Odd weight loss issue

[yellowperil]

This summer I decided to lose 20 lbs. by the end of the year. In mid-July I was near 180, and the changes I made were eating less fast food, cutting out non-diet sodas, and eating a decent breakfast (and not eating late at night). I lost ~8 lbs. by the beginning of September, which was encouraging. I decided to speed it up by doing cardio (45 minutes of bike/treadmill) 3-4 times a week and eating lower fat foods. Well, with a few exceptions, I succeeded, but I only lost 2 lbs this month. It seems like no matter what I do I can't get below 170. Is there something I'm missing or am I confined to losing only a couple pounds a month? Any thoughts/experiences?

 

[Evadman]

you are changing fat into muscle. This is good. Keep it up and it will go away.

 

[Nocturnal]

Maybe up your cardio, and eat better. Instead of drinking diet soda, drink no soda. Drink water, or juices. Also when you eat, try managing a good diet. Not saying to go and do an Atkins diet but something from a knowledgable website that could help you out.

 

[mcoski]

Best way to lose weight is monitor your caloric intake and burn more calories than you intake. Diet soda has no calories as is, so it won't really matter. Take out the carbs as they are great for bulking (what I am doing currently) and make sure that your cardio is strenuous at the same time relaxing. You don't need to jog 5 miles a day to get cardio exercise if it's killing you. Make sure that if you are doing cardio that you are letting the muscles repair (ie: exercise one muscle group once MAYBE twice a week). Make sure your protein intake is high enough to allow muscles to repair. Don't eat after 6:30pm. Don't lift heavy weights and due higher amounts of reps. This will tone you out and not make you bulky. These are just suggestions of the top of my head but if you really want go to a gym and get a personal trainer.

 

[Triumph]

you're a guy, right? how tall are you? 170 is thin for an average height guy, i don't know what you're expecting.

 

[StevenYoo]

in my experiences, drinking lots of water (and NOT drinking soda, juice, etc.) is SUPER important.

a well-hydrated body is an efficient body. my personal rule of thumb is "if ya ain't peein clear, ya ain't drinkin enough water"

keep up the cardio, dude! it helps IMMENSELY. ur building up some muscle (toning it too), and more muscle means u burn more calories in a day!

so you might not lose the weight, per se, but you'll def lose the flab.

good luck dude. i lost 50 pounds in 5 months. you'll def lose ur 20.

 

[yellowperil]

Re: cardio, I heard that you burn more calories if you do it in the morning, is this true? I've been doing it in the evening (around 6 p.m.) and I'm usually tired and take a nap afterwards.

Originally posted by: Triumph
you're a guy, right? how tall are you? 170 is thin for an average height guy, i don't know what you're expecting.

I'm about 5'8"-5'9". My arms and legs are thin but all the weight sits in my abdomen. It looks kind of funky

 

[raptor13]

If you excercise in the morning before you eat anything, you can achieve higher rates of fat loss. The reason for that is that after sleeping for awhile, you don't have any fresh sources of energy to burn so your body resorts to stored energy, i.e. fat. Doing that does work but be warned you will be EXTREMELY hungry when you're done excercising. Most people then tend to overeat thus negating any benefit of excercising before eating.

 

[dolph]

start weight training, and realize that it shouldn't matter how much you weigh, but how you look.

 

[IEatChildren]

Originally posted by: dolph
start weight training, and realize that it shouldn't matter how much you weigh, but how you look.

This is true. Just because you're not losing weight doesn't mean you're not getting rid of fat. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat. So you might even end up gaining a few pounds for a while, but you're still getting rid of fat and slimming yourself up.