Newbie! Thought id post this here aswell! Need some Advice!

Hi there,

Im Helen. Im 21 years old and ive always been pretty unhappy with my weight. Ive tried to diet before and always failed to lose the amount i wanted to.. And this time im actually really trying hard to lose the weight!

I dont eat alot anyway, so its hard for me to understand why im not losing weight anyway.. but i think my metabolism is very low as ive always been a little bit 'chubby'

I started dieting again a few months ago but havnt seen much difference if im honest, my tummy has gone down a bit and ive lost 2inches on my bust but its still not enough.

My diet at the moment is basically this:

Breakfast: I will either skip or i will have a bowl of cheerios with semi skimmed milk or 2 wholewheat biscuits with semi skimmed milk.

Lunch: I will have either 2 scrambled eggs with 1 tomato and maybe add a slice of ham or i will eat a wholemeal pitta bread with ham and low fat Philadelphia.

Dinner: I will always have 1 breast of chicken and a cup of brown rice with peas.

That is basically all i eat.. and i may have the odd piece of fruit as a snack. But at the weekend i will sometimes binge out when im round my friends house but thats normally only 1-2 days at the weekend.

I dont exercise though but i have started using my dads treadmill last week. Ive been going on it 3 times a week for 30minutes each time so im hoping that will speed up the weight loss!

Am i doing something wrong? Any advice would be really appreciated!!

Thank you! x

Replies

  • FatJockSing
    FatJockSing Posts: 164 Member
    Helena,

    Hi - not sure how to help without knowing the details. Your daily eating sounds VERY light - but only my opinion. Often weight can be lost by increasing calories, making the daily deficit SMALLER so the body does not go into panic mode and hold onto fat.

    Do you log your food accurately?
    Do you have goals for Carbs Fat and Proteins and do you meet them

    all the above can have an impact on weight loss.

    If you want to expand - maybe we can help spot a gap in your strategy.

    Colin
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
    Hi there,

    Im Helen. Im 21 years old and ive always been pretty unhappy with my weight. Ive tried to diet before and always failed to lose the amount i wanted to.. And this time im actually really trying hard to lose the weight!

    I dont eat alot anyway, so its hard for me to understand why im not losing weight anyway.. but i think my metabolism is very low as ive always been a little bit 'chubby'

    I started dieting again a few months ago but havnt seen much difference if im honest, my tummy has gone down a bit and ive lost 2inches on my bust but its still not enough.

    My diet at the moment is basically this:

    Breakfast: I will either skip or i will have a bowl of cheerios with semi skimmed milk or 2 wholewheat biscuits with semi skimmed milk.

    Lunch: I will have either 2 scrambled eggs with 1 tomato and maybe add a slice of ham or i will eat a wholemeal pitta bread with ham and low fat Philadelphia.

    Dinner: I will always have 1 breast of chicken and a cup of brown rice with peas.

    That is basically all i eat.. and i may have the odd piece of fruit as a snack. But at the weekend i will sometimes binge out when im round my friends house but thats normally only 1-2 days at the weekend.

    I dont exercise though but i have started using my dads treadmill last week. Ive been going on it 3 times a week for 30minutes each time so im hoping that will speed up the weight loss!

    Am i doing something wrong? Any advice would be really appreciated!!

    Thank you! x

    If you've lost two inches, you're doing fine. Give it more time.

    For goodness sake though, introduce some variety in your diet. You're going to crash and burn eating the same crap everyday. Lord. If you are tracking your food, you could be eating way more than that, and different foods. That sounds God awful, woman. Eat. different. stuff.
  • hellkitty50
    hellkitty50 Posts: 7 Member
    Yeah but thats 2inches in about 3months haha and i like what i eat? i dont get bored of what im eating to be honest and i HATE cooking lol im a full-time student and i dont have time to cook loads of different things all the time.
  • hellkitty50
    hellkitty50 Posts: 7 Member
    Hi Colin, i just always make sure i eat under what i used to be eating. and im probably having about 1200 calories a day if that. I just dont eat a lot.. i never have to be honest. But i will admit i binge out a bit on the weekends. Maybe i need to stop doing that?

