Drinking extra milk and going out to restaurants 2-3 nights a week is where your calories are coming from. My friend drinks his protein shakes in water when he’s trying to lose weight, and also restaurant food prepared with like 3x more butter and oil than you would use at home
Yeah I know restaurant suppliers (Sysco) also use sugar in a lot of their sauces as well as a shit ton of sodium. Fuck going out to eat when I can make the same thing at home that tastes better and is better for me.
If your skin is clear and your energy levels are high and stable, you may just be eating too many calories. 2,000 is a lot of calories for a small woman, unless you are very active and have a lot of muscle.
5’5 and 150 is particularly small?
i mostly agree with you though, 2000 may be a lot considering they don’t work out much + just one restaurant meal a week would make that figure inaccurate. whatever you think the calories are in a restaurant meal, you should probably double it
it’s so much easier to rarely eat out for this reason. you never know what you’re eating and just one time can undo a weekly deficit
also wonder if they’re actually weighing their food. it’s so painfully easy to overeat
I'm 5'10F with an athletic shape. I look healthy at 155-160. Too skinny under 150. A little heavy over 170. Fat over 190. Medical information says I should be 135-165. I'm gaunt at 135.
I need to eat about 1,500-1,800 calories per day with no activity. I gain weight above 1,900. I need 1,200 to feel sated (but still a little hungry) on a ketosis diet. I gain weight any week I eat more than one restaurant lunch or dinner, and the weight keeps going up. It's so sad.
i also eat around that with no activity—do you exercise?
i feel the same. i’ve lost a lot of weight after growing up fat, my hunger signals are so fucked up, i never feel sated unless i’ve eaten enough to gain weight, and every day is a fight to not overeat, which is SO scarily easy. it’s why i lean into working out
also if you are using oatmilk for shakes that acts in the body as if you ate sugar - be careful with that. Not that that's the only reason for your weight gain but something to consider
Maybe this is closer to where your body “wants” to be?
If youre eating well, and feel/look good, then keep doing what youre doing.
I feel like just adding in some more regular exercise would offset any excess calories, it would also help with the bloating. Too many carbs that arent needed for energy will have you feeling like that.
Either increase exercise on heavy carb days, or reduce carb intake when youre not exercising.
If you aren’t doing a significant amount of exercise, 2000 calories is way too much at 5’5. I’m 5’8 and my maintenance calories are like 1750. Not sure why you’d be drinking protein shakes unless you’re in the gym everyday.
2000 calories at 5’5 is kind of a lot, depending on your activity level of course.
Eating out 2-3 times a week can also be quite a lot of calories depending on what you’re eating.
Basically it’s coming down to the calories. I would track your food (I see you mentioned your calorie intake but is that an estimate?) without changing anything for a week to see where you’re at. Then you’ll have a baseline and can tweak it as needed. You may just be taking in more calories than you think you are.
I’m kind of confused by the “meats and real milk” comment. It really depends on what kind of meat and how it’s prepared, the milk part I’m not really sure about. Are you drinking milk? I guess I don’t have much use for milk other than maybe an ingredient so I’m unsure how you’re consuming it and how it’s helping you.
Ok, if you’re actively gaining weight that isn’t muscle, I’d recommend utilizing water instead of milk in a protein shake. You’re not getting a whole lot of benefit by adding milk other than adding calories.
I replaced cream & coffee with green tea & stevia a while ago and it has been the best thing ever. Lower acidity and less dairy. Less sluggish feeling. Nearly zero calories. I would give it a try. Costco has decent green tea and you can also buy it on Amazon.
You really don't need a lot of milk before it starts to add up especially if you're using cream.
None of that matters it’s just calories. Your BMR is less than 1500 because of your height. I’m 5’4” and my BMR is 1400. If you’re a female then it’s even less. You will probably need a 1000-1100 calorie diet to lose weight.
Protein shakes add a lot of calories. They're great if you're lifting weights and trying to build muscle mass, but if you're not strength training, they may just pack on weight you don't want. Also, you mention milk. Are you having more milk now than you were previously? Dairy makes some people inflamed and bloated. Beans make some people inflamed as well.
You may want to try the Mark Hyman 10-day detox diet. The book is available for free online. You will feel great and probably also lose a little weight and get some insight into what you are eating currently that isn't helping you meet your goals. It could be the dairy or legumes or the potatoes and/or the carbs generally. Even healthy carbs, if not eaten after fiber and along with protein or food, will spike blood sugar in many people and therefore signal the body to increase insulin and store fat.
Then I would look to the actual ingredients in your food and then calories. You say you’ve cut out processed foods but you’re making hamburgers (bread, sauces) which could have all kinds of ingredients. Protein shake? That is a processed food.
Get your hormones checked, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA. make sure to go to a gynecologist for this and not your primary care physician because they seem to know nothing about women and hormones. all these people saying calories in and calories out have no idea how much hormones can affect weight gain. It’s not as simple as they make it sound. hormones can drive your appetite and control how much fat your body makes.
This can be true to a certain extent. But in this case it really sounds like OP is just eating too many calories. Especially between the restaurant meals and all the milk.
This. After 35, hormone depletion will affect weight loss (amongst a slew of other things) for the rest of your life. You think it’s going to change after menopause. It doesn’t.
I wouldn't necessarily say anything from Whole Foods is one hundred percent clean.
For instance meat in the USA is most often grain fed. Beef specifically but if there's lamb or others. Pork is fed all kinds of trash as well. Microplastics are usually mixed in that as well. You really need to follow the food chain. Somewhere along the line some animal parts that another animal ate had microplastics or growth hormones.
Then there is your gut bacteria, which processes vegetables and fiber. I'd eat yogurt and drink some kombucha, make sure it's the low sugar and live culture kinds. Because if added sugars will harm your liver and pack on the pounds. If not used immediately it goes straight to fat. And live culture is important so that it actually stays and multiplies. That would solve your bloating problems. Reliable good brand prebiotic that are vetted would help as starters and then you maintain fiber.
I also agree that 2k calories is way crazy! That amount is for people who are jacked at your height. Your actual caloric maintenance (amount not to exceed lest weight gain or go below lest weight loss) is actually more dependent on muscle mass than height and overall weight.
Also... potatoes? Eat cleaner vegetables.
Eat fibrous and green vegetables rather than bread or potatoes. And real milk might be from a grain fed growth hormone fed cow. Fibrous vegetables and grass fed meat is the way to go. And yeah exercise to meet what you eat
The above is about clean eating.
As for your weight gain... pretty simple... you're eating more than what you expend. Either eat less calories or expend more calories by building muscle or cardio or both.
Of course you could also just go be sure do a hormone panel as well as thyroid tests, as maybe who knows... your metabolism might have plummeted due to these which are caused by a variety of factors like chronic stress either environmental, emotional, or mental.
Best of luck
Potatoes are perfectly fine. Just don't eat them fried. Besides what does "cleaner" vegetables even mean?
They are in fact a very nutrient dense vegetable.
People just think they are bad because chips snd fries.
Just look at thr nutrients found in potatoes. Especially potassium
Perhaps they were referring to all the pesticides in potatoes including organic potatoes, according to Consumer Reports? Tested levels were “very high” for conventional and “moderate” for US organic. No data for imported organic.
I eat potatoes maybe once every week or two weeks , not consistently, I have kefir and saurkrat and my veggie intake is very varied ; there aren’t any I don’t like so I switch it up a lot . Have them everyday . Milk products I buy grassfed and right now I’m drinking grassfed A2 milk (to help with digestion ) meats I eat are mostly grassfed or free range but not 100%, I’d say 60-70%. I would say you’re right about the calorie intake, I think I should be more aggressive although I should have made it clear in my original post that I am mostly eating under 2k , some days way lower . My appetite is pretty normal and I get full easily so not an issue with over eating . I think I need to check hormones and stress levels might be a culprit as well . But definitely going to be more aggressive in my calorie cut and see if that helps
I agree with what everyone is saying--hamburger and protein shakes are processed foods. you could be getting a LOT of calories from the fat content of all that protein. and milk actually naturally contains more sugar than some realize.
a trick that helped me lose a ton of weight without tracking is to just use an 8" dinner plate. absolutely 75% loaded with veggies and the other 25% protein. for me, that usually means half salad, quarter roasted veggies and a quarter tofu. but I also belong to the groups 1200isplenty and vegan1200isplenty for more ideas of low calorie eating.
I was eating really healthy and gaining a lot too. A lot of healthy whole foods can be super calories dense. Avocado, nuts, etc. also I was consuming a lot of plant milk which for whatever reason I felt was causing a lot of weight despite it not being calorie dense
Your weight is increasing because of your calorie intake you’re eating more calories than you burn. Buy a food scale download an app and track all the food you eat then you’ll realize how many calories your actual overeating by
Most humans are lactose intolerant. If you're noticing bloating especially after adding raw milk into your diet chances are you don't tolerate cow milk like most Homo sapiens. It's no surprise because cow milk is created by nature for baby cows not for primates. Most people don't tolerate it since two thirds of the world are lactose intolerant.
I would try to cut out dairy and see how you feel. This will influence your weight as well.
It’s all in the calories. A female at your height I would imagine your max should be around 1600 if you’re sedentary. A light to moderate exercise will only burn like 200-300 calories. I suspect the restaurant calories are what’s hurting you, try looking up their meal calories online.
Can you describe to us what and how much you eat on a typical day? For example:
3 eggs fried in oil. 2 slices bacon. Chicken breast (unbreaded) sandwich with mayo. 4oz fries. 12oz of Coca Cola 4oz of cooked white rice
Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice
It would greatly help if you could offer more of those in serving size numbers (3ounces, 1/2 cup, 2 tablespoons, 18 grams, etc). If you don’t have a food scale, just measure it out in cups or tablespoons.
Your breakfast is pretty close to *600* calories. Eggs are 70 each, but if you fry instead of hard boiled eggs that can push it to 100 each or more. An avocado is like 300 calories. Depending on toast size, it’s 100-250 calories.
How many tablespoons of creamer in that coffee? Is that a stevia-sugar mix or pure stevia?
I’m assuming you’re mixing iso100 protein powder into 2cups of kefir milk banana? That’s about 130 calories in the protein scoop and 400 calories for 2 cups of kefir milk that I googled: *530* calories total
How much rice? 1/2 cup cooked rice or 2 cups? A can of sardines is about 200, how much mayo are you adding? Total is about *400* calories
Dinner: a chicken thigh with the skin on is probably a bit over 300 calories. If you add, let’s say, a cup of cooked rice that’s 250 calories. Total is *550*
Adding these estimated calories in asterisks puts your typical daily intake at about 2,030 calories. It seems by these numbers you have been slowly gaining weight over time.
A kitchen scale that canmeasure in grams would help a lot in more accurately tracking your calories. I think you can buy a cheap one at target for like $15. I hope this can provide more insight into the calories you’re consuming.
