Can't seem to drop those pounds

[deposeni]

Hey all, I'm pretty new and am in serious need of some help - I'm 18 years old, 169-172lb, 5'7" and have been playing DDR (Stepmania) for at least 30 minutes a day, at least 3-4 times a week for the past three weeks and have not seen a difference in weight at all.

I did this before a few months ago, and only dropped 10lb (And got major shin splints because of it - but i've learned to not stomp ever since)


Am I doing something wrong? I watch what I eat (Under 1500cal a day, low fat), I drink TONS of water, and play 150+ bpm or high voltage songs.

I really want to loose weight, and fast... Help?




Should I start going to the gym? What should I start doing there? I do NOT want to gain ANY muscle til I'm down to 135-145lb (Healthy for my height and body structure), so I mainly want cardio - racketball? Stair machine?



What about foods? I've been thinking about foods I can make (I'm a cook , in a way ) for cheap, but still be good tasting and healthy - all I have so far is 'Creamy chicken and rice' (Mexican/multi-colored rice) - its low fat, low calorie, and GOOD.




Errr also... Yoga? I have yet to find a good, free site on yoga - I'm not exactly rich, so I don't have money to dish out on all those yoga videos

[Zealot]

well, what level are you doing? usually anything below standard wont get you fast results. Also don't be discouraged, it took me about 4 months to lose the 40-50lbs that I lost. Just make sure you dont drink soft drinks, and if you do make sure it's in moderation, might wanna try playing for an hour instead of 30minutes... again depending on your level.

[deposeni]

Thanks - I've been playing the lowest level possible - could that be why?

I don't drink soft drinks or anything like that either.

Back to the level - does it matter if I play lowest level 180-240 bpm songs? Or does it have to be higher up in order to show any difference in weight

[abrannan]

Deposeni said:

Hey all, I'm pretty new and am in serious need of some help - I'm 18 years old, 169-172lb, 5'7" and have been playing DDR (Stepmania) for at least 30 minutes a day, at least 3-4 times a week for the past three weeks and have not seen a difference in weight at all.

I did this before a few months ago, and only dropped 10lb (And got major shin splints because of it - but i've learned to not stomp ever since)

Am I doing something wrong? I watch what I eat (Under 1500cal a day, low fat), I drink TONS of water, and play 150+ bpm or high voltage songs.

I really want to loose weight, and fast... Help?

First of all, welcome! Let's see what we can do to help you out here. From your listed stats, your Base Metabolic Rate is 1,855 Calories/day, which means that, doing no exercise, you'll burn about 1,855 Calories just by being you. If you are truly eating under 1500 calories per day, you should be dropping about a pound every week and a half (1 pound of fat = 3500 Calories). So right off the bat, given the range of weight you gave, and the calories you eat, you may not notice a change in the scale over the three weeks you've been watching.

My first recommendation is for you to keep a food journal. Track every last thing you eat for a week or two, paying special attention to the amounts, and look up exactly how many calories you are eating. If you're estimating, you may be giving yourself a little more leeway than you think. It's real easy to underestimate by 200 calories for the day.

Plus, if you are drinking TONS of water each day like you say, you may have water weight keeping the scale numbers up. Keep drinking at least 64oz of water a day, though.

Should I start going to the gym? What should I start doing there? I do NOT want to gain ANY muscle til I'm down to 135-145lb (Healthy for my height and body structure), so I mainly want cardio - racketball? Stair machine?

First off, you can't exactly stop yourself from gaining *any* muscle. You exercise, you work your muscles, those muscles get microtears and recover, rebuilding the muscle you broke down. That's just how it works. Second, why do you not want to gain muscle 'till you hit your target weight? Each pound of muscle you gain burns an additional 50 calories/day, just for doing nothing. Gaining muscle now helps you get to your target weight faster.
Cardio will gain you less muscle than other exercise, though. I don't think there's any need to join a gym at this point. Also your healthy weight range is a bit larger than that (I've seen acceptable upper weight ranges from 150-160 for your height. I'm also 5'7")

What about foods? I've been thinking about foods I can make (I'm a cook , in a way ) for cheap, but still be good tasting and healthy - all I have so far is 'Creamy chicken and rice' (Mexican/multi-colored rice) - its low fat, low calorie, and GOOD.

Like I said above, keep a food journal for a week or so to see what kind of calorie intake you're really looking at. I thought I was around 1500 a day once, but when I really looked at it, I was actually at 1900/day. BIG difference there. Chicken and fish are good proteins to start with, and for flavor, a lot of spices and herbs have little to no calories. Mustard and hot sauce are also excellent "free" condiments. White Chicken or vegetarian chilis are also realy good foods. Soups help keep you feeling full longer than other foods too.

Errr also... Yoga? I have yet to find a good, free site on yoga - I'm not exactly rich, so I don't have money to dish out on all those yoga videos

Yoga is good, actually any kind of stretching is good. It helps prevent injuries, warms the body up, gets oxygen flowing in to your body. Check your local library for both yoga books and videos, you may be able to find them for free or for a small rental fee. The "Special Interest" section of your local video rental store may also have some yoga videos you can try.



All in all, I don't think you're in "serious need of help" as you message indicated. You just need to be patient. Weight loss is a long term process, and the closer you are to your goal weight, the harder it is to lose the pounds. I'd allow at least 6 months for you to drop the 25 pounds you want.

As far as DDR exersice selection, check your heart rate while you workout. There's an entry in my intro thread that talks about where you want your heart rate during your workout (The entry called Maximizing your workouts). Give it a read.

[abrannan]

Deposeni said:

Thanks - I've been playing the lowest level possible - could that be why?

I don't drink soft drinks or anything like that either.

Back to the level - does it matter if I play lowest level 180-240 bpm songs? Or does it have to be higher up in order to show any difference in weight

It's all about heart rate. Read the entry from my intro thread referenced in my previous message.

[deposeni]

Thanks I realize I can't get past the gaining of muscle, its just the last time I tried to loose weight my neck muscles got so big I couldn't breath, and I really REALLY don't want to be muscluar


I don't need to "join" a gym, I'm part of one already



Thanks for your journal it helped a bunch, I'm going to monitor my heart rate during my workouts, do more advanced songs (I've been avoiding 1/8ths and 1/16ths like the plague), and so on.




A little question before I go, theres pretty much no healthy food in my house, and I need some snacks, and a bunch of stuff I can make / freeze for later for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - heres what I have so far:



Granola bars
Pretzels
Wow! Chips
Baked tortilla chips and salsa
Beans
Peas
Carrots
Strawberries
Oranges
Brown rice - Whole grain
Barley - Whole grain
Wheaties (Cereal)
Skinless, boneless, low fat Tyson chicken breasts




Anything else I could make that would help me? I'm new to all of this diet stuff




Edit: Actually, whats a good site (Or program) thats free or under $10, that has a bunch of NORMAL (Not with lots and lots of unique or disgusting things that would only appeal to two types of people) recipes with the dietary facts, which lets you ORGANIZE by the dietary facts (High protein, fiber, and low fat, sugar)






Edit2: How many calories does 20 minutes of DDR burn? How can I tell? Whats DDR closest to? Aerobics? Martial Arts?

I just got a program that figures everything (BMR, calories to burn per day, food tracker, etc.) and I need to know.