    Im not really sure what is best for me weight loss wise with my diet because ive never had any advice on it lol thats why i came on here. I am losing weight just very very very slowly lol and its a bit of a pain because ive been doing this for about 3months.

    Maybe im eating too many carbs?
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
    Yeah but thats 2inches in about 3months haha and i like what i eat? i dont get bored of what im eating to be honest and i HATE cooking lol im a full-time student and i dont have time to cook loads of different things all the time.

    I understand the student thing. I've been through college twice and pursuing a third degree (for now lol); plus i'm working full time. It sucks.

    Are you tracking? Sometimes you can eat more than what you think. If you're really eating that little, and not losing weight, something else is wrong. Carbs is not the problem, they don't make you fat. Make sure you're weighing everything you eat.
  • hellkitty50
    hellkitty50 Posts: 7 Member
    Yeah this is my second time at first year Uni haha as ive changed course.. so im quite stressed at the moment! And i more or less track.. i used to count everything i ate but i just stopped for a while but i know that Monday-Friday i eat about 1200 calories per day but at the weekend i will have chocolate and cakes etc haha

    Maybe i should start tracking what i eat again.. and i do weigh some things like brown rice and also if i have cheerios. But i dont really need to weigh anything else lol But maybe its because i binge at the weekend im not losing much weight? Im hoping that because ive started exercising now it might speed it up a bit!
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
    It's very possible that your overeating on the weekend is wiping out any deficit that you create during the week. It happens! Maybe try upping your cals during the days of the week and keeping them like that, or only eating a little more during the weekend.

    If you're set at 1200 cals a day, that's pretty low. Maybe set your goal to lose 1 or 1.5lbs a week to give you more calories during the week, and try not to binge on the weekend. That's probably why you keep getting set back. And yes, definitely DO track your calories. You would be surprised at what you come up with. And track them on the weekends also to make sure you're still in a deficit for the week.
  • hellkitty50
    hellkitty50 Posts: 7 Member
    Yeah maybe i am over-eating at the weekend :( and yeah i know 1200 is pretty low.. but i thought it would be okay because i dont eat much anyway lol but yes i will start tracking my meals again i think maybe it will help me a bit more!

    Thanks so much for all the advice :)
  • Trishe57
    Trishe57 Posts: 13 Member
    Add vegetables. Lots of them. Not so many calories but loads of fiber. It'll help you lose that 7 or so pounds that we carry around in our intestines from slow-digesting foods (meat and bread).
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
    :) Good luck!!
  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
    Dude. Two inches off the circumfrence of anything is major. And if you're going to sit there and say it's not fast enough I don't really know what to tell you. Progress is progress, and slow and steady can be frustrating, but you're losing.

    I'll just take my half in off the hips in three months over here and choose to be happy about it rather than choosing to be unhappy about it.

    Weight loss is as much a mental change as anything else.

    Track everything. Make sure your portions are accurate. etc. etc.

    ETA: If I come off rude I apologize. Realized after posting that it probably comes across that way.
  • hellkitty50
    hellkitty50 Posts: 7 Member
    haha im sorry.. im only upset about it because ive literally been chubby my whole life and im very very self conscious about my weight.. and when i finally actually do something about it i find it upsetting i can only get 2 inches off my bust haha but dont worry i didnt take it offensively :)

    and thank you all for your advice.. I think what i really need to do is up my exercise more because before i was literally doing no exercise whatsoever and it should help my metabolism alot more and hopefully will help with my depression. and i will also start tracking all of my food from now on!!

    Thank you all so much and i wish you all the best of luck :)

    x
  • your diet looks pretty good! You said you don't workout a lot, and that's probably why you don't need to eat a lot. When or if you start working out more, you will need more food and protein to give your body the energy it needs. The only diet suggestion i would make currently is for you to pack in more veggies and take out some breads, if you really wanted to. Also, DRINK LOTS OF WATER! (it really helps!) My main suggestion is to start working out, but as a student i know that will be hard to work into your schedule. When i was in school, I started doing Jillian Micheal workout disks. the workouts are full body and only 20 or 30 minutes! By the end I am drenched in sweat and it doesn't take long at all. last thing, the more muscle you have the have the higher your metabolism will be. So if you want a higher metabolism, then you sadly need to workout :( haha. i hope this helps!
  • joanna_82
    joanna_82 Posts: 151 Member
    It may be worth logging what you eat at a weekend to get an idea of how much it really is. I used to eat ok during the week but binge at the weekends- and I didn't use to eat a huge amount of food, but one big bar of chocolate and a family pack of crisps and biscuits was clearly wiping out any calorie deficit I created during the week.