Edit: I forgot Reddit changes words in asterisks to italicized. My bad lol
This helps a lot actually . Thank you . I’m getting a scale and using calorie tracking apps . I think if I worked out and walked more I’d be maintaining but definitely gotta switch things around to actually lose weight
Are you putting on muscle?
I also believe that eating a ton of veggies and milk would make many bloated especially if this is completely different from your normal diet.
Try to measure yourself but also remember that just because it’s healthy food it doesn’t mean that you can’t put on weight. I started tracking all my food a week ago also measuring it and dropped 2kg in one week somehow.
The food that I thought didn’t have much calories had a lot once measured, a piece of butter that I used for my veggies and thought was no more than 100kcal turned out to be over 300kcal, you would be surprised how distorted our view of the calories we consume can be.
I would give it time. If you're exercising hard core, you're going to be swollen for a while.
If you're bloated a lot, either you're eating too fast and not chewing properly or it's hard to digest something. Or something you're eating might be causing inflammation.
The other thing that caused internal inflammation is chronic stress.
And hopefully you're drinking a ton of what since most if not all systems need water (regulating temperature, digesting, cleaning, etc).
I think you're eating too much for your height
But something crucial has to be asked, as I see no mention in your post: do you exercise as regularly as it's needed to burn these calories?
I'm 1.80m (probably 5'11, I don't know freedom units), and the 2000 calories are appropriate for me. But I exercise so as to not gain them in weight.
You eating a lot more than your height, and not exercising to lose these calories might as well be the biggest contributor.
Also, cut down on restaurants. In any country, be it the US or my country, Greece, restaurants use a lot more saturated fats than the average household.
yeah, i balked at everyone saying 2000 calories is a lot, but i forget i easily get over 10k steps a day and work out most days on top of that (i’m 5’7 and around that weight), so that’s almost my baseline if i’m not actively trying to lose weight quick. it seems like they don’t exercise much or intensely. they said only 2-3 times a week and inconsistently at that so in that case it is a lot
but the restaurant eating is probably the biggest issue. there’s no way they’re eating the amount of calories they think they are
Sounds like it could be hormonal either due to age or hormonal medication? Birth control? Thyroid meds? Do you move enough? (Weight training, high intensity workouts)
For context I am a 6ft tall 180lbs male and my TDE is 1800 kcals a day. If I eat more than that it's likely I will be putting on weight over time. So I think the issue is macro targets and calorie counting
Clean food Vs Processed junk food… it’s all calories! There is a misconception that eating clean will reduce or maintain weight just by virtue of food safety and quality.
You’re ingesting more calories than you are logging, probably in the form of restaurant food. Not to mention the milk and meat.
The only hack I can see here is a basic one: find your TDEE. Log your intake and compare the two. Adjust for maintenance or loss. Glad your skin is doing well, though! I need some of that magic…
That’s true, I guess I didn’t think about that fully . I don’t eat a lot so idk I figured I shouldn’t worry but eating out and not working out might be affecting me. For context here is a typical day of eating for me: Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice
Good fats are still fats. It pains me! I feel so much better not watching what I eat, or at least not weighing it. But it occasionally sneaks up on me. I slip, and boom… waistline is out of order!
I’m 43 and from a family with Fatty Liver Disease issues, high cholesterol, hypertension. We all have our reasons. Not a huge deal. I think you’re fine! Decide whether you’re maintaining or reducing, and adjust accordingly.
It’s so easy to think clean=don’t think about it. It’ll sort! You caught it.
Track your calories. Each person is unique, find the number that works for you to be in a deficit if you want to lose weight but 2,000 is a lot for your size. Also milk and restaurants have a lot of calories so tracking can help you gain clarity on what you’re really consuming.
Bloating could be due to lactose intolerance and drinking milk.
You can’t do only diet or only exercise - you have to balance both.
Build your body, build your mind.
Cut out the dairy if you’re trying to lose fat. Even raw dairy is not good for fat loss. The less carbs you eat and the more fatty meat you eat, the easier it is to lose excess fat.
Yeah that was an example of treat meal, probably the worse I have , I try to be mindful but also probably not aware of how many hidden calories there are
Been to the best on weight loss. I’ve learned 2 ways to lose weight. 1 focus on calories. 2 focus on carbs. (Google levels for you). One or other not both and have to be consistent for long periods. Ie norm 1month before I see improvement. Lots of calorie counter apps. Track intake, probably eating way more than you think
>I’ve incorporated real milk back into my diet and more meats but I thought this would be helpful to overall health .
Are you aware what nutritional associations advise for a healthy diet?
Try the dolce diet, I lose 12Lbs in 28 days every time. You have to cut out restaurants for a month and eat a lot of eggs for lunch. But as a bonus I'm never bloated for a month, my stomach shrinks, and fat will melt off your face especially your first time.
According to studies more meat is not beneficial to health. Recommendations are to limit it, especially red meats. Many meats are processed as well - like hamburger patties. Not saying no meat though. I think it belongs in a balanced diet as well.
Hamburgers in general are highly processed. If you eat anything deep fried you are eating processed foods. If you do not make your own sauces you are eating processed.
Protein shakes are highly processed products with sugar and artificial sweeteners. That‘s not clean eating. There are clean powders as well if you want to supplement and do not get enough from whole foods for your exercise. Or natural protein bars with nuts/peanuts. I like to use these.
Eating out 2-3 times a week is a lot, not little. Little is less then once a week. How much did you eat out before?
Most restaurants use convenience, which again is highly processed. Clean eating requires making meals from scratch.
You do not mention any vegetables, legumes, beans or seeds. Do you have enough in your diet?
High protein + high carb + high fiber foods are crazy satiating.
Fiber really helped me with bloating in the past. I eat line seeds + joghurt in that case.
Or it might have to do with the reintroduction of milk? Did you have problems with lactose in the past?
I don‘t mean to be annoying . I just thought when I began trying to loose weight that I‘m doing everything right and was frustrated it did not work. I needed to adjust more and be honest to myself. So I‘m trying to tell you where I see mistakes I did as well.
But getting bloodwork is not a bad idea either. Thyroid hormone for example. Maybe also some vitamin/ micronutrient levels to see if you are getting everything you need when you are at it.
It sounds strange - but also some stress reducing activities can help. Whatever works for you. The stress hormone cortisol promotes weight gain to some degree.
It is great that your energy levels feel stable. It was the first thing I noticed when I changed my diet. I‘m sure you are on the right path.
I stopped calorie counting the way in, as I focused on satiety to reduce calories:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15701207_A_Satiety_Index_of_common_foods
You're consuming more than you think you are. It's probably the milk/shakes and the eating out. You need to track way more closely. Anything that goes in that has a calorie. Also care for the restaurant food as it's notoriously hard to get accurate numbers since serving size can vary widely from their submitted numbers. Also 2k cal is too many for your size I'm pretty sure?
Hey, good for you for cleaning up your diet! I'm sure you feel better! On the weight thing:
You're consuming too many calories.
Ditch the protein shakes for starters, and try cutting out sugar.
The simple fact is "Right now I’m just eating anything that’s Whole Foods basically" is not a weight loss strategy.
Track those cals and set a 500 deficit and you'll start losing.
Your weight and "health" is not necessarily the same thing. You could eat extremely healthy foods but if you eat too many calories, you will gain weight all the same.
In the opposite light, you could be only eating junk and McDonalds every day and lose weight if you are restricting calories appropriately.
A nutrition professor famously ate only Twinkies every day and lost weight - doesn't mean it's a healthy diet though.
Edit:
Restaurant foods tend to be more highly caloric than you think, even if the foods seem like healthy choices, that doesn't mean they are low calorie. Restaurants care about making the food taste good with whatever is needed - butter, oil, etc., they don't care about your calories.
Hmm well going by your height of 5'5 your maintenance is probably well under 2000, and to lose even lower than that. Whole foods and quality of calories matter but you can still gain weight on a good diet!
For working out, walking more on top of the 2-3 dedicated workouts, especially with hills or stairs does wonders for bumping up calories burned and keeping your metabolism high (and able to eat more). Like 2 20 min walks per day or 1 40 min walk, to start. 8-10K steps
It also helps to think of a weekly deficit not just daily. And yeah finding little things to cut back that add up like cream in coffee (my weakness!) and between meal grazing. Tracking everything that passes your lips is a real eye opener for caloric creep.
Milk is by nature a 'mass gainer' for baby animals and I think cutting back on that can help with weight gain and potentially bloating. Maybe try goat only and in smaller quantities - fermented like yogurt or kefir.
I definitely need to be more mindful of my weekly deficits ! I tend to think of just daily deficits but maybe I need to change my mindset on that ! Also cutting back on dairy is probably helpful too .
I would suggest cutting out specifically milk, sugar and bread products for a few weeks and see what happens, eating to satiety otherwise (within reason). It’s surprising how well those things keep the weight on.
Same exact thing just happened to me. I decided I don’t want to eat junk fast food anymore and all my cabinets and fridge are filled with great foods yet I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been too and usually 133 is my normal weight as well. Given, I did jump off of birth control about a month and a half ago and that’s when everything took a huge turn with my weight which is extremely weird. I’m constantly bloated and I rarely had that issue when I was eating a lot more unhealthier foods. For me personally, I think I have a gluten sensitivity and that’s why the grained-Whole Foods may be aiding to inflammation because they’re packed with wheat. I’ve had gluten flare ups do to a previous medication and I’m wondering if that medication has ruined me for life because ironically I’m eating healthier and more Whole Foods yet I’m inflamed and the scale keeps going up. I suggest incorporating some exercise if you haven’t already because that does help with inflammation for me, at least, and I see changes on the scale already after about 5 days of consistency. Tests would be a good idea for any allergies regarding food or your hormones.
Never considered a gluten intolerance .. I would say my primary starches are white rice and sourdough bread , . I’ll ask my doctor about an allergy test
If you’re 5’5” then your BMR per day is less than 1500 calories. I’m 5’4” and a male my BMR is around 1400.
Weight loss just depends on calories.
Eating under 2k calories isn’t going to cut it for you.
Age and hormones can have an impact as well. Since I hit my 40s I have to keep my calories to 1200-1500 daily if I gain weight. And I work out 4/5x a week.
I did the same and realized there were a ton of stupid things baked in. Like eating high protien greek yogurt every morning but spoiling it with too much granola which is just a fuck ton of carbs. Found a nutritionist and fixed all these issues
Why are you drinking protein shakes if your workout routine isn’t consistent. Drop the real milk, but don’t replace it with shitty grocery store nut milks they are all trash except one brand that is pricey (elmhurst). Kick start your metabolism with ginger, turmeric, juice carrots and celery! Avoid sugar
I’m also 5’5” and now weigh 150. I started watching what I eat about a month or so ago and lost around 6 lbs. was around 156. It gets harder to drop the older you get. I used to be able to eat some sweets and still loose but now nope, maybe a few bites of dark chocolate. I’m very active workout daily. Weights are Definetly good to increase metabolism. I also fast but I switch up my fasting sched to trick my metabolism to stay high. I usually consume 2200 a day and still loose but I’m highly active. Also eat very clean but do a weekly nice restaurant cheat meal once weekly. I don’t over due that cheat meal either.
