4 months in, why am I not losing weight?

[Mimi_new_mum]

Hi everyone, I am feeling really demoralised with my weight loss. It's been 4 months since i started watching my diet, I count my calories and wear a fitbit to watch what I spend in a day. I try to cook and eat really healthy, I do occasionally treat myself to a cake or chocolate but on those days I try to walk it off. I started doing 2-3 hours of exercise a week too. I still feel very stressed with my baby and am now wondering whether my metabolism is just terrible due to that. All in all, 4 months of hard work, I never lost more than the original 1 kg! Anyone else experienced this? I am 6 months postpartum and by now most mums have lots a lot of the baby weight.

[Tiggerr]

Sorry to hear that you're stuck, that must be quite disheartening, although as you've said previously, at least you're eating more healthily now.

Without knowing some details Mimi, it's hard to provide any solid advice.

To get a basic idea of where you are, did you run the NHS BMI calculator and if so...

- what is your calorie range?

- how many calories are you having each day?

Additionally, how much are you expecting to lose?

[Mimi_new_mum in reply to Tiggerr]

I am on the upper range of overweight right now, and my daily calorie spending (without exercise) is 1400 cal. I eat low fat, whole grain and rich in veggie and fruit diet. If I happen to exceed my daily intake of calories, I make sure I do exercise the next day to burn it off. I have seen little difference in dress size or scale and have 7-10 kg to lose to get back to my normal weight.

[Tiggerr in reply to Mimi_new_mum]

Thanks for that.

Have you run the NHS BMI calculator? If not then please do and could you let us know what the calorie range is... that is the lower and upper end of the range. Cheers!

nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyw...

[Mimi_new_mum in reply to Tiggerr]

1400-1900 cal

[Tiggerr in reply to Mimi_new_mum]

I appreciate that you're sticking to the lower end but it does strike me that you may be having too few calories and you may have become 'stuck'.

Read this post from Indigo today to get an idea of what I'm getting at....

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Tagging IndigoBlue61 anyway in case she can add further to this.

[lucigret in reply to Mimi_new_mum]

also have a read of this

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Mimi_new_mum]

I agree with Tiggerr and lucigret. Increase your calorie intake to 1700-1800, give it a proper go, 3-4 weeks, and see how you go. Fill the extra calorie allowance with good things, not carbs and sweet things

And come here every day, not to post but just to join in chats and events; it can give you a real boost to see other people are struggling too, and you can help them on their way

[lucigret]

Hi Mimi,

Don't despair, you only had your little girl 6 months ago. Not everybody looses their baby weight that quickly. My daughter's son is almost 1 and it has taken her 10 months to loose weight and she still have half a stone to go to get back to where she was.

Did you calculate your personal calorie range on the BMI calculator and are you eating to the higher end of that range?

Are you eating low fat diet food or have you changed to full fat which you will find far more satiating and it will do you far more good?

Do you eat a lot of pasta, rice, bread, potatoes? If so try cutting them down or out - you will notice a difference.

I would suggest that you take the time to put your meal plans on the Daily Diary each day - you will get lots of feed back and ideas of what you can change, it will be easier for us to help if we know what you are eating.

Come on to the forum as much as you can and read posts and reply to support others and gain support yourself, join a weigh in where you will also get support. The more you are present here, the more we can help you.

Keep at it, you can do it, it just may take a little bit of time to find the eating plan that suits you.

Good luck

[IndigoBlue61]

Hello Mimi and please don’t despair. I am certain you will have lost fat and your insides will be thanking you, it’s just that scale weight is not the always the best way of judging health improvements.

Couple of points, these other mums who have lost their baby weight, who are they? Are they real?! Seriously, it makes me so cross, anyone who has had a baby within a year and can have anything resembling a normal life needs a huge medal and a pat on the back 😊👏🎖. It takes 12 months to recover from pregnancy and birth . . .

So rule number one - be kind to yourself, you’re a star ⭐️

Number two - eat more, read the link Lucigret gave you if you don’t believe me

Number three - stop the low fat. All the recent research suggests that some good healthy fat is essential, especially for healing after pregnancy or illness

Number four - come onto the forum as often as you can for support

Take care lovely lady, you are doing a fabulous job 😊

[Binky68 Visitor]

1. Get your thyroid checked , pregnancy triggered thyroid issues in three of my friends

2. Cut out carbs - bread sugar potatoes pasta rice crackers etc . Eat the same amount of calories but with less than 100g a day of carbs

[Mimi_new_mum]

Thank you everyone! I am trying to stay positive and just get back to myself in other ways. I used to be fit and now I try to improve my strength by doing as much workouts as possible. I do eat enough to keep the needs of my body, and I am seeing that my muscles are coming back, but I wish I could also see downsizing in dress size. I made the decision to stop wearing maternity and just bought new clothes size 14, used to be 10...it hurts every time I see them. Hoping perseverance and good habits will get me there!

[lucigret in reply to Mimi_new_mum]

Just keep going, perseverance will pay off. I am old enough to be your mum and at your age the size of my clothes would have mattered too, but now I suppose I just think as long as you look nice and can wear nice clothes instead of maternity trousers/dresses - that is not so bad at this stage. My daughter is still wearing her maternity jeans and is beginning to accept that her body has also changed shape since having her little boy. She was also a size 10 but now wears 12/14's and looks slim. Your body has done something amazing, just give it time, it will happen