why am I not losing very much?

[DialsMavis]

I have been eating (I think!) very healthily for 3 weeks and have not seen much movement on the scales. I have lost about 4lb and a couple of inches from my stomach.

I have completely cut out bread, pasta, treats and have been trying to get in lots of good fats and veg and been avoiding most dairy. Surely I should have lost more weight? I am enjoying eating this way, feel full, appetite has decreased massively and my taste buds have definitely changed. I tried some dark choc and it was almost too sweet!

Here is a selection of what I have been eating.

Breakfast
coffee with soya milk
was making smoothies but decided the fruit is too sugary so have been having eggs, mushroom and tomato
or pancakes (just mashed banana and eggs), with a handful of berries
or mackerel and eggs

Lunch
pot of humous and veg sticks or salad with mackerel/chicken/roast veg/avocado olive oil and seeds.

Dinner
meat and fish and veg or salad, jacket sweet potato, goats cheese and roast veg stacks, bolognese (no pasta), curry (homemade with coconut milk). I have had a few spoons on brown rice a couple of times.

the less good...
have drunk less than usual but still been having wine a couple of times a week and have had a couple of ciders. but no beer, juice or fizzy drinks
have around 3 soya lattes a week
have had about 2 nakd bars a week

activity levels-not great
walk 2 miles a day and 4 miles roughly 3 times a week.
2/3 busy shifts in a pub
v sedentry job 9-5
housework, running around after kids.
I do have more energy eating this way, but not enough to squeeze in exercise on the eves I am at home (work out of home 55ish hours a week and no cleaner at home so pretty busy).

I have around 2 stone to lose, am I just being too impatient?

[LordEmsworth]

4lb in 3 weeks is good healthy weight loss, well done!

Alcohol does make weight loss a lot harder - it stops your body metabolising fat - so if you can cut it out, that would help.

I'd also maybe try to eat your biggest meal at lunchtime, if you can - though that doesn't suit everyone.

But yes, I think you are being impatient

[Hopefully]

4lbs is brilliant for 3 weeks!

If you think about it, assuming you were slooooooowlly and steadily gaining weight before, a 'diet' was needed just to stop gaining, and then a further diet to make you lose, iykwim, so it's no wonder you feel like you have made lots of changes for only a small loss - I think this is often the case when people have been gradually gaining (if you have, if course), and it feels like a lot of punishment for not a lot of loss.

Keep at it, you're heading in the right direction at a good pace

[ShellyW40]

4lb in 3 weeks is perfectly healthy long-term weight loss.

Your diet is also, very healthy.

If you added a 30 minute cardio or HIIT routine 3-4 times a week you would lose around an extra 1/2lb a week.

Other than that keep up the good work!

[DialsMavis]

Thank you all.
I had read that about alcohol, but I pretended I hadn't!

It is slowwwwwww gain. I veer between a big 14 and a half decent 12.your explanation makes perfect sense. I think I just read one too many blogs about people giving up dairy and gluten and losing huge amounts instantly. But they were maybe bigger in the first place. The core of my diet hasn't changed its just the extras that have been removed.

I'm going to have to the shred again aren 't I? Every time I do DD stops sleeping as if by magic, and we enter weeks of hell. I did manage to complete it last year though, then I started working silly hours. s bit of me is still hoping to lose another 3lb of bloating after my period too. My ultra fat shaming and critical DM is coming on Thurs and. Pathetically, I wanted her to notice (before she tries to make me eat cake)

[ShellyW40]

I was guilty of that too, read too many magazines where people lost a ton of weight in no time at all. They were usually celebrities jumping on some fad diet bandwagon.

I stuck with my routine though and lost nearly 40lbs in 3-4 months. It sounds like a massive drop but it only works out to be just over 2lb a week. My diet is similar to yours, buut I think I work out a lot more (3 hours a week minimum).

6 months later, I have kept the weight off and am happier than ever - meanwhile I can think of 2 or 3 "celebs" who lost all that weight 6 months ago on a fad, who are now a headline in the daily mail reading "she's put the weight back on!"

Stick with your plan, it is healthy and it is working.

[Sleepwhenidie]

As pp's have said, what you are doing is great...yes less alcohol and more exercise would be better but start feeling like you are punishing and depriving yourself and it will start going wrong . I would put the focus on mindful eating, try and relax and eat slowly, whenever possible without distractions such as work, tv and MN . This can make a huge difference to the pleasure and satisfaction you get from food, to the amount you eat (you will heighten your perception of hunger and satiety) and also to the efficiency of your digestion and metabolism - the more relaxed you are, the more these will be optimised .

[LadySybilLikesCake]

My diet's like yours. I weigh myself in the morning and evening, but for some reason I'm 4lb's heavier in the evening I've lost nothing in two weeks

Sorry. I've no idea.

[DialsMavis]

It's depressing isn't it Lady? I feel I deserve to be slimmer than I am. I have lost a bit more since I posted though, and am enjoying eating this way so will continue.

It seems that even thinkng about doing the shred is enough to send DDs sleep haywire. Due to a catalogue of disasters she (& as a consequence I) was awake from 3am the other day and I felt fine all day at job 1 and didn't hit a wall at job 2 until about 11.30pm. Usually these are the times I would teach for sugar/ carbs and I would feel like death all day and night. I think I am also less of a moody bitch recently too.

Re: mindful eating, my appetite has reduced a lot and I am really enjoying my food.

[DialsMavis]

I've bumped my old thread to say that even with some cheating (birthday cake, festivals and not wanting to be a fussy so & so when eating at friends houses etc) I have lost 1stone 4lb so far. I'm still not missing the things I have decided not to eat anymore, and am feeling optimistic about the last stone. Off on holiday next week which will be tricky as food will be provided by the people we are staying with and will be on a boat, but just going to do what I can. I'm also hoping that once DPs work schedule calms down in oct (& the evenings are bit darker ) I might be able to give C25k a go.