Help!! Can't Loose Weight!!
benjaminfields25
Posts: 7 Member
Let me start with the basics, I'm a 26 year old British male, 5'8" and weigh 107kg (236lbs).
About a year ago I weighed 75kg and have since piled on the pounds due to lack of exercise and poor diet.
For the past 2 months my exercise regime has been an hourly brisk walk everyday (approx 8000 steps) consisting of downhill, uphill, flat and unever pathways.
I have completely cut out the takeaways and have started eating more healthy foods.
In the mornings I'll have only a banana for breakfast, a bottle of water and a green tea, after an hour I'll go for my daily hourly walk.
In the afternoon I'll have either a chicken salad with coconut aminos seasoning OR a slimming world carrot and red pepper soup with an apple.
In the evenings I'll have either a slimming world chicken in black bean sauce OR a slimming world chicken hot pot.
My average calorie intake therefore consists of between 600 - 800 calories a day compared to my old diet which consisted of between 2000 - 2500 calories a day (sometimes more).
I weigh myself each week with the same electronic scales on the same flat surface.
So my question is, why am I not loosing weight? Am I doing something wrong?
I'd be very thankful for any response as it's driving me insane!
About a year ago I weighed 75kg and have since piled on the pounds due to lack of exercise and poor diet.
For the past 2 months my exercise regime has been an hourly brisk walk everyday (approx 8000 steps) consisting of downhill, uphill, flat and unever pathways.
I have completely cut out the takeaways and have started eating more healthy foods.
In the mornings I'll have only a banana for breakfast, a bottle of water and a green tea, after an hour I'll go for my daily hourly walk.
In the afternoon I'll have either a chicken salad with coconut aminos seasoning OR a slimming world carrot and red pepper soup with an apple.
In the evenings I'll have either a slimming world chicken in black bean sauce OR a slimming world chicken hot pot.
My average calorie intake therefore consists of between 600 - 800 calories a day compared to my old diet which consisted of between 2000 - 2500 calories a day (sometimes more).
I weigh myself each week with the same electronic scales on the same flat surface.
So my question is, why am I not loosing weight? Am I doing something wrong?
I'd be very thankful for any response as it's driving me insane!
2
Replies
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benjaminfields25 wrote: »Let me start with the basics, I'm a 26 year old British male, 5'8" and weigh 107kg (236lbs).
About a year ago I weighed 75kg and have since piled on the pounds due to lack of exercise and poor diet.
For the past 2 months my exercise regime has been an hourly brisk walk everyday (approx 8000 steps) consisting of downhill, uphill, flat and unever pathways.
I have completely cut out the takeaways and have started eating more healthy foods.
In the mornings I'll have only a banana for breakfast, a bottle of water and a green tea, after an hour I'll go for my daily hourly walk.
In the afternoon I'll have either a chicken salad with coconut aminos seasoning OR a slimming world carrot and red pepper soup with an apple.
In the evenings I'll have either a slimming world chicken in black bean sauce OR a slimming world chicken hot pot.
My average calorie intake therefore consists of between 600 - 800 calories a day compared to my old diet which consisted of between 2000 - 2500 calories a day (sometimes more).
I weigh myself each week with the same electronic scales on the same flat surface.
So my question is, why am I not loosing weight? Am I doing something wrong?
I'd be very thankful for any response as it's driving me insane!
My first thought is you might be eating more than you think - in this case that would actually be very good as 600-800 calories is nowhere near enough for you to survive on and it could really mess with your body if it hasn't already. You might be taking that walk, which is good, but how much do you move the rest of the day? If I tried to eat only 800 calories per day, I would be so fatigued after a few days that I would probably just lie around the rest of the time and move as little as possible. 800 calories is not enough for your body to do its normal body processes like organ functioning.
