Struggling with weight loss

florent_ven
florent_ven Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,

Here are my stats:

Age: 22
Weight: ~ 79-80kg
Height: 174cm
Body fat %: ~25%

I used to weigh 115kg and have lost ~35kg of weight. I did this through a calorie defecit, strength training and walking loads.

Recently, I have been struggling so much with my weight loss. I’ve lost so much weight but I still have a fatty appearance. I still feel fat and it sucks.

I’ve tried strength training whilst maintaining a high protein diet in a calorie defecit, but that wasn’t working. For the past few weeks, I’ve given myself a break. I’ve still strength trained, but only when I felt like it. I find that I get tired and sleepy very quickly into the workout so I just stop. I was less restrictive when it came to food as I felt like I needed to be. However, I would still obsess over calories and what I was eating, and would often feel crap for eating carbs or not meeting my protein goals. Thankfully I haven’t gained any weight. I feel like I’ve given myself a long enough break from all of this, and now I want to lose the remaining fat but I don’t know how to go about it. Should I focus on gaining muscle and losing the fat after? Or should I focus on just losing fat? Or both? I want to see results rather than stick to something for months and look and feel the same.

Things to note:

I lost a lot of weight when I wasn’t working as I could just focus on me and my health. I hate my job. It is so uninteresting and I’m just in it for the money until I get a new one. Work definitely mentally drains me, and I feel that impacts my energy levels on my days off.

I struggle a lot with my diet as well. I obsess too much over calories. I’m sick of eating chicken, lean turkey and salmon just to meet my protein goals. I don’t know how to get back on track with my food, especially when my family eat junk and high calorie/carb foods.

I don’t know how to approach my workouts. I have a treadmill at home, but the thought of doing any exercise on it makes me feel tired and demotivated. I hate it. I have my own weights at home (dumbbells with loads of increments and a barbell with plates). I don’t know if I should focus on full body or split?

Any advice would be appreciated

I have attached photos of how my body looks. I am tensing in one of them for reference. lc9s4nis7tc1.jpeg
43gphjyf6q1v.jpeg

Replies

  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    First of all, congrats on your progress thus far. You've obviously come a long way already!

    What's your current calorie intake daily? Macro split?

    This isn't criticism, but genuine question - why do you feel like crap if you eat carbs? I mean are you mentally beating yourself up for it or do you physically have a negative reaction? Is it all carbs or something in particular that makes you feel that way? Unless there's an underlying medical reason, or you just react badly, there's no reason to feel bad about eating carbs. I am currently set on 305g carbs/day and I'm a female considerably smaller than you. If you're trying to work out on super low carbs, that could go a long way in explaining why you feel so tired and lethargic

    What kind of strength training have you been doing before your break? Is there another form of exercise you are interested in? Are you working out and/or walking just on your days off of work, or are you exercising on your workdays as well?

    There are LOTS of protein sources besides the 3 (!!!) that you mention. Mix it up a bit, get creative, experiment. There's no reason to limit yourself like that. Yes, chicken, turkey, and salmon are great. But so are beef, pork, tuna, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, tofu, tempeh, shrimp, etc etc...not to mention supplements like whey.

    Also, not trying to sound like a jerk, but you're 22 years old and obviously have an income (even if you hate your job!); you don't have to eat what your family eats. If I ate like my husband does, I'd be the size of a whale. But I'm an adult and I am the only one responsible for what goes into my mouth.
  • florent_ven
    florent_ven Posts: 18 Member
    JBanx256 wrote: »
    First of all, congrats on your progress thus far. You've obviously come a long way already!

    What's your current calorie intake daily? Macro split?

    This isn't criticism, but genuine question - why do you feel like crap if you eat carbs? I mean are you mentally beating yourself up for it or do you physically have a negative reaction? Is it all carbs or something in particular that makes you feel that way? Unless there's an underlying medical reason, or you just react badly, there's no reason to feel bad about eating carbs. I am currently set on 305g carbs/day and I'm a female considerably smaller than you. If you're trying to work out on super low carbs, that could go a long way in explaining why you feel so tired and lethargic

    What kind of strength training have you been doing before your break? Is there another form of exercise you are interested in? Are you working out and/or walking just on your days off of work, or are you exercising on your workdays as well?

    There are LOTS of protein sources besides the 3 (!!!) that you mention. Mix it up a bit, get creative, experiment. There's no reason to limit yourself like that. Yes, chicken, turkey, and salmon are great. But so are beef, pork, tuna, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, tofu, tempeh, shrimp, etc etc...not to mention supplements like whey.

    Also, not trying to sound like a jerk, but you're 22 years old and obviously have an income (even if you hate your job!); you don't have to eat what your family eats. If I ate like my husband does, I'd be the size of a whale. But I'm an adult and I am the only one responsible for what goes into my mouth.

    Right now, I don’t know what my calorie intake is. As I said, I’ve been less restrictive. I’d say between 2000-3000 calories, depending on the day. I’d say also around my maintenance as I haven’t gained or lost any weight. I try to eat 0.8-1g of protein per lb of body weight.

    I feel like crap because I feel like it hinders my weight loss. It also feels like I’m eating empty calories. It still feel hungry. It’s the white carbs. Whenever I eat brown pasta or rice, I don’t feel as bad.

    For a few months when I lost a lot of the weight, I was mixing my workouts. I worked out 3-5x a week and would do splits such as low body or chest + back + arms, etc. I used to do HIIT on the treadmill for 10-15 min, walking for 20 sec and sprinting for 10 seconds. I then decided to focus on doing 3 workouts a week, 1 lower body, 1 upper body and 1 full body. I would do the same exercises so that I could track my progress and see whether I could lift heavier. I found that much easier as I knew what to expect in my workout, but then it got boring after a while and I stopped. Now, whenever I feel like lifting, I just find a random youtube video and follow the workout. I do walk a lot. I try to aim for 10k steps a day, but I usually get between 5K-10K depending on my energy levels.

    I was actually very on top of my diet when I was losing the weight. I often go shopping and buy high protein foods and healthy options for myself. But I struggle to find recipes that I actually want to try and cook. It’s such an effort sometimes, especially when I come home mentally and physically tired from work. I worry so much about whether the food is going to be filling.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    everything banx said...

    weigh and log your food. if you dont know where youre starting, you wont know where youre going.

    And ... we are all busy. We may have different THINGS that keep us busy, but most of us have busy lives. Banx has her work, kid, and husband (and dog!). I have my husband (when hes not out of town), the theater, writing, meetings, run a farm, and am always in 3 places at once it seems. I still cook (when hubby is home) and when hes not, well, my meals are much simpler LOL

    Expand your diet, as far as protein and overall variety goes. carbs arent bad, they make up about half my macros.

    my cardio workouts are always the same (or vary between a set few), but my weight training routines vary (I happen to have a personal trainer for that and am simply his puppet and do -or try to do- what he says)

  • metaphysicalstudio
    metaphysicalstudio Posts: 293 Member
    Great advice here. I just wanted to respond with some support. I hear your story and can relate.

Categories