Hi everyone I'm hoping for a bit of help & advice, I have gained allot of weight recently, I was never one for eating allot however I was eating the wrong things and not really exercising at all however about 6 weeks ago I decided to make a move and try get in shape first abit about me:

Height: 5ft 6
Age: 25
Weight: 190lbs
Clothing size: 16 or 18 depending
Goal weight:135lbs
Goal clothing size (this is more important to me than weight): 12

My daily diet not is (I don't want to diet per say just change to healthy eating for good)

Breakfast: Cheerios w whole organic milk & apple

Lunch: Tomato & Basil soup & 2 piece wholemeal bread, Blueberries

Dinner: 90gm baby spinach, carrot batons, broccoli, half red pepper & 1 chicken thigh. Glass whole organic Milk

Late snack 2 handfuls red grapes & cup tea with milk

I drink 2 to 4 liters of water everyday.

Exercise wise I am limited to what I can do as I have injury to my tail bone however the last 5 weeks I have been doing 5 miles on cross trainer which was taking 35-40 mins & walking between 2-6 miles a day however I dont seem to have lost any weight on the scales , my shape has changed slightly clothes some fitting better some lose but not enough to get into smaller size as yet.

As of yesterday I have started doing 10 miles on cross trainer everyday which takes approx 1hour 10mins doing it as soon as I get up now 1 hour before breakfast(was previously doing it in afternoon) also am doing ab circle pro for 3 mins per day (I know it not what advertised however I can't do sit ups/crunches due to my back) still be walking between 2 & 6 miles per day is this enough to get losing?

I am hoping to get to 140lbs by Christmas and fit in size 12 do you think this is achievable given my plan? I'm desperate to take my son swimming he is 11 months however I currently would not be confident to wear swimming costume.

Thanks in advance xx

Just on a quick reading, I would say that you're probably not eating enough based on the amount of physical activity you're doing and this will be the reason you're not losing. Obviously fundamentally, if you don't eat much, and work out, then you'll lose weight eventually, but I think you need to up your carb and protein intake slightly.
I would also suggest eating before you work out, as your body will be lacking fuel therefore won't work out as efficiently as it would.

Quick question, does your diet vary or are you sticking to the same food every day?

There are a lot of well-informed ladies on these boards who will be able to give you more information about the diet.

Hi & thanks for that, as far as water intake and fruit etc that stays the same as does cheerios for breakfast, lunch i sometimes have tomato & basil soup other times lentil and some days scrambled egg with wholemeal toast, dinner veg is always the same but some times i have wild pink salmon instead of the chicken, once a week have spaghetti bolognese with wholemeal pasta, omelette or barbecue chicken fajita.

I was eating before exercise until yesterday but was told if I do my cardio first then wait till an hour later to eat as this way i will born more body fat? I'm not by any strach still hungry tbh I am eating way more than I was previously just the right stuff not shore I would manage to eat anymore as already really full what if had an extra glass or 2 of organic whole milk?


xx

If you change from whole milk to nonfat (Skim) milk you will save several calories a day depending how much you drink.
whole milk - 8 oz = 150 calories
Non fat - 8 oz - 90 calories

Hi thanks for that, i know can help lose weight by having skim & semi skimmed milk however they have been proven to lower fertility & can in fact cause infertility (told this by fertility specialists)you are advised to have whole milk, we tried for 5 years for our son & went down the IVF route, we will be doing the IVF again early next year TTC 2 so whilst I want to lose weight & be healthy not at the expense of my reproductive health

xx

Is your weight post-baby weight? As you're saying that what you're eating is more than you normally would, I'm wondering where the weight gain started from?

I have never heard this.

I've never heard that about skim milk either--I drink only skim and I even have endometriosis but I have 3 children, including twins. At any rate, we had our last child, now 3 months old, after I lost 60 lbs and my menstrual cycle straightened out. I do agree that it seems you are eating too few calories. Try a website like Spark People or MyFitnessPal to figure out how many calories you should be taking in based on your level of activity. Best of luck with your goals!

Maybe the fertility specialists meant that women who are underweight have more trouble conceiving, and removing a source of fat in the diet could be correlated with that? Sometimes the source of the information they're quoting is utterly irrelevant to the patient in front of them. I highly doubt that skim milk causes infertility.

Have you tried using the Fertility Awareness Method to track your cycles and see what information it uncovers? If you're interested, and it's highly recommended, Taking Charge of Your Fertility is the book to get hold of. It's very popular, you should be able to pick it up for pennies on eBay or Amazon.

Sorry to question you, but is your exercise correct?
Like 10 miles - 16 km on a cross trainer in 1 hour 10 minutes?

I use these a few times a week with the last probably 4 months, and in an hour, at level 6 or 7, approx 130 rpm or faster, i range total distance between 3 - 4km (1.8 - 2.5miles and burn approx 600-650 calories). Either my cross trainer computer is not working at all, or vice versa, but 10 miles in just over an hour seems alot. Put this into context, if you ran as quick as you go on cross trainer, you would complete a marathon in less than 3 hours 4 minutes.

Anyway apologies for questioning you, this is'nt to show you up at all, I am just trying to be honest, I dont want you to have false information, and base your calories required around this (calculators use exercise to calculate daily calorie limit), either way, very best of luck with it all, and dont be afraid to ask.