If you eat healthy and workout, is it inevitable that you'll lose weight?

[Anonymous]

I been eating healthy and working out for several months now. This month, I have been especially strict with my diet and exercise. I only had like one cheat meal this month so far, which was aunt annie cinnamon pretzel. However, I notice no change this month. Why? It always seems like when I eat super healthy, nothing happens, but when I eat healthy, and have like one cheat day every week I lose weight. Why is this? Should I have a cheat meal tomorrow and see what happens?

Updates

+1 y

link

that's a link to show the types of food I eat and my calorie intake.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. I'm obese and I eat pretty healthily and I still haven't lost much weight. I lost 25 lbs but that was very slow, took a year for that to happen. I'm back to calorie counting now and it recommends 1300 calories a day. I average 1600-1800 calories when I'm just eating without consideration to a number. Its hard for me to get to 1300 and stay there. Also because I track nutrients so that's important to me too, although I know it isn't 100% accurate.

But yeah I haven't lost anything this year. However, I also have some body chemistry issues that make it more likely for me to put on weight and keep that weight. And I'm not really exercising.

If you're "strict" about both, and nothing is happening, you may need to either restart (which may be what happens when you have a cheat day) and stop doing what you're doing for a few days (I read this, I'm obviously no expert) or you need to change your workout, maybe have to up the length or intensity. And track calories or do weight watchers or some kind of tracking system. eating healthy isn't really enough to lose weight, you have to create a calorie deficit. You may want to see if you can find a calculator online to estimate how many calories it takes for you to maintain your weight with your lifestyle. I looked mine up on two different sites. One said 2000 to maintain my weight and another said 1700-1800 I believe. This is explains why I don't lose weight, even while eating healthily. Its all about them cals, girl.

A friend of mine has the opposite issue. She's smaller than I am, but I guess still overweight. (Shes tall, so whatever. Tall people are lucky) She runs all the time, but she struggles with healthy eating.

I'm focusing more on fat/body acceptance right now, but I am still counting calories because I want to lose some more weight, slowly. I don't really stress about it. I just read labels, take notes, punch it in on caloriecount.com. I weigh myself again this week, but I lost 3 more pounds recently so I guess its doing something.

Now if I could just work out... No, I'm the special kid who likes to look up work out videos on YouTube "this looks fun!", make workout playlists, and then never do them. My friends think I'm nuts.

Actually, as a matter of fact, you could eat junkfood and still lose weight most likely, if you keep within a certain calorie range. My mom is much smaller than I am and I see her eating bacon, hotdogs, pizza, etc. on a daily basis. But she also has the appetite of a squirrel so she can do that.

[Asker]

My calorie intake is 1,500, but I do a calorie deficit of 500 calorie per day and I workout twice a day 6 times a week. Thanks for sharing your story with me :). I started out 164 and I now weigh 144. I been doing this since April 2013. My goal weight is 125.

[Opinion Owner]

Well, good luck at breaking your plateau, missy :)

[Asker]

Thanks. :) Good luck to you too on your weight loss journey.

[bettybets]

Maybe you should incorporate strength training/muscle-building exercises. I know when I used to work out I wasn't interested in doing that because I want to slim down and look feminine. But muscle burns calories better/faster. And you need it to balance things out. So that could help.

[jamesma87]

Yeah one cheat meal a week is fine with good diet and exercise. It's designed to help dieting be less of a grind and also keep your body being able to process fattier or sweeter foods without issue.

That's pretty weird that you lose more weight on cheat meal weeks, but there's a lot of other factors involved as well. Maybe you weren't exercising as much or your diet was different. Keep track of what you're eating and the exercises you do and that can give a better measure of things

[Asker]

I exercise a lot. Twice a day 6 times a week.

[jamesma87]

wow that's pretty impressive. I assume you push yourself hard during workouts too?

