Struggling

First of all, kudos for going to the gym bright and early: I respect your dedication and discipline.

Second, not eating before your workout has nothing to do with it. I never eat breakfast and usually work out in the mornings, and I’ve been losing weight just fine. The whole “starvation mode” thing is a myth and has been disproven.

Third:

1. How long have you been tracking your calories: it can take a few weeks until our bodies catch up and weight comes off, especially if you’ve started exercising, because of stuff like retaining water.
2. Do you use a food scale to track everything you eat: it’s very easy to underestimate the calories we eat if you don’t weigh the food; cups are very unreliable.
3. Do you eat back your exercise calories: it’s generally accepted that exercise burns are overestimated, so most people only eat back about half.
4. How much weight do you have to lose and did you set a realistic goal? (i.e. no more than 2 lbs/week if you have a lot to lose, 1lb/week or less otherwise)
5. How much weight have you actually lost, and do you take your measurements in addition to weighing yourself: you say you’re having “trouble” losing weight, does this mean no loss, or just a slower loss than you’d like? also, measurements can often reflect changes in your body the scale might not capture as well.

I’m happy to try and help! It sounds to me like you know exactly what you have to do . I think that with using a scale to portion out your food, eating back less of the exercise calories, and giving it time, you will do awesome.

Dinner is usually my biggest meal and I can easily go overboard if I’m too hungry when I get home. Some people like having a snack or something before they leave work to help with that. I personally like high protein foods/snacks because they’re satisfying.

I think going for a 1.5lb/week loss is good, just don’t forget to lower that as you get closer to your goal weight. You have a really great attitude . Best of luck!