I would suggest that you go through MFP's guided setup. How many calories does MFP say you can eat per day if you want to lose 1 or 1.5 lbs a week? Eat that many calories every day for a month (being precise about it - don't guess how much you eat by eyeballing, weighing with a scale is the most precise) and see what happens on the scale. You might be surprised at how many calories you can eat and still lose weight, if you're honest and accurate.16 -
Hey Ben. Fellow Brit here. Why on earth are you eating so little? You are literally starving yourself. Apart from being incredibly bad for you, it's also not a sensible or sustainable way to lose the weight. You're setting yourself up to run straight back into the arms of the local kebab shop. A toddler needs between 1,200 and 1,400 calories a day. You are a grown man. Please be kinder to yourself and your body.
I agree with the previous poster. Plug your stats in to MFP, choose a sensible rate of loss (not 2lbs a week!), accurately log your food and have patience. Think about this less about the number on the scales, but about your long term health and happiness.12 -
Thank you both for your advice and voicing your concerns with my diet.
In terms of other activity during the day, I must admit I am pretty sedentary. I work from home so I'm stuck in front of a computer screen most of the day (lockdown certainly hasn't helped).
I have strong willpower when it comes to the temptation of ordering junk food, I do sometimes induldge once a week (usually Friday) on a small chicken shish kebab which is a healthier alternative.
I honestly don't think I'm eating too little, I can't force myself to eat more and I don't feel hungry during the day.
I recently had blood tests done and they all came back as normal so can't put it down to thyroid, maybe it's my metabolism or is that considered psuedo on MFP?
I've worked it out this evening and today I consumed 664kcal, maybe the information on the back of the packaging is incorrect?
I mean salads, fruits, vegatables and chicken is low in calories and that's all I tend to eat.3 -
Dude... why would you starve yourself like this???
I am the same height that you are, (currently) the same weight as you, over twice your age and not nearly as active as you - I have lost 17 lbs in just under 2 months eating over twice as much food daily as you say you are.
I agree with the previous posts - you are eating more than you think you are. Try weighing and logging your food accurately for the next week to see exactly how much you are actually eating (as a baseline), and then make adjustments from there.
Remember - the person who wins this race is NOT the person who loses the weight the fastest, it's the person who can still lose weight while eating a decent amount of food!15 -
If you are truly only consuming 600 calories per day, then you aren't eating enough calories. When you starve your body, it wrecks your metabolism and prevents you from being able to lose weight. You should definitely read the "must read" set up guides and articles here to get a better understanding of your nutrition needs. Yes, salads (without dressing), fruits, veggies, and chicken are relatively low in calories... but you would need to be eating very small amounts of those things to be under 600 cals per day. If you have any salad dressing or a palm sized amount of chicken then you are likely exceeding 600 cals (which is good. You need more than 600 cals). You are either starving your body or you aren't logging you calorie intake accurately.5
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It might be helpful to include a few healthy high calorie items in your diet. Remember that fat is an essential nutrient just like carbs and protein. Nuts, seeds, oils, avocado are good ideas of things that are calorie dense (so they don't take up much room) and very nutritious. Not everybody likes or tolerates dairy, but on days my calorie intake is on the low side I often have a glass of milk.
How long have you been following a diet plan like this? Are you eating mostly things that are prepackaged or are you prepping yourself?
There are other posters who are more knowledgeable and can explain better the myths and facts about metabolism, but the basic math of calories in and calories out doesn't change. Your body might do a lot to slow down calorie burn, but it can't run on nothing. As a man you likely burn at least 1500 calories a day just from existing. Stress can increase water retention (and eating very little would stress your body quite a lot), but if you've been doing this for a while (a month or more) and not lost weight, you're probably eating a lot more than you think. Depending on how often those indulgences like takeaways happen, you might be wiping out a deficit and not knowing it. It's better for your health and peace of mind to just eat more the rest of the time.
That's good you've had blood work, but have your habits changed since then? Also, your body being able to handle something now doesn't mean it will be able to handle it after a year, or five or ten or more.
