Not losing weight

I am an 18 year old male, and weight about 210. I am muscular but I have a stomach on me. I've been trying to lose weight for over a month now. I play basketball for atleast an hour a day, along with an hour of weight lifting and a twenty minute cardio session after that (normally on a bike). I quit drinking soda and other drinks and now only drink water, fat free milk, and an occasional gatorade. I eat less then I use too with minimal snacks. I have not lost any weight in a month. WHat am I doing wrong?

[claytex]

Nick: Id guess your probably still eating too much. I would suggest buy a calorie book at a book store..  It will have the calories of all kinds of foods  for each serving.  I would also suggest that you write down everything you eat each day and determine how many calories your eating daily.  It also helps to plan your meals ahead of time so that you know before hand how many calories your going to eat that day. You dont have to eat much of some foods to keep from losing weight.  You can purchase the calorie counter book in a paper back at most any book store... Id also suggest that you try eating 1,500to 1,600 calories daily.  Most males usually use or burn about 2400 calories daily.  The exercise that your getting lifting weights and playing basket ball will burn 300-400 calories per hour.. So im going to estimate that your burning 2700 to 2800 calories daily.  If you eat 1500 calories daily and burn 2700 daily.. your calorie usage will be a negative 1200 calories.  Losing one pound of body fat is equal to about 3500 calories...soooo  with a negative 1200 calories per day it would take you about 3 days to lose one pound or in other words if you can maintain the 1200 calories of negative intake you should drop about 2 pounds per week.. These figures are just estimates..but I think they are pretty close to being correct...botton line is figure out how many calories your eating daily and how many calories your using and keep in mind that one pound of body fat is equal to about 3500 calories...and it helps lots to plan your meals  ahead of time ...stick to the plan.. snaks that are not part of your meal plan are a killer.... I will add that it is real difficult to lose any weight if you eat sweets, fried foods or fast foods..Go on line and find a healty diet... eat mostly vegatibles, and fruits.. some fish or chicken is ok if its baked ..or broiled... not fried...It takes a lifestyle change to lose it and keep it off. I lost about 60 lbs about 20 years ago and have kept it off... It took a complete lifestyle change to do it.. and by that ..  I mean daily exercise and eating heatlhy foods.. if you make the changes you will most likely have a long and healthy life.. Hope this helps  Claytex

[claytex]

Nick: One other thing I forgot... Drinking LOTS of water helps in losing weight... You should be drinking a minimum of 100 ozs per day.. or at least 3 quarts.. and be sure and drink the water all through the day..not a whole lot at once...again Hope this is some help... Claytex

[Nick1523]

Thanks man, I drink about 8-10 16.9 oz waters a day, alond with 0 calorie sobe water. I'm in college now which is why the eating part is tough. Also I'm not "fat" considering i can max bench 295 lbs and don't get too winded while playing basketball. I figure it's from the unhealthy food they serve at college. If you know of any diet plans that are succesful that would help a lot because I've never been on a strict diet. Thanks again

[gymdandee]

Make sure eat Only the complex carbs and not the simple ones.

[claytex]

Dear Nick:  Personally I never did much good using any of the diet plans.  Ultimately, I had to change the way I eat.  For one to be sucessful over the long run I feel a lifestyle change is all that will work.. bottom line is we just have to change the way we eat daily and once you get used to it...its not a problem.  It takes effort and educating your self on which foods are healty and which foods are not healthy.  I  am almost 70 years old and did not even try to eat healthy until I was in my mid 30s.. I developed high blood pressure then and was sort of forced to change my lifestyle.. In my mid 50s I started developing some health problems related to my earlier lifestyle... I was able to deal with them easier since I had changed my lifestyle earlier... however the problems were still there.. I had Atril Fibrillation (Heart) but have since gotten it fixed..I would give anything if I had started my healthy lifestyle when I was your age or before.. Believe me if you will do it now .... you will avoid some of the health problems that most in our society now develope by their mid fifties.. ie diabetes, cardiovascular and cancer problems... I have learned that a vegetarian life style is the most healthy... you may not want to do that... however one can eat mostly vegitables and fruits and some fish and poulty and be very healthy... I guess Im writing more than you asked for... but  now at70.... my life would have been much more fun had I not had to deal with some of the health problems from my mid fifties until now .. and they are almost all related to diet.  I will add that Im healthier than most 70 year olds now.. thanks to chaning my lifestyle when I did.. but in the mean time I had to deal with heart issues and cancer... all of which i have taken care of but not with out spending lots of time in hospitals and doctors offices...Hope this helps.. I wish you the very best... Claytex