Confused.... very!

[Yassa]

I was having about 1,200 cals per day and not losing anything. Probably picking at food that I weren’t recording : so I can add a few calories to this. Was advised to go up to 1.400 cals per day. Really struggling to work out how eating 200 more cals can help me lose weight. If this one fails I’ve run out of ideas. Have 1 1/2 stone to lose at age 50! I’m a vegetarian.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

Hi, this post explains something of how "eat more, weigh less" works healthunlocked.com/weight-l...

But I see when last you were around you were following a low carb, healthy fat plan, and calorie counting doesn't come into that - in fact it can just cause confusion. Didn't you enjoy that way of eating?

[Yassa in reply to BridgeGirl]

As a veggie/ vegan (normally only eat eggs very rarely and no diary): I ended up eating eggs and cheese (which I don’t like) and barely managed 700 cals. And it was very very boring.

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Yassa]

What about vegetables? Lchf is built around veg, with protein and fat added to taste. There's a lchf plan for vegans here dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegan but you may not want to try it again

If you think calorie counting is the best for you, use the NHS BMI calculator to get your range and aim for the middle of it for a couple of weeks: see how you go with that

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to BridgeGirl]

I'm not vegan BridgeGirl , but I just read that Diet Doctor link and found it informative and easy to understand. Hope that helps Yassa .

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to elliebath]

That's good 😊

[Debs2510]

I was struggling to lose weight on 1200 calories but about 800 of those calories were from carbs as use to have cereal or toast for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch time etc and if enough left I would have chocolate during the evening.Since going LCHF 14 weeks ago I have lost nearly 40lb, no idea how many calories I am having as I no longer count them but I am never hungry and no longer eat the breakfast I only ate as was told it was important if I wanted to lose weight.

Good luck with getting the weight moving in the right direction.

Debs

[Yassa in reply to Debs2510]

I tried the low carb diet but as a vegetarian/ vegan (have no diary other than eggs): I struggled to eat anything but eggs and cheese. Struggled to eat 700 cals and told (again it were too low). 🥺

[Yassa in reply to Yassa]

Ps: what do you eat on this diet?

[Lytham 3 stone in reply to Yassa]

Would such as olives, avocados and nuts be a solution for you? They're all very good sources of healthy fats?

The other thing I would strongly recommend is joining a weekly weigh in, the support is invaluable ! Here's the link to today's, I'm sure dontdojogging and the Sunday team will make you very welcome, good luck! x

healthunlocked.com/weight-l...

[Greendream123 in reply to Yassa]

I wouldn't try low carbs, it goes against how I view fruit and vegetables after many years of veganism. There's other ways to lose weight which might be more suitable if you eat mainly vegan food, it's worked for me to just cut down on certain foods without calorie counting but everyone's different.

[Craftyperson]

Sometimes if you don't eat enough (especially if just suddenly cut down) your body goes into starvation mode thinking don't know when next meal coming so it hangs on to it in the form of fat so eating a bit more does help. What you eat counts too 2 biscuits as a snack say lots of calories and not filling so make your calories count

[Hidden]

Hi, go to the NHS website and you will see that you can feed information into their BMI calculator so that you will get a tailor made result for how many calories you personally need to eat daily at your present weight in order to lose weight. The whole principle behind weight loss is to fool your body into burning some of the excess energy which it has stored. If you don't eat sufficient for your needs, your body will assume that it is being starved and take appropriate action to conserve your stores! Obviously then you won't lose any weight. It is, after all, trying to stay alive! The knack is to lower your intake just sufficiently to cause your body to draw on its reserves without it realising and going into 'panic' mode. 700 calories a day is far too low and extremely dangerous unless you are being supervised in hospital. This rule applies no matter what type of lifestyle eating you are following. I really recommend you try this as I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Giggsy123]

This is me exactly but I need carbs so any other ideas most welcome. I have porridge made with skimmed milk most days and berries with ff greek yoghurtNo lunch as I eat breakfast at 11.

Snack apple and skinny bar

Dinner always home made lots of veg or salad. Maybe kit kat or low cal bar about 8. Drink 2 water bottles of water maybe a black tea.

