Diet not working, advice please

Claire de Lune

Hi,

I need some advice as my diet isn’t working and I am not sure what to do!

Female, 39, 70kg.

I’ve always been 62-63 kg even after my 2 pregnancies.

We moved to the US 6 months ago and disaster! I gained 7-8 kg due to poor food choices. The first 2 months we were in temporary accomodation with very little kitchen equipment and we were so busy looking at accomodation/school/cars and all the paperwork that comes with all this that we ate mostly convienience food. After moving into our permanent accomodation it took me a while to locate the good supermarkets.

Now we are fully settled, I know where to shop for great fresh food and I have changed my diet completely 6 weeks ago as I want to loose these extra kgs. But my weight is NOT budging at all. I have never dieted before so I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I don’t eat meat, but I eat fish.

According to an online calculator, my BMR is 1460 and TDEE 1750.

I use myfitnesspal to log everything I eat and have kept my calories around 1500/1600 every day and can’t survive on less than that!

Here are examples of what I eat each day :

Breakfast:
Porridge with milk, tea

Lunch :
Tuna salad
Boiled egg salad
Avocado salad
Bean salad
Quinoa salad
Homemade hoummous with homemade bread
Homemade soup with homemade bread
Leftover from dinner the night before

Dinner :
Salmon terriyaki with rice
Fish stew
Homemade veggie pizza
Chick pea or black bean burger
Quinoa and salmon
Mash potaoes
Lentil dahl
Baby potatoes and mushrooms

Snacks (usually 1 a day) :
Fruit salad
Greek yoghurt and fruits
Almonds
Rice cake with peanut butter or almond butter
Crisp bread with butter

I drink at least 2 litres of water a day

Any comments on the above? I only stopped eating meat recently, so I am still learing how to adjust protein.

I don’t get to exercise much at the moment as my husband works long hours and the children are on their school holidays. 10km run or 25km cycle at the week end is all I manage. I know this is a problem, but I am wondering if it is the only problem.

Thanks!

silverharp

outside of diet and exercise, sleep would be a factor if that's an issue for you? regarding exercise could you sign the kids up for some activities over the summer, even it its just an hour you can drop them off and go for a walk or bring them somewhere they can cycle /walk and you walk too.
Regarding food, sometimes you just have to shake it up, 5:2 for instance or try intermittent fasting might be more sustainable then having to be overly restrictive 7 days a week.
the main thing I would personally change is your breakfast, depending on the brand the oats they can be overly processed and have a high GI so you might be getting more hungry than you need to so either make sure they are "steel cut" or try something else for breakfast, either boiled eggs or make an omelette so you can get some veggies in, even something like greek yogurt and berries might be an option.

theyoungchap

Think the lack of exercise is your big problem I suspect, I am no dietician but I feel a HUGE difference in how my body feels on the weeks I get exercise and the weeks I don't.
Food in the USA is really dreadful, watch out for everything having corn syrup and the like added. Seemingly healthy stuff can become a disaster.
Is it an option to bring your kids to a park, etc and run around with them? Is there a gym etc which has a creche attached? Or could you get a treadmill or rowing machine or something for those sort of times?

Macy0161

Progress would be slow enough at 150 calorie a day deficit I would say? It is still mainly diet, but obviously exercise can help boost the deficit a bit.

Are you accurately calculating/ accounting for the homemade stuff in myfitnesspal? Weighing out ingredients, and splitting the portions? It's just that if you're using what's in myfitnespal already for a finished meal/ part of a meal, it might not be that accurate? With a small deficit, it wouldn't take much for small differences to add up over a day.

hammy007

Your diet and calorie intake look good, I would just say to make sure you're burning more calories per day than you are taking in- that's really the key. I use Fitbit to track my calories and my steps, so it's been really helpful in keeping me on track- it tells me if I'm over, under, or on target.