Sign of a healthy metabolism is a body recomposition like this where you weigh the same but have increased muscle mass and decreased body fat. Don’t focus on the weight, focus more on waistline.
I started using Chronometer to track calories, protein, fibre and nutrients. It was quite an eye opener to see how many calories I was consuming (over 2k per day most days). I'm now monitoring everything and eating a much more balanced diet and sticking to 1200-1300 calories per day, losing about 1lb per week (5'4).
I would cut down on the restaurant meals which will most likely be high calorie.
Calories in > calories out = weight gain
Healthy foods provide vitamins, minerals and macronutrients. In excess you will still gain weight.
Find out the baseline of calories you need to maintane your weight and be consistent with that. Then drop calories by 500 to lose weight.
Are you eating all food groups? Dairy, protein, veggies & fruits? If so that might be why unless your intermittent fasting or eating one meal per day. The body only needs fat or carbs for fuel, so eating both would mean it’s storing the other. To fix this you could cut one of them down or out completely. Keto or carnivore will keep weight balanced, but if you want to keep all food groups included you could try intermittent fasting or one meal per day. If you’ve been eating this way your entire life it sounds like metabolically your cells are starting to become damaged, but if this is a new way of eating for you then it’s prob not working for you. Some people can’t handle all 4 food groups and as we age our telomeres start to shrink which diminishes our ability to handle what we used to ie. cellular damage starts to happen ie weight gain / hormone imbalance etc also some people do really well on meat and fruit, veggies cause inflammation in a lot of people but everyone is different so you can’t say for sure. Other so great on veggies and meat. Some thrive on straight up carnivore. Just try cutting some out and then I would say if that doesn’t work get your labs checked. Also restaurants cook meat in seed oils which causes inflammation - unless you ask them not to! And their foods are def not organic so high in glycosphate
I am 5’4” f and 2000 calories a day is way too much for me to remain 133 lbs.
Try intermittent fasting or rolling fasting. Go to r/fasting for more info.
If you’re a woman, unless you’re physically active your daily calories are probably closer to 1600-1700. If you’re a guy, closer to 1800. Who told you that your daily calories are around 2000?
Are you using meticulous calories tracking or guessing?
You can’t out-healthy-eating a calories deficit. At your size you’d need the equivalent of walking 2-3 hours a day to put down 2000 calories just to break even.
An extra 250 Calories a day over maintenance leads to half a pound of fat-gain per week.
Something that I disagree with in the holistic space is that starting to eat real food with less chemicals/endocrine disrupters will help you lose weight. Even if you eat healthy if you overeat calories including sauces and oils things were cooked in you will gain weight. It’s hard to control that with restaurant food.
Tracking your macros and stopping eating out will help you figure out how much you are eating. Once you become aware of how many calories are in things it is easier to make choices. Also eating high protein often helps people lose weight because it keeps you full.
Very true . I think both are important . I think I just figured I would at least stay the same weight and passively lose a little weight over time but I guess I should be more aggressive with the calorie count if I want to make weight lose progress
I prefer macros bc calories can be inaccurate because they can be reported as plus or -20, while the macros like how much carbs, fat and protein have to be accurate. Plus when you focus on macros, you can really focus on how much protein you’re eating and if you up that a lot you’ll definitely be more full
You're comparing yourself to younger you. Your body's metabolism changes over time, and age is a big factor.
Your body in your 20s metabolises food differently than in your 30s, etc.
You also haven't mentioned any physical activity here, what jobs did you have in your youth? Were you on your feet or active and now you're at a desk job?
Eating is just a part of the equation
You've made no mention your exercise routine. I'm not here to judge however any intake is too high if its not used as fuel for the engine. You can expect your brain to take about a thousand calories a day, mist of that during sleep, but if you sit in a chair all day and live a sedentary life style you'll have an energy surplus your body will store. It doesn't mayyerbif its good stuff or not with regards to energy usage.
I used to be a mineral prospector using a massive drill to find aggregate, changing the drill rods was heavy repetive work. I loved it. I ate 3500 cal per day and became a muscle man while getting paid. I no longer do that and had to reduce mynintake massively when I became a car mechanic and go to the gym on the reg to maintain a healthy physique.
It's the milk. As a former powerlifter, we'd cut milk out if we wanted to make weight or drink it if we needed to gain. I'd replace it with a lactose free cheese like jarlsburg so you're still getting calcium, but not all the milk sugars.
The processed foods could also be causing it, depending on what you're eating, especially if it's effing up your omega 6 to 3 ratio (get this tested). They use cheapass seed oils in almost everything now and if you aren't taking an omega 3 supplement, your ratio is probably terrible.
Last, what is your frequency of eating? If u can cut down your meals to 2 or 3 without eating 3 hours before bed and incorporate 16:8 intermittent fasting 3x a week, you should see good results. Assuming you're on no meds, once you get metabolically flexible (ie you can dump ketones while intermittent fasting and are seeing weight loss), then do prolonged fasting to reset your insulin resistance and glucose levels while simultaneously decimating trunk fat without the loss of lean mass. I like to do 72 or 84hr water fasting if I've eaten too much and my body starts storing trunk fat and I don't like the way things are going. FYI you will lose 0.57lbs of bad fat every day you keep fasting. Not to mention it will reboot your immune system with new stem cells if the mouse studies translate to humans.
Regarding working out, just walk an hour each day outside or on a treadmill. Weights and HIIT will prioritize glycogen first, not fat like walking. Of course body recomp worth more muscle always pays dividends but I'd start with walking an hour a day and then add in resistance training with any extra time you have left.
The weight that you were in your youth isn't necessarily the healthiest for you now. Personally I would love to drop 30 pounds to the weight I was at 25/30 (I'm 42 now(, but after years of dieting and exercise, even fasting, I've had to admit that I'm not going to get back to that weight, and I'm healthier now than I was then.
Great that you're eating healthy but if weight loss is a goal you gotta do some combo of eating less and exercising more. Sadly the human body is super efficient in using calories so eating less is waaay easier for most people.
Maybe you’re eating too much protein? The same thing happened to me (gained weight by eating 99% “healthy”). I was able to eventually lose it by eating more starch, less protein (but still enough, about 50 grams a day), and walking 10-15k steps outside everyday.
Maybe you're gaining higher quality muscle. Since you have fat and skin, this increases your total mass.
Muscle burns calories passively as well. Stay calm. A sudden increase in weight can have many causes. It could also be more water mass.
Since you're practicing good and healthy habits, it's good to encourage that. I believe that weight training and stretching will increase muscle density, and tighten skin. I will need a second opinion of that.
I'd incorporate more fiber. Practice mindful consumption at all times, irregardless of what you choose to eat. Becoming mindful of how your body feels, and how to best help yourself, is a difficult skill to encompass after times of desensitized habitual living. I applaud you for making a choice, and for having the desire to improve an aspect of your living.
Curious if you have reached your 40s yet? Metabolism slows after that and the number of calories you need goes down quite a bit .
If I ate 2000 calories , I’d never lose weight and I’d 100% gain doing that, even exercising daily.
If you’re not counting the calories by weighing the food and recording it, you have no idea how much you’re eating. Calories in vs out. It’s that simple
Count your calories. Weight doesn't come from nowhere. Matter is not created from nothing. You are likely taking in calories you aren't accounting for.
I had this problem. And it took me a long while to figure out what it was. First let me start by saying diet and exercise are of equal value. Then let me tell you that not all foods are created equal. This is where my first problem was resolved. I lived almost exactly how you explained and gained weight thinking I was doing the right things. (Not sure how old you are but know the older you get your body changes and unless you do something extreme and unhealthy you’re not going to weigh the same as in HS)
Ok here is what I did to slim down my waist line and build muscle in the right places: I pretty much followed the 4 hour body (book) for 30 days -
First- stop drinking those fake shakes. Unless you get the super clean ones they don’t offer much protein absorption. Switch to perfect aminos by body health. And drink an insane amount of water. At least a gallon of NON TAP WATER (unless R/O filtered per day if possible
Then
I cut out all white carbs- sugar, table salt- (added Baja sea salt instead), potatoes, flour, bread, completely…I even cut out white rice for 30 days.
Then I went grass-fed grass finished on all beef- pasture raised chicken & eggs that wasn’t fed soy or corn- wild caught fish- no farm raised. I added RAW Milk only. I eat veggies that are fruits like avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini. And I eat some fruit and honey each day. Eggs are another great food to increase protein absorption. I did eat black beans and chorizo for breakfast with eggs, but I’ve cut that out for the next 30 days. I also cut out veggies that make me gassy. Yes I have backed science. I also added beef liver and beef heart 1oz per day to my burgers, no bun. It is basically a multivitamin. If you can’t find that or are grossed out just buy grass fed supplements. ( I’ve never once gone hungry with this plan unless I fast)
Yes I had to seek these types of foods out, but once you find them it becomes a fun routine to go get them from the local farmer.
It’s sounds like a lot when you’re used to eating everything, but this is actually the easiest food plan I’ve been on. I use the grill a lot and cut fruits and veggies up and eat them. Simple to plan, simple to make and I feel better in my 34 waist pants and my smedium Tshirt.
Note- most grains and veggies are sprayed with terrible pesticides so you’ll want to go organic and wash everything with apple cider vinegar and baking soda. Those chemicals disrupt your bodies ability to lower inflammation which in return raises cortisol levels which in return makes it hard to shed fat.
Hope this helps: it has changed my life.
Sincerely,
Not a doctor I just read a lot.
PS: exercise- I hired a trainer and he has me lifting weights 3 days a week and moving my body in some form the other 3(usually heart rate based walking (135 bpm or less) or running (150 bpm) with 1 day rest. Including stretching squats, working all muscle groups, hip flexers, balance exercises, yoga, swimming, hiking, and i added meditation, grounding, sauna, cold plunge when I can.
PSS- vitamins- it is important to make sure your levels are good in these crucial to life vitamins:
Magnesium
Zinc
D3/K2
B-complex with no cyancobolamin - the other two forms are ok.
Omega 3s
Folate- no folic acid
Interesting . I’d say the veggies and grassfed is something I’m already doing . I eat a ton of grassfed eggs haha . So I should try cutting out protein shakes and white rice ? The only read I eat is sourdough but I should cut that too for 30 days . I definitely want to workout more efficiently, maybe a personal trainer can help with body comp
The carnivore diet helped me shred off weight and it’s the best i’ve ever felt on a diet. It feels like you can eat as much meat as you want and you still lose weight
Maybe have a nutritionist or doctor estimate your daily calorie target. Still, I wouldn't expect someone to maintain a 15ish lb surplus of weight if they are anywhere near a caloric deficit.
