The More I Try to Lose Weight, the More I Gain?

HyakuKiseki

Hello,
Lately I've been trying to lose weight. Normally I never ate breakfast so I've decided to eat breakfast nowadays, so I went from 2 meals (lunch and dinner) to 3 meals a day hoping it'll help my metabolism. I do martial arts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, around 1.5 hours each.

I'm currently in college and I have 5 8AM classes, so I end up sleeping late and waking up early. I'm thinking my lack of sleep may contribute to my lack of metabolism.

I'm picky with eating vegetables (what to pair them with). For example I only like to eat bellpeppers in a wrap or pizza. Tomatoes in sandwiches, burgers, or wraps. I can eat salads but still need sauce or else it'll taste super dissatisfying. I don't like to drench my salads with sauce but I like a kind of balance where I can taste some of the sauce with each bite. How can I start liking vegetables? They don't taste good to me, and if I try to force myself to eat them, it'll work for like, 3 weeks, and then I'll end up binge eating junk food afterwards.

I know I shouldn't be eating junk food, but I have a lot of meal points (for school dining halls, cafes, etc) and it's so tempting to get the smoothies, french fries, and crispy chicken from those places when I'm in a rush to the next class

So i guess my question is, how can I start liking healthier foods and shy away from unhealthy ones? I understand I should sleep earlier, have adequate sleep, a regular eating schedule, drink lots of water, and eat healthily.

Especially, in a college life setting when I don't really cook my own food but instead eat whatever the school dining places provide.

I've been chubby for 10 years now and have just been gaining per year but I'm not growing anymore sooo....and I really want to look my best in the clothes I like and feel healthier. I feel like my true potential is suffocating under all the unnecessary adipose (I understand there's necessary and good adipose).

For general gist: I'm a 5 foot 2 inches Asian American at 141 lbs. So I feel that, especially comparing to the typical Asian female body stature, I'm not at my optimal level.

I welcome your inputs and I sincerely wish to improve my lifestyle. I'm aware that weightloss is a change in lifestyle, and not just a temporary thing.

Oh, and what are good things to do to improve metabolism? For me, my body tends to gain weight quickly and lose weight very slowly. I know of some friends who can eat a lot of not gain any weight, in comparison, I can eat a moderate amount and still gain weight even if I am more physically capable than them (as in, I can do a lot of physical activity for longer periods of time and stuff).

I know my health is pretty good, but my only difficulty right now is my weight.

DemoraFairy

I can't really give any advice in terms of how to like healthy foods, I'm sure someone else can help with suggestions for that, but I will say that weight loss isn't what you eat - it's how many calories you eat. You can eat junk food and no vegetables and still lose weight as long as you're in a calorie deficit. Of course if you're eating from the school canteen and don't know the calories that makes counting calories harder, but as far as you can you need to count your calories. That's the key to weight loss. How many calories has MyFitnessPal given you per day?

Also, meal timing has no affect on weight loss. If you've found you now like eating breakfast or if it keeps you fuller throughout the day then that's great, but if you don't want to then eating breakfast isn't going to boost your metabolism or anything. Eat when you want, don't force yourself to.

Getting more sleep will probably hep - sleep is very important for weight loss - but what you really need to be focusing on is calories. Try to know how many calories there are on average in each type of food the canteen sells, and make choices based on what's usually lower calorie. Just being healthy doesn't mean it's less calories. Granola, for example, is very healthy, but a hell of a lot of calories. I love it, but I hardly ever eat it any more as it's hard to fit it in. Sweetcorn is also a lot more calories than other vegetables. Just try to choose what's likely to be the lowest calorie option whenever you can. Good luck!

prasadsurve

Its all about Calories. If you were not having breakfast before (and you were fine), don't start now; it will increase your calories. "Junk" food is fine; as long as you are within your calories, hit your macros (proteins, fats) and you get enough micro-nutrients (vitamins, fiber) from your diet.

RodaRose

First and foremost figure out how to get more sleep. This is vital. Change your major or take classes on line or do something.
Lift weight for fitness. If you are not doing that, do more walking.
Skip the french fries, most breads, treats, and smoothies when you can.
Save those for something you eat in small amounts.
If you are not eating vegetables, you can eat meat and fruit. Do you have those options available to you?
Can you order wraps? Occasionally they are lower calorie that the burgers. Other wise order the burger with cheese and throw away the bread.
Definitely check the nutritional / calorie information. The cafeteria / school has to supply it to you.
Do not worry about whether or not the food you eat is healthy. Count the calories. Keep yourself healthy by sleeping appropriate amounts each night.

Look up the research about how not sleeping can contribute to weight gain.

Sued0nim

Step 1: Weigh all your food and log your calories accurately and carefully to a calorie defecit

That's it

SwankyTomato

Tough one.

First you have to pass on the fried stuff, gravies, sauces, breads, PASTA, etc. In other words, try to reduce the calorie count in what you are eating in the dorms. Focus more on calories than "eating healthy" right now.

Opt for grilled stuff as much as possible.