[Hidden in reply to Giggsy123]

Hi Giggsy, from what you say above, it doesn't look as if you're eating sufficient calories. Am puzzled as to why you have skimmed milk with your porridge and full fat yoghurt. Why not have full cream milk instead? It's more sustaining. There's a noticeable lack of protein in your diet. Protein comes from meat, fish, eggs, lentils, quorn, cheese, mushrooms depending what lifestyle eating approach you prefer. To deprive yourself of protein is dangerous as it's the building block of life. Find out from NHS website how many calories you need each day and aim to eat a balanced, varied diet.

[Giggsy123 in reply to Hidden]

Lol fat free greek yoghurt. I have fish twice a week and a veg night so I eat meat 4 nights a week. I had a heart attack so need to keep my fat low. Thanks for the reply x

[CTink]

Hi Yassa, I totally understand how you feel, I have to lose 2st (age 71) and was eating about 800 cal a day and told that’s why I’m not losing weight because my body is strong everything, and been told to have 1400 calls a day. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to eat more !! They advised me to do the Mediterranean diet and first week I did really well and lost 6lb, 2nd week I put 2lb back on, disappointing but I’m not giving up. This week I’m trying to do more exercise and if I put on again or don’t lose anything I will have to revert to calorie counting. I hope you find something that works for you.

[Giggsy123 in reply to CTink]

I upped my cals to 1400 put on 3lb in a week

[slipstick Maintainer 2st 7lbs in reply to Giggsy123]

I wonder if that that 3lb is mostly water. 3lb of fat is around 10500 kcal and 200kcal extra per day would take a lot longer than a week to build up to that.

[Juppy 2 stone]

I also had that problem… I was doing 1000/day and not losing… went up to 1400/day and started gaining. I needed a whole food shakeup because something in my food selection wasn’t working. I went on an elimination diet to find what foods made me gain weight. I felt better than I had in years and the weight started shifting again. For me I discovered wheat and corn make me gain weight. However it’s not about carbs because potatoes are just fine for me.

[Yassa]

I have to admit... after reading all the replies (and thank you for your time to reply)... I’m more confused than ever. No two ideas are the same. Doing what’s right for me... good idea but I wouldn’t have posted my first post if I knew the answer.

[springersrule Moderator Host 76kg in reply to Yassa]

Hi Yassa, it can be really difficult to find what works for oneself. We are all different and what works for one doesn't work for someone else.

I'm nether vegetarian nor vegan so can't really advise you where to start, but cutting out processed food (if you have any) and getting the balance right of protein, fats and carbs would be a good starting point. You can then play around with each of the macros to see which makes your body hang on to the fats. Calorie counting isn't really enough if the macro balance isn't right.

Start experimenting and see what happens. Good luck 💖

Ps Have you tried joining in on the Daily Diary. There's lots of meals and plans, including vegan and vegetarian that might help. You'll find it in the pinned posts, here's the link: healthunlocked.com/weight-l...

[Fran182716 in reply to Yassa]

It is confusing but I think the reason you have so many different answers is because so many different things work for different people, so no one can give you a definitive answer that will work for you.

I know calories counting works for me if I stick to my allowance but I dislike doing it so it’s not sustainable for me longer term.

Going back to your original post, you weren’t losing weight on 1200 so have increased to 1400, but you say were picking at extras on 1200 so you may have been eating at around 1400 anyway. It could be that on the lower amount you didn’t have much energy and without even realising been less active. Having a bit extra in your allowance might give you the energy to be more active so overall you might burn slightly more calories at the higher calorie allowance.

People have given you ideas, the only way you can tell if something works for you is to pick one plan and try it for a few weeks consistently, then you can judge on results if it’s working for you and either tweak it if necessary or ditch it and try something else.

For comparison purposes I lost 2 stone in 2019 over 9 months on around 1500-1600 calories and low sugar reduced (not low) carbs. Age 54 and 4ft 10 with regular but gentle exercise. Have regained some now but that’s due to pandemic and work related stress eating, if I’d stuck to my eating plan I’d still be at 9 st ish.