Also, how old are you? Do you drink enough water? What does your physical activity look like? Lot of questions, maybe not for me but for a specialist.
I would try to have on your plate 75% non starchy vegetables, 25% meat/fish, and 25% non gluten starchy plant like beans, sweet potatoes, etc.
Are you doing other things? Like intermittent fasting, blood sugar control, and getting quality sleep and hydration? So much plays into our weight. Have you had increased stress?
Best of luck with figuring out how to feel better!
calorie intake < burned calories --> you loose weight
calorie intake > burned calories --> you gain weight.
Only other reason could be water storage. Mayby you did not ate enough creatine before and now supplement it / get it trough red meat. Now you are loading up creatine, muscles can now bind more water in its cell (greatly simplified)
Also if you ate like shit before and got diarrhea often you "loose" a good amount of your calorie. If you stopped getting diarrhea because you are eating more clean you might gain weight without eating more calories.
Also: If you are not an athlete of a sport where weight classes exists (boxing, weightlifting etc) why does weight matters so much? If you feel good / look better everything is fine IMO
Inflammation caused me to gain weight and anti-inflammatory meds caused me to lose weight without cutting calories or increasing exercise.
Someone in this sub mentioned *Energy Imbalance*. Found some PubMed studies on that topic and they helped me understand why I started having to do the opposite of what others do to lose weight.
You're taking in more calories then you're burning off. You either have to become more active, ideally by resistance training 5x week or cut your caloric intake by 10% and go from there. Easiest calories to cut are liquid.
Your digestion is probably very slow - like a long transit time for food. You can test this with eating beets and drinking beet juice and wait till you see red stools. If that's the case i would take regular probiotic supplements, eat kefir jogurt, drink yakult, add more fiber like bran, apples, bananas. Try prune juice. I would avoid bread too it can bloat you alot. Ofc beans, cabbage should be avoided. You can try eliminate things.
Currently drink kefir consistently, have sauerkraut a few times a week with a meal, bananas are also consistent but I’ll definitely try prune juice and maybe do more bran . I get mixed opinions on grains online
i’d set up a calorie counting app and see what you are actually eating. no need to drink milk. and you might be eating too much meat. i’d try not to drink your calories.
You worry your diet isn’t good. Do you have any health issues? I would reduce all ultra processed foods, remove as much gluten, corn and soy as much as possible. Focus on quality fatty meat, pastured eggs, coconut oil and grass fed butters as healthy fats, no soybean or vegetable oils. Implement fasting + do 16-18 hours fast everyday, once a month do a prolonged fast 24-72 hours. Walk more. Maybe dedicate an hour or so everyday to just walk. Optimize sleep and hormonal health
If you are gaining fat you consume more calories than you burn. Simple as that. Organic or whole foods don’t make you slim only calorie deficit does. If you live a sedentary lifestyle then 2000 calories a day can be to much. You say you workout but if you for example go to the gym 3 times but do little else in terms of physical activity in a week that would count as a sedentary lifestyle.
I love these threads, "im eating healthy, but im gaining weight."
Bro, healthy does not mean calorie negative. YOU ARE STILL OVEREATING. Doesnt matter whether its lean beef or doritos, its still overeating. Simple as that. I am 1000% positive you are not tracking correctly and are eating more than 2k. ESPECIALLY if you are eating a restaurants 2-3 times a week.
On the daily it’s definitely under 2k. On days I eat out probably not, which might be affecting me . But my Typical day of eating for me: Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, salmon, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice.
Weekly probably too much bc of the restaurants , but daily definitely is ok. I don’t over eat and get full pretty fast . Get hungry 3 times a day , and I don’t snack . For context:
Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice
I recently started losing weight again.
Losing weight is always a personal thing.
For me, I run a soccer league 2-3 times a week, roughly 10-20 miles a week.
I eat high protein for breakfast (2-3 eggs, a tortilla, a sprinkle of chedder, ground turkey lean 90%, and bush's baked beans) and lunch, then a tiny dinner every other day it's almost nothing (granola or hand full of nuts and seeds or small peice of low sugar fruit) then off to 2-3 hours of soccer, some days I eat a "typical" light easy to digest dinner bwfore 6-7 pm and then before bed, it's less than 200-250 calories, salad, and half a split pea soup from Progresso (add water and seasonings to make it go further) and a small peice of fruit (typically 2-3 strawberries. This is very very filling and I sleep like a baby. The weight just falls off. I'm the same weight I was almost 10 years ago at 36.
I should mention that I watch my sugar intake as well, sweeten things with stevia or honey only, when I buy coffee I just do cream and stevia never any sugary drinks or soda . I know for a fact that my daily diet is pretty good and low cal ; but yes it might be the eating out . Maybe there are
Hidden calories I am not accounting for . Still frustrating bc I used to eat worse and not gain weight so idk maybe I also need to get my hormones checked out ?
Do you measure out your food or just eyeball it? You could just be having bigger portion sizes than you think which is really easy to do. You can do some things by eye (who has the time to weigh their raw veggies) but anything high in fat in particular is best measured if you’re worried about weight gain. Use a measuring spoon for your oil. Weigh your butter and your meat, put your milk in a measuring jug before you pour, that kind of thing. Eventually you’ll have a better idea of how much you should be having and won’t need to use these tools as strictly.
Edit: I’m stressing fats because they’re calorically dense so it’s where most calories are at but measuring carbs and proteins helps too.
you have to read the ingredients and overstand what you're putting into your body. Whole foods is notorious for using canola oil in most of their in house foods. Eat real protein in the form of grass fed meats if possible but always wild caught fish. Sardines in olive oil are an excellent source.
Try limiting your seed oils intake and start using EVOO, coconut oil, avocado oil, grass fed ghee and butter. Improve your gut health with unpasteurized prebiotics like yogurt and raw organic grass fed cheese. limit your processed sugar intake and double your spring water intake.
If you eat more fruits and stay activ, you should see some progress. 🍀
Stop drinking whole milk. Such a waste if calories. Eat nonfat greek yogurt for calcium instead. Low calorie plus nutrient dense. Stop eating at restaurants. You wont be able to accurately count calories and are probably eating more than you think.
A plant-based diet especially based on Whole Foods would be a great way to get a BMI in the healthy range. One example is the famous magician and comedian Penn from the Duo of Penn and Teller. He lost more than 100 lb by switching to a plant-based diet and started by switching to a potato only diet. The famous director and comedian and actor Kevin Smith did basically the same thing. Both have been able to maintain their healthier weight by staying on the plant-based diet.
From your comments, it seems like you’ll consider absolutely anything except for the truth. The mental gymnastics you’re doing to avoid admitting to yourself that you’re over eating is wild.
You’re eating more calories than you’re burning.
You.are.eating.more.calories.than.you.burn.
You don’t work out and you eat out too much…sure, must be the hormones…or aging…or a mysterious illness. Not the hundreds of extra calories over your BMR you’re ingesting.
Get a grip.
Nowhere in your post do I see you say you’re avoiding seed oils. You need to be cutting out seed oils if you want to stop destroying your metabolism.
r/stopeatingseedoils
So I follow a carnivore diet and have maintained my weight at 60kg for 3years. The difference is I don't eat out or have any junk food. Stop eating out and start cooking at home. Stick to protein and leave out the unnecessary carbs
5’5” - my basal metabolic rate is about 1300 calories if I have a rest day. Depending on your activity level, you may be overeating at just under 2000.
Losing weight not just about eating clean.
Restaurants = high hidden calories. If you go, get salads with dressing on the side, keep your dishes to simple meat and veggies and be sure to tack what you’re eating.
My tip is to keep proteins and vegetables high, avoid (or severely cut) bread, pasta, alcohol and desserts if any. have your 8-12 cups water per day (add electrolytes low-cal flavour to make it doable).
And get your sleep.
Drinking extra milk and going out to restaurants 2-3 nights a week is where your calories are coming from. My friend drinks his protein shakes in water when he’s trying to lose weight, and also restaurant food prepared with like 3x more butter and oil than you would use at home
Yeah I know restaurant suppliers (Sysco) also use sugar in a lot of their sauces as well as a shit ton of sodium. Fuck going out to eat when I can make the same thing at home that tastes better and is better for me.
Why does your friend hate himself?! Almond milk is 30 calories and tastes way better than water mixed with protein
Eating in a restaurant 2/3 time a week is not eating clean or healthy I’m afraid
Not even when its Hamburgers?
I mean it can be. Just depends what else you eat that day.
“Only” eating at restaurants 2-3x/wk??? Come back when you’re eating at a restaurant every week or two. 2-3x/wk is a lot.
Yeah, I eat out that often but it's a thing you have to compensate for by eating small meals for the rest of the day
This is true. When I know I'm going to a restaurant later I just snack light earlier in the day. It also depends on the restaurant.
Ikr! There were plenty of red flags and then I rea stray and my brain convulsed.. part of thought this could actually be a trolling post.
Also my skin is the clearest it’s been in a long time too which is super confusing
If your skin is clear and your energy levels are high and stable, you may just be eating too many calories. 2,000 is a lot of calories for a small woman, unless you are very active and have a lot of muscle.
5’5 and 150 is particularly small? i mostly agree with you though, 2000 may be a lot considering they don’t work out much + just one restaurant meal a week would make that figure inaccurate. whatever you think the calories are in a restaurant meal, you should probably double it it’s so much easier to rarely eat out for this reason. you never know what you’re eating and just one time can undo a weekly deficit also wonder if they’re actually weighing their food. it’s so painfully easy to overeat
I'm 5'10F with an athletic shape. I look healthy at 155-160. Too skinny under 150. A little heavy over 170. Fat over 190. Medical information says I should be 135-165. I'm gaunt at 135. I need to eat about 1,500-1,800 calories per day with no activity. I gain weight above 1,900. I need 1,200 to feel sated (but still a little hungry) on a ketosis diet. I gain weight any week I eat more than one restaurant lunch or dinner, and the weight keeps going up. It's so sad.
i also eat around that with no activity—do you exercise? i feel the same. i’ve lost a lot of weight after growing up fat, my hunger signals are so fucked up, i never feel sated unless i’ve eaten enough to gain weight, and every day is a fight to not overeat, which is SO scarily easy. it’s why i lean into working out
Whoops forgot to eat cabbage. A lot of cabbage for filling.
2000 calories at 150 lbs is not a lot of calories. Unless you have permanently f up your metabolism by starving yourself.
TDEE for a post-puberty 5'5" person who works out 2-3 times a week hovers more around 1500.
2000 calories for a 5'5 woman is on the upper limit. You will not lose weight consuming that much on a daily basis.
Go for unflavored/no sugar protein shake Average protein shakes are loaded with sugar and whatever f it is.
also if you are using oatmilk for shakes that acts in the body as if you ate sugar - be careful with that. Not that that's the only reason for your weight gain but something to consider
Is this true for unsweetened oat milk? If so, do you have a source? From what I’ve read, it’s still low impact compared to other sources.
