Anyone else struggling to lose weight? Weigh in (no pun intended lol)!

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AnnShh

AnnShh

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Messages
312
Location
VA
I don't get it. I work out regularly (at school 5 days a week, on break usualy 4 days a week), drink a lot of water and eat healthy. But I still struggle with keeping my weight within the limit (for my rotc scholarship it has to be in regs). I'm 5'9-5'10 and in the mid-high 160's.
I'm in panic mode right now because I am getting ready to go back to school and I just weighed in over what I'm allowed to be, despite working out all break and eating the same way I always do.
I don't even know if this is possible, but is it possible for someone's body to not be able to process carbs? Even in moderation, carbs make me gain weight so easily.

I'm going to try the P90x and/or the Insanity workouts when I get back to school in addition to my normal PT and try my best to eat smaller meals more frequently. But I'm just at a loss.

Does anyone have any good tips or tricks I can use? It's really frustrating. It's not like I'm stick thin without any weight I can lose... I would love to drop 10 lbs but I don't think that's going to happen so at this point I'll take just being comfortably within regs so that I don't have to constantly worry.
 
well this may or may not help but the key to loosing weight is burning more weight than you loose so getting an excersize machine (or going to the gym) that shows calories you burn. you want to burn more then you intake. tracking calories makes this easier (way easier if you have an iphone or ipod you can download a calorie counting app). also cutting out junk food is helpfull :)
 
Riven said:
What kind of work outs do you do and for how long?
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It really varies.

In PT, our week usually consists of: 1 long run (~4-5 mi), 1 day of an hour of other cardio (usually sprints, "stadiums" (aka running stairs), ruck marches, etc), and usually 2 days of circuits which involve various upper body and ab exercises, often w/ stairs and light running mixed in. The 5th day really changes (it's been anything from cardio, pushup/sit up improvement, water polo, swimming, etc).

Since I've been on break, I've been making up my own workouts. I usually do a sprint work out (ie: 1/4 mi sprints, or sprint for 30 secs, run for 60 s, and jog for 90s.), a general cardio workout (running, eliptical, bike, stairs, etc), and then the other 2 days I do a mix of cardio, weights, and push-up improvement exercises.

@Lola- Is there a good calorie counting app you recommend? It's hard to track calories burned during most of my workouts at school because we aren't in a gym or on machines that have that built in. But in general I eat pretty healthy. I hardly snack and if I do it's usually an apple or a nutri-grain bar or something like that.
 
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Unfortunately, ROTC and military regs are not realistic when it comes to a diverse population. My father was forced to stay below 200 lbs- 200 for him would involve losing muscle mass. My "ideal weight" by charts is 155- never gonna happen with my build. It is not always about more calories out than in. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the luck of the build.
 
I would implement more weights, sounds like a lot of cardio, but not much weights.

Also if you have a smart phone get a free calorie app if you're not tracking, you'd be surprised how much cal's even "healthy" food can have! It might not be a matter of what you're eating, but how much you're eating. Think about the fact that the stomach not expanded if about the size of your fist... then think of that when you put food on your plate, add in any drinks, which comes to the next thing. If you haven't cut out soda! It's really the bane of humans, nothing good in it at all, I think it's funny that fat foods, fried foods, and candy/sweets get a bad wrap, but soda is a candy bar in a water and caffeine.
 
on the appstore look up calorie and the first on should be calorie counter by myfitnesspall.com its free :)
 
GorillaJTA said:
Unfortunately, ROTC and military regs are not realistic when it comes to a diverse population. My father was forced to stay below 200 lbs- 200 for him would involve losing muscle mass. My "ideal weight" by charts is 155- never gonna happen with my build. It is not always about more calories out than in. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the luck of the build.
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That's a big part of my problem too. They want me 168 or less. Now granted, it couldn't hurt for me to lose a little weight, but I wouldn't call myself overweight. I think a big part of it is, like you said, how I'm built. People are shocked when they find out how much I weigh because I don't look like I weigh that much. I'm tall, have long legs, and really broad shoulders. My lowest weight in the past 3 years was 159 and that was after being out in the field for 3 days, carrying 60 lbs on my back/doing tons of walking and eating bits and pieces of MRE's *when we had time*. I maybe consumed 1000 cal a day. I lost 5 lbs from that. Obviously losing the weight that way was not healthy and it was not intentional, and I gained it back when I was eating my normal meals again.

