Fitness & Exercise Community

Interesting. I think I would be asking myself the same question if I were in your shoes I am 5'3 and and working hard to bring down my weight of 159.
Currently, I am doing calorie counting and checking my carb intake. It's fascinating how good this has worked for me so far (started at 163lbs - all which I gained over the holidays, i used to be 145 lbs). A coworker of mine constantly suggested I check my carbs and not only my calorie intake. I used to track only my calorie intake and eating healthy (with only 1 dessert per day, if needed).
Currently, I make sure I have a green salad per day with a light dressing. I incorporate chicken or any other lean meat to it as well. Once I incorporated protein to my breakfast (1 whole egg, 2 whites), it all became easier because this protein helped me stay full during my day.
It's important to check any juices you may be consuming, which may be loaded with carbs, this can make a huge difference too.
Well, I can keep going with the topic but I think all healthy eating and exercise varies per person. One last thing, have you included strength training in your workouts?
Good luck

First off congrats on making the choice to get healthier. It can be frustrating to put in the work and not really see any results on the scale. Another great way to track progress is to see if your clothes are fitting differently. Over the last few weeks you probably started to develop some muscle, it takes up less space than fat does.

Way to cut out the fast food, its not easy thats for sure. One of the things a friend of mine did, was eat several small meals throughout the day. He would do 6 small meals a day(3 meals and 3 snacks), it worked well for him, the theory is that it keeps your metabolism running all day long.

Dont get discouraged, keep up all the hard work and it will pay off in the long run.

Best of luck!

IC

I had the same problem. I am 5'9" 225 lbs. I used to be 298 lbs but over the past two years I lost the weight by using a phone app to record every single thing that goes in my stomach, eating healthy and walking 10,000 steps a day. At around 235 lbs I hit a plateau. The only thing I found helpful is weight training. The more lean muscle you have the more calories you burn. So recently I have been doing cardio 3 days a week and weight training another 3 days a week. Even though I only lost 10 lbs I have gone down a dress size. I recommend getting a measuring tape so you can measure your waist and hips. This will give you a better idea if you are simply building muscle to replace the fat. I also recommend reevaluating your eating and calorie needs. I had to do this about every 10 lbs I lost. I hope this helps!

Hello,
Congrats on trying to do better for yourself. I use to be 302Ibs and I know am 5'6 and weigh 160Ibs. It took me about 2 years to get the weight off but it is all worth it. What I would suggest for you is to start paying attention to what your eating. Even if you are not eating fast food certain things at home can sometimes be just as damaging.
Pay attention to your snacks. Also it is not a good idea to stop eating at a certain time. You should eat within a hour of waking up and eat every three hours after that until a hour before you go to bed. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. This teaches your body that you will always have food and your body stays in fat burning mode.
I love Food Lovers Online. Its $5 a week and I love it. Continue on the way your going. It just sounds like maybe your diet needs some adjusting. Good luck!!

I have had the same issue in the past. I am 22, 5'3" and weigh 140. I used to do a lot of cardio and then found out that doing a ton of cardio isn't always the best for getting in shape. Try not to do more than an hour of cardio a day... for fat burning, make sure you are within 60-70% of your max heart rate... so for me since I'm 22, that would be 116 - 130 beat per minute. Anything more than that is cardiovascular and burns carbs, not fat and is more for endurance.

Try also incorporating weight training into your workout. Building muscle increases your metabolism. So you will burn more fat during the day even when you are doing nothing. Try targeting a different muscle group each day. (Example: Monday: Chest and Tricep, Tuesday: Back and Biceps, Wednesday: Legs, Calves and Glutes, Thursday: Shoulders and Abs, Friday: Just Cardio or Yoga., Rest Saturday and Sunday.) Keep in mind though, you might not see your weight go down... but you will look better naked haha and your clothes will fit better and you will lose inches.

Don't define yourself by the number on the scale... but by how you feel.

Diet wise, make sure you are eating enough. Eating too little could also cause you to keep on weight. I eat at least 1200 calories a day (of non-junk food of course)

Hope this information helps. If anything, visit bodybuilding.com for more advice and fitness articles.

Good luck!!

How long have you been doing this? Do your clothes fit you any looser? Are you eating processed foods? Are you eating at least 3-5 meals a day? Do you do any resistance training?

I used to weigh 221 lbs and now weigh 185 lbs. I found that, for me, too much steady-rate cardio is just a waste of time. I now do 20 minutes every other day on a cheap home stepper but I do interval training. I gradually pick up the pace as I'm on the stepper and then back down to slow. My interval training is a bit involved even though I now have it memorized, but an easy one to remember is to try 30 minutes every other day on a stepper/treadmill/running track/whatever during which you go all out for 2 minutes and then slowly for 1 minute in these intervals 2-minute/1-minute intervals. The hypothesis behind this is to speed up your resting metabolism for a longer period of time after your workout. Steady-rate cardio will only burn calories as long as you're doing it but interval training keeps your metabolism elevated longer after you stop the cardio (from my understanding).