    Not bingeing made me feel better, my stomach didn't hurt and helped with depression as well as helping me lose weight.

    It might be worth thinking about. But only if its something you want to stop, of course.

    Keep going with the exercise though, it is good to develop healthy habits for life!
  • Bellodesiderare
    Bellodesiderare Posts: 278 Member
    The meal plan that helped me lose 74 lbs:

    BREAKFAST:

    *Pair a carb w/ a protein (any combination)

    CARBS:
    ¼ c. oatmeal
    ¼ c. cream of wheat
    1 piece of toast
    1 mini whole-wheat bagel
    1/2 banana or small piece of fruit
    2 c. grapes
    1 slice ezekeal bread (Trust me, you want to toast this!)
    1 whole wheat waffle or pancake

    PROTEINS:

    1 egg + 2 egg whites
    6 tbsp. egg beaters
    2 slices turkey bacon
    4 oz. turkey sausage
    1 boiled egg w/ 1 boiled white
    Any type of omelet w/ veggies (made from egg whites & lean deli ham or turkey)
    2 slices of Canadian bacon

    -OR-

    1 serving Kashi cereal (protein) with 1 cup of skim or almond milk (I really love the vanilla almond milk).

    -OR-

    1 whole wheat English muffin sandwich (egg white, 2% cheese, & one of the lean meats listed above)

    SNACKS:

    * Try not to eat over 20g carbs in snacks & try to pair with protein
    Any kind of raw veggies w/ Ranch Greek yogurt dip (tastes just like traditional ranch)
    Light string cheese + 10 nuts (almonds, cashews, ect)
    Sugar free jello or pudding w. lite cool whip
    No sugar added hot chocolate (with skim milk or almond milk)
    Yogurt/fruit/ granola parfait
    Any type of fruit or veggies
    150 cal (or less) protein shake
    Baked tortilla chips w/ salsa
    10 crackers + hummus (I really like the sundried tomato or roasted red pepper kind best)

    LUNCH:

    * Pair any carb, meat, and veggie of your choice
    Whole wheat wrap (chicken, turkey, lean beef, fish, or tuna w/ any veggies, 2% cheese, ¼ avocado, light dressing or light mayo)
    ½ sweet potato or ½ c. brown rice or ½ c. wheat noodles
    4 oz. any type of lean meat
    Broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, carrots, spinach, salad, frozen veggies, edamame beans, yam patties, green beans, peas, turnips, zucchini, squash
    Half sandwich on light wheat bread with a can of light soup
    Lean cuisines etc (Try not to go over 35g carbs)

    DINNER:

    * No Carbs!!!!
    4 oz. lean meat + green veggies or salad
  • skidd93
    skidd93 Posts: 24 Member
    Don't ever skip breakfast. Breakfast is what kick start your metabolism for the day. Also, drink plenty of water.
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
    First things first, no more skipping meals. That should be #1 priority right now, I don't care if that means you eat a pop tart for breakfast but start with eating something, anything and then you can work out the right foods for you at the right time of day once the habit of eating breakfast kicks in.

    I went from being a meal skipper who was the heavy kid all her life to now being a fit healthy adult. The biggest thing I've learned is that even if I'm not hungry I can't skip a meal. I think of food in terms of fuel now and eat several times a day and it's made a world of difference.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    If you're not accurately logging calories all the time, you have no idea whether you're eating at a reasonable calorie deficit or not. The pages linked from this post are well worth reading and considering, in particular the first three:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

    You could very well be eating enough on the weekend to wipe out any deficit during the week. You won't know without accurate logging.

    And don't count on the treadmill to speed things along. 90 minutes a week at 5-7 calories a minute is only 450-630 calories, or less than 100 calories a day on average. Working out is great for preserving muscle mass, getting stronger, getting faster, and feeling great, but it's only a major contribution to weight loss if you work out at a high intensity for an hour a day or more.

    Good luck!