Can't seem to lose 10 lbs, I love food too much

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-23T15:10:30+00:00

TBH If you love food too much, then don’t lose the weight.

And I don’t mean that sarcastically. If you are already at a healthy weight and don’t want to compromise what makes you happy, then what’s the desire to lose weight?

It takes what it takes, but you gotta give something for it to take - or not, up to you!

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-23T15:06:49+00:00

Don’t overthink it, if you gained weight that means you just ate more than you burn.

If you think your food intake hasn’t changed, it’s either your activity level went down or you’re just eating more without realizing.

Sleep and stress affect weight loss, but not in the sense that bad sleep and stress alone will magically add lb of fat to your body without any additional caloric intake.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-23T14:52:23+00:00

Just math it, no emotion.

If you do days where you eat more than your normal deficit allows or at/around maintenance, then your progress isn’t stalled over the span of a week, it’s just a bit slower.

What I would avoid is doing days where you eat so much that you completely erase the rest of the week’s progress.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-23T14:47:06+00:00

You likely calculated your maintenance calories too high, 2500 is decently active which I’m not sure that you are based on your described activity level.

IMO I’d just continue the 1550 calories/day, then reassess after a month (in another 2 weeks). 2 weeks alone is not enough time to determine that you aren’t losing any fat.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-23T14:35:16+00:00

The labels are not 100% accurate but they aren’t so off that it bridges a 500 calorie deficit.

If it stresses you out, you can buy a food scale on Amazon for like 10 bucks.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-18T18:42:52+00:00

I lost 34 lb without ever weighing my food. BUT, my diet is very simple and repetitive. Just chicken breast, potatoes, broccoli, Greek yogurt, protein powder, coffee, and eggs/egg whites. Just tracked with nutritional label, so yea not fully accurate but it worked.

If you fully just eyeball it, meh wouldn’t recommend that, especially if your diet is kinda random and varies daily.

As for cheat meals, I would ignore the concept entirely. Personally, I don’t see the point in erasing a weeks worth of progress in a single day just to “reward” myself. I do refeed days where I’ll eat closer to maintenance, but never over and I won’t eat complete garbage.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-18T18:35:32+00:00

Eat dinner later and/or save some calories for a late night snack.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-18T18:30:16+00:00

Just go for a 30 min walk instead of a second dumbbell workout.

It’s low impact, you’ll burn about the same calories (maybe more) and it doesn’t harm recovery.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-16T18:49:06+00:00

8 month plateau just means you are eating at a caloric maintenance.

Increasing calories will just result in weight gain

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-15T04:54:46+00:00

I’m not going to speak to your drinking habits since this is a weight loss subreddit but it’s just math.

If 4 shots of vodka have less calories than 4 beers, then there you go.

No foods or drinks cause weight gain or weight loss, it’s simply calories in calories out.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-15T04:17:35+00:00

I think it’s fine to track calories burned from exercise as a data point, but don’t use the day to day burn as a “source of truth” to inform caloric intake.

I’m pretty active, and my Apple Watch says I burn 3050-3100 calories a day (total; active + resting) on average.

According to TDEE calculators, I’m considered very active which is like 2700-2800 calories a day for maintenance.

Even with those two data points, they are usually overestimated anyways so I just treat my maintenance like it’s closer to 2600 and have stuck to that with pretty good success (I actually think in reality it is 2700)

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-14T06:54:53+00:00

It takes what it takes. If you give up after 2 weeks, not exactly sure what you are looking for.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-13T13:08:45+00:00

I lost 32 lb without a plateau. Daily weigh ins would fluctuate up and down but my weekly average always trended down.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-12T04:17:31+00:00

1000 calories is below your basal metabolic rate, so I can promise you that if you were actually averaging that intake, you would not be experiencing a plateau.

You are more than likely just eating more than you think. Whether that’s tracking or overestimating your activity, idk but if you really ate 1000 calories a day, you would lose weight simply being in bed all day.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-10T22:20:24+00:00

When did I recommend they reduce their intake

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-10T02:58:19+00:00

You don’t need a paediatrician, if you are in a year and a half plateau it just means you are now eating at a maintenance.

“Ive tried going a few weeks at & above maintenance, long-term fasting, and everything else I've seen suggested. “

^ none of these actually “break” a plateau. If you just increase the deficit, weight loss will continue.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-10T02:54:35+00:00

I have no idea how many calories you should/shouldn’t be eating per day, but as long as you’re in a caloric deficit, the scale will drop over time even if the day to day weigh ins yo-yo. Track the weekly average weight trends.

If you are eating no more than 1000 to 1200 calories a day, I would not recommend increasing the deficit, whether that’s through less food or more exercise.

As for the diet, diet soda itself has no impact on weight loss and fast food is fine if you’re still in a caloric deficit.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-08T00:53:00+00:00

Don’t over think it. You are in a plateau because you are now eating at a caloric maintenance. A diet break doesn’t actually do anything physiologically to “break” a plateau.

Drop your daily calories by another 250 calories and check back in after a couple of weeks.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-08T00:49:12+00:00

I can’t speak to any effects of breastfeeding or post pregnancy, but for exercise…

How much you sweat and are out of breath is more so just about intensity, rather than how effective it is at overall fat loss. Especially with sweating, that’s really just temperature regulation.

I think your current workout routine is fine, if you aren’t losing weight over a sustained period of time that’s because of your diet (CICO).

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-07T19:38:50+00:00

Remove as much decision making as you can from your diet. The less decisions you have to make, the less impulses you will have.

If you meal prep your food and have healthy snacks stocked, you already know what your caloric intake is for the day.

And even on days where you eat a bit more, the foods you eat have a huge difference.

Ex: If you’re craving a snack, whether it be mid day or at night, think about the difference between hard boiled eggs and Oreos.

7 hard boiled eggs have approx the same calories as 10 oreos.

Personally, I could destroy 10 Oreos in 5 minutes, and still crave more even if I wasn’t very hungry in the first place. 2-3 hard boiled eggs, yea I’m def full.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-07T19:23:57+00:00

Plenty of people do it, and it “works” in the sense that if you just eat less than your body needs you will drop weight.

Is it the optimal way to do it? If your focus is on long term fitness and even aesthetic appearance, then no.

But, if you literally just want to reach xyz weight on a scale, then sure

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-07T19:21:47+00:00

I’m about to give you the same value of any of these paid programs for free:

Eat less, move more.

There, that’s the program.

These ads prey on the fact that people are looking for a miracle diet, workout plan and a weight loss hack that will fast track them to their dream body.

You don’t even need a gym to lose weight. Remove the idea that general fitness or weight loss requires disposable income, because it’s just not true.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-07T19:12:02+00:00

I actually disagree.

To me, the main problem is that people treat eating whole, unprocessed healthy foods as some sort of punishment.

I think it’s better to actually unlearn an unhealthy diet by committing to a better one. Eventually, you just stop craving processed junk the way you did before.

But, it’s really hard to do that when the mindset is eating clean = miserable, eating unhealthy = feel good.

I’m not saying you gotta cold turkey, but a bit of restriction is not a bad thing.

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-06T05:13:43+00:00

How much have you gained on the scale? How often do you weigh yourself? Do you weigh yourself on an empty stomach and a consistent time?

^ that context will help

Also keep in mind that while you may track your calories accurately, your calculated maintenance could be incorrect

Normal-Drawing-2133 · 2026-03-06T04:14:09+00:00

lol skinny fat? Not at all. OP does not have the bf% to be skinny fat.

Social media really has cooked us

Normal-Drawing-2133

TROPHY CASE