As I said before - how many calories does MFP say you can eat per day if you want to lose 1 or 1.5 lbs per week?2 -
maybe you're losing inches sometimes we see the difference in our clothes before the scale.3
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I have to agree with the previous commenters, 600 calories for a guy your size is way too little. You can't lose weight because your body thinks it must hold on to anything it can since it doesn't get enough to function as it should. Please check on how you're measuring food and marking it to MFP, and do increase your calorie intake. I'm a female, just an inch shorter than you but have a couple of kilos more on my waist - and even I'm losing weight while eating 1500-1700 kcal per day and not doing any exercise.2
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FallGirl84 wrote: »I have to agree with the previous commenters, 600 calories for a guy your size is way too little. You can't lose weight because your body thinks it must hold on to anything it can since it doesn't get enough to function as it should. Please check on how you're measuring food and marking it to MFP, and do increase your calorie intake. I'm a female, just an inch shorter than you but have a couple of kilos more on my waist - and even I'm losing weight while eating 1500-1700 kcal per day and not doing any exercise.
Nonsense - if someone is genuinely only eating 600 calories over a decent period of time then they will be losing weight unless they have slowed their heart beat, lowered their body temperature and stopped every movement of their body.
Eat too little and you will not lose weight is, quite simply, a story people tell when they convince themselves they are eating a lot less than they really are. It is a myth.15 -
FallGirl84 wrote: »I have to agree with the previous commenters, 600 calories for a guy your size is way too little. You can't lose weight because your body thinks it must hold on to anything it can since it doesn't get enough to function as it should. Please check on how you're measuring food and marking it to MFP, and do increase your calorie intake. I'm a female, just an inch shorter than you but have a couple of kilos more on my waist - and even I'm losing weight while eating 1500-1700 kcal per day and not doing any exercise.
Nonsense - if someone is genuinely only eating 600 calories over a decent period of time then they will be losing weight unless they have slowed their heart beat, lowered their body temperature and stopped every movement of their body.
Eat too little and you will not lose weight is, quite simply, a story people tell when they convince themselves they are eating a lot less than they really are. It is a myth.
Pretty much. If this was the case no one would die of starvation. You're gonna lose fat and get sick but you can absolutely stress yourself into a serious cortisol and water retention problem. That is not what's happening here. Dude is making rough assumptions, and probably eating way, way more than he thinks. Or drinking more. Or not counting fruit or veg at all. Or all of the above.
Or has some serious eating disorder happening and has already hit a weight so low he's about to hit a hospital. That's always possible.7 -
https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/slimming-world-chicken-in-black-bean-sauce-500g/83390.html#start=1
Is that what you are eating?0 -
FallGirl84 wrote: »I have to agree with the previous commenters, 600 calories for a guy your size is way too little. You can't lose weight because your body thinks it must hold on to anything it can since it doesn't get enough to function as it should. Please check on how you're measuring food and marking it to MFP, and do increase your calorie intake. I'm a female, just an inch shorter than you but have a couple of kilos more on my waist - and even I'm losing weight while eating 1500-1700 kcal per day and not doing any exercise.
Nonsense - if someone is genuinely only eating 600 calories over a decent period of time then they will be losing weight unless they have slowed their heart beat, lowered their body temperature and stopped every movement of their body.
Eat too little and you will not lose weight is, quite simply, a story people tell when they convince themselves they are eating a lot less than they really are. It is a myth.
Not a myth: "Eat too little and slow up weight loss beyond what's expected, while simultaneously adding stress-related water weight that masks fat loss on the scale".
Persistent extreme undereating *will* "slow heart beat, lower body temperature" and reduce spontaneous and eventually voluntary movement (though not stop it entirely, until death occurs).
OP, you need more than 600 calories or so. It will backfire in myriad ways.
Both of you might learn some things from the Minnesota Starvation Experiment:
There are various articles about it. This is a pretty good one, IMO:
https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/135/6/1347/4663828
OP, don't replicate that experiment. It would be a very bad, very unhealthful idea.
ETA: I can only hope that others are right, and you're underestimating intake. They may be right, and that would be a blessing.5 -
https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/slimming-world-chicken-in-black-bean-sauce-500g/83390.html#start=1
Is that what you are eating?
If this is what OP is eating, then he's probably way, WAY undercounting his calories The package you linked is 500g, the nutritional information on that page is per 100g and lists 275kcal per 100g. That package contains 1375 Calories, if he's eating the entire thing for dinner.5 -
Dude? Two frozen dinners (and the one I looked up was 325Cal--65Cal per 100g with a 500g package), a banana, and an apple?