I'm aiming for a 500 calorie deficit per day to lose about .5 kg per week, which is quite manageable- I don't feel deprived. I don't diet and I don't exercise- I just make sure I get in about 15,000 - 20,000 steps per day (a few long walks will usually do the trick, but if I can't get them in, I walk in place while watching TV instead of sitting on the couch.) and I eat roughly 1500-1800 calories per day.

As an example from my fitbit usage- one day I walked 17,667 steps and ate 1869 calories. It says I burned 578 calories for that day.

bladespin

Sorry, might have missed something but why can't you survive on less than 1500/1600cals per day?

That's just short of what I'm on now myself, M43 78kg

BTW best exercise in the world at your disposal there, your kids will give you a brilliant cardio workout, just bring them out for a runaround!

Alf Veedersane

Macy0161 wrote: »

Are you accurately calculating/ accounting for the homemade stuff in myfitnesspal? Weighing out ingredients, and splitting the portions?

This is where I think the issue is. Few small miscalculations and that deficit is gone.

That said, things like stressing about it won't help because youre increasing cortisol levels.

2xj3hplqgsbkym

Your diet sounds very good.

Perhaps it is portion size that is the problem? Maybe you have become used to the enormous Anerican servings. Just weigh your portions for a while til you get used to knowing what 25g of pasta etc looks like.

Also, you have a lot of healthy sounding salads, are these also home made? If they are shop bought they could be laden with calories in the dressings, croutons , Parmesan etc..

Also, consider your cooking methods- baking, steaming, microwaving , boiling and grilling are all low fat.

I am also dieting at the moment , I am 64 kg and 5 foot 6 and find it very slow to shift the weight because I'm not massively overweight . I'm generally loosing about half a kg to to 1 kg a week.

As others have mentioned it's important to exercise with the kids. I would be worried about my kids over there ( and here!) with the huge obesity epidemic, so it's important to make exercising together part of your lifestyle. Could you go swimming together? Or let them ride their bikes/ scooters and you run along after? Or trampoline or skipping rope are great for high intensity exercise also.
Good luck .

Claire de Lune

Hi!

Thank you all for comments and advice, it’s really helpful.

I find it hard to eat less than 1500 calories a day, I feel low in energy when I do.

I do agree that the calorie count on myfitnesspal may not be acurate as I make everything from scratch and I do not weight my ingredients so I could well be consuming more calories than I think. I will take that into account.

Food here is absolutely dreadful. I spent a long time understanding food labels and researching ingredients. I visited many many supermarkets! But after 6 months I know where to go and what to buy. I mainly buy directly from local farmers at farmers markets or farm shops, I buy everything organic. Variety and quality is amazing. I also found supermarkets that sell mostly organic products which are great. So it is possible to eat really well in the USA but it takes some effort as I have to go out of my way and to several different shops- but it’s so worth it.

Yes, I have to try harder on the exercise front. I do try to run around the playground when they are playing but there is always one of them calling me for getting stuck on the monkey bars or needing a push on the swing 😀. At the moment it’s too hot for the park so we spend all our afternoons in the pool. My childen can’t swim yet so I can’t leave their side to go and swim lengths. But I do my best to swim as much as I can around them. I agree that I have to find a solution to exercise more.

Rosebush my children have never been so active! Much more than in Ireland. We live in California and being outdoors all year round really suits them. We cycle to school (3,5km each way) which we could never have done in Dublin due to road configuration. We stop in the park for 1 hour on the way home. We do homework and they go back out on their scooters with their friends or in the pool. My husband cycles to work 20km each way which he could never do and is in the best shape he’s ever been. School holidays are all about parks and pool. No concerns over their activity levels 😀 it’s just me struggling!

Thanks again!

Acey10

Can I jump in and ask about portions? Do you weigh meat raw or cooked? Pasta and spuds cooked or raw? How many grams would make a portion size ??
Thanks

Atlantic Dawn

What time of the evening do you eat your final food of the day and how long before you go to sleep is that?

