Hi, this is my first post on this forum, but I'm starting to get pretty anxious as I've been pretty disciplined with my diet, yet still am not achieving satisfactory results. I've posted this topic on another board as I really could use any response.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, so thanks a ton in advance.
I'm not losing weight to improve my health dramatically per se, rather I would just like to better my appearance for the summer and beyond.
I am 18 years old, I weigh 150 pounds, and am 5'10.5.
After several half-assed attempts at dieting without exercise and then crash dieting, I developed a plan which I thought was pretty well thought-out, but my results apparently say otherwise.
I've calculated that I'm consuming, roughly, 1600 calories per day, 185 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 grams of total fat. I believe I'm meeting my calcium/vitamin A/potassium/vitamin D etc. levels while keeping sodium low as well.
I'll be honest in admitting that I don't know much of anything about how the body works, and although my caloric intake looks low on paper, I'm rarely, if ever, hungry.
In the morning I eat some yogurt with oatmeal, and my mid-day snack is just a banana just to keep me going. I have two meals upon arriving home, spread out between four or five hours, each consisting of a grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce, a bowl of pineapple/watermelon, a mug of herbal tea, some light lemonade, and a bottle or two of water.
I feel quite full after these meals, and I rarely have to resort to any snacks. I am able to drink 4 - 6 bottles of water per day as well.
Shortly before bed, I do 30 minutes of cardio/weight training which is followed by a glass of milk, a bottle of water, a banana, and sometimes a handful of almonds. On a good night, I get 5 hours of sleep, but i do not overeat while awake.
I've lost roughly five pounds, but in the past few weeks I've pretty much stagnated and my belly fat (non-alcoholic beer belly) remains almost totally unchanged.
I have never really looked into my protein/fat/carb percentages or anything like that as I figured that a restriction on my calories + dieting would be good enough. Maybe my metabolism isn't stimulated? Maybe I'm filling up on carbs? I really don't know.
Thanks again.