Weight-Loss Difficulty Losing Weight

Weight-Loss
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paheli

New member
I'm having difficulties losing weight.

Right now I am 5'4.5, male, 22% body fat, and 140.8 lbs. Even though I'm not overweight based on BMI, I look quite fat (and body fat % is above 20%).

I exercise every day on my exercise bike for 50 minutes at a high tension (I estimate it burns 500 calories per workout). I've been doing this bike exercise since the beginning of this summer.

Despite doing this, I've lost zero weight in the past month! Right now, I just weighed myself, and I'm 146 lbs (but I'm measuring myself at a different time of day, with clothes on, and after eating a lot at a party, drinking 2 bottles of water, so not very accurate...I still think I'm at 140.8 lbs). However, I've noticed that my body fat percentage on my home scale has dropped 2% (used to always read 41% body fat, now its reading 39%, but same weight...the % figures are wrong, but there's a drop nevertheless).

When I was in university/college this past year, I would eat a quite a bit of food (some were bad foods - pizza, french fries), and I would not gain weight. I would not feel hungry as well, and I would not exercise. I actually lost some weight during exam period (during that period, I'd eat only 1 turkey sandwich per day and a salad, and eat pretty much nothing else the rest of the day).

Now that I'm home for the summer, I eat healthier, but I'm feeling hungry quite often. I estimate I eat an average of 1600-1800 calories per day, and I'm doing the bike exercise daily. Am I eating too much or too little? On some cheat days I have (once every 2 weeks, often when I'm away from home and have to eat out), I eat around 2000 calories and don't exercise, and I feel hungry even then!

I used to be about 170 pounds, and I managed to lose 30 pounds last summer by eating around 1100 calories per day (but now I get so hungry if I do that), and using my stationary bike (but less tension, and for 40 minutes daily).

According to the body composition testing I did at my gym, I burn 1600 calories/day. Isn't that too low for a 20 year old male though? I was always thinking that I burn 2100 calories/day (which is more typical for someone like me).

Why am I having difficulties losing weight, despite exercising harder?
 
You simply don't need to lose weight. Your weight is fine, you need to increase muscle mass to improve your body composition and look leaner. Why are you doing so much cardio?? As a professional I say increase your calories, especially protein and start lifting weights. Cut waaaayyy back on the cardio. You are not eating nearly enough calories and burning too many on top of that with all the cardio. Again, pick up the weights!!!
 
^^ This

You've fallen into the starve yourself and lose all your muscle mass trap so you're left looking "skinny fat". you don't need to lose weight. what you need to start doing is eat a normal intake of calories and start doing resistance training.
 
I'll third the advice above. You probably want to reshape your body more than you want to lose weight. Increase your calories a bit, add lots of protein, and ditch the hour on the bike and go for a combination of strength training and HIIT.
 
Thanks for your replies.

I still think I'm quite fat though...despite not being overweight according to BMI (and I'm certain about my weight...I'm not higher than 140.8 lbs).

My torso is quite wide for someone my height (I think it could be because my "lovehandles" are large, and my waist is big). And my body fat is above 20% (its 22%). It looks like my body is made up of mostly fat!

Whats the best way for me to lose fat? Should I lift weights? Would that make me look leaner? Or rather, would that make me look larger? There are some who lift weights, but have quite a bit of fat, and they just look huge (apparently all the fat covers the muscle definition)....I want to look lean, not big!

It seems like my ideal weight should be about 130 lbs. I have some questions about nutrition:

-Eating at night: Is it really that harmful? I sometimes eat at night (I do it because I get hungry, not for fun...plus I sleep very late), and I limit what I eat to 200-300 calories. Usually its just popcorn with no butter, or if I'm really hungry, a 200 calorie power bar (for the protein). I never eat within 2 hours of going to sleep. Typically I eat about 4 hours before going to sleep. Even with this night eating, I still eat 1600-1800 calories/day.

-Exercise: When is the best time to exercise so my body burns fat? Within how many hours of eating

-How bad is it eating carbs at night? What if its just limited to 200-300 calories (and I still continue to eat a total of 1600-1800 calories/day)?
 
Can someone please help me?

Here's an update:

I've decided to eat high protein - I'm now eating about 100-140 g of protein. I'm feeling more full now.

HOWEVER, I have cut down on carbs. But is it possible to be cutting down too much? I've heard those that cut down too much do feel tired, etc. Today, after 2 days of very few carbs, I found exercising very hard (harder than normal that... I had to do it less intensely than I normally do it). And I'm feeling more tired/lethargic than I usually am. But also today, before exercising, I ate about 700-800 calories (all protein and some fat/dairy...zero carbs). Exercising burned about 500, so I'm left with 200-300. I had a protein shake just now after exercising (150 calories), and I'm still very lethargic!

How can I tell if I'm eating too many/too little carbs?

Usually I find that eating carbs before exercising really helps me with the exercise (eating a power bar about 30 min before exercise really helps). Today I didn't have a power bar before exercise.
 
Of course you're feeling lethargic. You're starving yourself. 800 calories is a stupidly low amount of food to eat if you're exercising.

Read the stickies in the forums. The advice you were given above is good advice if you'll listen. You don't need to lose weight. You probably need to exercise, build some muscle, and reshape your body.
 
quite easy to tell if you're not getting enough carbs. look at your daily intake of macronutrients. it should be aprox 40-50% carbs 20-30% protein and 20-30% fat. I would venture that you should be eating around 1600-2000 calories a day so ~700-1000 calories a day from carbs.
 
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