Help please

thinnyminnie

Hi guys

I've been going to the gym (mainly circuit training) for the last few month's. My diet is clean, I think 😋 but I don't seem to be dropping on the scales. I'd appreciate any pointers or help you can give.

I'm 36, 5 foot 3 and weigh 14 and a half stone. Female.

I eat either fruit and 0% Greek yoghurt or overnight oats for breakfast. Chicken salad for lunch, spinach base with any other veggies and balsamic vinegar, dinner is meat or fish and veg. I do have a skinny capuccino every day and drink about 2 litres of water.

Any reason why I'm not loosing? I do have digestive problems but it shouldn't interfere

Thanks in advance

mathie

Calories in vs calories out

Do you log your daily intake with the MyFitnessPal app?

thinnyminnie

Not to be honest I can never work it out right.

RiderOnTheStorm

Low fat, fruit & veg diets have been around since the 50s .... Guess what ... They dont work at a basic level. And when your weight doesn't drop, you are blamed for not sticking strictly to the diet. Break the mold. Check out keto. Try it for a month. You wont be sorry.

silverharp

How do you feel on the diet? do you go for walks during the week and at the weekend or in general generally active or sedentary , are your energy levels good? its possible your metabolism has slowed down so that indeed "Calories in vs calories out " are equal. The problem is if you manage to shave a couple of hundred calories off your daily intake, your metabolism might just follow and you might start to fell cr@p, low energy etc. if it aint working try something different , consider either time restricted eating 18/6 or a 5:2 diet where you have 2 low calorie days and eat normally the others, it might shake things up and help keep the interest up as it can get demotivating if how you are eating now if potentially your for life diet, it either suits you or it doesnt
Your diet is clearly focused low fat intake but don't be afraid to change that around , foods like avocados or eggs have loads of nutrients and are satiating

thinnyminnie

I have looked at both keto and 5:2. 5:2 is probably more appealing. I'm active. Do minimum 10,000 steps every day. 2 spin classes and 2 circuit classes a week.

Off to Google these diets now

mathie

thinnyminnie wrote: »

Not to be honest I can never work it out right.

What part to you find tricky?

mathie

BTW the reason you're not losing is, by and large, because you're not in a caloric deficit.

Can you put up exactly what you're eating in a day?

You mention you eat "clean" but you can still put on weight eating clean.
A professor in the US lost weight eating nothing but twinkies. He was just in a caloric deficit.

mathie

Oh and ...

jackboy

thinnyminnie wrote: »

Hi guys

I've been going to the gym (mainly circuit training) for the last few month's. My diet is clean, I think 😋 but I don't seem to be dropping on the scales. I'd appreciate any pointers or help you can give.

I eat either fruit and 0% Greek yoghurt or overnight oats for breakfast. Chicken salad for lunch, spinach base with any other veggies and balsamic vinegar, dinner is meat or fish and veg. I do have a skinny capuccino every day and drink about 2 litres of water.

Do you also have snacks sometimes? Do you maintain the diet at the weekends? Do you drink wine or beer? Your diet sounds good so something does not add up.

thinnyminnie

mathie wrote: »

What part to you find tricky?

I'm always unsure if what I'm putting in the app is right. Like how do I quantify a salad dressing if I eat out etc...

thinnyminnie

mathie wrote: »

BTW the reason you're not losing is, by and large, because you're not in a caloric deficit.

Can you put up exactly what you're eating in a day?

You mention you eat "clean" but you can still put on weight eating clean.
A professor in the US lost weight eating nothing but twinkies. He was just in a caloric deficit.

Literally I eat what I posted there. I might go out once a month and have a few drinks, mainly gin so that low too. Snacks would be rice cakes, fruit, cashew nuts....

thinnyminnie

jackboy wrote: »

Do you also have snacks sometimes? Do you maintain the diet at the weekends? Do you drink wine or beer? Your diet sounds good so something does not add up.

I drink maybe once a month but drink very little overall. I drink tea and coffee during the day. I maintain that diet on Sundays. Saturday I'll give myself a little leeway might have pasta or potatoes. Snacks would be cashew nuts, rice cakes, fruit, sometimes I make protein balls.

silverharp

mathie wrote: »

Oh and ...

how do you fly a plane , by not crashing it.......

farmerwifelet

fruit and nuts should only be consumed in tiny amounts. I think i really underestimated how many calories i was taking in because they were healthy!!

Also maybe try eating eggs/omelette instead of oats in the morning. Even if you swapped at the weekend.

silverharp

thinnyminnie wrote: »

I have looked at both keto and 5:2. 5:2 is probably more appealing. I'm active. Do minimum 10,000 steps every day. 2 spin classes and 2 circuit classes a week.

Off to Google these diets now

im not sure what the specific food guidelines are for it but its good psychology because you always know the next day is going to be a normal day , my general tip would be to get a feel for the Glycemic Index (GI) of what you eat and swap out higher for lower. If you have fruit with that yoghurt switch to berries and watch out for “0 fat” labels, to me that’s just code for higher sugar.

mathie

thinnyminnie wrote: »

I drink maybe once a month but drink very little overall. I drink tea and coffee during the day. I maintain that diet on Sundays. Saturday I'll give myself a little leeway might have pasta or potatoes. Snacks would be cashew nuts, rice cakes, fruit, sometimes I make protein balls.

100 grams of Cashew Nuts ... Calories 553

If you want to work out why you're putting on weight you have to weigh and log everything that you eat.

Then you will see exactly what you are eating that is pushing you over your daily allowance.

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutcal.htm

I've put you as moderately active.
Target Daily Caloric Intake: 1642 calories for weight loss.
Target Daily Caloric Intake: 2053 calories for maintenance.

You can see how easily eating 100 - 200g of cashews can have you halfway to your daily calories for maintenance.

Dial Hard

thinnyminnie wrote: »

I'm always unsure if what I'm putting in the app is right. Like how do I quantify a salad dressing if I eat out etc...

Scan EVERYTHING you eat that has a barcode on it, and pay attention to the actual serving/portion sizes it gives back to you. Weigh everything else and choose a verified (blue tick) entry for those foods. When eating out, get your dressings on the side (or not at all) and try and find verified restaurant values for similar foods. When in doubt, overestimate. MFP remembers pretty much everything you enter so you won't be long building a comprehensive library of foods you eat regularly.

And don't eat your exercise calories, MFP is notorious for overestimating calories earned.

You need to be completely and utterly honest with your tracking. Something isn't adding up between your stated diet and exercise regime. While the number on the scales isn't the only factor to consider (body fat, measurements & how your clothes fit are all other things to consider), the fact of the matter is that at your height and weight, the weight really should be coming off you very quickly once you hit a calorie deficit.

Mink

Your diet looks good... there's something not right here. Def try track everything on myfitnesspal.

I never used it but my husband did. It was an awful pain in the hole first week as have to enter/scan everything but far easier after that and it really helped him get a better picture of his calories/protein intake etc.

I was going to say that I would be absolutely fist-gnawing starving on what you're eating, along with the couple fitness classes but then I'm taller so I'm going to have a different calorie maintenance number to you.

One thing is that I didn't really start seeing the weight coming off until I was into my 3rd or 4th month of 3 times a week intense exercise class, then it started coming off half-1 pound a week or so. Slow is what you want.
I don't know why it took so long to kick in. I'm slow to start losing weight but also very slow to start putting it on. Hope that helps in some way - trust the process etc.