Howdy from Adelaide with a few questions...

[mitsi]

Howdy guys!
Thought I'd do the usual and give myself a bit of an intro.

I'm Maria...!

*waves*

Found the forum after a bit of internet browsing.

My story goes....

I am currently something around the 86kg mark (it varies daily between 85-87kg) and 177cm tall. I am 26 (well, will be in a few days anyways!)

I reached my heaviest when I was 19 years old (in 2005) - I toppled the scales at my first weight watchers meeting at 114.8kg. I think I was a good size 20.

After a couple of years of hard work, I managed to lose about 35 kg and get myself down to 80kg, which was fantastic. Being younger and at uni, I had a lot of free time. I started Belly Dancing, doing Karate, going for walks and even swimming at one point....

Fast forward many years later, and I've still managed to keep most of the weight off. I stopped going to weight watchers in 2009 even though I hadn't reached my goal of 75kg.
Butttttttttttt a long relatioship and a few kg heavier and here I am. Although it's not a huge increase, I don't want to be that heavy again. I am scarde of ever being that heavy again, hence I wanted to do something about it NOW.

I still do (albeit a more rigourous type of) belly dancing 3 times a week (for about 1.5-2 hours each day, think about 25 mins of squats, sit ups, planking, lunges, yoga included per session, not just all shimmy, shimmy, shimmy), and About a month ago, I joing a gym (as I KNOW i am not as active as I used to be), and that has been great - they have set up a program for me, including a lot of weights as I;ve been told building muscle will help me born more fat, as I already have a good level of fitness according to they gyms tests, and the amount of dancing I do. I go to the gym almost every day I am not dancing.... I am actively excersizing for 5-6 days of the week, with a mixture of cardio or weights. usually 2 weights sessions, one of my arms and one for my legs.

But..... after a month - nothing has even beggun to shift. I even get days where my scales tell me I've put ON a couple a kg. I am not too sure - but could I have already built up that much mucle that I've gained weight, or replaced any fat I may have lost with muscle already? Clothing doesn't feel any different either...!

I know my eating isn't fantastic - and I've started to make changes - if anyting, it's been better than it was. But - nothing.

Anywho, that's me, my story and my dilemma!!!
Look forward to talking to everyone on here and getting some support/advice!
Maria.

[SydneyPT]

"I know my eating isn't fantastic - and I've started to make changes - if anyting, it's been better than it was. But - nothing."

I think you have answered your question right there. No matter how much exercise you do, you CAN NOT out-train a bad diet. Diet is number 1 in achieving any health and fitness goal/s and you should make it a top priority.

You said you made changes to your diet. What changes have you made? What are you eating now? What are your portion sizes? Do you drink lots of soft drinks? What about alcohol? Do you snack? etc etc. All these questions must be addressed in order to find out exactly where you are going wrong.

[mitsi]

Thanks for the reply!

What confuses me, is that my eating isn't worse than say, a month or ago... and I've doubled my exercise...
So surely I would have thought that something would give?

anywho..

I am not a regular drinker... and when I do, it's usually CC and diet coke.
And if I do rink soft drink, it's diet coke - but I just drink a lot of water.

My days during the week usually consist of 2 weetbix or some muesli with soy milk for breakfast
Lunc/arvo will be salad or rice with veggies and a peice of fruit...

Dinner can vary - but I don't eat take out, I cook at home and it's usually a peice of meat veggies and maybe a little carbs?
During the week I don't eat a lot of junk - but I do get caught up with desserts etc on the weekends..... COuld the weekend be throwing me out completely.

I think i do have trouble with portion sizes a lot yes, but I am not too sure how to combat them. I drink lots of fluid (water, tea etc)... but a big meal (even though it may just be veggies.protien) seems common yes. ...

[SydneyPT]

I can't be 100% but it seems like you are doing things right but i can't be sure until you tell me specifics. Exact portion sizes, what is in the salads?, do you use salad dressings or oils? do you have sauces of your meats?, what kind of meat are you having? What is 'little carbs'?, what is 'some' museli? What desserts are you having and roughly the amount? etc etc. This is all important to find out whether or not you are over eating or not.

You say you get caught up on weekends but you have to remember, weight loss/weight gain does not take afternoons off. "During the week I don't eat a lot of junk", so you must be eating junk sometimes, right? What do you eat during those times? You have to be brutally honest so I can help you and you are not cheating yourself.

If you have problems with portion size, look up portion size guides on the net and buy yourself a kitchen scale and weigh EVERYTHING you eat. You will soon be able to 'eye-ball' the portion sizes you have.
People use the whole 'i only eat meats and veggies' line but you have to remember, all foods have calories. Eat more than you need and you will gain weight, regardless of the food.

[misk]

I get where you are coming from, I tend to think and feel that way. I am 27, was 77kg, 157cm tall and went from ALOT of eating out, around 2-3 times for lunch and 3-4 times a week for dinner, to tiny Lite 'n' Easy meals with an hours exercise 7 days a week. I expected that the weight would fly right off. Three months in and i'm still struggling to get a kilo to come off each week.

You jsut gotta keep at it, fiddle around with everything and do alot of google searches on different food/drink ideas. I switched drinking nothing but Diet Coke to nothing but Green Tea and water, a packet of lollies a day to a low calorie ice-cream every other day. I'm still fiddling around with exercises - bike riding, treadmill, sit-ups/etc, weights, kayaking, skipping.

Also you're doing weights, maybe you're gaining alot of muscle? I'm a shocker for weights, can't stand them because *insert whine here* they hurt and they bore me silly. Good job for doing them!

[admin]

great advice Misk, you just have to keep making changes, small ones.

They recommend 500g to 1kg per week weightloss and no more, give or take good weeks and bad weeks. That is why if any of the hocus pocus weight loss solutions tell you you will lose more stay away from them. Weight loss should be steady not dramatic. If it is dramatic you will only put it back on and feel helpless. It took you years to put it on so it will take you awhile to get it off.

Love you comments about weights......i secretly agree.

[misk]

Maria can I ask what weightsyou are doing - how many kilos and how many reps and sets? Just wondering because I have no idea when it comes to weights. I have a plan to buy a weigh bench and weights, in 3weeks when i get back from my holidays, but really i don't even know where I should begin with that. At the moment i'm lifting my piddly 3kg weights and I'm constantly having ppl tell me that they're a waste of time because they're too light, but hell if I know

Also adding to comments about your original post - it could be you aren't eating enough given the amount of exercise you are doing and how tall you are OR it could be the weekend throwing you off. Myabe try a week or two of eating a bit more calories but make those calories be from vegies/fruit/yoghurt. If nothing happens then try going a weekend without busting out of the healthy eating. I stopped losing weight for 3weeks and tried almost everything - eating more, less, exercising more, exercising less, changing up my exercise from all treadmill to bike riding.

Hope you are having more luck out there