A 130-lb goal
Q: Dear Donovan,
I am 23, 5 feet 3 inches and weigh about 150 pounds. My goal is to get down to 130 pounds. Since June of this year, I have been going to the gym four days per week, doing cardio and core strength workouts, but nothing seems to be working. I have also tried to eat healthier by having oatmeal for breakfast, a cup of whole grain cereal by 10:00 am, protein and boiled ground provisions by midday, and a fruit or yoghurt in the evening after I have completed my 90-minute session at the gym. Throughout the day, I will have three 500ml bottles of water. I neither drink juice nor any other type of beverage, except for a single bottle of beer on a Saturday evening. According to the scale, my weight has not budged. Please tell me what I am doing wrong.
A: Like all aspects of life, if you are doing your best and you are not getting any results it means you will have to make some changes with your approach. If you continue to do the same things repeatedly, the results are likely to be the same.
You mentioned that you are trying to eat healthy and do your exercise programme. Let us review what you are doing with a view of getting weight loss.
Your current diet has a lot of carbohydrates such as boiled foods, cereals and whole grains. They might be healthy, but contain a lot of calories. Therefore, for starters you will have to reduce your food/ calorie intake. This can be done by doing portion control or replacing some of the foods you are now eating. My suggestion is that you could have yoghurt or fruits for breakfast instead of cereal or whole grains. Also, for lunch or dinner, instead of protein and ground provisions, you could do a light soup or protein and vegetable salad. You can also incorporate green juice as a mid-morning snack. This will help with your weight loss programme as well as improve your health.
The aim is to reduce the calorie intake and, at the same time, be as healthy as possible. If your calorie input is roughly the same as your calorie output, then roughly no weight loss will take place. In addition, you will have to be careful with your exercise programme. If you build muscles this could affect the weight change on the scale. Muscles are more compact and dense than fat. Therefore, it is better to do more cardiovascular type exercise during the weight loss programme. You could go back to muscle-building-type exercises for toning after you have completed your 20-pound weight loss. Good luck.
We will answer your weight- related questions
Are you struggling to lose weight or just need some advice on living a healthier life? Tell us about your health issues and we’ll have nutritionist and wellness coach Donovan Grant answer them for you. Grant has over 12 years experience in the fitness industry and is the owner of DG’s Nutrition and Wellness Centre, Suite 16, 39 Lady Musgrave Road, Kingston 5. Send your questions to clarkep@jamaicaobserver.com.
