Can anyone help me lose weight?

M

Mr Matt

New member
For starters let me say that I am 27 years old, and I have always retained fat in my chest. It is not breast tissue, just fat, yet still very annoying.
I've never been THAT overweight, but in 8th grade I could not take the breast jokes any longer and went on a diet. I lost weight rapidly, and ended up weighing 130 lbs (my height is 5'11) through high school.
I did this by eating only when I was hungry, and never eating more than when the hunger stopped. Sometimes I would eat as little as 3 bites of an apple for breakfast, a few bites of a sandwich for lunch, etc. I wasn't starving myself at all, I always ate when I was hungry, no matter the time of day.
After high school I had become sick and tired of always missing out when good food was around, and began eating what many would call a sensible meal. However, by doing this, I gained a large amount of weight, primarily in my chest and stomach.
3 weeks ago my doctor told me I had very high blood pressure (I can't remember the top number, but the bottom number was 125) and that I needed to cut out salt and go on a diet. I weighed 220 lbs.
Not wanting to go back to my high school diet at all, I switched to eating nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, etc. By doing this I also almost completely stopped eating salt.
Last week I returned to my doctors office, where I was told my blood pressure was now bottom number 80. I had also lost 11 lbs in 2 weeks.
But for the last 3 days I've been eating reasonable amounts of pasta for dinner while still eating fresh foods for breakfast and dinner, and have gained back 5 lbs. I've been drinking plenty of water the whole time, so I don't think it could be water weight, and I walk a mile and a half daily.
I should note that I'm also vegetarian, so things like the Atkins diet are out.
Is there anything I can do? Do I have some sort of problem?
I hope somebody can help me.
 
Mr Matt said:
For starters let me say that I am 27 years old, and I have always retained fat in my chest. It is not breast tissue, just fat, yet still very annoying.
I've never been THAT overweight, but in 8th grade I could not take the breast jokes any longer and went on a diet. I lost weight rapidly, and ended up weighing 130 lbs (my height is 5'11) through high school.
I did this by eating only when I was hungry, and never eating more than when the hunger stopped. Sometimes I would eat as little as 3 bites of an apple for breakfast, a few bites of a sandwich for lunch, etc. I wasn't starving myself at all, I always ate when I was hungry, no matter the time of day.
After high school I had become sick and tired of always missing out when good food was around, and began eating what many would call a sensible meal. However, by doing this, I gained a large amount of weight, primarily in my chest and stomach.
3 weeks ago my doctor told me I had very high blood pressure (I can't remember the top number, but the bottom number was 125) and that I needed to cut out salt and go on a diet. I weighed 220 lbs.
Not wanting to go back to my high school diet at all, I switched to eating nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, etc. By doing this I also almost completely stopped eating salt.
Last week I returned to my doctors office, where I was told my blood pressure was now bottom number 80. I had also lost 11 lbs in 2 weeks.
But for the last 3 days I've been eating reasonable amounts of pasta for dinner while still eating fresh foods for breakfast and dinner, and have gained back 5 lbs. I've been drinking plenty of water the whole time, so I don't think it could be water weight, and I walk a mile and a half daily.
I should note that I'm also vegetarian, so things like the Atkins diet are out.
Is there anything I can do? Do I have some sort of problem?
I hope somebody can help me.
Click to expand...

The thing with pasta or any starch like that is it will make you gain water weight. You never lost 11 lbs of fat in 2 weeks, it would be impossible unless you worked out like an athlete as a pound loss requires a 3500 calorie deficit.

Do you eat eggs and dairy? Egg whites and low fat cottage cheese are great sources of protein.

If not, you could try replacing pasta with quinoa (the highest protein content grain there is), and also eating more beans/peas/lentils and so on.

But you can lose weight on pretty much anything as long as you eat less calories than you use. You just have to be careful with things like nuts, because 10 almonds have ~100 calories for example and it's easy to overeat. Make sure to measure your pasta as well, 100g of dry pasta is about 400 calories.

Precisely measure everything you eat and count calories and you should be fine.
 
Last edited:
biggestloser105 said:
The thing with pasta or any starch like that is it will make you gain water weight. You never lost 11 lbs of fat in 2 weeks, it would be impossible unless you worked out like an athlete as a pound loss requires a 3500 calorie deficit.

Do you eat eggs and dairy? Egg whites and low fat cottage cheese are great sources of protein.

If not, you could try replacing pasta with quinoa (the highest protein content grain there is), and also eating more beans/peas/lentils and so on.

But you can lose weight on pretty much anything as long as you eat less calories than you use. You just have to be careful with things like nuts, because 10 almonds have ~100 calories for example and it's easy to overeat. Make sure to measure your pasta as well, 100g of dry pasta is about 400 calories.

Precisely measure everything you eat and count calories and you should be fine.
Click to expand...
Thank you, regarding the first part of my post, do you think it's worth it to get checked for a thyroid problem? It never seemed normal to me to go from hungry to comfortable after a few bites of an apple.
 
Mr Matt said:
Thank you, regarding the first part of my post, do you think it's worth it to get checked for a thyroid problem? It never seemed normal to me to go from hungry to comfortable after a few bites of an apple.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't hurt to get a full check up. But if you think about it, you had to have been hungrier at some points, because you maintained your weight for a while and then even ended up gaining.
 
I reckon your metabolism has slowed down from years of undereating. Maybe you can start doing weights and higher intensity exercises to build your lean muscle. It also would be good to check your thyroid. Do you get cold/sleepy/fuzzy often?
 
I don't get sleepy often, as I have insomnia and take ambien for it.
I often get lightheaded when I stand up too fast, sometimes even right after eating, but that could just be my blood pressure, I'm not sure.
 
fast1 said:
i started getting light headed after standing up 7 or 9 times a day lately what does it mean??
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Honestly? My first question on that would be just how hard are you cutting your calories. You might be cutting it down too much at once.
 
Jericho said:
Honestly? My first question on that would be just how hard are you cutting your calories. You might be cutting it down too much at once.
Click to expand...

i eat a healthy 2 meals a day a big breakfast and decent lunch fruits in beetwen but nothing but water but i do walk alot i go walking for an hour 4 times a day but cutting it down to 2
 
fast1 said:
i eat a healthy 2 meals a day a big breakfast and decent lunch fruits in beetwen but nothing but water but i do walk alot i go walking for an hour 4 times a day but cutting it down to 2
Click to expand...


ok, then in my non-professional opinion...you are eating too little. How many calories there..and all the walking..yeah. You might want to look at your diet plan again.
 
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