No sugar in your tea? Nothing (with calories) to drink? (alcohol? pop? milk?)
And you're still functioning and not biting everyone's head off or falling asleep in your chair as soon as you're back home from your walk? Shivering a lot? Cold hands and/or feet?
Have you checked your scale by holding something of known weight and going up and down with and without?
Have you seen your doctor? Your weight increase was quite fast too so have we ruled out any issues happening beyond thyroid?9 -
You put on 70lbs in a year. That is a hell of a lot for someone who doesn't have much of an appetite or who is happy to exist on vegetables and tiny portions of chicken...
So, you clearly DO have an appetite. It's just currently suppressed. It's not uncommon for people who start a Very Low Calorie Diet to temporarily lose their appetite for a while. These boards are full of posts like "Help! I can't eat all my 1200 calories!". That phase tends to pass for most people, and the hunger comes back (often triggering binging behaviour if people have been majorly restricting). Instead of falling into that trap, it's time to make calorie dense foods your friends. Nuts, cheese, avocado, olive oil, etc.. Hell, if you are genuinely that far under your calorie target, get stuck into a Mars Bar or a bag of Doritos, or whatever it is that floats your boat.
I don't know what MFP gives you as a target, but I just plugged your stats into the NHS calculator, and it suggested you should be losing on between 2151 - 2766 kcal. Which feels about right to me. Probably on the lower end of that if you're not very active. But you can definitely enjoy a lot of food. Normal, regular food. You don't need to exist on chicken and vegetables, or tiny microwave ready meals (unless you genuinely like them, in which case knock yourself out).
Whatever food you go for, it has to be food that you can see yourself eating FOREVER. Because this isn't about losing the weight. It's about learning the tools and habits that you'll need to sustain the weight loss. "Diets" don't work. 95% of people who "diet" to lose weight, will gain it back - because they do it in a way that isn't sustainable and when people feel deprived, they will eventually crack and the weight piles back on. Why put yourself through that? Be one of the 5%. Eat sensibly, stay active and strap in for a couple of years of slow, steady and sustainable weight loss. It will take a while to come off, but if you're consistent and accurate in tracking your food, it will come off.
Good luck!
PS - If you're not sure if you're tracking properly, make your diary public, and the experienced board folk can tell you where you might be going wrong.10 -
I appreciate everyone's responses, however I think some of you should some research before posting.
In regards to the Iceland Frozen Ready Meals, check the calories per 100g and then times the amount by 5 to give you a total of how many calories are in each 500g meal.
I don't have a serious eating disorder, I am merely trying to loose weight, I thought the ideal calorie intake for someone who isn't active all day would between 600 - 800 calories and that would surfice.
In terms of my weight gain, it was down to eating a lot of junk food, big portion sizes almost every day.
NHS calculator doesn't give an accurate result and I don't think anyone should follow the suggested calorie intake provided by the NHS, the same goes with the BMI calculator which states that I'm clinically obese.
I'm not trying to hate on anyone's suggestions, I know you are all trying to help, but it gets a bit confusing when there are posts that conflict.
Maybe it's just water retention as I've noticed swelling around my ankles and feet and I can't point my toes outwards.
Oh and trust me the scales work, a friend of mine weighed himself and he eats a lot of food and somehow he lost 5lbs in a week and I'm just sat at 235lbs.
I'm going to try and increase my daily calorie intake to 800 - 1000 kcals a day and see if that makes a difference.2 -
If you’re not losing weight, then you’re not really eating less than 1000 calories. Something is off with your logging, the entries you’re choosing, or your estimations somehow.8
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Swelling can be an issue.
I haven't read through it, but I would like to hear the reasoning and training/reading behind your decision to dismiss without qualms the NHS and British dietitian association's advice on losing weight: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/start-the-nhs-weight-loss-plan/
The words obese, overweight, and normal weight have definitions that may or may not correspond with our perception.9 -
OK, I"m a 44-year old 5'8, 135 lb female. While fairly active, I average a burn of about 2400 calories a day, based on my Fitbit. So, you must be really sedentary to have gained that amount of weight in a year on 2000-2500/day . Something is off somewhere.
