I'm working out and eating healthily but not losing weight. What's going on???

Question

Hi everyone! I have been going to the gym for 3 weeks now and eating a high fibre/low fat diet for the same time. I completely lay off anything fried/chocolate/cake etc etc.

My instructor at the gym gave me a circuit to do with 60 mins cardio: treadmill/cross trainer/bike indespersed with weights. My biceps and triceps are definitely growing and my legs certainly feel leaner and more toned but I have not made any impact on my overall weight. (15st 5lbs and i'm 5'9") I'm getting married in 10 weeks and would really like to lose the gut and the man-breasts.

Help!

Answer 1

Wow! You are 155 lbs and 5'9"? I would not imagine you are too over weight. Like maybe 5 pounds on the high side.

Anyway, if you have man boobies and a gut, then I can see where you may be coming from (wanting to lose weight).

Here is some food for thought:

In my experience, 3 weeks is not enough time.

I would give it at least (assuming you continue your routine of working out and eating right) 30 to 90 days.

Also, weight can be deceiving. As your body builds muscle mass, your weight can remain the same for quite some time. What is happening is you are trading fat weight for muscle weight, so in actuality your size or shape will change but your body weight may remain the same. In some cases, your weight will even go up!

Instead of measuring your weight loss, measure your inches loss (i.e. around your waist, butt, legs, calves, chest, arms, neck, and even your head).

Next, bear in mind, that gut and man boobies are probably the hardest areas to change. There are many reasons for this, stress levels (which produce cortisol that adds fat to a mans gut), testosterone decline, which tends to increase fat and turn a man into a pudgy woman shape (this would apply to you if you are older--say, 29, 34, 39, and up) and diet, of course, just to name a few.

Let's talk about diet. I see that you are eat high fiber, low fat foods. This is good. But also you will want to identify your caloric intake. I don't actually advise you to count calories. Just become aware of what level of calories you are ingesting on a daily basis.

More useful, would be to identify how much protein, fat and carbs you are eating. Calories alone can be misleading, kinda like measuring your weight.

If your carbs and fat are excessive, usually your calorie intake will also be excessive as well.

Reduce calories if excessive, but more importantly, reduce carbs (assuming you already have reduced fat).

Unused carbs are stored as fat, so too many carbs can have the same effect as eating an excess of fat.

Protein too, can be stored as fat if not needed. Usually, for a guy, too much protein rarely presents a problem. But if you are eating too much in general, then you will have too much energy, and yes, protein too can be stored as fat.

So, again, too much will keep your man boobies plump and perky.

Then, there is the whole, how much water are you drinking. Water helps to flush out toxins and aids in weight loss. There are formulas that suggest you should be drinking an ounce of water for every pound you weigh, or something like that. (Don't quote or follow the last comment. It was just an example.)

Bottom line, on water, drink from 1/2 to 1 gallon daily. It will be tough, but it will help.

On top of all that, there are enzyme supplements that will help your digestion to work better. This in turn will help your body to better utilize the food and metabolize it more efficiently.

Then, there are mineral supplements. Like enzymes, your body is probably deficient in minerals because most of the food we eat is mineral dificient--even fresh vegetables have little or no mineral values due to the depleted soils in which the crops are grown.

You may want to consider using Hydroxycut, and or like supplements. These things do work.

I take Hydroycut. There are others that may be better, but Hydroxycut is a simple fix. Probably not the best, but certainly one of the easiest. It does help me trim the fat, man boobs, and gut. I have lost 5 pounds in the last month, and I really have not consistently worked out. I do go to the club, detox in the sauna (also good for getting rid of toxins which fat acts as a toxin closet, i.e. fat is stored to surround toxins to protect you from them, so by detoxing, your body will not need the fat and is more likely to let it go out your intestine--assuming no toxins are present), and I do drink a lot of H20, and I do eat only good food, so I am sure that is helping also.

You would be amazed at all the "stuff" there is to think about.

I don't know your age. If you are young, well, half of it you can ignore for a while. If you are 32+, most of it will need to be learned and applied consistently if you have hopes of staying fit and trim. Again, your weight is not overly high for your height.

Also, check your BMI (Body Mass Index). That is the best way to really know where you stand in terms of your fat levels.

Lastly, avoid juice, soft drinks, milk, cold cereal, oatmeal, bread, pasta, jello, pop sickles, diet soda, sugar, top ramen, pop corn, yogurt, potatoes and even bananas--pretty much everything except, vegetables, lean meat (turkey), fish, nuts, avocados (high in fat, but good fat, so worth it), fruit and eggs. Grape fruit is one of the best fruits for you.

And don't assume that if you eat whole grains they're OK. They have just as many carbs as non-whole grains and they raise your blood sugar just as fast. The only benefit is they have more fiber. While fiber is good, in whole grains, it really is not all that it's cracked up to be. Here's why:

Glucose syrup is one of the highest carb producing high sugar items there is. Glucose syrup comes from grains. This is why pasta, bread (even whole wheat) and virtually anything made with flour (cereal, even oatmeal) is just not gonna help you if you are trying to lose weight.

