Trying to find consistent weight loss

Question
Tim,

I'm trying to find a consistent way to lose weight. I recently went from 242 pounds all the way down to 214 pounds. All this happened when I was unemployed, looking for work, but also exercising a lot more and eating less.

Since I've been working again, I've gained 15 pounds. I'm hungry all the time, I never get full when I do eat (whether I'm eating right or not), and I'm sitting around for hours after I eat. I try to exercise as much as possible after work but that has produced only disappointing results. I've tried eating and drinking healthy, eating less, but nothing has worked.

So in short, what are some things that I can start doing to lose weight everyday? I'm trying to get down to 200 lbs. Thanks!

Answer
Hey Ross, thanks for writing in.
Can I ask what kind of work you do? Does it involve sitting at a desk? I once wrote an article dealing with that as a prime place to gain weight. But you do say you're eating right and trying to exercise.

The two questions I have for you are...

1. Do you eat enough? Sometimes we cut back thinking it will aide weightless but all it does is stall the metabolism.

2. How often do you eat? In a perfect world you should eat every 2-3 hours, not more than 4 hours between meals.

I'm not sure what you're eating but in general it is best to avoid sugar as much as you can. In relation to that diet soft drinks can cause weight gain as well believe it or not.
What types of carbohydrates do you eat? You want to avoid simple carbs from white flour, white bread, white rice, sugar.Stick with whole wheat carb sources and brown rice, sweet potato, whole wheat pastas, etc.
Then again too much of that stuff can hinder your progress as well depending on how you tolerate carbs. If you have a lower tolerance to starch then it is best to get most of your carbs from fibrous vegetable sources.

If you find your self hungry a lot you may need to eat more. Also make sure you get enough fat in your diet from healthy sources like fish, nuts, olive oils and things like flax seed/oil.

What do your workouts look like? You should be doing a combination of weights and cardio for the best results.

Sorry to be so vague here but there could be a wide array of reasons for your stalled progress.
Try to get in 30 minutes of resistance training 3 times a week and 25-30 minutes cardio after those workouts and if you can on the off days. Be sure to take a day or 2 active rest where you don't workout but are active in your day like running errands or playing a sport or taking a walk.

Feel free to write back in if you need more and you can check out my site at www.bestfitnessnow.com
There is a link on there to my fitness show. in the next week or so I'll be posting an episode that features a pretty intense workout that you can do in limited time and is great for fat burning. Like I said give me several days to get that out there as I'm in the process of shooting it.

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