Unfortunately the army doesn't care about build. And while I can do a tape test, that isn't very accurate either as the results get really skewed because of my build and in the past when I've been taped they said I had an outrageous BMI rating. I did two other BMI tests, different from the Army's, and they both put me at 19%....but the one the Army did was way off from that and despite the officers agreeing that it seemed very high, there was nothing they could do.
 
Riven said:
I would implement more weights, sounds like a lot of cardio, but not much weights.

Also if you have a smart phone get a free calorie app if you're not tracking, you'd be surprised how much cal's even "healthy" food can have! It might not be a matter of what you're eating, but how much you're eating. Think about the fact that the stomach not expanded if about the size of your fist... then think of that when you put food on your plate, add in any drinks, which comes to the next thing. If you haven't cut out soda! It's really the bane of humans, nothing good in it at all, I think it's funny that fat foods, fried foods, and candy/sweets get a bad wrap, but soda is a candy bar in a water and caffeine.
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I'll try that. P90x is more weight/resistance training so I'm hoping that will help a little. I'll also increase the number of weight exercises I do at the gym.

I have a smart phone so I will look for an app. Do I have to know the calories and then put them in or will it calculate calories for me? I actually tend to not eat a whole lot. Everyone tells me I eat like a bird, it really doesn't take much to fill me up. I drink a lot of water but I do drink soda on occasion too. Usually it may just be once a week but lately I've been drinking a can a couple times a week which I know I need to cut out altogether. That too will go down as I don't by soda when I am at school, but I always keep a waterbottle with me.

@Lola- thanks, I will look into that!
 
I know the annoyance of working out and not losing the weight you want to. I have talked to some people who are on the power 90 or P90x and they seem to be having really good results. I ordered the power 90 because I've heard that if you aren't already in really good shape it is the better one to start with. Can't wait for it to come, this getting in shape thing is hard!
 
pants567 said:
I know the annoyance of working out and not losing the weight you want to. I have talked to some people who are on the power 90 or P90x and they seem to be having really good results. I ordered the power 90 because I've heard that if you aren't already in really good shape it is the better one to start with. Can't wait for it to come, this getting in shape thing is hard!
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I did P90x for 2 weeks last year (and ultimately stopped becuse it was too hard on an injury I was rehabing) and it was awesome. I'm confident that if I actually kept with it for the whole time I would have seen results so I'm planning on doing that once I get back to school this weekend.

Good luck with your Power 90! It will be worth it- I'll admit I was skeptical when I first bought them but I left every workout sore and knowing it was doing *something*.
 
I actually run on a trampoline every evening for maybe 40 minutes or so. That seems to be enough for me to keep my weight down and stay in pretty decent shape.

I've thought about the P90X thing, but I think I would end up hurting myself. I'd love to be stronger. That's my problem right now, I feel like I don't have enough muscle to be strong.

Good luck with the weight loss. 10 pounds shouldn't be too difficult. Do you think that maybe you've just hit some type of weight plateau? Like maybe your body is just happy where it is? I have that problem if I ever want to lose some weight. Normally I just change something around in my diet like add some more protein or exercise at a different time of day.
 
AZChins said:
I actually run on a trampoline every evening for maybe 40 minutes or so. That seems to be enough for me to keep my weight down and stay in pretty decent shape.

I've thought about the P90X thing, but I think I would end up hurting myself. I'd love to be stronger. That's my problem right now, I feel like I don't have enough muscle to be strong.

Good luck with the weight loss. 10 pounds shouldn't be too difficult. Do you think that maybe you've just hit some type of weight plateau? Like maybe your body is just happy where it is? I have that problem if I ever want to lose some weight. Normally I just change something around in my diet like add some more protein or exercise at a different time of day.
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Yeah with the P90X you def have to know your limits/abilities. There were a couple exercises that I scaled down to what I knew I could safely push myself at so I could avoid injuring myself.

