Any advice/motivation/answers?

Steventhehro

Stats: 21years old - 5'8 - 175-180lbs.

Alright..I decided to finally get the "beach body" I'd always told myself I was capable of. I left a lifestyle of going out to eat at Hooters 4 or 5 nights a week/fast food daily and started eating much cleaner/healthier and only drinking water(which I thought alone would have me dropping 20lbs). I'm down from 190 to somewhere between 175-180 (can't stop moving up and down in here) and I've built a nice bit of muscle..however:

I feel like every time I have a heavy food day I look just as fat as I did 15 pounds ago. It makes me beyond aggravated when I have a steak, broccoli, and mashed potato dinner (along with a couple pieces of grilled chicken throughout the day) I take off my shirt and it looks like I've put on 5-10lbs..I literally grow like a beer belly. I KNOW this is going to digest and makes it way out but it seems to take too long. I'll go a week of good eating, small portions..nothing to change my weight by more than a lb or two in a day (including drinking water) and I'll drop a lb by the next day and then have one day of eating heavier foods (chicken, potatoes, steak) and all the sudden I'm up 5 lb's from yesterday and then it takes me another 4, 5, 6 days to get back to where I was..only to do it again. I'm not eating that bad...at all. The only days I eat a bad meal I make sure everything else I eat is low calorie. So even if I have that 1,000 calorie breakfast the rest of my day might add up to 600 calories.. (my MFP goal is like 1650) AND I'm doing cardio/weight training intensely literally almost everyday (might miss once a week..MIGHT) I mean I literally sweat out 1-3lbs half of my workouts.

I'm working my butt off..seriously. Yet I feel like I lose it all too easy. I'll be looking better and better and then a single meal (not like 6 pizzas...) and I feel like I've lost it and I have to spend the next week just getting back to where I was. Yesterday when I left the gym I was 174.8, today when I left the SECOND time I was 179.8 and I know It'll be days before 175 comes back. Again, I'm not eating bad..turkey/tuna sandwiches..grilled chicken..salads..fruit throughout the week.

I was going to post pictures from day 1 till now but apparently you can't attach things so nevermind. /endrant

Steventhehro

bump?

yoovie

you gotta take a step back from the day to day analysis.

Youre a smart dude, obviously, so Im sure you know that our bodies never grant us instant gratification. What you do today can affect you mentally tomorrow, but it actually takes a few days to see results from what we do today.

I honestly think you may be over exercising. You dont need more than about 3 heavy lifting sessions a week. Plus you know that everytime you do one - your body is going to have that fluid retention pump because its healing (right on target like its supposed to be). Try doing cardio just once a week and in your warm ups for lifting sessions - try it just for a week or two and keep your eating on taget. Its 10-14 days as an experiment in learning your body. Try it out.

Also- sometimes when I start exercising and lifting like crazy- i start drinking more calories than I normally do cause I find myself craving more flavor than water gives me. Just as a hunch- check on how many calories youre drinking and see if thats adding in anything you dont want.

Best of luck and dont lose heart!!!

Steventhehro

Thanks for the response. The exercise keeps me motivated, Im afraid if i take days off ill lose my drive and may fall off. I was doing more endurance training for awhile and since then have gone to heavier weights, 6-12 reps max. I do know it takes time and I need to stop getting on the scale so much (i just really like seeing it go down), I just feel like 175-180 is a cycle...for 2-3 weeks I've gone up and down(without having super crazy eating days). Also that 1650 was for losing 2lbs a week...Im under it most days and might go over it two days a week..but that's just over a 2lb a week goal...and Im not going over it by much, so you'd think id continue to make progress.

Oh and 95% of what I drink is water so the calorie drinks aren't an issue.

yoovie

Ok well, the slow down thing was just advice to help you continue doing this long term. I think its best to experiment and learn how your body works personally by trying different things out of your comfort zone. To think that weight loss progress will remain level over the entire process, is to ignore biology and natural cycling.

Steventhehro

I completely agree. I just didn't expect it stop quite yet. I actually did change it up a little when i moved to heavier weights and more cardio. I started working out harder trying to push myself over the hump. Like i said, before it was more endurance for the strength training and cardio was whatever i got out of that apart from warming up and the occasional 3-5min treadmill run just to get sweating.

Steventhehro

Anyone else?

Steventhehro

Bump.