Don't understand why I weigh so much...?!
Question: I am 5'6 and weigh 179lbs. I don't snack, I try to eat as healthy as possible, I eat way under my "maintenance calories" each day (I only eat about 1200 a day), I am active (I go to the gym about 5 times a week) and I always have been. I don't understand how I weigh so much. Everyone seems to always associated bigger people with eating to much and being lazy, yet this is far from true in my case. I've been tested for things such as tyroid and stuff, but nothing. What can I do to loose all this weight? I have tried everything under the sun, from diets (which ALWAYS require I eat like 800 more calories then I am, and even MORE fat then im already consuming) and over the counter drugs. It doesn't make sense to me.
If you are going to be rude, immature, call me names, or call me a liar, I suggest your save it and don't bother posting; This is a serious post.
Answers: I am 5'6 and weigh 179lbs. I don't snack, I try to eat as healthy as possible, I eat way under my "maintenance calories" each day (I only eat about 1200 a day), I am active (I go to the gym about 5 times a week) and I always have been. I don't understand how I weigh so much. Everyone seems to always associated bigger people with eating to much and being lazy, yet this is far from true in my case. I've been tested for things such as tyroid and stuff, but nothing. What can I do to loose all this weight? I have tried everything under the sun, from diets (which ALWAYS require I eat like 800 more calories then I am, and even MORE fat then im already consuming) and over the counter drugs. It doesn't make sense to me.
If you are going to be rude, immature, call me names, or call me a liar, I suggest your save it and don't bother posting; This is a serious post.
Read the book 'Good Calories Bad Calories' by Gary Taubes. (Your library might have the book.) You are doing exactly what I used to do when I was younger. I believed that if you eat less fat, you will be less fat. While that sounds logical, the body does not work that way. The mitochondria in our cells needs fat to burn calories. A low-fat diet is counterproductive, and will eventually slow down your metabolism. In Taubes' book, he tells about a celebrity who was advised to continually lower his fat intake, and the celebrity just got heavier. Taubes, an ivy-league graduate, is the only three time winner of the most prestigious award in science journalism. He is a very smart man and he has investigated many diet studies and found that people have made wrong conclusions.
If you eat more calories, you may initially gain a few pounds, but then you will have jolted your metabolism and you will be able to lose weight more easily. Also, the few pounds that you may initially gain will come off easily. Currently, your body is close to starvation mode and it is conserving calories.
A good diet should contain a medium amount of fat, not a low amount of fat. If you are going to cut calories, then it should be the carbohydrate calories. Once you correct your diet with a medium fat diet, do not try to lose weight quickly. Weight lost slowly is more stable and is less likely to be regained. This is an extremely important point because 95% of people who lose a significant amount of weight regain all their weight plus more within 3 years. If you have any more questions, then email me.
Since I can't see you I am going to assume you're very muscular and have a larger frame.
When you say "as healthy as possible", that could mean anything. If your diet consists of at least 3 fruits and veggie servings each every day, you don't eat much pasta, white rice, white bread, cakes, or other processed flours, if you watch and limit your calorie, carb, sugar and sodium intakes and drink plenty of water... then I can't think of any other reason, unless you're just eating at the wrong times. You've probably just got a slow metabolism paired with one of the first things I mentioned.