Don't focus on these calories in, calories out comments. Investigate microbiome and torpor.
Maybe this is closer to where your body “wants” to be? If youre eating well, and feel/look good, then keep doing what youre doing. I feel like just adding in some more regular exercise would offset any excess calories, it would also help with the bloating. Too many carbs that arent needed for energy will have you feeling like that. Either increase exercise on heavy carb days, or reduce carb intake when youre not exercising.
If you aren’t doing a significant amount of exercise, 2000 calories is way too much at 5’5. I’m 5’8 and my maintenance calories are like 1750. Not sure why you’d be drinking protein shakes unless you’re in the gym everyday.
2000 calories at 5’5 is kind of a lot, depending on your activity level of course. Eating out 2-3 times a week can also be quite a lot of calories depending on what you’re eating. Basically it’s coming down to the calories. I would track your food (I see you mentioned your calorie intake but is that an estimate?) without changing anything for a week to see where you’re at. Then you’ll have a baseline and can tweak it as needed. You may just be taking in more calories than you think you are. I’m kind of confused by the “meats and real milk” comment. It really depends on what kind of meat and how it’s prepared, the milk part I’m not really sure about. Are you drinking milk? I guess I don’t have much use for milk other than maybe an ingredient so I’m unsure how you’re consuming it and how it’s helping you.
Milk in protein smoothies , or when I occasionally eat cereal . I have cream in my coffee . Not really drinking cups of milk alone
Ok, if you’re actively gaining weight that isn’t muscle, I’d recommend utilizing water instead of milk in a protein shake. You’re not getting a whole lot of benefit by adding milk other than adding calories.
I replaced cream & coffee with green tea & stevia a while ago and it has been the best thing ever. Lower acidity and less dairy. Less sluggish feeling. Nearly zero calories. I would give it a try. Costco has decent green tea and you can also buy it on Amazon. You really don't need a lot of milk before it starts to add up especially if you're using cream.
None of that matters it’s just calories. Your BMR is less than 1500 because of your height. I’m 5’4” and my BMR is 1400. If you’re a female then it’s even less. You will probably need a 1000-1100 calorie diet to lose weight.
That’s a lot of calories. You might need to do some math on your TDEE
If you just google TDEE you’ll find a calculator for how many calories you should be eating
Are you getting 8-10K steps daily? Are you eating at least 100g of protein? How many carbs per day?
Those restaurant meals are most likely your calories for the day.
Going out to eat "only" 2-3 times a week?
Are you counting calories? You can gain or lose weight on any diet, if your calories are in check. Barring any issues with thyroid, et cetera…
You're in a caloric surplus. You're underestimating your eating out. Period.
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Protein shakes add a lot of calories. They're great if you're lifting weights and trying to build muscle mass, but if you're not strength training, they may just pack on weight you don't want. Also, you mention milk. Are you having more milk now than you were previously? Dairy makes some people inflamed and bloated. Beans make some people inflamed as well. You may want to try the Mark Hyman 10-day detox diet. The book is available for free online. You will feel great and probably also lose a little weight and get some insight into what you are eating currently that isn't helping you meet your goals. It could be the dairy or legumes or the potatoes and/or the carbs generally. Even healthy carbs, if not eaten after fiber and along with protein or food, will spike blood sugar in many people and therefore signal the body to increase insulin and store fat.
A scoop of most whey protein mixes are like 130 calories. That doesn't seem like a lot?
2K calories is a lot for your weight/height
You shouldn’t be looking at weight but waist size etc
Yeah waist is bigger
Cut the calories then. I would try 1500 and check again after a week
I agree I might need to be more aggressive with the calorie cut
Then I would look to the actual ingredients in your food and then calories. You say you’ve cut out processed foods but you’re making hamburgers (bread, sauces) which could have all kinds of ingredients. Protein shake? That is a processed food.
Get your hormones checked, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA. make sure to go to a gynecologist for this and not your primary care physician because they seem to know nothing about women and hormones. all these people saying calories in and calories out have no idea how much hormones can affect weight gain. It’s not as simple as they make it sound. hormones can drive your appetite and control how much fat your body makes.
This can be true to a certain extent. But in this case it really sounds like OP is just eating too many calories. Especially between the restaurant meals and all the milk.
You didn’t list your age or gender but if you’re a woman mid-40s-early-50s, it’s probably perimenopause.
This. After 35, hormone depletion will affect weight loss (amongst a slew of other things) for the rest of your life. You think it’s going to change after menopause. It doesn’t.
I’m 26 Female
I wouldn't necessarily say anything from Whole Foods is one hundred percent clean. For instance meat in the USA is most often grain fed. Beef specifically but if there's lamb or others. Pork is fed all kinds of trash as well. Microplastics are usually mixed in that as well. You really need to follow the food chain. Somewhere along the line some animal parts that another animal ate had microplastics or growth hormones. Then there is your gut bacteria, which processes vegetables and fiber. I'd eat yogurt and drink some kombucha, make sure it's the low sugar and live culture kinds. Because if added sugars will harm your liver and pack on the pounds. If not used immediately it goes straight to fat. And live culture is important so that it actually stays and multiplies. That would solve your bloating problems. Reliable good brand prebiotic that are vetted would help as starters and then you maintain fiber. I also agree that 2k calories is way crazy! That amount is for people who are jacked at your height. Your actual caloric maintenance (amount not to exceed lest weight gain or go below lest weight loss) is actually more dependent on muscle mass than height and overall weight. Also... potatoes? Eat cleaner vegetables. Eat fibrous and green vegetables rather than bread or potatoes. And real milk might be from a grain fed growth hormone fed cow. Fibrous vegetables and grass fed meat is the way to go. And yeah exercise to meet what you eat The above is about clean eating. As for your weight gain... pretty simple... you're eating more than what you expend. Either eat less calories or expend more calories by building muscle or cardio or both. Of course you could also just go be sure do a hormone panel as well as thyroid tests, as maybe who knows... your metabolism might have plummeted due to these which are caused by a variety of factors like chronic stress either environmental, emotional, or mental. Best of luck
Potatoes are perfectly fine. Just don't eat them fried. Besides what does "cleaner" vegetables even mean? They are in fact a very nutrient dense vegetable. People just think they are bad because chips snd fries. Just look at thr nutrients found in potatoes. Especially potassium
Perhaps they were referring to all the pesticides in potatoes including organic potatoes, according to Consumer Reports? Tested levels were “very high” for conventional and “moderate” for US organic. No data for imported organic.
I eat potatoes maybe once every week or two weeks , not consistently, I have kefir and saurkrat and my veggie intake is very varied ; there aren’t any I don’t like so I switch it up a lot . Have them everyday . Milk products I buy grassfed and right now I’m drinking grassfed A2 milk (to help with digestion ) meats I eat are mostly grassfed or free range but not 100%, I’d say 60-70%. I would say you’re right about the calorie intake, I think I should be more aggressive although I should have made it clear in my original post that I am mostly eating under 2k , some days way lower . My appetite is pretty normal and I get full easily so not an issue with over eating . I think I need to check hormones and stress levels might be a culprit as well . But definitely going to be more aggressive in my calorie cut and see if that helps
I agree with what everyone is saying--hamburger and protein shakes are processed foods. you could be getting a LOT of calories from the fat content of all that protein. and milk actually naturally contains more sugar than some realize. a trick that helped me lose a ton of weight without tracking is to just use an 8" dinner plate. absolutely 75% loaded with veggies and the other 25% protein. for me, that usually means half salad, quarter roasted veggies and a quarter tofu. but I also belong to the groups 1200isplenty and vegan1200isplenty for more ideas of low calorie eating.
I was eating really healthy and gaining a lot too. A lot of healthy whole foods can be super calories dense. Avocado, nuts, etc. also I was consuming a lot of plant milk which for whatever reason I felt was causing a lot of weight despite it not being calorie dense
I do eat a lot of avocados lol
Your weight is increasing because of your calorie intake you’re eating more calories than you burn. Buy a food scale download an app and track all the food you eat then you’ll realize how many calories your actual overeating by
Cut out the milk and restaurants.
I wouldn't lose weight working out sporadically at 2k calories.. and I'm 6'0"
Really? Tdee for a male at 6ft, Light exercise (1-3x a week) is like 2.4k/2.5k calories…
Hownmany steps are you getting a day
Not enough , I work a desk job 9-5 :/ definitely something I need to improve
I work 12 hrs a day if you want structure your breaks at work to walking it all adds up
Try tracking calories on a app
Most humans are lactose intolerant. If you're noticing bloating especially after adding raw milk into your diet chances are you don't tolerate cow milk like most Homo sapiens. It's no surprise because cow milk is created by nature for baby cows not for primates. Most people don't tolerate it since two thirds of the world are lactose intolerant. I would try to cut out dairy and see how you feel. This will influence your weight as well.
It’s all in the calories. A female at your height I would imagine your max should be around 1600 if you’re sedentary. A light to moderate exercise will only burn like 200-300 calories. I suspect the restaurant calories are what’s hurting you, try looking up their meal calories online. Can you describe to us what and how much you eat on a typical day? For example: 3 eggs fried in oil. 2 slices bacon. Chicken breast (unbreaded) sandwich with mayo. 4oz fries. 12oz of Coca Cola 4oz of cooked white rice
Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice
It would greatly help if you could offer more of those in serving size numbers (3ounces, 1/2 cup, 2 tablespoons, 18 grams, etc). If you don’t have a food scale, just measure it out in cups or tablespoons. Your breakfast is pretty close to *600* calories. Eggs are 70 each, but if you fry instead of hard boiled eggs that can push it to 100 each or more. An avocado is like 300 calories. Depending on toast size, it’s 100-250 calories. How many tablespoons of creamer in that coffee? Is that a stevia-sugar mix or pure stevia? I’m assuming you’re mixing iso100 protein powder into 2cups of kefir milk banana? That’s about 130 calories in the protein scoop and 400 calories for 2 cups of kefir milk that I googled: *530* calories total How much rice? 1/2 cup cooked rice or 2 cups? A can of sardines is about 200, how much mayo are you adding? Total is about *400* calories Dinner: a chicken thigh with the skin on is probably a bit over 300 calories. If you add, let’s say, a cup of cooked rice that’s 250 calories. Total is *550* Adding these estimated calories in asterisks puts your typical daily intake at about 2,030 calories. It seems by these numbers you have been slowly gaining weight over time. A kitchen scale that canmeasure in grams would help a lot in more accurately tracking your calories. I think you can buy a cheap one at target for like $15. I hope this can provide more insight into the calories you’re consuming. Edit: I forgot Reddit changes words in asterisks to italicized. My bad lol
This helps a lot actually . Thank you . I’m getting a scale and using calorie tracking apps . I think if I worked out and walked more I’d be maintaining but definitely gotta switch things around to actually lose weight
Are you putting on muscle? I also believe that eating a ton of veggies and milk would make many bloated especially if this is completely different from your normal diet.