Do they have stir fry in the dorms? I know my picky daughter will eat all her veggies as stir fry.

Does your dorm have a "nutritional count" for their foods? That is something you could find out. Information is power and if you could get an nutritional count you will be able to start the process of tweaking your diet.

It does take research in the beginning. The research will help you make better lower calorie options for your foods.

esjones12

Just start making small changes. If you are living on campus it is probably going to be hard to get accurate calorie info. However, TRY. Log as best you can. Look up proportion cheats (you can use your hand to estimate serving sizes of a lot items). Here are some other things you can start doing to create healthy long term habits:

-Get 7-8 hours of sleep
-Drink more water
-Start reaching for healthier foods (salads, veggies, whole fruits, whole grains).
-Stop drinking sodas/smoothies/high calorie drinks
-Use sauces/oils/dressings sparingly (like really sparingly, servings sizes are smaller than you think).

***ALSO - see if there is someone on campus you can talk to about it. Campus's have a ton of free resources. And I would be very surprised if they didn't have some sort of information/support for eating healthy and losing weight while on campus. They may have access to calories in food offered in the cafeteria, etc. You never know till you ask!

Small changes are the way to go. But the only way to drop weight is to burn more calories than you eat.

Liftng4Lis

If you're not losing, you're not in a deficit. It's not what, but how much of it you're eating.

MKEgal

DemoraFairy wrote:

meal timing has no affect (sic) on weight loss... eating breakfast isn't going to boost your metabolism or anything.

Except that meal timing _does_ affect (have an effect on) weight loss.

"Breakfast is associated with lower body weight ..."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24898236

78% of people in the National Weight Control Registry eat breakfast every day.
http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

This study compared eating a small breakfast, medium lunch, and large dinner, [200, 500, 700 cal]
with eating a large breakfast, medium lunch, and small dinner [700, 500, 200 cal].
"The [large breakfast] group showed greater weight loss and waist circumference reduction ... fasting glucose, insulin [&] triglycerides ... decreased significantly to a greater extent in the [large breakfast] group."
In addition, hunger was less and satiety was greater.
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23512957
Full text:
http://genetics.doctorsonly.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Jakubowicz-at-al-Obesity-2013-oby20460.pdf

"subjects assigned to high caloric intake during breakfast lost significantly more weight than those assigned to high caloric intake during the dinner"
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24467926
Full text: http://www.tradewindsports.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Nutrient-Timing-and-Obesity-2014.pdf

"data suggest that a low-calorie Mediterranean diet with a higher amount of calories in the first part of the day could establish a greater reduction in fat mass and improved insulin sensitivity than a typical daily diet."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24809437

MKEgal

BTW, going by BMI you should be 105 - 130, so you're not too far above a healthy weight range. (136 would put your BMI at 24.9, which it the top of the range.)

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will show you your BMI at different weights, plus tell you how many calories & how many servings of various food groups you should eat to maintain that weight.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

GetThatRunnersHigh

Hey, fellow 5'2" Asian-American here. Not trying to be rude, but we actually have a different BMI scale due to our bodies' tendency to store visceral fat.

aadi.joslin.org/content/bmi-calculator

125 is the upper limit for our ethnicity and height. You don't have to eat veggies to lose weight. Calories are what matter, but you should incorporate veggies for the nutritional value. I found that after cutting down on processed, fried, and foods high in sodium I was actually able to enjoy the flavor of fruits and veggies. College is stressful, but counting calories are what's going to help with maintaining a deficit. Instead of grabbing fries, try a turkey sandwich. Lean protein fills you up much better.

Feel free to send me a friend request, I'd be happy to provide support

Mr_Knight

There's not a thing wrong with your metabolism. You're just eating too much food - plain and simple.

My suggestion is to start logging what you're eating - all of it.

maillemaker

If you're not losing, you're not in a deficit. It's not what, but how much of it you're eating.

This.

Your diary is not open so we cannot see what you are eating.

But if you were not losing weight before, eating more by adding meals is not going to improve the situation.

I know I shouldn't be eating junk food, but I have a lot of meal points (for school dining halls, cafes, etc) and it's so tempting to get the smoothies, french fries, and crispy chicken from those places when I'm in a rush to the next class

So i guess my question is, how can I start liking healthier foods and shy away from unhealthy ones? I understand I should sleep earlier, have adequate sleep, a regular eating schedule, drink lots of water, and eat healthily.

Especially, in a college life setting when I don't really cook my own food but instead eat whatever the school dining places provide.

If all food choices are equally easy to make you may find it difficult to stick to non-calorie-dense or compelling-to-eat foods. In other words if it's just as easy to go to the salad bar on one side of the room as it is the fried chicken bar on the other side of the room for the same meal points you may have a willpower problem.

Note that there is no such thing as "bad" food - you can lose weight eating Twinkies (and it has been done) it's just that you will have to get used to eating much less food since the food is so calorie-dense. Which is why people on calorie limited diets tend to shy away from calorie-dense foods so you don't blow the entire day's worth of calories in a single meal and then have to go hungry the rest of the day.

