Is this enough at the gym to see results?

Sounds like you are doing plenty of exercise, maybe not eating enough calories. Be sure to add in the weight lifing or some type of resistance exercise as well.

This. Also, measure yourself. It's a more accurate way of gauging progress -- inches lost off your body doesn't necessarily translate to the scale.

Hi! Don't get discouraged--for some reason, I was running three miles a day, four times a week, for three weeks and saw NOTHING. I started looking for the source of my frustration, and found that I was only drinking 1-2 cups of water a day. I up'd it to the recommended 8 and during week four, all the previous weeks' weight fell off (4 pounds). It might just take a while, but I'd recommend checking your water levels, because without it, your body can't dissolve the fat as well.

Also, Mel is right about the food. I know it sounds weird, but eat the extra calories you burn. That has really helped with the metabolism and keeping things *ahem*regular*ahem*. Good luck, and keep it up!

No, that's an excellent amount of water. You're doing great! A diet coke isn't a bad thing. When I first started out, I used to have a diet coke a couple (<6) per week to satisfy my sweet tooth so starting out I'd say it's absolutely fine to treat yourself. Eventually you'll end up dropping it (it just tends to happen when you start to eat healthy and drink more and more water). Now, to throw off my sweet cravings, I have one piece of chocolate every now and then. Certainly not the best choice but it works.

As for the Totally Light Ice Tea mix, that's fine. Well, from what I know it's fine as I'm not a certified nutritionist (though I have taken courses on Nutrition and Health). You don't need to worry about that, it simply gives flavor to your water. I know many athletes who do this to load up on water (for some, water is intolerable and those people require flavor).
The most athletic person I know actually put Crystal Light packets in all of his water bottles, whether he was in practice, gym, or other. However, I'm not advising you to do this but what I'm trying to convey is that flavor-enhancing packets such as the one you are drinking hasn't done any harm to any of the athletes I've known. (As I stated before, I'm not a nutritionist so there may be an article somewhere on the internet that negates everything I've just told you).

Alright, so you're JUST beginning your exercise/workout portion of weight loss. Congratulations, I know many people who restrict themselves to cutting down on foods and ignore exercise. Exercise is vital in weight loss and cardiovascular exercise is even more effective in weight loss than nutrition (however, the two put together makes a magical combination).
By the end of my week 2 I weighed around 219 from 225, mainly because of how hard I pushed myself with my cardio training. Eventually when I plateaued after my week 2, I looked into nutrition and exercise research.

Your calorie intake looks pretty good. I don't think you need to worry about what you're eating as much as you probably think you do. It's okay to give weekends a break, as long as you don't lose your momentum to go to the gym. Everybody needs rest to let their bodies heal and repair itself. I think the weekend is a wonderful time to let this happen. Especially if you have a family that you must take care of as well, I understand how time consuming that may be and you could be proud of yourself for that as people such as myself with little to no responsibility other than school/military are doing just as much in the gym as you are.


Your meals are looking excellent. They actually look extremely similar to mine (trading out some foods). I usually start off with cereal/fat free milk in the morning and then the rest of my meals are just like yours (except if I'm hungry in between meals, I enjoy a Nature Valley bar).
Weight loss takes time, for the past 8 weeks, I've been weighing myself in everyday and there have been a few weeks where I swore at myself along with the scale for not having lost any weight. Keep in mind that some weeks will be stronger than others (as I've lost as much as 5 lbs in a single week and 0.6 pounds the next).

I believe you can lose that 25 lbs. You've given yourself about 6 weeks to take care of business and if you really work hard at it then you will do it. As I said, I lost the bulk of my weight within the first 6 weeks and then the past 2 I've been struggling to lose more weight. If you don't meet your goal by the 15th, don't get down because you'll probably be extremely close to it.

(I always write too much by the way, I think it's a genetic handicap)

No, that sounds great. How much you lose per week depends on how much you have TOTAL to lose...the more you have to lose, the easier and faster it will come off (at first)... I would say definitely reconsider eating more because of how much you're burning. Either increase to 1400 or if you're not eating exercise calories, eat them ALL. You know how much you typically burn per day so you can put it in and eat those calories throughout the day so it's not as cumbersome.