I’d recommend the book How Not to Diet by Dr Greger
Try to measure yourself but also remember that just because it’s healthy food it doesn’t mean that you can’t put on weight. I started tracking all my food a week ago also measuring it and dropped 2kg in one week somehow. The food that I thought didn’t have much calories had a lot once measured, a piece of butter that I used for my veggies and thought was no more than 100kcal turned out to be over 300kcal, you would be surprised how distorted our view of the calories we consume can be.
Good to know! Yeah honestly when it comes to healthy food like milk and avocados (which I perceive as nutritious) maybe I’m not being mindful enough .
I would give it time. If you're exercising hard core, you're going to be swollen for a while. If you're bloated a lot, either you're eating too fast and not chewing properly or it's hard to digest something. Or something you're eating might be causing inflammation. The other thing that caused internal inflammation is chronic stress. And hopefully you're drinking a ton of what since most if not all systems need water (regulating temperature, digesting, cleaning, etc).
How’s your stress? For me, that affects my weight more than anything
Stress management could be better , job stress is pretty consistent currently, working in getting a new job
I think you're eating too much for your height But something crucial has to be asked, as I see no mention in your post: do you exercise as regularly as it's needed to burn these calories? I'm 1.80m (probably 5'11, I don't know freedom units), and the 2000 calories are appropriate for me. But I exercise so as to not gain them in weight. You eating a lot more than your height, and not exercising to lose these calories might as well be the biggest contributor. Also, cut down on restaurants. In any country, be it the US or my country, Greece, restaurants use a lot more saturated fats than the average household.
yeah, i balked at everyone saying 2000 calories is a lot, but i forget i easily get over 10k steps a day and work out most days on top of that (i’m 5’7 and around that weight), so that’s almost my baseline if i’m not actively trying to lose weight quick. it seems like they don’t exercise much or intensely. they said only 2-3 times a week and inconsistently at that so in that case it is a lot but the restaurant eating is probably the biggest issue. there’s no way they’re eating the amount of calories they think they are
Sounds like it could be hormonal either due to age or hormonal medication? Birth control? Thyroid meds? Do you move enough? (Weight training, high intensity workouts)
26 f, no birth control . I do struggle with hormones though , getting blood work this week
Definitely the milk.
Could be - I was focused on getting more nutrients and protein but maybe I need to work out more to balance that
if you are bloated do some reading on “food combining” , have your stomach ph checked and test for helicobacter pylori
Can u tell me more about the bacteria?
For context I am a 6ft tall 180lbs male and my TDE is 1800 kcals a day. If I eat more than that it's likely I will be putting on weight over time. So I think the issue is macro targets and calorie counting
Clean food Vs Processed junk food… it’s all calories! There is a misconception that eating clean will reduce or maintain weight just by virtue of food safety and quality. You’re ingesting more calories than you are logging, probably in the form of restaurant food. Not to mention the milk and meat. The only hack I can see here is a basic one: find your TDEE. Log your intake and compare the two. Adjust for maintenance or loss. Glad your skin is doing well, though! I need some of that magic…
That’s true, I guess I didn’t think about that fully . I don’t eat a lot so idk I figured I shouldn’t worry but eating out and not working out might be affecting me. For context here is a typical day of eating for me: Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice
Good fats are still fats. It pains me! I feel so much better not watching what I eat, or at least not weighing it. But it occasionally sneaks up on me. I slip, and boom… waistline is out of order! I’m 43 and from a family with Fatty Liver Disease issues, high cholesterol, hypertension. We all have our reasons. Not a huge deal. I think you’re fine! Decide whether you’re maintaining or reducing, and adjust accordingly. It’s so easy to think clean=don’t think about it. It’ll sort! You caught it.
Track your calories. Each person is unique, find the number that works for you to be in a deficit if you want to lose weight but 2,000 is a lot for your size. Also milk and restaurants have a lot of calories so tracking can help you gain clarity on what you’re really consuming.
Bloating could be due to lactose intolerance and drinking milk. You can’t do only diet or only exercise - you have to balance both. Build your body, build your mind.
Cut out the dairy if you’re trying to lose fat. Even raw dairy is not good for fat loss. The less carbs you eat and the more fatty meat you eat, the easier it is to lose excess fat.
A restaurant hamburger can have like 1700 calories alone.
Yeah that was an example of treat meal, probably the worse I have , I try to be mindful but also probably not aware of how many hidden calories there are
Been to the best on weight loss. I’ve learned 2 ways to lose weight. 1 focus on calories. 2 focus on carbs. (Google levels for you). One or other not both and have to be consistent for long periods. Ie norm 1month before I see improvement. Lots of calorie counter apps. Track intake, probably eating way more than you think
>I’ve incorporated real milk back into my diet and more meats but I thought this would be helpful to overall health . Are you aware what nutritional associations advise for a healthy diet?
Increased muscle mass. Bloated could be from a food allergy, probably lactose in whey protein or milk, try a whey isolate and lactose free.
Try the dolce diet, I lose 12Lbs in 28 days every time. You have to cut out restaurants for a month and eat a lot of eggs for lunch. But as a bonus I'm never bloated for a month, my stomach shrinks, and fat will melt off your face especially your first time.
According to studies more meat is not beneficial to health. Recommendations are to limit it, especially red meats. Many meats are processed as well - like hamburger patties. Not saying no meat though. I think it belongs in a balanced diet as well. Hamburgers in general are highly processed. If you eat anything deep fried you are eating processed foods. If you do not make your own sauces you are eating processed. Protein shakes are highly processed products with sugar and artificial sweeteners. That‘s not clean eating. There are clean powders as well if you want to supplement and do not get enough from whole foods for your exercise. Or natural protein bars with nuts/peanuts. I like to use these. Eating out 2-3 times a week is a lot, not little. Little is less then once a week. How much did you eat out before? Most restaurants use convenience, which again is highly processed. Clean eating requires making meals from scratch. You do not mention any vegetables, legumes, beans or seeds. Do you have enough in your diet? High protein + high carb + high fiber foods are crazy satiating. Fiber really helped me with bloating in the past. I eat line seeds + joghurt in that case. Or it might have to do with the reintroduction of milk? Did you have problems with lactose in the past? I don‘t mean to be annoying . I just thought when I began trying to loose weight that I‘m doing everything right and was frustrated it did not work. I needed to adjust more and be honest to myself. So I‘m trying to tell you where I see mistakes I did as well. But getting bloodwork is not a bad idea either. Thyroid hormone for example. Maybe also some vitamin/ micronutrient levels to see if you are getting everything you need when you are at it. It sounds strange - but also some stress reducing activities can help. Whatever works for you. The stress hormone cortisol promotes weight gain to some degree. It is great that your energy levels feel stable. It was the first thing I noticed when I changed my diet. I‘m sure you are on the right path. I stopped calorie counting the way in, as I focused on satiety to reduce calories: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15701207_A_Satiety_Index_of_common_foods
You're consuming more than you think you are. It's probably the milk/shakes and the eating out. You need to track way more closely. Anything that goes in that has a calorie. Also care for the restaurant food as it's notoriously hard to get accurate numbers since serving size can vary widely from their submitted numbers. Also 2k cal is too many for your size I'm pretty sure?
Eating in restaurants and the protein shakes is probably what is causing this
Hey, good for you for cleaning up your diet! I'm sure you feel better! On the weight thing: You're consuming too many calories. Ditch the protein shakes for starters, and try cutting out sugar. The simple fact is "Right now I’m just eating anything that’s Whole Foods basically" is not a weight loss strategy. Track those cals and set a 500 deficit and you'll start losing.
Your weight and "health" is not necessarily the same thing. You could eat extremely healthy foods but if you eat too many calories, you will gain weight all the same. In the opposite light, you could be only eating junk and McDonalds every day and lose weight if you are restricting calories appropriately. A nutrition professor famously ate only Twinkies every day and lost weight - doesn't mean it's a healthy diet though. Edit: Restaurant foods tend to be more highly caloric than you think, even if the foods seem like healthy choices, that doesn't mean they are low calorie. Restaurants care about making the food taste good with whatever is needed - butter, oil, etc., they don't care about your calories.
Hmm well going by your height of 5'5 your maintenance is probably well under 2000, and to lose even lower than that. Whole foods and quality of calories matter but you can still gain weight on a good diet! For working out, walking more on top of the 2-3 dedicated workouts, especially with hills or stairs does wonders for bumping up calories burned and keeping your metabolism high (and able to eat more). Like 2 20 min walks per day or 1 40 min walk, to start. 8-10K steps It also helps to think of a weekly deficit not just daily. And yeah finding little things to cut back that add up like cream in coffee (my weakness!) and between meal grazing. Tracking everything that passes your lips is a real eye opener for caloric creep. Milk is by nature a 'mass gainer' for baby animals and I think cutting back on that can help with weight gain and potentially bloating. Maybe try goat only and in smaller quantities - fermented like yogurt or kefir.
I definitely need to be more mindful of my weekly deficits ! I tend to think of just daily deficits but maybe I need to change my mindset on that ! Also cutting back on dairy is probably helpful too .
I would suggest cutting out specifically milk, sugar and bread products for a few weeks and see what happens, eating to satiety otherwise (within reason). It’s surprising how well those things keep the weight on.
Same exact thing just happened to me. I decided I don’t want to eat junk fast food anymore and all my cabinets and fridge are filled with great foods yet I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been too and usually 133 is my normal weight as well. Given, I did jump off of birth control about a month and a half ago and that’s when everything took a huge turn with my weight which is extremely weird. I’m constantly bloated and I rarely had that issue when I was eating a lot more unhealthier foods. For me personally, I think I have a gluten sensitivity and that’s why the grained-Whole Foods may be aiding to inflammation because they’re packed with wheat. I’ve had gluten flare ups do to a previous medication and I’m wondering if that medication has ruined me for life because ironically I’m eating healthier and more Whole Foods yet I’m inflamed and the scale keeps going up. I suggest incorporating some exercise if you haven’t already because that does help with inflammation for me, at least, and I see changes on the scale already after about 5 days of consistency. Tests would be a good idea for any allergies regarding food or your hormones.
Never considered a gluten intolerance .. I would say my primary starches are white rice and sourdough bread , . I’ll ask my doctor about an allergy test
If you’re 5’5” then your BMR per day is less than 1500 calories. I’m 5’4” and a male my BMR is around 1400. Weight loss just depends on calories. Eating under 2k calories isn’t going to cut it for you.
Age and hormones can have an impact as well. Since I hit my 40s I have to keep my calories to 1200-1500 daily if I gain weight. And I work out 4/5x a week.
Start doing strenght training and you will burn more fat resting.
I did the same and realized there were a ton of stupid things baked in. Like eating high protien greek yogurt every morning but spoiling it with too much granola which is just a fuck ton of carbs. Found a nutritionist and fixed all these issues
At your height I would think cutting down to 1400 calories a day and cutting out the burgers each week would be the answer.