Now, a comment about fruit. Fruit, while it may seem like it has fructose sugar, which it does, interestingly enough, fruit is not metabolized in the intestine, and so the rise of energy (which you need) happens, but your blood sugar does not go up that much. This is because the fructose is metabolized by the liver, and rarely does the carbs in fruit ever get stored as fat (assuming they are unused). So eat all the fruit you can handle, preferably the one high in fiber, and the tart ones--not bananas. Yes, nanners have potassium, but in my opinion, the high carbs which raises your blood sugar sharply is not worth the potassium. Same thing with potatos. Way too high in carbs and sugar, find a supplement rich in potassium instead.

Nuts. Excellent source of fiber, but watch the carbs.

Milk. Some believe as long as it is SKIM, it's a good source of protein. I don't agree.

Lactose raises blood sugar very quickly, and anytime you raise your blood sugar and don't use the carbs (energy) it goes around your waist line. So, again, I would avoid lactose (milk products).

This includes cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt, etc.

Interestingly enough, do eat ice cream. Make sure it is the Natural Ice Cream that is made of only Cream, Milk, Sugar and some flavoring. Why? Because due to the fat in the ice cream, the increase in blood sugar energy is actually less than eating a potatoe. So amazingly, ice cream is a keeper.

But don't think just because it is not as bad as a potato you should indulge without limits. It still adds fat and carbs, so sparingly is a good idea.

There is a bit of controversy whether certain products such as Crystal Light beverage is good for you or not.

Certainly most diet sodas should be avoided. The carbonation and sweeteners are not good for you in most cases.

But I have found that the Wal*Mart brand (Good Value) Crystal Light version of beverages work for me.

Try the Cranberry, Grape (maybe), and Peach. Skip the apple, orange, lemon aid--they are horrible.

The above mentioned flavors taste very good to me, and they don't have the strong after taste that Crystal Light seems to have.

Medical research says the sweetener is safe, but then they said the same thing about aspartame--and they were wrong!!!!!

So, again, sparingly may be a good vocab word to use frequently.

When I reduce my weight, I try to keep my carbs between 90 and 120 grams per day. You will be amazed how quickly carbs stack up. I find managing fat to be relatively easy, but carbs, well, that's a challenge. That is one of the reasons that I do indulge with the Good Value beverages--also, they are only $1.76 per canisters compared to Crystal Light which is like $3.89.

Oh, yeah, and one more thing! Don't go without eating for more than 3 hours. In other words, keep a little bit of food coming in constantly. This will keep you from binging, dealing with insulin spiking, which all leads to your body storing the food you eat (if you skip meals) as fat.

So, don't skip meals. Always have an orange/grape fruit, bag of almonds, slice of turkey, avocado, or snickers bar handy to snack on between meals (say every 2 to 3 hours).

And by-the-way, the Snickers bar, like the ice cream, is not a bad choice after all. Although, I would not allow myself to eat the whole bar in between each meal. Rather just eat 1/3 of it between meals, and don't forget to drink a glass of water with it. Another idea when it gets hot out, is to freeze the Crystal Light type beverage in an ice tray, with a tooth pick in each cube. Makes for a nice low cal/sugar treat. Feel free to add a little extra power, as frozen items don't taste as sweet as they do when they are in liquid form.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You should always loose the weight before you tone up. When I was getting married I lost the weight first then I toned up. So you are not just bulking up with muscle. Especially for belly fat, you need to loose that before you gain the muscle. You don't have a lot of time before the wedding, but it can help you in the future. Try eating every three hours, small amounts, and eat complex carbs with a protein. I hope this helps!

Answer 3

I will try to keep it simple. Your metabolism is basically the rate at which your body burns calories to create energy. So the faster your metabolism, the faster you burn calories and the easier it is to lose unwanted weight. To boost your metabolism naturally you just need to eat the right foods.

You can sit down and literally eat a 1,000-calorie dinner and yet be absolutely starving just a few hours later and the reason is simple: Because your body didnt get what it needed in those 1,000 calories so it sends signals to your brain telling you to ingest more calories and thus, the late-night cravings. That means that the surest way to end those late-night cravings and keep your weight loss goals on track is to eat a more balanced, nutritious diet that actually gives your body what it needs.

It's VERY EASY to lose weight if you eat the right foods. Check out Dr. Charles Livingston's video here: http://www.sexyjese.com - it will blow your mind.

Answer 4

IF your muscles are growing - and you indicate that they are - then muscle gain is offsetting fat loss on your total weight.

You're doing great. You might want to measure your waist with a tape measure, which will give you a better idea of how your fat loss is going.

Answer 5

You may want to measure your waist to see if you are loosing inches (MM) there. Remember that muscle is heavier than fat.
Also, it takes awhile to gain weight and awhile to lose it. If you keep doing what you are doing (and you are taking in fewer calories than you are using) you will lose weight

Answer 6

odds are you re eating too fast try holding a conversation while having a meal so you re not gulping down more than you need to feel full

Answer 7

get your zzzzzs sleep deprivation alters levels of hormones in the body that regulate hunger causing an increase in appetite

Answer 8

well according to your schedule u r building ur muscle i.e. converting ur fats into muscle but if u want to lose ur weight better get schedule changed...

Answer 9

restrict your food intake drastically will slow down your metabolism

Answer 10

your building up muscle, man

Answer 11

u gotta go here

http://www.cutepiggy.com/hoodia