Why are my weight loss attempts not working?

Question

About a month ago in an attempt to lose weight I changed several aspects of my lifestyle. I now attend the gym 3 -4 times a week particpating in both cardio and weight training classes (ie boxercise, body pump and spinning), I have dramatically reduced my alcohol intake - for example, I used to share a bottle of wine with a meal most nights but now have reduced that to one bottle per week. I have completly changed my eating habits, takeaways are now only a treat rather than the norm, I eat less bread with meals and I have introduced more fresh vegatables and fish into my diet. I would have thought that making such big changes would have had an effect but it is not working, I have not lost any weight at all. I do not want to get trapped into following strict diets which may work in the short term but then pile on the pounds later and I refuse to virtually starve myself to lose weight. Has anyone got any advice & tips which will help before I lose all motivation

Answer 1

don't give up and give it some more time. i changed my diet at the start of the year and it took about 6 weeks to start coming off. you just have to stick with it. make sure you aren't eating more calories than you are burning off and you will be fine. you are doing this the healthy way (slowly), so the weight will stay off this way. if you crash diet then you will pile it all on again once you're finished. keep up the great work and hang in there :)

Answer 2

It may also depend how much you already weigh. There is a lot of pressure on people to lose weight these days and you have to ask yourself if you really need to lose the extra weight. Also check how you look rather than how much you weigh. Muscle is heavier than fat so you could be losing fat but gaining muscle, this is great because once you do this the muscle helps burn more fat.

If you are carrying extra weight then I have a few tips some of which may have already been mentioned.

1) Don't eat less than you need, if you starve your body now and then ease up on any of this then you will pile on the weight as your body thinks it has gone from famine to feast and will build up reserves to get you through the next famine.

2) Make sure you eat properly, loads of fruit and veg, try to avoid any white foods, i.e. white pasta, white bread, potatoes etc.

3) Graze several times a day rather than having meals. This eases fluctuation in blood sugar.

4) Don't eat too late in the day. Due to work pressure many of us eat late and this is bad as at this time the body is more likely to convert food to fat.

5) Take some suplements, my girlfriend is a nutritionist and it's hard to give specific advice without knowing much so I'd recomend a decent multi vitamin.

6) Enjoy yourself, if you make this weight loss thing into a rigid regime then you might find life's a bit dull so my advice would be to try and be good about 80% of the time.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Otherwise let me know and I'll ask my girlfriend as she's a qualified sports nutritionist.

Answer 3

Weight loss and fat loss are different, especially since you are exercising including weight training. It is possible, likely even, that you are losing fats but also building muscles. Muscles weighing more than fats, your weight would not drop. How is your waist line, the circumference of your upper arms, thighs? Compare with some old photos and you are likely to be pleasantly surprised since you seem to be doing the right things.

I lost a few inches round my waist and around 9kg in 3-4 months and have kept it away for the last year or so. What I did is simply switch a meal to some meal replacement that gives the nutrition with much much less carbs.

Weight is put on if we eat more than what our bodies need and spend and depends on our individual lifestyles, metabolic rates. Simply switching 1 meal does wonders. An extra bonus I get is that I don't feel sleepy after lunch anymore :)

I think you are doing the right thing, if you want to see results faster switch one meal to a meal replacement, and enjoy your life.

Losing weight shouldn't be torture, else you will put it back on sooner or later.

Answer 4

I would go and talk to your doctor and ask for blood tests. There are conditions that can make weight loss difficult. for example an under active thyroid slows the metabolism down and makes weight loss hard. I have this condition and despite walking/cycling 5 miles a day and being on a relatively good diet I do not loose weight.

Answer 5

It could be due to many factors, I'm sure you heard it all, but with age, it is so much harder to loose the weight. You are on the right track though. Stay with it!! And get a support group. Check out SELF magazines weight loss challenge! It is a great support!! Good luck.

Answer 6

Maybe your building too much muscle with all the exercise your doing and that can weigh heavier than fat, why you think you have to starve on a diet I don't know, you have to actually eat to lose weight, go on line to Slimming World and you will see some great tips, recipes and weekly plans for diets, don't get too disheartened sometimes these things take time, lots of good luck

Answer 7

I'm a guy that has never dieted and never really been overweight. I never eat between meals even snacks. I only eat when I get hungry. I recommend you don't give up. Sounds like you're doing all the right things. Keep it up. Worst thing you can do now is get discouraged. Don't expect miracles overnight and stop reading those magazine ads that say she went from size 16 to size 10 in two weeks.

Answer 8

what's happing precise understand is which you in the freeze zone. this once you're no longer challaging your physique with the intention to lose the load. in case you're over the age of 30 you ought to would desire to locate some thing that will improve the metabolize via fact it has slowed down. that's relatively helpful to attempt the only an afternoon diet with eccg to help with the metabolizen. additionally in case you consume much less it gadgets your physique into starvation mode so which you will no longer loss any weight like that try eating 2000-2500 caloried an afternoon with eating greater yet much less every time like the 6 small meal weight-help plan. thats been working for me. dont get me incorrect i dont propose consume 6 widely used meal basically 6 small like 3 oz..nutrition and as plenty fruit and vegetable as you could

Answer 9

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Just be patient, it may take a while. It would be good to measure all around your body too, Its another way to see if your becoming slimmer and each cm or inch lost will give you lots more motivation. i would definetly keep it up for 6 months and keep up all the exercise you are doing and dont give up. Remember too that all the exercise is making you a fitter person too, going up flights of stairs you may have struggled with before becomes much easier and also have you made friends in your cardio classes too.

Answer 10

It is mostly NOT your fault, if you need to lose weight. The way you have been taught to eat is responsible for making obesity the number one health problem in the world (according to Atlantic Monthly magazine) replacing hunger and infectious disease. You need to re-learn how to eat so you can become thin.

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