2xj3hplqgsbkym

Claire de Lune wrote: »

Hi!

Thank you all for comments and advice, it’s really helpful.

I find it hard to eat less than 1500 calories a day, I feel low in energy when I do.

I do agree that the calorie count on myfitnesspal may not be acurate as I make everything from scratch and I do not weight my ingredients so I could well be consuming more calories than I think. I will take that into account.

Food here is absolutely dreadful. I spent a long time understanding food labels and researching ingredients. I visited many many supermarkets! But after 6 months I know where to go and what to buy. I mainly buy directly from local farmers at farmers markets or farm shops, I buy everything organic. Variety and quality is amazing. I also found supermarkets that sell mostly organic products which are great. So it is possible to eat really well in the USA but it takes some effort as I have to go out of my way and to several different shops- but it’s so worth it.

Yes, I have to try harder on the exercise front. I do try to run around the playground when they are playing but there is always one of them calling me for getting stuck on the monkey bars or needing a push on the swing 😀. At the moment it’s too hot for the park so we spend all our afternoons in the pool. My childen can’t swim yet so I can’t leave their side to go and swim lengths. But I do my best to swim as much as I can around them. I agree that I have to find a solution to exercise more.

Rosebush my children have never been so active! Much more than in Ireland. We live in California and being outdoors all year round really suits them. We cycle to school (3,5km each way) which we could never have done in Dublin due to road configuration. We stop in the park for 1 hour on the way home. We do homework and they go back out on their scooters with their friends or in the pool. My husband cycles to work 20km each way which he could never do and is in the best shape he’s ever been. School holidays are all about parks and pool. No concerns over their activity levels 😀 it’s just me struggling!

Thanks again!

Wow, sure that's great exercise- cycling to and from school every day.
Yes, I know what you mean, it's hard to just let them play in playground or swim by themselves when they are small, you are always needed for something or other.
You're new lifestyle sounds lovely , good luck with the diet .

As someone suggested above, I'd suggest some form of intermittent fasting. Although there are numerous health benefits to it, the main reason I'd suggest it is to allow you (and your body) to realise that you can go lower on calories in a controlled manner, and you can actually feel better and have more energy than you would if you were having 3 meals with snacks inbetween every day.

Mars Bar

I've been doing intermittent fasting for about 8-10 weeks now. Started at 16/8 and am now at 18/6. I lost 3lbs (which doesn't sound like much but I'm a shortarse!) and 2% body fat.

People have noticed I've lost a bit of weight which is nice.

Macy0161

Acey10 wrote:

Can I jump in and ask about portions? Do you weigh meat raw or cooked? Pasta and spuds cooked or raw? How many grams would make a portion size ?? Thanks

I try and weigh them raw. Easy with pasta and rice, harder with spuds. Those I use one that's in my fitness pal (in those cases I try to pick an average or higher estimate).

Meat I try to weigh raw too, but again I just use some of the packed equivalents. For example you'll find tesco chicken or turkey or roast beef slices listed. I just use them.

Portion size depends really on the overall day. Pasta and rice I generally go 75g raw. So I cook up 150 or 300 and split it appropriately if I'm on cooking duty.

Cake Man

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What time of the evening do you eat your final food of the day and how long before you go to sleep is that?

Why would this matter?

bladespin

Cake Man wrote:

Why would this matter?

It doesn't generally.

Dtp1979

bladespin wrote: »

It doesn't generally.

It dosent at all

Dtp1979

Op, organic or not, if you eat too much you won’t lose weight. As said previously you’re only on a deficit of 150. A few miscalculations and you could easily be in a calorie surplus some days. You need to reduce the calories, track accurately and ideally excersise, even if it’s at home with a few sets of dumbbells or whatever you enjoy doing

bladespin

Dtp1979 wrote:

It dosent at all

True but I like a good feed late as can feel tempted at night, less chance of raiding the biccie press.