I would experiment around a bit as well as to what composition of food is the best for losing weight. You may actually want a bit of a higher carb diet since you workout so much to increase the energy you have during your workouts. It was surprising to me, but I lost the most weight on a diet with 3-4 servings of carbs each day compared to 1-2.

[Asker]

Well, my carb intake for today total was 107. Is that too much? And my sodium was 760? I think that's too high.

P.S. Congrats on your weight loss

[jamesma87]

Sodium sounds too high, I don't really measure carb intake too much but around 100g should be fine if you're working out as much as you. The only carbs I would eat on a strict diet would be whole wheat pasta / bread and wild rice. Liquidwise you should only drink water and G2 gatorade. Taking a preworkout supplement to help you go harder during workouts and has fat burners can be good too

There's a lot of other things that contribute to losing weight too other than dieting so keep that in mind!

[Asker]

Yes, those are the carbs I eat. I don't really like gatorade so I drink water and naked green machine smoothies. Yea, I don't know why my sodium is so high. Anyways, thanks for all your help. :)

[jamesma87]

I don't know what naked green machine smoothies are but I assume they aren't the healthiest to consume when you're trying to lose weight and a quick google brings this up...

link

Once you get to a weight you like, you can start indulging a bit more but you have to be pretty strict during the weight cutting period

[Asker]

I guess just water for me then

[ladsin]

losing weight is about calories, you intake less calories than you output, you lose weight plain and simple... your weight might not decrease depending on the type of exercises you might be doing, could be building muscle which weighs more than fat and as a result kinda break even...

[Asker]

I have a calorie deficit of 500 per day. I run and I do interval and circuit training for my exercises. I don't lift weights though.

[ladsin]

then you should lose weight

[xlexiix23]

Its okay to have a cheat meal every once in a while but you should be eating healthy not "dieting". By that I mean make sure you aren't skipping meals, and try to exercise almost everyday. Some people think that they have to cut out meals to lose weight but that isn't true. If your not losing weight it could be because your gaining muscle and losing fat. Muscle weighs more than fat does. Good luck!

[Theguyoverthere]

You need to see if you're in a "calorie deficit." But don't go extreme with it. Losing weight too fast will inevitably backfire and you'll gain it back just as fast.

[Asker]

I am. I have a calorie deficit of 500 each day. I workout twice a day 6 times a week. I run in the morning, then I do interval training in the night. I also count my calories on this app.

[Izzy2102]

you should strt counting calories, just eating healthy and exercising will not automatically mean weight loss. Most likley you'll just eat what you need and therfore maintaining your weight

[Asker]

I do count my calories.

[Izzy2102]

the diary is private

[Bunny212]

Vegetable salads are the best option for losing weight

you can add a little meat, cheese etc to it for flavor and also for a little more energy and nutrition

[SpoiledJeano]

If you want faster results message me and I'll give you a better weight loss plan.

I am good with nutrition and workout training

[Asker]

I can't message you because you can only receive messages from friends, but I just sent you a friend request

[Longshot]

link is useless to those that don't have a password..

[Asker]

Really? Sorry.

[maiez]

Not necessarily, as for me I started light, so by working out and eating healthy I am just gaining muscle which weighs a lot, so I am actually gaining weight, but getting more fit.

[Anonymous]

eventually you will even out, you have to keep challenging your body if you want to keep loosing weight.

[Asker]

Maybe that's the problem. My body may be too used to the workouts I do. But when I do them, I still find them hard and I sweat a lot so I don't know if my body is used to it or not.

[Anonymous]

well it all depends on your calorie intake. if you are below everyday you will still lose weight,

[Asker]

My calorie intake is 1,500. But I usually do a calorie deficit of 500 per day.

[Opinion Owner]

Then that's the reason

[Anonymous]

ya it should be but eating healthy doesn't put you on diet

[Anonymous]

not if you over eat healthy foods

[Asker]

I don't overeat

[tiredofwaiting]

It isn't a good thing to overeat healthy options