Paleo vs Plant based vs low calorie?

JAT74 wrote: »

When I said 'little' I meant small framed, not a 'Little Person' (as being British have never heard that term so didn't meant to offend anyone). When I'm lean, or at least when I was the leanest I've ever been which is about 25% body fat I was a UK size 6-8 (which I believe is a US 4-6). To most people that is 'little' and was just given as an example of how small framed I am. At my current weight I'm a 10-12 (US 8-10) and that's carrying 10-15% more body fat than I should be ie. a disproportionate amount of fat. My waist is still 28 inches which is not large at all, but that gives you an idea of my shape/build.

I already do weight training and have done on and off for the last 15 years, usually 3 times a week (when I say on and off I mean depending on how good my back is as it plays up from time to time). I also do low intensity cardio most days (either walking at a reasonable pace or on the Xtrainer or Treadmill).

I have no knowledge of having PCOS though I did have a cyst removed about 3 years ago. In terms of metabolic issues I'm unsure as I don't have anything which has been diagosed. I've been on the pill for many years and I stopped that for a year to see if it would help with my weight loss but it didn't.

I really don't know why I have so many issues losing weight and can't maintain my weight by eating a normal diet (or what most people tell me I 'should' be eating for my size/activity level). I find it extremely frustrating and upsetting but as I mentioned earlier in this post my own theory is that I have borderline thyroid issues which I can't get medication to treat as they are only borderline, my body also seems to hold onto fat very easily and gains fat easily and added to that there's my age. My mother has the exact same issues as I do with weight, she's taller than me and much lighter but that's mostly through severely restricting her food intake ie. tiny portion sizes on the whole and very low cal snacks. She is also quite active.

Perhaps if I had more muscle/less fat my body would become more efficient and I hope that happens but until then I need to find a way to get the fat off.

What frustrates me the most is that I hardly ever drink and if I do I'll have 1-3 drinks at the most, every 3-4 weeks. I also rarely eat desserts (perhaps once every fortnight but I'm very conscious of the size and how many calories I'm eating in that dessert), I exercise daily unlike many others and I still struggle so much. As I said before, my home based desk job probably doesn't help either, but other than what I'm doing already I can't see what else I can do.

I also wish people would believe me when I tell them I eat 800-1000 calories most days and weigh and measure everything! There are days when I don't count (such as at the weekend) but my diet is really not vastly different to during the week. Most weekends I'll skip breakfast as I get up late, have a reasonably large lunch and often just a snack for dinner. At most I'm eating 1300-1500 calories, but even factoring that in as a maximum and working on 1000 maximum for the other days (which is more than the reality) that's still only around 1150 calories per day on average.

I stick to what I said before ie. we are not all made the same. I also believe that there are a lot of people who eat in ways that would not be considered 'normal' or 'healthy' but they are not underweight or ill! The more people I speak to about this the more I hear stories of supposedly naturally thin people eating vlcd or skipping whole days of food in order to maintain a lean body weight etc. I honestly don't believe that everyone who is overweight is that way due to overeating. Some of us just need to eat less to be lean but because of all the information we're given and what we're told about minimum calorie numbers etc. often people are too scared to reduce calories and live with being larger. I'm not prepared to live like that so I have no choice but to eat less, like it or not.

I have a lot of active friends (of around my height ie. between 5 foot 2 and 4), who have active jobs where they're on their feet all day and who also exercise on top of that by running or cycling most days, but some also do weight training or go to gym classes too. Those people are mostly very lean, most of them eat extremely healthily, only eat small portions and drink alcohol infrequently, they skip meals if they don't exercise to compensate for burning less calories and they are all around the weight I want to get back to ie. about 120-125lbs. I have yet to meet a very active female who eats more than 1200-1500 calories a day.