Scratching my head over diet!

Sir_Name

Hi All,
Not sure if this should be in the fitness forum so mods feel free to move if necessary.
I am currently about 122lbs (Height 5"2) - Healthy BMI, Cholesterol etc. The weight which I am comfortable at is roughly 4/5 lbs lighter but I am finding it really hard to shift. I am using My Fitness Pal and I am exercising about 5/6 times a week. To be fair I have gotten more toned but I've never found it this difficult to lose a few lbs.
6 Days a week I would stay within 1200 Calories, and I have one cheat day which usually includes alcohol (Vodka Soda Water & Lime or Prosecco generally, the odd glass of Red wine too ). 
My diet most days would consist of Banana and Coffee for breakfast, salad for lunch which generally consists of broccoli/tomatoes/beetroot/Lettuce/Peppers and some meat, either chicken or beef, and the odd slice of cheese, and dinner is either Sweet Potato/Onions/Peppers & either salmon or chicken, Spag Bol (homemade with lots of veg and a small hand of spelt pasta or small spelt garlic slice) or Eggs (with Mayo), half an avocado on corn cakes if i am training late. As a snack in the evening, i would have two squares of the Lindt 90% Dark chocolate most nights.
Exercise weekly consists of 2/3 HIIT Classes, 1 Tabata class, 1 Spinning Class and 1 Trampoling class. (All 1 hr each)
The above has been my routine for the last 6/7 wks and I've only lost a half pound. About 2 weeks ago I was getting frustrated so I bought a skipping rope and weights, and have been doing an extra 10-20 mins most evenings when i potter about at home and also 1-2 times going to do 20 mins on a treadmill (burning roughly 150-200 cals). So my expectation was that would help shift those extra few lbs but Bi-Monthly weigh in this morning and.... about 0.2lb loss! 
I really am at a loss what to do, I realise in the scheme of things its not a lot of weight to be annoyed about but my clothes don't fit as well as they used to and I just want to get back to that. Especially as during the summer I only gained 3lbs while barely exercising/snacking regularly on sweets and having wine 3-4 nights a week! I'm just baffled as to what I am doing wrong.

bladespin

The last few lbs are often the hardest to shift.

Check you are tracking accurately, at 1200 cals you should be loosing especially training at regular higher intensity.


How often do you weigh yourself and when do you do this?

I find my weight shoots up after drinking alcohol, could be water etc etc.

smurfjed

Deanov, have you consider doing a KETO diet for a few weeks?

tro90

Try increasing your calories from 1200 to just above maintainence (about 100 or 200 calories surplus) for 2-3 weeks then you can drop it to below maintainence...1200 calories is very little and your body is probably in survival more trying to keep any fat it has. At a guess your calories at maintainence should be about 1800.

Sir_Name

Thanks all,
@Bladespin: I think I am tracking accurately (as well as I can) and if I am not sure I usually add calories rather than take them off. I weight myself on a thurs morning every two weeks before eating or anything. I drink at least 2 ltrs and this can go to 3ltrs. (Depends on the day) I do live in the Middle East so maybe I should be drinking more....

@Smurfjed : what's a KETO diet? is it hard to follow? In the past I've avoided set plans as they are either hard to follow or they require a million ingredients!

@tro90 : Sorry can you clarify a little re the calories? I input how much I wanted to lose into fitness pal and it was the app who suggested 1200 calories. As I want to lose a couples pounds I wouldn't have thought a maintenance calorie plan would work?

_Brian

Drop the cheat days for a few weeks.

smurfjed

Have a look at this.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto
If you follow it for a couple of weeks, it can be extremely beneficial for weight loss.

Mellor

tro90 wrote: »

1200 calories is very little and your body is probably in survival more trying to keep any fat it has.

That doesn't happen.

If it did, people in concentration camps and the like, would hold on to their body fat - but they don't.

tro90

Deanov wrote: »

@tro90 : Sorry can you clarify a little re the calories? I input how much I wanted to lose into fitness pal and it was the app who suggested 1200 calories. As I want to lose a couples pounds I wouldn't have thought a maintenance calorie plan would work?

Hi Deanov, when a person diets on such low calories the bodies metabolism apparently starts to slow down. I was stuck in the same position as you a couple of months back, training 6 days a week and lots of cardio, 1700 calories and when i brought my calories back up to maintenance for a week or 2 my weight didn't go up at all and as soon as I started to drop calories again (100ish a week in the form of carbs) my weight started to decrease again. I went from 105kg to 91, was stuck at 91 for 4 weeks, done what i said above and went to 86kg within 4 weeks. I'm just suggesting something that worked for me is all!.

@Mellor, I thought the OP was looking for advice on how to shift a few extra pounds in a healthy way and not become severely malnourished and lose weight in the form of hydration, muscle etc like those in a concentration camp who have barely any food??

Mellor

tro90 wrote: »

[
@Mellor, I thought the OP was looking for advice on how to shift a few extra pounds in a healthy way and not become severely malnourished and lose weight in the form of hydration, muscle etc like those in a concentration camp who have barely any food??

And how has that got anything to do with what I said?

bladespin

tro90 wrote: »

Hi Deanov, when a person diets on such low calories the bodies metabolism apparently starts to slow down. I was stuck in the same position as you a couple of months back, training 6 days a week and lots of cardio, 1700 calories and when i brought my calories back up to maintenance for a week or 2 my weight didn't go up at all and as soon as I started to drop calories again (100ish a week in the form of carbs) my weight started to decrease again. I went from 105kg to 91, was stuck at 91 for 4 weeks, done what i said above and went to 86kg within 4 weeks. I'm just suggesting something that worked for me is all!.

The body doesn't in general work like that, the most likely cause of the weight loss slow down is not recalculating your expenditure correctly or you're missing hidden calories in your food.

GerryDerpy

Saying the body goes into survival mode and retains fat despite one continuing to go to regular exercise classes is like saying a car doesn’t use fuel despite driving cross country.