As for diet, I increased the protein in my diet, not so much to build muscle but since protein makes me feel full with less caloric intake. I now eat Greek yogurt (the real stuff with higher protein, not the fake stuff labeled as "Greek yogurt" but with regular yogurt protein amounts), eggs, and mixed nuts. I now eat anytime I want with no calorie counting since the protein makes me feel full and I just stop eating when I feel full. I can even eat late at night and just before I sleep, regularly, with no fear of putting on weight as long as I snack on this high-protein stuff. I also drink a lot of coffee and tea with Truvia (this has the 0-calorie sweetener, stevia, in it) since it tastes the best of any other stevia sweetener I've tried. I've lately been hooked in green tea for the taste and not the claims of it helping with weight loss and sweeten it with stevia (Truvia being my brand of choice).

A final thought. I take a good multivitamin and vegetable powder to supplement my nutritional intake and keep my body alkaline, not acidic, since an acidic body is more prone to weight gain and getting diseases. Hope this helps.

Have you had your thyroid checked? I have friends and co workers who did a 21 day reset. They lost 15lbs on average, some more, in those 21 days just eating healthy. I did the same thing and included exercise and only lost 5lbs. Part of my issue, I have hypothyroidism, it makes it much more difficult to loose weight. Hyperthyroidism can also make it difficult to loose weight contrary to popular belief, people assume you will loose it faster if you have hyperthyroidism, not true.

Hi I had similar problems. But now somehow my weight has started reducing. I also used to do exercises and used to eat healthy but there was no result. Then I visited a slimming centre (quite famous in my country). They made a diet plan for me and I was amazed to realise that in fact I was eating too little and that was the main cause of not losing weight. My body went into 'hunger mode' and tried to save every little bit of fat and energy I consumed, metabolism slowed down very much. The basics of my new diet is small meals, frequent meals, no food gap, no missing meal, healthy and balanced food and of course exercise. Plus if you are stressed, then try to relax, stress increases weight. Well that worked for me. May be this will also work for you. It is important to watch what you eat but equally important to watch the food gap, food gap and too little eating destroys diet.

The only way I can keep a grasp of what goes in my mouth is to chart everything. I know it does not feel like we are overeating, but it really adds up when you write it down and review it daily.
Keep working out, as you know, muscle weighs more than fat, so you have probably lost fat and are gaining muscle. I also make sure I drink plenty of water to flush my system.

I'm 77, 5'3" fulltime wheelchair bound due to Post-Polio Syndrome. I'd tried for years to lose weight w/out success. I've always had a healthy diet: no sugar, no bread or carbs, not much meat:pork, fish, chicken, eggs, cheese, greens, veggies and fruit. Plenty of black coffee, an occasional glass of wine and piece of bittersweet chocolate.
I started at the Najarian Center in Oct 2010, and by Dec 2011 had lost 50 lbs, from 178 to 128. The Phentermine-Topomax combo is heavy duty drugs. The side-effects can be severe. However, if you can stand them, they're highly effective. I've kept the lbs off for the last 15 months.
My success was more related to the # of calories, 600-700. Now I'm trying to eat no more than 900. I am largely bones, fat and fluid. A goodly source of weight is fluid as well.
Fortunately, I'm very healthy.
Good luck

if you hit a plateau in your weight decrease your calorie intake. are you loosing inches? clothes bigger? thats what I do. hope it helps.

I weighed 260lb about 5 months ago. Now down to 215lbs. I did simply calorie counting and a little excessive to get my weight down. Used the WebMD fitness tool...it helped me a great deal. A person your age/weight/height needs to intake 1700 calories a day to maintain the same weight. Try logging everything you eat and counting up the calories. Stick to maybe about 1400 calories a day and burn through exercise about 300 calories. You'll burn about 1lb to 1.5lb a week off.

Great job on wanting to keep a healthy lifestyle!

Some things that have not been mentioned yet:
Do you consume alcohol? This may be a source of calories that you may be missing and it definitely contributes to unsuccessful weight loss!

Do you sleep 7-9 hours daily? Your body needs a healthy amount of rest for metabolism.

Since you are so young, I encourage you to lose weight by natural methods before incorporating medications and/or strict diets which restrict food groups. Remember, all foods in moderation.
Check out the dietary guidelines for americans (2010). These are update every 5 years.
Consider visiting to your physician to see if you have any nutrient deficiencies/lab values out of the norm.

Studies and research shows that people who journal/log their food daily and accurately lose twice as much weight than those who do not keep a journal. Not only record what you are eating, but how much, what time you eat, where you eat (in front of the tv where ppl usually consume mindlessly) and why (for hunger or craving). Pay attention to your moods/evaluate eating behaviors and adjust as needed. Journal your exercise as well if able.

Hope this helps!