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ShiningK New Member 
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Warning: Long post ahead. Okay I thought I had it all figured out but I'm really at a loss right now and need some help. Firstly, here's a little history: I'm a 6 foot 27 y/o guy. At the beginning of 2009, I weighed 267 pounds and decided (largely after reading these forums) that I would attempt to lose weight. The plan I decided to stick to was pretty simple: Cut out soda and french fries and eat 1600 calories a day and go to the gym 3-5 times a week. I had calculated that I'd lose 2 lbs a week just by dieting and the gym was just a bonus, since my daily maintenance calories were like 2800 or so. This worked out great, I lost 2 lbs a week consistently for months more or less and by late 2009 I was down to my lowest weight, 198. Since my goal was 200, I was happy sticking around at 200 and stopped counting calories but still minded what I ate and didn't go crazy too often. I kept the weight off more or less from 2010-2011, hovering between 200 and 210. (I spent 2010-2011 in england). When I came back from england in july of 2011, this is where things started going wrong.. I kept putting on weight despite keeping similar eating habits (though what I was eating obviously wasn't the same since American food is way different). From july 2011 to now, I've gained a ton of weight and I now weigh 233 pounds ( and this definitely isn't the result of pigging out. I've continued to follow practices like not drinking soda). I decided at the beginning of April I'd go back to my old diet, since I know how to do it and I know it works. I started counting calories, 1600, went to the gym hardcore (5 days a week, hour of cardio minimum) and here I am after nearly 4 weeks, only 1 pound lost. I've been sticking to my diet religiously (except one cheat day a week where I'd go up to 2200 calories) and nothing's happening. I'm completely at a loss and quickly losing motivation. Can anyone help out? |
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Nir Senior Administrator 
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Even factoring your cheat day in, your diet is equivalent to no more than 1700. (Male,6',27yo,233lb) sedentary maintenance 2484, lightly active 2846. You should therefore be losing, so what are the options? 1) [eating too much] there is a problem with the way you are counting calories, it is too approximate or there are one or two calorie-dense foods that are throwing the totals way off (are you using volume rather than weight for calorie-dense foods?) 2) [doing things right] you are gaining muscle, or retaining water or something else which is hiding fat loss which is actually happening (are measurements changing?) 3) [eating too little] your deficit is too 'aggressive' and your body is compensating by making you subtly more 'lazy' and energy efficient. This is usually not the answer but I am throwing it out there just in case it happens to be true in your case. So I would check for #1, and I would stick it out for a few more weeks in case #2 is true, because #3 calls for eating more calories. (If you want to test out #3, I would suggest a GRADUAL increase, say add +100 to your daily intake and change this up once a week) 4 weeks is not necessarily long enough to declare that something is not working |
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ShiningK New Member
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Hi Nir, Regarding #1, as I said in my post.. I lost nearly 70 lbs by counting calories so I would say I'm pretty familiar with how to do it by now. I really don't believe it's that, and even if it was it'd be a slight slip up, nothing so major that I wouldnt lose ANY weight weekly. #2 is not the case either.. I don't lift much and my measurements aren't changing. #3 I can try this but I'm hesitant because 1600 is what worked for me before. I'm also not eating it all in one meal or anything, so I don't see any metabolic problems.. |
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Ruby claire Senior Member
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Do not compromise on your eating ! What even man does is only for food ! So eat what ever you want but try to maintain your balance with exercises or by any other drills..  |
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