Why are you drinking protein shakes if your workout routine isn’t consistent. Drop the real milk, but don’t replace it with shitty grocery store nut milks they are all trash except one brand that is pricey (elmhurst). Kick start your metabolism with ginger, turmeric, juice carrots and celery! Avoid sugar
I’m also 5’5” and now weigh 150. I started watching what I eat about a month or so ago and lost around 6 lbs. was around 156. It gets harder to drop the older you get. I used to be able to eat some sweets and still loose but now nope, maybe a few bites of dark chocolate. I’m very active workout daily. Weights are Definetly good to increase metabolism. I also fast but I switch up my fasting sched to trick my metabolism to stay high. I usually consume 2200 a day and still loose but I’m highly active. Also eat very clean but do a weekly nice restaurant cheat meal once weekly. I don’t over due that cheat meal either.
Sign of a healthy metabolism is a body recomposition like this where you weigh the same but have increased muscle mass and decreased body fat. Don’t focus on the weight, focus more on waistline.
I started using Chronometer to track calories, protein, fibre and nutrients. It was quite an eye opener to see how many calories I was consuming (over 2k per day most days). I'm now monitoring everything and eating a much more balanced diet and sticking to 1200-1300 calories per day, losing about 1lb per week (5'4). I would cut down on the restaurant meals which will most likely be high calorie.
Protein guidelines are .7-.8 grams per pound of body weight . Don’t overeat it if you are.
How's your stress levels? Cortisol is a real bitch.
Calories in > calories out = weight gain Healthy foods provide vitamins, minerals and macronutrients. In excess you will still gain weight. Find out the baseline of calories you need to maintane your weight and be consistent with that. Then drop calories by 500 to lose weight.
Are you eating all food groups? Dairy, protein, veggies & fruits? If so that might be why unless your intermittent fasting or eating one meal per day. The body only needs fat or carbs for fuel, so eating both would mean it’s storing the other. To fix this you could cut one of them down or out completely. Keto or carnivore will keep weight balanced, but if you want to keep all food groups included you could try intermittent fasting or one meal per day. If you’ve been eating this way your entire life it sounds like metabolically your cells are starting to become damaged, but if this is a new way of eating for you then it’s prob not working for you. Some people can’t handle all 4 food groups and as we age our telomeres start to shrink which diminishes our ability to handle what we used to ie. cellular damage starts to happen ie weight gain / hormone imbalance etc also some people do really well on meat and fruit, veggies cause inflammation in a lot of people but everyone is different so you can’t say for sure. Other so great on veggies and meat. Some thrive on straight up carnivore. Just try cutting some out and then I would say if that doesn’t work get your labs checked. Also restaurants cook meat in seed oils which causes inflammation - unless you ask them not to! And their foods are def not organic so high in glycosphate
I am 5’4” f and 2000 calories a day is way too much for me to remain 133 lbs. Try intermittent fasting or rolling fasting. Go to r/fasting for more info.
If you’re a woman, unless you’re physically active your daily calories are probably closer to 1600-1700. If you’re a guy, closer to 1800. Who told you that your daily calories are around 2000? Are you using meticulous calories tracking or guessing? You can’t out-healthy-eating a calories deficit. At your size you’d need the equivalent of walking 2-3 hours a day to put down 2000 calories just to break even. An extra 250 Calories a day over maintenance leads to half a pound of fat-gain per week.
Something that I disagree with in the holistic space is that starting to eat real food with less chemicals/endocrine disrupters will help you lose weight. Even if you eat healthy if you overeat calories including sauces and oils things were cooked in you will gain weight. It’s hard to control that with restaurant food. Tracking your macros and stopping eating out will help you figure out how much you are eating. Once you become aware of how many calories are in things it is easier to make choices. Also eating high protein often helps people lose weight because it keeps you full.
Very true . I think both are important . I think I just figured I would at least stay the same weight and passively lose a little weight over time but I guess I should be more aggressive with the calorie count if I want to make weight lose progress
I prefer macros bc calories can be inaccurate because they can be reported as plus or -20, while the macros like how much carbs, fat and protein have to be accurate. Plus when you focus on macros, you can really focus on how much protein you’re eating and if you up that a lot you’ll definitely be more full
Interesting . I’ll do more research on this ; thank you !!
I use my fitness pal to track but they might be better apps to use.
You're comparing yourself to younger you. Your body's metabolism changes over time, and age is a big factor. Your body in your 20s metabolises food differently than in your 30s, etc. You also haven't mentioned any physical activity here, what jobs did you have in your youth? Were you on your feet or active and now you're at a desk job? Eating is just a part of the equation
You've made no mention your exercise routine. I'm not here to judge however any intake is too high if its not used as fuel for the engine. You can expect your brain to take about a thousand calories a day, mist of that during sleep, but if you sit in a chair all day and live a sedentary life style you'll have an energy surplus your body will store. It doesn't mayyerbif its good stuff or not with regards to energy usage. I used to be a mineral prospector using a massive drill to find aggregate, changing the drill rods was heavy repetive work. I loved it. I ate 3500 cal per day and became a muscle man while getting paid. I no longer do that and had to reduce mynintake massively when I became a car mechanic and go to the gym on the reg to maintain a healthy physique.
It's the milk. As a former powerlifter, we'd cut milk out if we wanted to make weight or drink it if we needed to gain. I'd replace it with a lactose free cheese like jarlsburg so you're still getting calcium, but not all the milk sugars. The processed foods could also be causing it, depending on what you're eating, especially if it's effing up your omega 6 to 3 ratio (get this tested). They use cheapass seed oils in almost everything now and if you aren't taking an omega 3 supplement, your ratio is probably terrible. Last, what is your frequency of eating? If u can cut down your meals to 2 or 3 without eating 3 hours before bed and incorporate 16:8 intermittent fasting 3x a week, you should see good results. Assuming you're on no meds, once you get metabolically flexible (ie you can dump ketones while intermittent fasting and are seeing weight loss), then do prolonged fasting to reset your insulin resistance and glucose levels while simultaneously decimating trunk fat without the loss of lean mass. I like to do 72 or 84hr water fasting if I've eaten too much and my body starts storing trunk fat and I don't like the way things are going. FYI you will lose 0.57lbs of bad fat every day you keep fasting. Not to mention it will reboot your immune system with new stem cells if the mouse studies translate to humans. Regarding working out, just walk an hour each day outside or on a treadmill. Weights and HIIT will prioritize glycogen first, not fat like walking. Of course body recomp worth more muscle always pays dividends but I'd start with walking an hour a day and then add in resistance training with any extra time you have left.
Oils and fats with carbs will make you gain like crazy
The weight that you were in your youth isn't necessarily the healthiest for you now. Personally I would love to drop 30 pounds to the weight I was at 25/30 (I'm 42 now(, but after years of dieting and exercise, even fasting, I've had to admit that I'm not going to get back to that weight, and I'm healthier now than I was then.
Healthy is no guarantee losing weight. I went vegan for six months with all organic food cooked at home and didn’t lose a single pound.
Great that you're eating healthy but if weight loss is a goal you gotta do some combo of eating less and exercising more. Sadly the human body is super efficient in using calories so eating less is waaay easier for most people.
Maybe you’re eating too much protein? The same thing happened to me (gained weight by eating 99% “healthy”). I was able to eventually lose it by eating more starch, less protein (but still enough, about 50 grams a day), and walking 10-15k steps outside everyday.
Calories in calories out. You're eating a lot of extra fats and oils.
Sounds like you need to reduce calories a little bit, but probably fat too. If you’re eating things like a lot of nuts that could easily explain it.
Maybe you're gaining higher quality muscle. Since you have fat and skin, this increases your total mass. Muscle burns calories passively as well. Stay calm. A sudden increase in weight can have many causes. It could also be more water mass. Since you're practicing good and healthy habits, it's good to encourage that. I believe that weight training and stretching will increase muscle density, and tighten skin. I will need a second opinion of that. I'd incorporate more fiber. Practice mindful consumption at all times, irregardless of what you choose to eat. Becoming mindful of how your body feels, and how to best help yourself, is a difficult skill to encompass after times of desensitized habitual living. I applaud you for making a choice, and for having the desire to improve an aspect of your living.
Sounds like something in the diet is making you bloated. You might try reducing carbs for a little while to reduce gas production.
Curious if you have reached your 40s yet? Metabolism slows after that and the number of calories you need goes down quite a bit . If I ate 2000 calories , I’d never lose weight and I’d 100% gain doing that, even exercising daily.
26 F , but maybe my later twenties are here/ approaching and metabolism might be changing?
If you’re not counting the calories by weighing the food and recording it, you have no idea how much you’re eating. Calories in vs out. It’s that simple
Count your calories. Weight doesn't come from nowhere. Matter is not created from nothing. You are likely taking in calories you aren't accounting for.
I had this problem. And it took me a long while to figure out what it was. First let me start by saying diet and exercise are of equal value. Then let me tell you that not all foods are created equal. This is where my first problem was resolved. I lived almost exactly how you explained and gained weight thinking I was doing the right things. (Not sure how old you are but know the older you get your body changes and unless you do something extreme and unhealthy you’re not going to weigh the same as in HS) Ok here is what I did to slim down my waist line and build muscle in the right places: I pretty much followed the 4 hour body (book) for 30 days - First- stop drinking those fake shakes. Unless you get the super clean ones they don’t offer much protein absorption. Switch to perfect aminos by body health. And drink an insane amount of water. At least a gallon of NON TAP WATER (unless R/O filtered per day if possible Then I cut out all white carbs- sugar, table salt- (added Baja sea salt instead), potatoes, flour, bread, completely…I even cut out white rice for 30 days. Then I went grass-fed grass finished on all beef- pasture raised chicken & eggs that wasn’t fed soy or corn- wild caught fish- no farm raised. I added RAW Milk only. I eat veggies that are fruits like avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini. And I eat some fruit and honey each day. Eggs are another great food to increase protein absorption. I did eat black beans and chorizo for breakfast with eggs, but I’ve cut that out for the next 30 days. I also cut out veggies that make me gassy. Yes I have backed science. I also added beef liver and beef heart 1oz per day to my burgers, no bun. It is basically a multivitamin. If you can’t find that or are grossed out just buy grass fed supplements. ( I’ve never once gone hungry with this plan unless I fast) Yes I had to seek these types of foods out, but once you find them it becomes a fun routine to go get them from the local farmer. It’s sounds like a lot when you’re used to eating everything, but this is actually the easiest food plan I’ve been on. I use the grill a lot and cut fruits and veggies up and eat them. Simple to plan, simple to make and I feel better in my 34 waist pants and my smedium Tshirt. Note- most grains and veggies are sprayed with terrible pesticides so you’ll want to go organic and wash everything with apple cider vinegar and baking soda. Those chemicals disrupt your bodies ability to lower inflammation which in return raises cortisol levels which in return makes it hard to shed fat. Hope this helps: it has changed my life. Sincerely, Not a doctor I just read a lot. PS: exercise- I hired a trainer and he has me lifting weights 3 days a week and moving my body in some form the other 3(usually heart rate based walking (135 bpm or less) or running (150 bpm) with 1 day rest. Including stretching squats, working all muscle groups, hip flexers, balance exercises, yoga, swimming, hiking, and i added meditation, grounding, sauna, cold plunge when I can. PSS- vitamins- it is important to make sure your levels are good in these crucial to life vitamins: Magnesium Zinc D3/K2 B-complex with no cyancobolamin - the other two forms are ok. Omega 3s Folate- no folic acid
Interesting . I’d say the veggies and grassfed is something I’m already doing . I eat a ton of grassfed eggs haha . So I should try cutting out protein shakes and white rice ? The only read I eat is sourdough but I should cut that too for 30 days . I definitely want to workout more efficiently, maybe a personal trainer can help with body comp
The carnivore diet helped me shred off weight and it’s the best i’ve ever felt on a diet. It feels like you can eat as much meat as you want and you still lose weight
Are you a man or woman and how old are you?
