Not Losing Weight

[ER98]

Hey everyone!

First time poster and really just after some advice. 

I was very overweight my whole childhood and early teen years. There's never really been a time that I've been at a healthy weight for my height. When I was 17, I was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (I had some of the other symptoms)/insulin resistance, and was put on metformin and the pill. This was also around the time that I went vegan. I managed to get control of my weight in that I didn't get any bigger, levelling at about 85KG. I went off the medication after about 2 years and a lot of the symptoms of the PCOS were gone. However, I just cannot seem to shift the weight any further. I am pear shaped and my waist measurement is right on the limit for healthy for my height (32 cm, 165 high), but BMI 31. Healthy in terms of cholesterol and blood pressure/resting bpm of 67. 

Since actively attempting to lose weight, yet another attempt (it's so easy to give up when the results are not visible - I also had scale phobia until now, but I've realised it's important to be able to track progress) I maintain a deficit of around 500-800 calories a day, have upped my protein/fibre (plant based) and am ensuring I stay away from refined carbs, also drinking 2L of water per day. My intake at the moment is between 1200-1500 cal a day, and truthfully I don't feel like I am starving on that at all - lots of veggies and tofu/soups/healthy fats in nuts. I am religious with tracking my calories. Granted, I have only been taking it very seriously for about 3 weeks - but given the deficit I've had every day, I'd expect SOME weight loss - but not a single gram (I weigh myself in the morning). Is it normal for it to take a while to see some results? What might I be doing wrong? I really want to lose 15 kg ideally, but at this point my main aim is to get under 80KG. 

[PBizzy]

Trust the scale not the calories deficit in your fitbit dashboard. If you're not losing weight, then you're not in a calorie deficit. You either need to increase your cardio, decrease your caloric intake or some combination of both. 

A daily deficit of 500 to 800 calories per day would equate to about 1 to 1.5 lbs lost per week. Weight loss isn't necessarily linear but if the scale isn't moving, you're intake is too high.

[FoCoHiker]

For a few weeks now I've been working out twice a day, have cut down on my daily calorie intake from 3000 to 1700, stopped drinking redbull, water from the time I wake to an hour before bed and eat throughout the day instead of (breakfast, lunch and dinner).  I've lost 4 pounds.  My lunch break at work I do an aggressive walk/hike with a weighted backpack for 4 miles.  When I get home I do a 21-Day Fix workout followed up with a 45 minute bike ride.  The first 30 days is always tough in my opinion (breaking bad habits, adjusting life schedule to have a workout schedule, drinking water, multivitamin and working out more than once a day).  My target steps per day is 18000 and I'm able to achieve this by working out 3 times a day. Hope this helps!

[FoCoHiker]

I forgot to add - I purchased a smart scale, Weight Guru which is compatible with the fitbit app.  This scale includes body weight, body fat%, muscle mass%, water weight% and BMI.  A scale is a great tool for a long term plan gains, not for short term gains and if you're putting in the work then you should see the gains over time.  On 5/23 I started working out and have lost 7 pounds as of this morning (Decrease body fat, increase muscle mass, increase water weight and decrease BMI)

[AC363904]

It depends on how long you've been at this plateau. If you just started and loss excess water weight, then keep at it for another week or two. If you aren't seeing results then decrease your calories by 250-500 per day and reevaluate every two weeks or so. If you've been doing this for a while, then this is our body's new normal. Again, to break that plateau, decrease your calories by 250-500 per day. Hope this helps.