not sure what I'm doing wrong

S

snoopy990

New member
Hello,

I thought I'd go to the experts (or at least people that know better than me!)

I've been trying to lose some weight, maybe 10-15 pounds at the most. I just have a little bit of a gut that I would like to just go away is all. I have a treadmill at home which I use every day. I just thought I'd see if any of you could offer some tips/advice - I've been running every day for a month now and have not yet lost any weight.

Here are all the necessary facts:

I'm a 31-yr-old male, 5'11" and currently about 175 (would like to be about 160-65 which I understand is more in line with where I should be).

Every day I get up at 5:15. I usually eat a quick bowl of mini wheats (I was told I should eat before I run, not the other way around), then down to the treadmill. I run for a set time of 25 minutes at 6.7 MPH (which amounts to about 2.8 miles). I then shower and head to work (desk job).

I'm usually to work by 7:30 but am already feeling hungry about 8:00, so I bring along a granola bar (it says it's 90 calories), and one Clif bar (flavor varies each day). These two things can usually tide me over until lunch at about 11:00. I usually eat at Au Bon Pain and have either one sandwich/wrap, or a half sandwich/bowl of soup (also I bring along a can of La Croix mineral water). I don't eat again until dinner that evening, usually around 6:30, and after dinner I don't eat again before bed at 10:00. I also drink quite a bit of water throughout the day. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Again, I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or if any of that can be tweaked, but any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks!
 
Well, the bottom line is that you can exercise until you turn blue and fall over, but if you're eating more calories than you burn, you won't lose weight. :)

Don't get me wrong, exercise is good for all kinds of reasons. Don't quit running. But if you're lookign to lose weight, you have to get control of your diet. I don't mean diet as in "go on a ... " but in a more holistic sense of "what you eat every day".

Do you know how many calories you eat every day? Do you know much much protein you eat? Or what percentage of your calories are carbs and fat?

My first bit of advice would be to register with one of the free sites like fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and start logging your food. You'll see pretty quickly how much you eat, and how your macro nutrients are divided between carbs/protein/fat.

Also, if you're close to a "normal" weight and you're just looking to "tone up" and get that fit look, you'll be better served by lifting weights and doing body resistance work to build / maintain lean muscle mass and burn more fat.

Don't get me wrong, cardio can be useful in burning calories, but overall, you want to combine a healthy diet with weight lifting with cardio ... in that order ... so that you can maximize results! :)
 
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