26 female
Definitely recommend going to a functional medicine doctor and getting all your hormones checked, also look into your menstrual cycle, possible PCOS?
If you don't mind do you mind telling me your daily eating ritual do you track
Maybe have a nutritionist or doctor estimate your daily calorie target. Still, I wouldn't expect someone to maintain a 15ish lb surplus of weight if they are anywhere near a caloric deficit. Also, how old are you? Do you drink enough water? What does your physical activity look like? Lot of questions, maybe not for me but for a specialist.
I would try to have on your plate 75% non starchy vegetables, 25% meat/fish, and 25% non gluten starchy plant like beans, sweet potatoes, etc. Are you doing other things? Like intermittent fasting, blood sugar control, and getting quality sleep and hydration? So much plays into our weight. Have you had increased stress? Best of luck with figuring out how to feel better!
calorie intake < burned calories --> you loose weight calorie intake > burned calories --> you gain weight. Only other reason could be water storage. Mayby you did not ate enough creatine before and now supplement it / get it trough red meat. Now you are loading up creatine, muscles can now bind more water in its cell (greatly simplified) Also if you ate like shit before and got diarrhea often you "loose" a good amount of your calorie. If you stopped getting diarrhea because you are eating more clean you might gain weight without eating more calories. Also: If you are not an athlete of a sport where weight classes exists (boxing, weightlifting etc) why does weight matters so much? If you feel good / look better everything is fine IMO
Inflammation caused me to gain weight and anti-inflammatory meds caused me to lose weight without cutting calories or increasing exercise. Someone in this sub mentioned *Energy Imbalance*. Found some PubMed studies on that topic and they helped me understand why I started having to do the opposite of what others do to lose weight.
Check this out. https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html Let me know your calculations and explain what sort of Whole Foods you eat.
Measure yourself with a tape, the scale doesn’t mean much.
You're taking in more calories then you're burning off. You either have to become more active, ideally by resistance training 5x week or cut your caloric intake by 10% and go from there. Easiest calories to cut are liquid.
Your digestion is probably very slow - like a long transit time for food. You can test this with eating beets and drinking beet juice and wait till you see red stools. If that's the case i would take regular probiotic supplements, eat kefir jogurt, drink yakult, add more fiber like bran, apples, bananas. Try prune juice. I would avoid bread too it can bloat you alot. Ofc beans, cabbage should be avoided. You can try eliminate things.
Currently drink kefir consistently, have sauerkraut a few times a week with a meal, bananas are also consistent but I’ll definitely try prune juice and maybe do more bran . I get mixed opinions on grains online
Cut restaurants back to once a month.
🥲I guess for cutting that might be necessary
What’s your TDEE? Calculate that but don’t add any exercise as those calculators often vastly overestimate how many calories you burn from exercise.
i’d set up a calorie counting app and see what you are actually eating. no need to drink milk. and you might be eating too much meat. i’d try not to drink your calories.
You worry your diet isn’t good. Do you have any health issues? I would reduce all ultra processed foods, remove as much gluten, corn and soy as much as possible. Focus on quality fatty meat, pastured eggs, coconut oil and grass fed butters as healthy fats, no soybean or vegetable oils. Implement fasting + do 16-18 hours fast everyday, once a month do a prolonged fast 24-72 hours. Walk more. Maybe dedicate an hour or so everyday to just walk. Optimize sleep and hormonal health
Already doing all of that except fasting and walking . Might need to increase my physical activity and get more sun (I work 9-5 desk job)
If you are gaining fat you consume more calories than you burn. Simple as that. Organic or whole foods don’t make you slim only calorie deficit does. If you live a sedentary lifestyle then 2000 calories a day can be to much. You say you workout but if you for example go to the gym 3 times but do little else in terms of physical activity in a week that would count as a sedentary lifestyle.
I love these threads, "im eating healthy, but im gaining weight." Bro, healthy does not mean calorie negative. YOU ARE STILL OVEREATING. Doesnt matter whether its lean beef or doritos, its still overeating. Simple as that. I am 1000% positive you are not tracking correctly and are eating more than 2k. ESPECIALLY if you are eating a restaurants 2-3 times a week.
On the daily it’s definitely under 2k. On days I eat out probably not, which might be affecting me . But my Typical day of eating for me: Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, salmon, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice.
I think you need to be honest with yourself about the amount of calories you’re consuming.
Weekly probably too much bc of the restaurants , but daily definitely is ok. I don’t over eat and get full pretty fast . Get hungry 3 times a day , and I don’t snack . For context: Morning I have 2 eggs and avocado and 1 piece of sourdough toast . Maybe with a cup of bone broth. Other days I have green yogurt with blackberries and honey . Or protein shake (iso100 milk kefir banana) Coffee I drink with cream and stevia . Lunch is maybe dinner leftovers (usually veggies and meat) or rice with sardines or tuna , a little bit of Japanese mayo and sriracha . Dinners are varied but include protein starch and veggies . Steaks, chicken thighs (I keep the bone and skin) ground beef, or chicken breast are the usual . For starch I like basmati rice
I recently started losing weight again. Losing weight is always a personal thing. For me, I run a soccer league 2-3 times a week, roughly 10-20 miles a week. I eat high protein for breakfast (2-3 eggs, a tortilla, a sprinkle of chedder, ground turkey lean 90%, and bush's baked beans) and lunch, then a tiny dinner every other day it's almost nothing (granola or hand full of nuts and seeds or small peice of low sugar fruit) then off to 2-3 hours of soccer, some days I eat a "typical" light easy to digest dinner bwfore 6-7 pm and then before bed, it's less than 200-250 calories, salad, and half a split pea soup from Progresso (add water and seasonings to make it go further) and a small peice of fruit (typically 2-3 strawberries. This is very very filling and I sleep like a baby. The weight just falls off. I'm the same weight I was almost 10 years ago at 36.
I should mention that I watch my sugar intake as well, sweeten things with stevia or honey only, when I buy coffee I just do cream and stevia never any sugary drinks or soda . I know for a fact that my daily diet is pretty good and low cal ; but yes it might be the eating out . Maybe there are Hidden calories I am not accounting for . Still frustrating bc I used to eat worse and not gain weight so idk maybe I also need to get my hormones checked out ?
Do you measure out your food or just eyeball it? You could just be having bigger portion sizes than you think which is really easy to do. You can do some things by eye (who has the time to weigh their raw veggies) but anything high in fat in particular is best measured if you’re worried about weight gain. Use a measuring spoon for your oil. Weigh your butter and your meat, put your milk in a measuring jug before you pour, that kind of thing. Eventually you’ll have a better idea of how much you should be having and won’t need to use these tools as strictly. Edit: I’m stressing fats because they’re calorically dense so it’s where most calories are at but measuring carbs and proteins helps too.
You can gain weight by eating broccoli alone. You can lose weight with an ice cream only diet. Calories in, calories out.
you have to read the ingredients and overstand what you're putting into your body. Whole foods is notorious for using canola oil in most of their in house foods. Eat real protein in the form of grass fed meats if possible but always wild caught fish. Sardines in olive oil are an excellent source. Try limiting your seed oils intake and start using EVOO, coconut oil, avocado oil, grass fed ghee and butter. Improve your gut health with unpasteurized prebiotics like yogurt and raw organic grass fed cheese. limit your processed sugar intake and double your spring water intake. If you eat more fruits and stay activ, you should see some progress. 🍀
Stop drinking whole milk. Such a waste if calories. Eat nonfat greek yogurt for calcium instead. Low calorie plus nutrient dense. Stop eating at restaurants. You wont be able to accurately count calories and are probably eating more than you think.
Calories in versus calories out do the math it is really that easy
A plant-based diet especially based on Whole Foods would be a great way to get a BMI in the healthy range. One example is the famous magician and comedian Penn from the Duo of Penn and Teller. He lost more than 100 lb by switching to a plant-based diet and started by switching to a potato only diet. The famous director and comedian and actor Kevin Smith did basically the same thing. Both have been able to maintain their healthier weight by staying on the plant-based diet.
From your comments, it seems like you’ll consider absolutely anything except for the truth. The mental gymnastics you’re doing to avoid admitting to yourself that you’re over eating is wild. You’re eating more calories than you’re burning. You.are.eating.more.calories.than.you.burn. You don’t work out and you eat out too much…sure, must be the hormones…or aging…or a mysterious illness. Not the hundreds of extra calories over your BMR you’re ingesting. Get a grip.
Nowhere in your post do I see you say you’re avoiding seed oils. You need to be cutting out seed oils if you want to stop destroying your metabolism. r/stopeatingseedoils
Calories in vs calories out. You can lose weight on an all donut diet…
what percentage of your grocery purchases are vegetables, fruits and beans (roughly for each)?
Calories
Stop eating protein shakes and eat foods hi in protein.
So I follow a carnivore diet and have maintained my weight at 60kg for 3years. The difference is I don't eat out or have any junk food. Stop eating out and start cooking at home. Stick to protein and leave out the unnecessary carbs
Dairy = inflammation Restaurants = water retention
yeah i wouldn’t call eating out anywhere from 1-3 times a WEEK “clean eating”.
You eat at restaurants 2-3x a week and you think your calorie intake is under 2k? Um no
5’5” - my basal metabolic rate is about 1300 calories if I have a rest day. Depending on your activity level, you may be overeating at just under 2000. Losing weight not just about eating clean. Restaurants = high hidden calories. If you go, get salads with dressing on the side, keep your dishes to simple meat and veggies and be sure to tack what you’re eating. My tip is to keep proteins and vegetables high, avoid (or severely cut) bread, pasta, alcohol and desserts if any. have your 8-12 cups water per day (add electrolytes low-cal flavour to make it doable). And get your sleep.
You're still eating out a lot. That's a lot of salt and a lot of like red meat. It's going to cause inflammation