It might be at some plateau. My weight fluctuates so much. I know you always weigh less in the morning... but I could be 4 lbs lighter one morning than the next without really changing how much/what I've eaten. I was pretty chunky in middle school, worked long hours on a farm in high school and lost about 30 lbs. I eventually gained about 10 of it back and am now where I'm at right now. *Sigh*.
 
I have only recently started working out, so I'm not basing this on personal experience, but I've heard when you hit a plateau like that, you need to change up your workout. Also, another thing to look at might be time of day you eat or combination of foods. It seems many diets focus on how certain foods combine with others. Are you eating in the morning to get your metabolism going? Do you eat any processed foods? Eating small meals of whole foods thoughout the day is supposed to help.

I should really take my own advice! ;)
 
momenteller said:
I have only recently started working out, so I'm not basing this on personal experience, but I've heard when you hit a plateau like that, you need to change up your workout. Also, another thing to look at might be time of day you eat or combination of foods. It seems many diets focus on how certain foods combine with others. Are you eating in the morning to get your metabolism going? Do you eat any processed foods? Eating small meals of whole foods thoughout the day is supposed to help.

I should really take my own advice! ;)
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I have the Insanity diet plan that I am going to take a look at again. I used it during the summer, following their 5 meals a day plan and while I didn't lose any weight, I also didn't gain any weight so I suppose that's a plus. I know that it is recommended to eat several small meals instead of 2 or 3 larger meals.

I always eat breakfast. When I'm at school I always get eggs, turkey sausage, some sort of potato dish, and either an apple or banana (1.5 weeks before weigh in I skip the potatos as I try and eliminate as many carbs as possible). At home, I will admit my breakfast is not good. It's usually cereal w/ skim milk or a granola bar.

Lunch @ school is usually subway, since I can get that with my meal plan and it's right next to my classes. Not the best thing to eat, but not the worst either (it could be chic-fil-a...!). Dinner varies. Usually some sort of meat and a veggie.
 
Most people probably can weigh four pounds more the next day. I know that I can! It has something to do with fluid retention most of the time, or at least I think that's what it is with me.

The worst part about trying to lose weight is when I'm doing everything right and then there are no results for weeks. The best thing about it is how once I start losing weight, it is easy. It's probably the same for most people. Once you find the right combination of diet and exercise the fat comes right off.
 
I just downloaded the calorie counter from myfitnesspall and love it! It is so much easier to stick to healthy food because I hate that "omg are there really THAT many calories in that?" feeling. The only problem I'm having is that it wants me to stick to 1200 cal/day, which is almost impossible for me. So I upped it to 1500/day and we'll see what that gets me. We have a diagnostic PT test in 1.5 weeks... I am really hoping they won't do a weigh-in just for a diagnostic test but just incase they do I need to lose about 3 lbs. *Sigh*. Maybe I will get really lucky and my scale here is off... I know the one at school is accurate sooo I'm going to jump on that once I'm back and keep my fingers crossed that I really didn't gain that much weight over break...

The plan for working out is 2 workouts / day for 5 days a week and 1 workout on the weekend. I'm required to do 1 workout/day 5 days a week for ROTC, and then I plan on doing P90x as well.
 
I got on birth control my senior year weighing 135- 140 a 5'3 5'4 ish. I gained 50 pounds in a year. I never could get the weight off and keep it off. My doctor recently put me on phentermine wich helped me to loose 20 pounds in a month due to me controlling my eating and drinking just water. But i ate whatever i wanted to. I just stopped over eating . I like you didn't look 180 pounds. I am short and stocky with broad shoulders and a broad rib area.. the rest of my body is fine. I do only have weight gain in my stomach wich I think contributes to not having any muscle tone at all to my stomach. I have kind of been on a stand still at 160 but I am proud to say its been a long time and i have yet to gain that weight back. I'm hoping I can get motivated enough to loose that last 20 pounds..... I'm so close but yet so far away!!! I just don't have time for a gym due to my work schedule wich i feel holds me back.
 
I use an app called "Calorie Counter." i love it because I just scan the bar code on my food and it does the rest. It will also give you recipes in certain categories. Like right now I can have only 200 cal max per meal.. And they have a bunch of yummies to make on there! And they have the chain food restaurants loaded too!
 
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