I find MFP logging to be a big help.

HyakuKiseki

Thanks for your inputs and resources references everyone!

Yeah, I notice there's nutrition info for my school's dining commons but I can't seem to find the list for the cafes.

As you've all stated, I'm probably eating either at or above my recommended calories so I'm hoping to slowly cut back on the food I eat (by half of what I presently eat), and I guess at that point it's a motivational issue.

I guess I'll start logging today. Previously I just wrote down what I ate for the day and a general gist of how much (a whole wrap, or half a sandwich, etc). So I'll do my best to estimate the calories (maybe round down).

oh goodness sleep is so important. Argghhh, I need to work on it so much.

But yeah, thanks again for your inputs everyone! I really appreciate it.

DemoraFairy

MKEgal wrote: »

DemoraFairy wrote:

meal timing has no affect (sic) on weight loss... eating breakfast isn't going to boost your metabolism or anything.

Except that meal timing _does_ affect (have an effect on) weight loss.

"Breakfast is associated with lower body weight ..."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24898236

78% of people in the National Weight Control Registry eat breakfast every day.
http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

This study compared eating a small breakfast, medium lunch, and large dinner, [200, 500, 700 cal]
with eating a large breakfast, medium lunch, and small dinner [700, 500, 200 cal].
"The [large breakfast] group showed greater weight loss and waist circumference reduction ... fasting glucose, insulin [&] triglycerides ... decreased significantly to a greater extent in the [large breakfast] group."
In addition, hunger was less and satiety was greater.
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23512957
Full text:
http://genetics.doctorsonly.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Jakubowicz-at-al-Obesity-2013-oby20460.pdf

"subjects assigned to high caloric intake during breakfast lost significantly more weight than those assigned to high caloric intake during the dinner"
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24467926
Full text: http://www.tradewindsports.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Nutrient-Timing-and-Obesity-2014.pdf

"data suggest that a low-calorie Mediterranean diet with a higher amount of calories in the first part of the day could establish a greater reduction in fat mass and improved insulin sensitivity than a typical daily diet."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24809437

Ok, from the first study you linked there, "Breakfast is associated with lower body weight" was the premise that they were working to prove or disprove. Their result was:

"A recommendation to eat or skip breakfast for weight loss ... had no discernable effect on weight loss in free-living adults who were attempting to lose weight."

78% of people on the National Weight Control Registry eat breakfast, great. 75% also weigh more than once a week, but I'm not going to tell someone that weighing more than once a week means they'll lose more weight.

The second study you linked tested people with metabolic syndrome (diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity). Yes, medical conditions can affect things like this, sorry I should have made it clear that if OP has a medical condition she should get advice from her doctor rather than assuming she was otherwise healthy.

The next one as far as I can tell mostly seems to reference other studies. I will admit I didn't read the whole thing, but it does seem to talk about morning-types and evening-types and how which one you were affected your weight loss. It said that evening-types ate more in the evening and generally had slower weight loss. It also said that which type you were was determined by your genes, which implies to me it would be difficult to change. Dunno about you, but if I'm an evening type I think I'd want to stick to what came naturally and felt comfortable to me, even if it meant my weight loss was slower.

The final one certainly does support the idea that eating more earlier in the day means you lose weight, so compare this to the first study that said meal timing made no difference and we now have two conflicting studies showing different outcomes. I don't really want to side with one or the other, but I will say that the first study had a much bigger sample size with 283 participants over 16 weeks, while the second had 42 participants over 12 weeks...

Basically it seems we don't have a certain conclusion either way. All I know is that for me personally I would hate to have to force myself to start eating a big breakfast. It would make dieting very difficult for me physiologically, as I'd feel like I'd already wasted a lot of calories when I'm not particularly hungry in the morning. I just feel that it's a better idea to find what works for you and what you can stick to, even if it means losing weight slightly slower, because if you force yourself to do something you don't like you probably won't stick with it (a lesson I've learnt many times before). Either way there's conflicting evidence for breakfast helping or not, so I shouldn't have so emphatically said that timing makes no difference, for which I apologise.

I also apologise if you respond to this and I don't reply, as my inner Grammar Nazi is currently trying to make me jump out of a window out of shame for using the wrong form of affect (that sounds quite sarcastic, I promise you it's not!).

Lounmoun

Set a reasonable goal and be patient. Aim to lose 1 pound a week or .5 a week maybe.
Get used to logging and staying within your calorie limit. Worry about changing what you eat after you get that habit down.
You can eat foods you like and lose weight but will need smaller portions of higher calorie foods. You might pair a burger or slice of pizza with a salad instead of fries or more pizza.
If you can, plan what you will eat in advance so you can see what fits well in your day.
Try to choose foods that do not have a lot of sauces or cheese added. Baked or grilled choices will probably have fewer calories.
Eat the fruits and vegetables that you do like. Be aware that some have more calories than others.
Drink mostly water and get your calories from food.
Try to get enough sleep. You might have to make some different choices or plan your time better.