Demoralised after exercising and no loss :(

[sunnies84]

Hi all

Feeling really down today and hoping someone can give me some advice/motivation ; I'm really struggling with my weight and tried so many diets over the years and my weight just seems to be stagnant/go up. I have decided to do a 10k run in May and so I have been building it up for weeks now - I'm up to 25min solid running which is a massive achievement for me, however the weight just isn't moving.

I decided to give up going to Slimming World or Weight Watchers mainly due to finances, but also the fact that I spent so much money over the years (11 to be exact) and not lost more than a few pounds - now I know this is my fault but I feel that I'm throwing away money. In Feb I decided to go it alone, eat three sensible but filling meals a day, maybe one or two small snacks and really up the exercise. But in 7 weeks I've lost 2lbs and no inches - to say I'm gutted is an understatement.

A typical day would be:

Breakfast - cinnamon bagel with honey, fat free actimal and a cup of tea/coffee

No snacks until lunch

Lunch - two crumpets with a slither of spread and ham, 100cal protein shake with water, apple

Dinner - Small pasta, 2 sausages, lots of veg, small sprinkling of low fat cheese, then a fruit salad or low fat yog

Snacks - one tiny piece of chocolate or a pack of breakfast biscuits throughout the day, or grapes

Obviously some days I would have more and compensate exercise wise and sometimes less.

I'm a teacher and so over the two week Easter holidays I'm challenging myself to up my fitness and do 2x2 = 2 lots of exercise (run/cycle/spin bike/weighted walk) every day for two weeks with the aim to kick start my weight loss again, but one week in I'm only 1/2lbs down and no inches lost. I do feel fitter but thats not enough when you're 5ft 2 1/2 and 12 stone 8.

I really don't want to commit to calorie counting/WW/SW as I want to make healthy choices with exercise as opposed to being on a contsant diet... but to be honest, I need help. I'm fed up and really demoralised.

HELP

PS If you've got to the bottom of the post, thank you

[fibronfedup]

Hey so sorry to hear you are feeling so down at the moment, from reading your post you are so active i wish i had that much energy! Being smaller does make it much harder to lose weight, you obviously have the exercising down to a tee, can i add well done on the running i lasted about 30 secs so in awe right now.

I know you dont want to calorie count so maybe try the 5:2 diet so you only cou t calories twice a week and continue your healthy eating the rest of the week, you may be able to use it to kick start your weight loss again. I personally calorie count as it seems to be how it works for me. Please do not give up you are doing so well, weight loss may be slow but at least you are losing still and not gaining. Stay strong hun

[sunnies84 in reply to fibronfedup]

Thank you so much for your reply. Interesting I have just added my food intake to My Fitness Plan and my exercise; so I may do that this week and see if I can see any issues. I did contemplate the 5:2 but as (for the first time ever), I'm really into exercise at the moment, I don't think I could exercise on 500 cals

My partner is very supportive and tells me it will come off, it's just so disheartening.

[fibronfedup in reply to sunnies84]

My fitness pal is a great app maybe using it for a week or so will show you any foods that are causing you issues. Your partner is right, you will get there you are doing so well

[OlsBean]

I'm on the way out the door so I can't give you as comprehensive answer as I would like to right now.

The things that jump out to me are that you are eating refined Carbohydrate with every meal and little or no Fat.

You also don't seem to be eating a lot for the amount of activity you are currently doing if I have understood you correctly. Lots of activity and not enough nutrition can often put your metabolism through the floor, as I know only to well from personal experience.

I am sure someone else will have some ideas for you also.

[sunnies84]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry to be thick, but what are refined carbs? Do you mean pasta etc? I was thinking of investing in a vegetable spiralisers to use instead of pasta - would that help cut out some carbs?

[Penel in reply to sunnies84]

The bagels, biscuits and crumpets, as well as the pasta, are refined carbohydrates. Bagels and biscuits will have a lot of sugar added too. Your body stores excess carbs as body fat, so it's a good idea to find some alternatives. The low fat yogurt and protein drink may have sugar in too, check the labels.

Different foods have different effects on the body, it's not all down to calories. Too many refined carbs will affect your weight (and your health).

Perhaps try a protein breakfast, like eggs, with some wholegrain bread if you feel you need some carbs. Full fat Greek yoghurt is a quick breakfast, with a good level of protein, you could add your own fruit and some nuts. Try to eat some natural fats, like olive oil or butter, as the body needs them to work properly.

[JuliaM72]

I've read all the comments and this is just a suggestion! I found a good kick start was doing the Dukan diet (high protein, low fat) BUT only for a few days. The diet is good and you may be able to stick to it but I found 3-5 days of the first stage was enough to kick start weight loss. With you planning on doing a lot of exercise you will need to feed your muscles with protein. A good balanced diet will be needed after the initial few days and I know salad is boring but you can have a whole plate full with very few calories. As I said this is only a suggestion that I found worked for me for a few days. Hope this is helpful and good luck with your journey.

[Biblia]

Hi Sunnies84,

I suggest you see a dietician through your doctor in order to get good eating advice which is in no way linked to any marketed diet plan or trend; it's true, your typical day's food is not well balanced. A dietician is not the same as a nutritionist, and only uses an evidence based approach to health. A dietician does not use a theory of "paleo", 5:2, low carb, blood type or anything else currently doing the rounds. Yes, those things have worked for some, just not for you. And a dietician is free!

You've tried everything else, perhaps, so take up the dietician's advice. If it involves counting calories, so be it! You only need to do that during the losing weight phase of your life, not forever. I can't say this strongly enough. It's not forever. Once you are a healthy weight, sensible eating will be adequate. Several friends of mine did the counting thing for a period of their lives, not forever. They now eat well and enjoy their food with occasional treats and have stable weight.

The beauty of counting calories is that you simply cannot fail if you are honest about your intake and calculate your burn off accurately. You are totally in control. You eat food, not too much of it, mostly plants (Michael Pollan). There is no guesswork. "There is no Try. There is only Do or Don't Do" (Yoda!). There's no special shakes, bars or products, it's cost free. I'm doing it every day and it takes up little of my time, it got easy by about day five because you eat the same stuff most of the time anyway.

You clearly have massive amounts of determination judging by your exercise.

You certainly don't need a commercial diet plan or a subscription. You need a calculator, a digital scale and a highly qualified NHS professional with nothing but your best interests at heart.

Now go go GO!