Blacktie.

Cake Man wrote:

Why would this matter?

If you eat late some days it can give misleading readings of your weight the next morning.

Alf Veedersane

Blacktie. wrote: »

If you eat late some days it can give misleading readings of your weight the next morning.

Weigh in after the morning dump

Cake Man

Dtp1979 wrote: »

It dosent at all

Yeah I’m well aware it wouldn’t make an iota of difference, was just trying to see what the poster was getting at with the claim. If it was because “eating late before bedtime is bad because it stays on your stomach all night and turns it to fat”, then as we know that’s complete bullish!t (which may be what he/she was getting at).

But if, as bladespin rightly pointed out above, it’s more in an effort to try prevent overconsumption at that time of the evening (because who the hell ticks into a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and crisps at 6 in the morning), then that’s perfectly reasonable!

Blacktie.

Alf Veedersane wrote:

Weigh in after the morning dump

Still find you're a bit heavier due to residue in the intestines I guess...

ARNOLD J RIMMER

I do intermittent fasting 18/6 with less then 1200 calories a day for the past 6 months. I’m M 38 and and 5f 7inc started at 84 kilos.

Once I reached 70kg there has been no change for the past 2 months.

Happy with my weight now and have lots more energy then before

Mars Bar

ARNOLD J RIMMER wrote: »

I do intermittent fasting 18/6 with less then 1200 calories a day for the past 6 months. I’m M 38 and and 5f 7inc started at 84 kilos.

Once I reached 70kg there has been no change for the past 2 months.

Happy with my weight now and have lots more energy then before

Those calories are so low! I'm 4ft 11 and I eat 1,300 a day.

ARNOLD J RIMMER

Mars Bar wrote: »

Those calories are so low! I'm 4ft 11 and I eat 1,300 a day.

I eat a lot of the Aldi Slim Well products with Aldi egg fried Rice for Dinner.

I would be lucky to hit 500 calories eating dinner and dinner is around 4pm which is usually my last meal.

First meal would be between 11 and 12pm

Macy0161

Blacktie. wrote:

If you eat late some days it can give misleading readings of your weight the next morning.

I'd say that depends. If its always eat late/ weigh in early it should be fairly consistent?

Personally I haven't noticed big changes depending on day before, unless it was a blow out evening and/ or involved drink.

Blacktie.

Macy0161 wrote: »

I'd say that depends. If its always eat late/ weigh in early it should be fairly consistent?

Personally I haven't noticed big changes depending on day before, unless it was a blow out evening and/ or involved drink.

Probably. But the type of meal late makes a difference too. Or it does for me. I'm getting needlessly pedantic here though.

Del007

If I were you then I would leave out the porridge in the morning (if you can)

Do you eat eggs? Have an omelette with as many green veg as you want.

If that doesn't work then cut down on some of the bread.

The key is to eat a lot of veg and preferably green. Consume your carbs after a workout as that's when your body needs it more.

Stone Deaf 4evr

If you're not weighing the food as you prepare it, you may as well not log it at all. If you're using myfitnesspal, use the barrier scanning feature to get the nutritional information , then adjust it for the amount you intend to eat. You'll be amazed at just how small 'recommeded' portion sizes are for things like breakfast cereal.
Also - if you're using oil when you're cooking. You have to count that too. A tablespoon of olive oil has 120calories , the same as a 2 finger kitkat.

Mellor

Claire de Lune wrote: »

According to an online calculator, my BMR is 1460 and TDEE 1750.

...calories around 1500/1600 every day and can’t survive on less than that!

The above is where you are going wrong. There's a tiny deficit, and if you miscount its more likely to go over than under. 6 weeks at 150-200 cals defict, is only 2 lbs lost, at most.

You need a bigger deficit. Either increase TDEE or reduce calories. I'd be aiming for 1350 tbh.