There is no reason to eat so little calories. Not only are you making the chance of regain almost certain with eating so little, you actually WILL slow down your metabolism more than you need to Your body doesn't like to survive on so little calories, so will do what it can to preserve itself.
If you measure and weigh everything and are still not losing weight even eating 1000 more calories then you are now after a few week, then it may be helpful to go to your doctor and explain this to them. Then, you will have data to back this up, and may be able to investigate further then tell you "everything is fine."
Trust me, I once lost weight as a teenager on 900 calories a day. AT even that little, my weight loss slowed, so I cut it to 500. I ended up bingeing regularly, and created a cycle of restrict-binge that lasted YEARS, probably similar to what happened to the men in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment referenced above. It is not a path I would recommend to anyone.
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Maybe it's just water retention as I've noticed swelling around my ankles and feet and I can't point my toes outwards.
You are 26 years old.
Unless you have a medical condition like cardiac or renal failure - you are not increasing your fluid swelling enough to make any real increase on the scale
If you have been doing this for 2 months and not lost any weight then, sorry, you are not eating only 600 - 800 calories per day.
Increasing your calories will not help - you are eating more than you think now so increasing that to more again wont help
sorry if this sounds harsh - but it is reality
Please open your diary.10 -
General comment (not that I disagree with issues re Minnesota etc and / or something being off mathematically;
But the one linked package is 65 Cal or Kcal per 100g and 275 is the Kilojewel value, i.e. about 4x the Kcal value. In other words the package is sub 350 Cal the way most of us measure things and two of them plus a banana and an apple do not equal food for a 5ft 8" 230+lb adult male3 -
I can guarentee you that my calorie intake is between 600 - 800 calories per day based on calculating the total amount of calories per meal from the information provided on the back of the packaging (unless the information is false and there's a lot more calories).
With regards to NHS weight loss plan, I've tried it and it doesn't work. The couch to 5k is basically what I'm doing now, but more like 6k and instead of jogging it's a brisk walk. On the BMI calculator it states that my recommended daily calorie intake is between 2505 - 3220 kcal. If I were to consume that amount of calories a day I would put on weight in no time. I wasn't even consuming that amount of calories before I started dieting.
It also states that a healthy weight range is between 55.4kg - 74.8kg, but when I was 75kg I was just skin and bone so how can any less be healthy?0 -
Open your diary
That will stop people saying that you're not eating between 600-800.
9 -
Welp, I'm out... I don't think we're going to be able to help you.
You asked for advice, and you got some. But you're not taking any of it on board. You don't agree with the experts at the NHS. You don't agree with any of us. You're not using MFP the way it is meant to be used. And the stats you're quoting don't make sense. Something is amiss here.
Sadly, I don't think you're going to agree with anyone unless they support this kamikaze crash diet thing that you're doing now. But that isn't going to happen. Nobody in their right mind would recommend the approach you are taking. But despite the fact your plan clearly isn't working for you, my guess is you're going to carry on doing it (or some other bananas variation of it) and likely make yourself sick and miserable in the process. Good luck with that strategy.19 -
benjaminfields25 wrote: »On the BMI calculator it states... that a healthy weight range is between 55.4kg - 74.8kg, but when I was 75kg I was just skin and bone so how can any less be healthy?
If you don't trust the regular BMI calculator, try plugging your stats into the Smart BMI calculator: https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/
At the moment you're showing as at the top of the amber zone for your height, weight and age (graph 1 below) To reach a healthy weight you'd need to aim to be about 170lbs/77.3kg/12 st 2lbs (graph 2 below). That's not as drastic a target as aiming for between 55.4kg and 74.8kg.
The SBMI site also gives good general advice on how to lose weight safely: https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/weight-loss.html
You are NOT losing weight safely. Please stop starving yourself before you do lasting damage. And check your bathroom scales, because if you're genuinely eating 600-800 calories and the scale isn't showing that you've lost any weight in 2 months then your scales could be wrong. Are you clothes looser? Have your measurements improved?
