I am 24 years old, 6 foot, and I gained 10 pounds of fat over the last year. Here is the problem, I am not lazy! I play basketball ball 4 times a week, lift weights 3 times a week; I eat Wendy's salad for lunch everyday, and try to eat very healthy for dinner too. But still, my weight is always increasing. My waistline is getting out of control. Here is the saddest part, it doesn't seem like I can eat anything now. I just had a Pho for dinner today, and lo'n'behold, it was 4 more lbs when I stepped on the scale!!! What the hell is going on? I remember when I was 18, I was at a very healthy 170. I could run all day long without getting tired. When I was put in front of a buffet line, I could totally anniliate whatever placed there. In college, I once was having dinner in the cafeteria with football players. I out-ate all of them, including those fat linemen. It didn't matter what I ate, I was at 170 always. However, ever since I graduated from college, my weight has gone up considerably. And I don't know what to do to stop it. I am affraid that in no time, I will break the 200 mark. I am only 24, and I am very concerned about my weight problem. Is there anything I can do to speed up my metabolism once again? Thanks!
6 foot, 200 lbs. doesn't sound like a weight problem to me.... Continue doing what you're doing is my advice.
Do it by the numbers: Keep track of what food (and drinks) you are consuming and how much carbs/calories/fat is in them. If you don't know, don't eat/drink it. Go to a dietician if necessary. Keep track of what exercises you do and when. Look up on the internet how much is burned off by your exercise. As with all people who gain weight, you're gaining weight because you are consuming more than you burn off. Adjust the numbers so that you burn off more than you consume. You will then start to lose weight. Note - do this healthily. Don't stave yourself. Don't go on any trendy diet (in the long run, they do more harm than good). Once you're at the weight you want, you might even considering getting into a bulk-up program to gain muscle mass.
Ephedra is back on the market and is very good. I personally don't take it but I take caffeine pills with ginseng and it works well to maintain my weight. I also do run 3 miles a day and lift for another hour. 6 days a week. I cut back on all my soda's and didnt see any weight loss benefits. I also eat smaller portions. I've tried to lose weight, but what happens instead is I gain muscle. So now when I step on the scale it shows like I have gained weight when in actuality I've lost fat and gained muscle. I dunno, that might be your case as well.
cut the fast food, soda, snacks and eat less. i noticed my metabolism is slowing down significantly and im starting to gain weight as well. only thing i can do is cut down on what i love most, eating
http://www.mistakesweremade.org/nixonelvis/Pho_shizzle.JPG I've been waiting to use these pics for some time.
I work as a fitness trainer and supervisor on our campus gym, so maybe I can help you out. What is your typical daily menu? Be specific and don't leave out anything. I'm trying to get a guage on exactly what you are doing wrong.
Breakfast: a can of Slim-fast shake Lunch: usually wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad Afternoon: alot of tea during work Dinner: rice with stir fries This is my typical daily menu. I used to eat twice as much. Now, this is what's left after I've decided to go on a diet. However, it doesn't seem to work... BTW, I am a software engineer, and I usually work 10 hours a day. When I work, I just sit there and never moves. However, as I said, I usually play basketball 3-4 times a week. I also lift weights 3 times a week. Thanks alot for your help.
switch your meal times. rice has alot of carbs, so what your doing is eating alot of carbs and not burning/using that energy at night and it turns into fat. eat the rice/stir fry during lunch and eat the salad at night and u'll be gravy.
What do you put on your Wendy's salad? I've seen people put ranch or blue cheese dressing or something. One packet of that stuff has as much fat as a Whopper. lol. You sound like me... between 18 and 25 I would eat Pizza Inn buffets and Chinese buffets like crazy... and lose weight. I played basketball 5 days a week for about 2-3 hours a day and worked out at the gym probably 8-10 hours a week. Then my late 20's hit... it was all downhill from there... lol.
This is excellent advice. I would also suggest maybe eating a healthy snack between breakfast and lunch. This actually keep your metabolism going and makes you eat less the rest of the day.
A couple things: first off it looks like you may not be eating enough food, believe or not. Your body needs X amount of calories per day to maintain normal functions, decrease that number below your "maintainence" level and you'll lose weight, but if decrease it considerably lower your body will hold onto excess fat reserves because physiologically speaking, your body thinks you are in a mild state of famine. You'd be surprised how often I see people unable to lose weight, but then I'll have them consume an additional 500 nutritious calories per day and then all of a sudden they'll drop another 5 pounds like nothing. Here is what I would do: Breakfast: have some good cereal (whole grain type stuff - I heard there is a new cereal out called "Fiber One Honey Clusters" which is supposed to taste very very good and it has GREAT nutrition stats) or some oatmeal or a few eggs. Also, have a glass of skim milk. About 2-3 hours later have that shake. About 2-3 hours after that, have your lunch. I'd be very careful with the salad though. You need to take into consideration what type of dressing your are using and how much you are using on your salad (and forget about using most "low-fat" dressings because they are LOADED with sugar - which I'd argue as being worse). Tea - awesome, specifically if it is green tea. This type of drink will raise your metabolism. I hope it's not a calorie-laden, bottled, iced tea though. Have a piece of fruit or two for an afternoon snack too. Dinner: White rice = bad. If you are going to have rice, make it brown rice. Not sure what is in the stir fry (is it restaurant food, or home-made?), but it would be best if it was a generous portion of veggies along with some protein source (chicken, lean beef). The amount of exercise you do per week is perfect, in my opinion. The fact that you are not active at your job shouldn't be a problem.
DeAleck - I'm with you man. I've tried hard to lose weight, cutting down my portions and exercising to no avail. Franchise3 - that's good advice. so, is there any way to figure out if your body is in "maintainence" mode or not? i know it's a stupid question. atkins people can pee on a stick to figure out if they're in keotosis etc
That's not necessarily true. I'm 6'3" and weight 205, but a big part of that is the spare tire around my gut. Body type plays a big part. I'm a classic "ectomorph" - thin body frame.
