Struggling to lose weight.

[Ssurvive03]

Age: 23
Weight: 204.0 lbs
Height: 5'7"
Male

I'm trying my best to get my weight down in the 185 range (or lower) and tone up my body, but I can't seem to get any results.
I was about 218lbs at the beginning of June, and now I'm 204lbs, so obviously I'm losing weight...but for the drastic changes I've made to my diet and workout plan, I feel like my weight loss and muscle gain should be much more significant.

I was eating 2500+ calories a day, drinking alcohol daily and not working out.

Now I eat 1,200 - 2000 calories a day (depends on the day), less carbs, more fruits, vegetables, protein...I mainly only drink on the weekends and when I do drink, it's only a couple...and I work out most days of the week.

I don't drink soda (minus an energy drink in the mornings). I only drink water/sparkling water.

My workouts are different each week and they focus on different areas of my body depending on the day (i.e. back, shoulders, arms, legs, etc.) And on M, W and F, I also run and do sprints...

I see almost no physical change in my body...the scale says I've lost weight, but my body looks/feels the same and it's very discouraging.

When I went to basic training in 2017, I was 230...by the time I left basic training and advanced training (7 months total) I was 175lbs. With most of that weight being taken off in basic training. So what's the deal? Can anyone help me out here and help me to figure out what I need to accelerate my weight loss and muscle gain and ACTUALLY see results?

TLDR; I've changed my eating and workout habits and don't see much change. What can I do?

SORRY ITS SO LONG

[Ghawk21]

Sounds like you need to be more patient and tighten up the calorie range, 800 cal swings is pretty large. Figure out what total you need to lose around 1lb per week. If you haven't started lifting weights then start now. I highly suggest reading some of the sticky threads in the nutrition forum, it should help clarify some of your preconceived notions of how weightloss works. You can't expect the same results you achieved during basic unless your current lifestyle is the same as it was during basic which I assume it isn't even close.

Also its been 2 months which is practically nothing in the grand scheme of things. You didn't get overweight in 2 months, you won't get super fit in 2 months either.

[snailsrus]

Basic you probably lost weight cause they give you 5 minutes to eat meals and your exercising all the time. If you didn’t eat like an insane beast during chow hall time you probably were eating less. Having weight come off slowly is good not bad. Switch you energy drinks to diet energy drinks and if you have soda diet.

If you have a few-couple drinks on the week ends that can still add up to hundreds of calories. I’ve been trying to tell the hubby his 2 twisted tea drinks a day adds 800 calories, which with diet ice tea and 2 shots (about the same alcohol content) he could cut down the 800 cals to 140-180 cals. It’s easy to cut cals with drinks alcoholic or non-alcoholic you can make this pina colada virgin or not with whey for under 200 cals https://www.hungry-girl.com/recipes/perfect-pina-colada

[MarcusFitPro]

Great calorie reduction! Try cutting the alcohol for a month (experiment with it) and see if there are any changes. I'm thinking something about this.

[xsquid99]

At 5'7" going from 218 to 204 is only a 14 lb change, and at both weights you're still very overweight so I wouldn't expect that you would see any drastic changes in the mirror. Its still not a bad change in roughly 2 months, so you definitely need to be patient and consistent with the process. Your first obvious changes will usually be in your face, then your clothes will start fitting a tad looser, and then you'll start noticing your belt size start to change. Most men will only lose 1 inch off their belly for every 7-10 lbs that they lose. I would make sure that you're taking weekly photos of yourself, that's when you'll definitely start to notice the trend over time.

That 800 calorie swing in your diet isn't helping matters either, because that really tells us that you're not actually tracking calories and that you're guestimating, so that 1200-2000 calories you think you're eating may very well be 1800-2500 calories since most people absolutely suck at estimating their intake.

The majority of your daily calories are burned outside of the gym, so take a long hard look at what you're doing the other 14-15 hours of the day that you aren't working out or sleeping. If you're being sedentary during that time then you need to consciously move more to counteract the effects of your body naturally wanting to move less in a calorie deficit. Walks are a great way to do this, when I'm cutting the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is throw on my shorts and take a 30-45 minute walk, which is also the last thing I do at the end of the day when I get home before I make dinner. My job is largely sedentary, so that helps ensure I'm getting some additional movement throughout the day.

Bottom line is you should just aim for a consistent 1-2 lbs a week of loss, and until you start getting pretty lean you're not going to notice really big changes. Its a long, painstaking process for everyone.

[gomil]

Age: 23
Weight: 204.0 lbs
Height: 5'7"
Male

Now I eat 1,200 - 2000 calories a day (depends on the day), less carbs, more fruits, vegetables, protein...I mainly only drink on the weekends and when I do drink, it's only a couple...and I work out most days of the week

As the guy above posted, 1200 - 2000 might actually be 2000 - 2500. Buy a food scale and tack calories meticulously; don't keep junk food at home.

[SuffolkPunch]

If I've got this right, it's 14lbs in 10 weeks - not so bad. Just keep going. As mentioned, don't have wild calorie swings, just eat around the same each day.