If it's not your scales and you're definitely eating less than 1000 calories a day, something is definitely off. It's totally inconceivable that you're burning insufficient calories to not lose on 600-800 cals/ day. Even COMATOSE you'd be running a deficit of over 1000 calories a day on an intake of 600-800 cals/day, given that the BMR for a 26 year old 236lb man of 5'8" tall is 2028 calories a day (image 3 below).
I'm a 5'1" tall 56 year-old woman and I've lost 30lbs since 17th March on 1500 calories a day. My only formal exercise is walking the dog for between 1 and 2 hours a day, and some days I also burn some calories through gardening. I'm far from 'athletic', and yet I'm still losing a lot of weight (too quickly, actually) on almost double your calories.
If you've rigorously and objectively ruled out the issue being one of eating too many calories, then you need to get yourself some new bathroom scales, a set of digital kitchen scales and a tape measure. And start eating at least 1000 calories a day more than you're currently doing!
Let's be honest, what's more likely? That you're some sort of genetic anomaly that ought to be studied in a laboratory to learn how to remain obese on starvation rations (thus giving hope to millions of starving people globally), OR that you've overlooked some critical factor (broken scales, underestimated intake etc.) that could explain your situation? You need to be open-minded to the fact that you're not a genetic mutant!
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@KelpieLass
I honestly do appreciate your help as well as others that have given me suggestions. From what I've gathered I'm calorie deficit and I need to eat more calories. I guess I'm just being stubborn which isn't doing my mental health any good.
@Bella_Figura
Thank you for such an informative and descriptive post. You along with others are suggesting that I should consume more calories throughout the day and that's what I intend to do.
I know for certain that the scales are accurate as other people have weighed themselves and it gives an accurate reading.
I'm going to see how I do over the next 2 weeks, I'll use MFP to track my progress. I've also ordered the Amazfit Bip U Pro Smart Watch to make it easier submitting my results to MFP.3 -
Bottom line - if you have really not lost any weight in 2 months then you are not eating 600 - 800 calories per day.
The real life results tell us that.
Yes, 800 calories would indeed be calorie deficient- but reality is that you are eating more than that.
Tighten up your logging and open your diary - if you genuinely want help.
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Clearly we're dealing with Wolverine, here. Metal bones and quick healing so he can't lose weight. Or maybe a Highlander? Or Vampire?8
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There are only a few options I can think of:
- you're actually eating more than 600-800 calories (but for that to explain the weight loss stall, you'd have to be eating a lot more)
- you're eating so few calories that massive water retention is masking fat loss on the scale, from the stress of the extreme deficit
- you're a medical anomaly, needing far fewer calories than the average person or you have medical issues
The answer will depend on what situation is applicable, but the answer is somewhere in here:
- tighten up calorie logging (weighing food, even prepackaged) to verify your calorie intake
- increase food intake to 1500 calories minimum, to decrease the stress on your body
- go to a doctor and/or have your BMR tested, to diagnose any medical anomalies or issues4 -
FallGirl84 wrote: »I have to agree with the previous commenters, 600 calories for a guy your size is way too little. You can't lose weight because your body thinks it must hold on to anything it can since it doesn't get enough to function as it should. Please check on how you're measuring food and marking it to MFP, and do increase your calorie intake. I'm a female, just an inch shorter than you but have a couple of kilos more on my waist - and even I'm losing weight while eating 1500-1700 kcal per day and not doing any exercise.
Nonsense - if someone is genuinely only eating 600 calories over a decent period of time then they will be losing weight unless they have slowed their heart beat, lowered their body temperature and stopped every movement of their body.
Eat too little and you will not lose weight is, quite simply, a story people tell when they convince themselves they are eating a lot less than they really are. It is a myth.
Naturally, I didn't mean like he wouldn't lose weight in the long term if he'd continue eating only 600 kcal. I was talking about his journey up until now - so only about the two months. Eventually, sure, he would start losing weight but it would no doubt be agony to him and his body, not to mention his health.1
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