Yay!

Lol

You can do this! The big gains are seen when you're willing to put yourself and your best health first! Calories are not all created equal. Grains aren't always the best. Some can handle them, but seriously... how do you think they fatten up the cows we eat?? That's right. Grain! Your best bet is to stick to whole foods, non processed items, and focus on non-starchy veggies and lean proteins. Not everyone can give up sugar and grains and I know that. I have a lot of will power. I'm so tired of being heavy and I've never been smaller than a size 13 in my adult life and I am going to get to 25% body fat the healthiest way possible or die trying!! Ok hopefully not really..lol

But even making small swaps to get started really helps your body to work better. Get rid of soda and go with something like True Lemon juice flavor packets. Some are sweetened with Stevia like the lemonades.
Eat what you want, but choose from an unlimited menu of greens and lean protein. I challenge you to start meals with a 3 cup salad of greens and a little dressing and then see if you've got room for anything else.
Make sure you're taking a good whole foods vitamin if you're not getting enough veggies and fruits.
I've also been taking extra vitamin C and magnesium before bed to help flush stuff out and muscles to relax (including bloat!)
Vit C has been proven to reduce inflammation/bloating in the body more and more in recent studies.

Bloat. That "poofy" feeling. You can get a lot of when you're strength training intensely. Your muscles are growing and your fat cells are shrinking, but in the middle of all that the muscles are sucking up water and so are the fat cells trying to resist change! Sometimes you'll get a "whoosh" and feel suddenly really light and skinny when your fat cells finally give up trying to stay big with water and your muscles realize they don't need the extra retention

Stay strong and keep at it!! Keep increasing the weights as you can. Even if the major change you notice is strength gains for awhile. The inches and pounds lost will come as your body adjusts to your new composition!

Walk the walk and know sometimes you have to kick your own butt to see results. I'm far from the "20 mins a day" type of person. I can't do anything, but maybe maintain with a regimen like that.
I do 25-30 mins of pyramid strength training (rotated between upper/lower body every other day) plus at least 60 mins of cardio (including 4 mins of tabata on my stationary bike) every single day. Not everyone can devote the time, but you'd be surprised how much time you can steal back from sitting and watching tv, or something. How much time do you spend doing that? Walk in place, get a stationary bike or treadmil and do it while you watch. The minutes add up! Throw in tabata for HIIT.
Most people probably aren't as metabolically deranged as I am and maybe don't need as much exercise or dedication to get the body recomposing, but sometimes.. you do! You'll know if you're one of them..
You'll follow what you think should work, but aren't seeing the results you want to see... you might have one of the super high energy efficient bods like mine and need to use more of that energy than others do!

Stop counting calories, starting eating whole unprocessed foods, and start doing the work!

If you stick with the strength training, you WILL get stronger, and you WILL burn more just by sitting. Sneak in as much cardio as you can handle in any way shape or form. (I'm not talking doing P90X. I'm talking go for a 2 mile walk, a 30 minute bike ride, etc as often as possible). Stay consistent and you WILL get there!