Weight loss slowing down massively

nicksj93

Is waist measurement around your belly or your trouser line?

CoderGal

Is waist measurement around your belly or your trouser line?

Belly usually

rileysowner

Yeah I know but I don't think it's that bad

Seriously it's horrendous. I know a lot of your peers are probably eating as bad or worse, so not good to compare yourself to other 18 year olds or tbh even the general public. I ate all sorts of junk at your age too and didn't eat any veg back then so I can relate but no point mincing my words. I could just placidly agree with you that it's not that bad but really that wouldn't do you any favours. It's BAD, saying as it is, take that on board or not, it's up to you.

I am going to try and improve it. But at the same time improving it will likely mean less calories.

Improving your diet won't mean less calories necessarily if you do it in the right way. Plenty of healthy fats you can eat like Nuts, Seeds, Olive Oil. Dairy in moderation. Proper meat (Mostly protein obviously but fat also). It might seem boring food at first, but once you get used to it, far nicer than McDonalds french fries and burgers and all that crap - which is terrible for you!

I know making changes that you need to make can take a bit of time to get your head around, but everyone who's successful here has had to make some adjustments so you can do it if you really want to.

Of course I'll take it on board, I really appreciate your help.

Thank you everybody for your replies, I'm going to try and work on getting more nutrients into my diet and spreading my calorie intake out throughout the day as opposed to eating the bulk of them in one sitting.

I really am a gymophobe, I hate going to the gym it just isn't for me (as well as exercise in general) is why I try and do a lot to counteract this (eg. having an active job, walking a lot of places, cleaning the house) but I will try and do more to get my heart rate going.

Eating the bulk of your calories in one sitting is not really a problem. The problem is trying to get to the calories you should be eating, which would require you to eat more, and doing that in one larger meal gets very difficult if you want to make it more nutrient dense. That is where spreading the meals out can be helpful. I am guessing at least part of the many meals a day thing came from the bodybuilding world, but they needed to do it because many of them would eat 4000-5000 calories a day. Having that mainly in one big meal would be rather challenging.

Try to improve the quality of what you eat for the majority of your meals. Get the calories up with healthy options like nuts, nut butters, and other calorie dense natural foods.

As for the exercise, at this point I would say when you walk do so quickly, that will get your heart rate up. I do that when cycling. I never go at a slow pace, I always go as hard as I can while still being able to finish the ride. Since those rides are often 30 plus miles, I can't go at my absolute maximum, but I do go as hard as I can maintain for that hour and a half to two hours.

bazfitness

Another simple way to get your heart rate up is skipping. I bought a simple skipping rope a few days ago for just €1.50 ($2) it works wonders for getting your heart rate up. I was gobsmacked how good it was for this, it's good for leg muscles too!

Oh and the whole exercisephobe part... you need to get past that. I know people say you can lose weight without doing exercise but you missing out on one half of the equation for dealing with weight control, never mind missing out on the benefits of vigorous exercise for your overall health and well being. It gets addictive after a while! You don't have to go a gym either, there's plenty of stuff you can do at home.

nicksj93

Yeah I know but I don't think it's that bad

Seriously it's horrendous. I know a lot of your peers are probably eating as bad or worse, so not good to compare yourself to other 18 year olds or tbh even the general public. I ate all sorts of junk at your age too and didn't eat any veg back then so I can relate but no point mincing my words. I could just placidly agree with you that it's not that bad but really that wouldn't do you any favours. It's BAD, saying as it is, take that on board or not, it's up to you.

I am going to try and improve it. But at the same time improving it will likely mean less calories.

Improving your diet won't mean less calories necessarily if you do it in the right way. Plenty of healthy fats you can eat like Nuts, Seeds, Olive Oil. Dairy in moderation. Proper meat (Mostly protein obviously but fat also). It might seem boring food at first, but once you get used to it, far nicer than McDonalds french fries and burgers and all that crap - which is terrible for you!

I know making changes that you need to make can take a bit of time to get your head around, but everyone who's successful here has had to make some adjustments so you can do it if you really want to.

Of course I'll take it on board, I really appreciate your help.

Thank you everybody for your replies, I'm going to try and work on getting more nutrients into my diet and spreading my calorie intake out throughout the day as opposed to eating the bulk of them in one sitting.

I really am a gymophobe, I hate going to the gym it just isn't for me (as well as exercise in general) is why I try and do a lot to counteract this (eg. having an active job, walking a lot of places, cleaning the house) but I will try and do more to get my heart rate going.

Eating the bulk of your calories in one sitting is not really a problem. The problem is trying to get to the calories you should be eating, which would require you to eat more, and doing that in one larger meal gets very difficult if you want to make it more nutrient dense. That is where spreading the meals out can be helpful. I am guessing at least part of the many meals a day thing came from the bodybuilding world, but they needed to do it because many of them would eat 4000-5000 calories a day. Having that mainly in one big meal would be rather challenging.

Try to improve the quality of what you eat for the majority of your meals. Get the calories up with healthy options like nuts, nut butters, and other calorie dense natural foods.

As for the exercise, at this point I would say when you walk do so quickly, that will get your heart rate up. I do that when cycling. I never go at a slow pace, I always go as hard as I can while still being able to finish the ride. Since those rides are often 30 plus miles, I can't go at my absolute maximum, but I do go as hard as I can maintain for that hour and a half to two hours.

Thanks very much, this is a much more simplified way of looking at it. I don't want to overcomplicate it or call it a 'diet' but a lifestyle change, because 'dieting' or changing my eating habits drastically has never worked in the past and I wanted this time to be different. When things get overcomplicated I end up giving in a lot and eventually give up.

Bazfitness thanks a lot for replying, I'm very into music so maybe dancing around my room with weights in my hand would be a good workout. :-) (with the curtains closed of course hahaha)

bazfitness

No problem. It's good that you can take some positive criticism. I hope you don't give up anyway. You've already proved that when you set your mnd to it you can achieve a lot and you deserve credit for that. I've read and been told by mfpers I respect that it really helps if you set very specific goals. I think if you set yourself some concrete but realistic goals for a specific date maybe 3 months into the future that might help to keep you on track. Even if that was just to lose 12 lbs or something like that.

In regards to giving up when it gets overcomplicated. I took the view when I started this journey that I was going to have fun with it. I was going to try different things out.

The big change I made was cutting out all bread, cakes and chocolate. (I occasionally have a dessert if I go out for a meal or if we have guests over). I was pretty horrified how much of my cals were taken up by this kind of food. I struggled to eat enough for a little while but just changed the type of food I ate. I basically eat more meat, veg, fruit and nuts (not peanuts - some people here recommend them but I find them a very inflammatory food) and protein powder.

Anyway... for you maybe just initially try to make one or 2 big changes. Maybe something initially as simple as cutting out McDonalds or if that is a step too far for you, cut out French fries.

Exercise :- Firstly do something. Dancing around with weights - sure why not! :happy: Might be worth investing in a HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) also to make sure you have that heart pumping.

Anyway this doesn't have to be daunting, it can be a fun journey, experiment, see where you can take yourself and don't be afraid of stepping outside of your comfort zone.