around bodyweight x 15 (That's what i use and find it accurate enough) so lets say 2850 per day to maintain weight , - 500 from this is plenty to lose 1 - 1.5 pounds a week, If you want even - 700 but that's still 2150 calories a day you can eat AND lose weight consistantly. But your diet must be clean and come from good food sources , not junk food.

Here's what I suggest , one cheat meal this weekend to kickstart your metabilism back into shock and then from Monday on to a new clean diet eating 2150 calories a day. Try this for two weeks and come back and let us know what's happening then , guarantee if you do it right ,weight will start coming down.

Dolbert

Is "starvation mode" not a myth? Surely if you're eating below maintenance, you'll lose weight? I think the more immediate danger of undereating is that it's unsustainable and will ultimately result in a binge.

Speedwell

If you gained a lot of weight quickly while you were on medication, your digestive environment and your insulin sensitivity might both have been compromised. Sometimes it takes careful handling to get your guts back on track, but the good news is that insulin sensitivity increases as you lose. If you haven't had your blood sugar levels closely checked lately, please look into it. In any case your diet is seriously carb-heavy. Consider adding an egg to breakfast and a chunk of cheese or meat to your lunch, and eating more non-starchy, non-sweet veg with dinner. This will minimize the carb hit to your metabolism and allow you to feel full longer. (I'm a prediabetic; this is how I keep myself in line.)

Irishcrx

Dolbert wrote: »

Is "starvation mode" not a myth? Surely if you're eating below maintenance, you'll lose weight? I think the more immediate danger of undereating is that it's unsustainable and will ultimately result in a binge.

No it's not a myth, it happens to people all the time where the body goes into limbo...why do you think people purposely include cheat meals in their plans to re-start their motatbilism during cuts..

Dolbert

Irishcrx wrote: »

No it's not a myth, it happens to people all the time where the body goes into limbo...why do you think people purposely include cheat meals in their plans to re-start their motatbilism during cuts..*

*citation needed

Because cheat meals are fun?

strelok

Dolbert wrote: »

Is "starvation mode" not a myth? Surely if you're eating below maintenance, you'll lose weight? I think the more immediate danger of undereating is that it's unsustainable and will ultimately result in a binge.

afaik it's real, but you have to be nearing holocaust levels of starvation before it kicks in and even then it doesn't work the way it's claimed to

NiallBoo

A likely answer is that you're not adding up your calories correctly.

Consistently losing fat is more an exercise in accountancy than anything else.
I suggest you get a digital kitchen scales and put that extra little bit of time into working out your intake as accurately as possible.

It could be something else or a combination of things, but that's my guess.

Alf Veedersane

Starvation mode isn't really relevant here tbh. 2 weeks isn't enough time for metabolic adaptation to be an issue either.

One issue that might be relevant here is this two week period in relation to....well, to the period. Water retention around the time of month might be skewing the numbers.

Increased cortisol might be an issue.

Also, the meds. Side effects are weight gain.

Alf Veedersane

Irishcrx wrote: »

No it's not a myth, it happens to people all the time where the body goes into limbo...why do you think people purposely include cheat meals in their plans to re-start their motatbilism during cuts..

It's mostly psychological and it gets some glycogen back in the system but a cheat meal or cheat day isn't enough to raise leptin or metabolism in any meaningful way.

Rayne Wooney

I think if you continue doing what you are you will start to see progress, should up the calories too there is no need to starve. 500 below maintenance is fine.

It's a slow process, stick to it for a couple of months at least. You should be aiming for 15-20 pounds in two months and you are already at about 10% of that goal

bdr529

Hi Mammapinkbear

I had to go on a diet last June as well for health issues and so far I'm down 6st, but i've had plenty of days where I went up a few lbs or din't lose anything regardless of how strict I was being so don't get too pissed off if it looks like nothings moving for you.
I didn't join any of the diet clubs I just followed some rules
1. aim for 1300cal/day but not go over 1500
2. weigh everything and work out the actual calories I'm eating
3. minimise the amount of bread, potato, pasta and rice
4. no processed of ready made foods or sauces
5. no eating after 8pm

I was looking at your list of food and while its all good and nutritious some of it is higher in calories that you think, for instance the honey (300cal) and Pbutter(500) even the sweet potato and banana are about 80cal per 100g so your not getting much filling for the amount of calories your taking in...also I'm not a fan of 'low fat' cakes and things I always think that if they took out the fat that they had to put something else in to make up for it

for breakfast I oftan have porridge(40g) with milk(160mls) and a banana mashed in, the banana sweetens it up so no need for honey and it is usually less than 350cals depending on how big the banana is.
I try to have a lunch about 300cal like a 3 egg omelette filled with spinach and veg or a salad with Feta or Falafels and fruit if I have a snack
and that leaves me about 600cals for dinner so I fill up and not need to have a supper before bed because I found that if I do have something late at night I don't lose anything regardless of how careful I've been through the day.
also if you're going to bake chicken why not bake some veg instead of sweet potato- 200g of roast carrot, onion parsnip and brussel sprout is about the same as 100g of sweet potato so if you are careful you can still leave room for desert.
by the way Im not a nutritionist and Im not suggesting that this is the best thing to do Im just saying that this is what worked for me. invest in a diet cookbook or look for alternative recipes on the web. I use the hairy bikers diet cookbook and yummly.com
feel free to pm me if you want

Mammapinkbear

Wow thanks guys for all the advice and suggestions. I am definitely going to have a closer look at some of the foods I'm eating like the carbs etc and maybe see if I can reduce that down a bit while also maybe looking at upping my overall calorie intake to at least 1200 daily. Everyone is suggesting adding eggs but I'm afraid I'm intolerent to them which is proving to be a real nuisance cos they used to be my main source of protein in the mornings.

A friend came to visit over the weekend and brought Roz Purcells new book and there was a lot of recipes in that I would love to try ... my biggest problem is that I don't have enough energy to stand to cook for any length of time so rely heavily on others for that and sometimes my family are a bit resistant to try anything outside a "normal" irish diet!!

I will keep working away at this weight loss goal and will report back how things are going - all I do know is that if I had known back when I first became ill and was stuffing my face with chocolate and nice stuff while feeling sorry for myself that it would be so fecking difficult to get rid off all this weight then maybe just maybe I may not have enjoyed the nice stuff as much ... maybe!!

_Tombstone_

http://www.body-expressions.com/newsletters/newsletter/2565078/84410.htm

There ya go, just follow that and forget everything else.

Speedwell

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

http://www.body-expressions.com/newsletters/newsletter/2565078/84410.htm

There ya go, just follow that and forget everything else.

Oh, ffs, not that 40-year-old fad again. Stop. Just stop.

_Tombstone_

Speedwell wrote: »

Oh, ffs, not that 40-year-old fad again. Stop. Just stop.

Say what you want, OP will be near a stone lighter in 7 days. Then he can look at fitness pal and the rest to maintain. Or do it again after a few day break.