Encouragement/Advice needed?

imustgetfit1995

Hi everyone!
I used to be on MFP 2 years or so ago, and now that I've made a start in my new healthy lifestyle I thought I would join again!

I'm 5"7, currently around 145-150.. I've been eating healthy, drinking more water, and exercising 4 times a week for a month now. My problem is I don't seem to be seeing any changes?! Now I KNOW 4 weeks is only a short time, but with my past it's actually a very long for me, haha.
Here is the situation - the scales at my gym that I use for weekly weigh ins are supposedly "wrong".. several people that have seen me stepping on them have all said different things; some say they make them lighter/some heavier.
So week 1 I was 11 stone, bang on. Week 2, I drop down to 10.3 stone(?!?!) Week 3 I'm back up to 11. Today's weigh in shows me at 11.3!!!!
My current eating/exercise plan:
BREAKFAST
-Glass of cold water with lemon to start off the day, everyday
-Blueberry Wheats/Original Special K/Porridge + 1 banana, with Soy milk (cereal is weighed, 45g)

LUNCH
- Sandwich: Two slices of wholemeal bread, 1 slice of (8 calorie) turkey breast, with tomatoes/cucumber/spinach/lettuce/peppers - whatever I'm in the mood for (no mayo/butter/etc)
- (Sometimes I'm not feeling too hungry and I'll have a WW 48 calorie yoghurt + a fruit salad)

DINNER
- I mix my dinners up as I get bored of the same foods. I tend to eat things like wholegrain rice + salmon + steamed veggies, tofu stir fries, spag bol with brown pasta, jacket potato + tuna + salad, vegetable omelettes, home made salads with no dressing, and so on.

SNACKS
- I snack on fruit, 10 cal sugar/fat free jellies, and Greek yoghurt/Weight Watchers yoghurt.

+ 1 cup of green tea before bed every night
+ over 2 litres of water every day
+ 1 multivitamin a day

I go to the gym 4 times a week, combining strength training with cardio (around 1hour 30min sessions each time.)
As you can see from the above, I have not had any sort of processed food for the entire month. No white bread, chocolate, pizza, burgers, take aways, ice cream, cookies.. NONE of it! I try to stay around 1500 calories per day, sometimes less.

So, as I mentioned the scale seems to be all over the place, hopefully because it is just broken!
I don't know if I am over reacting, being stupid or what, but I expected to see pretty good results after a month.. and now that that time is up, I'm feeling disappointed. Is this NORMAL?
I'm 18 and have a past of bulimic/anorexic/binge eating behaviour from around the age of 16. I would survive on 500cals/day and would lose tons of weight.. Give up after 2 weeks max, binge, purge, binge, purge, and so on until I started starving myself again.
Clearly I learned the hard way that healthy eating is the way to go, and now it's so clear and obvious that this is a LIFESTYLE change and not a quick fix. There are no secrets, magic pills, and so on. This realisation alone is a huge achievement for me
.
I guess I was used to seeing the weight drop super quickly when I was on my crazy diets, and now that there's no changes I'm kind of disheartened. I don't want to go back to my old ways, and I don't want this to make me start cutting back and limiting my calories again, so I guess I just need somebody to tell me what I'm doing is actually right and is, in fact, working? (Or not?!?!)

My goal is around 125/130 lbs (I can't actually imagine how I'd look at that weight, so I'm not sure..) but I'm more interested in just getting stronger, healthy and more "toned".. and of course looking overall a lot slimmer!

So any advice would be really appreciated, I apologise for how long this post is but I guess I just needed to vent!
Thank you to anyone who replies,
Anna x

kgeyser

Set your goal to lose 1/2 lb per week. You don't have much to lose, so it is going to come off slowly. Increase your protein intake to preserve your muscle, and stop eating diet versions of foods. A controlled portion of non-diet version of the food will be better for you nutritionally, so ditch the diet yogurt and low cal/sugar/fat diet snacks.

Eat back a portion of your exercise calories in addition to your calorie goal. 1500 per day or less with that much exercise is far too little. You need to fuel your workouts properly, otherwise you're just wasting your time in the gym.

Have patience. Eat your calorie goal. Talk to a counselor and nutritionist if you need to for support in eating more food.

FWIW, I have stats that are close to yours for height/weight, my base calorie goal without exercise is 1650. With exercise, I could end up around 2100 depending on what workout I did. I eat cookies, ice cream, chocolate, pizza, burgers, etc. I'm still losing weight steadily, and I'm twice your age. :flowerforyou:

jmangini

First. When you're exercising hard you will initially carry extra water weight. This is your body"s protection mode. That is why the scale is all over the place. It's impossible to lose or gain several pounds of fat or muscle in a day or two. What you're gaining and losing is water. Training too often without rest can cause water retention. Second, when you build new muscle it will add weight. Judge by your clothes and mirror not the scale. Here"s a good rule of thumb for your 3 meals. Eat a palm full of carbs, a palm full of protein and a fist full of veggies. You want to focus on lean protein, good carbs and limit saturated fat and simple sugars.

Here"s a sample of my diet

I am not a breakfast person so I just have coffee and amino acids usually with a glass of skim milk then I workout out.

First meal

Salmon, chicken or turkey with peas and rice

Snack one or two egg whites and some V8 juice

Second meal and third meal

Progreso chicken noodle soup or cereal with skim milk or rice and beans or fish and veggies or chop steak and baked potato or pasta.

Snacks - nonfat Greek yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, almonds, fruit, fat free popcorn. (Not the popcorn smothered in butter and salt) . A bowl of cereal is a good snack plus most are fortified with lots of vitamins and minerals.

As I'm sure you've learned, yo yo dieting will always end in fat gain so eating a healthy nutritious diet and eliminating junk foods and processed foods is the way to go. Focus on eating and being healthy and the results you want will come I assure you. Eat really well all week and if you go out on Friday night have a cheat meal. One or 2 cheat meals a week will keep you happier and guilt free and you'll be more likely to stick to it.