Hi guys,

So I'm 21 years old and I'm about 5'4 and weigh about 179 pounds. I need to lose about 30-40 pounds fast. I never really cared about my weight last year.. I Drank all the time, ate out all the time and never really cared about what I was about to eat. This year, I told myself I'm going to lose weight!

So, I quit drinking and eating out and started the gym. I work out about 4 times a week at the least and do up to an hour's worth of cardio and then 15-30 minutes strength training. I still haven't noticed any weight loss... I was just wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong here?? I Started the gym on January 15th and I cut out junkfood starting 2 weeks ago.

Any help/motivation will help. Thank you:)

Hey there Carebear99!
Have you checked if you've lost centimeters? I'm 21 myself and Recently I've started getting way more exercise than I use to, up to the point of dropping 2 pants sizes, but when I finally got to a scale after 4 months I found I hadn't lost "weight" at all despite shrinking away in the waist. My friend says that all the extra exercise may cause me to loose centimeters but it the reason I hadn't lost physical weight was because I'd gained Muscle mass.
I'm not expert on weight loss though, but keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat :)
I say keep at it! The scale might not always tell you what's happening, Me and my friend who've both been exercising like crazy and lost a size or two know this from experience
Keep at it! And Many kudos for taking a positive step to getting healthy!

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Originally Posted by Carebear99

Hi guys,

So I'm 21 years old and I'm about 5'4 and weigh about 179 pounds. I need to lose about 30-40 pounds fast. I never really cared about my weight last year.. I Drank all the time, ate out all the time and never really cared about what I was about to eat. This year, I told myself I'm going to lose weight!

So, I quit drinking and eating out and started the gym. I work out about 4 times a week at the least and do up to an hour's worth of cardio and then 15-30 minutes strength training. I still haven't noticed any weight loss... I was just wondering if there's something i'm doing wrong here??? I Started the gym on January 15th and I cut out junkfood starting 2 weeks ago.

Any help/motivation will help. Thank you:)

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You are doing nothing wrong..
If you really are consistent about losing 30 to 40 pounds try running.
I see that you have been doing cardio and strength training. When you do, do this. Do you sweat at the end of your work out?
You really need to burn yourself out with your cardio to get great results.
Strength training is good but depending on what your doing with it. Keep in mind that you will lose body fat and replace it with muscle. Have you tried circuit training? If not have a look at this.
Circuit Training Workout I
We do this for PT every other day. This works well and I have seen over weight people loss weight. Keep in mind it all depends what you put into it. Hope it works for you. Please keep me posted.

First things first... are you really pushing yourself at the gym? I say this as many of the people I work with (I train people on the side) will tell me that they "work out a lot"... then I look at their routine and think, "they could have done just as much exercise walking their dog..." so. Are you working yourself a little bit harder than "walking your dog?"

Also, although working out is important, so is your diet. Without changing your diet, you can't expect to see many changes. I understand you cut out junk food and stopped eating out, but have you tried to eat healthier around the house? Have you cut out sodas, coffee, and juices as well?

Losing weight is considerably hard work. As long as you keep up with it, however, you'll see results really soon (6 - 8 weeks).

Take a look at what you eat around the house... roughly estimate your daily calorie intake. If you want to lose weight, take in anywhere between 1500 - 1800 calories a day... which is much harder for a college student.

This is what I eat:

Breakfast: bowl of cereal with skim milk
Brunch: protein bar or fruit (I usually take a banana to class)
Lunch: salad
Mid lunch/dinner: I usually go to the gym around this time, so I take a protein shake with me
Dinner: grilled chicken or fish with steamed veggies
Late night snack: I usually have an apple

The first 2 weeks of eating like this drove me... insane. But after the second week, I got used to it (relatively). My roommates will still order 4 lbs of wings and 2 large pizzas... and I occasionally dabble in it, but after changing diet + working out 6 days a week, I noticed a HUGE change in the way I look. Lost roughly 12 lbs.

Best of luck to you.

I think you are doing great -- cut out pop - cut out snacks

Weight+Loss | eHow Search

A healthy body is needed to lose weight -- exercise is very important

Eating fruits and veggies are fine tuning -- cut out on fats

Hey guys thanks for the words of advice...

And Yes, I have cut out juices and pop. The only thing I drink right now is 2 litres of water daily and sometimes I have to have 1 cup of coffee. I tried cutting out coffee completely but it was too hard so I've gone from drinking 3 cups a day to just 1 in the mornings for now.. I will slowly get rid of that habit.

I never used to eat fruits either but now I have up to 3 fruit servings daily. And I love vegetables so that's no problem and the only type of meat I eat is Grilled or Baked chicken and baked Salmon.

I guess I should take my measurements and wait it out a month and see if I lost inches, Since the scale doesn't tend to move! I'll keep you guys posted... Thanks again!

Try walking.. drink drink tea.