Trying to lose weight and tone but it's making me look and feel awful

[CrispsCrispsCrisps]

I have been healthy eating since April salads, porridge and 3 eggs, plenty of fish and chicken and salad. Eating small portions 4 times a day, 3 litres of water, 2 teas and a green tea. Don't eat cakes or sweet food anymore and no carbs.

Started with 2 personal trainer sessions a week now 3 sessions for the last 3 weeks. I have lost weight off my face only and have found that my skin always looks dark on my face and have brown spots on my forehead, dark circles under my eyes, always feel really tired and wake up throughout the night more. I also get headaches.

I'm trying to lose weight and tone up but why am I feeling like this and looking this way?

Could you give us a typical day's food and a summary of exercise that you do in a week?

I do cardio three times a week with the PT and drink loads of water, eat fruit and light, high protein low carb meals

Are you sure you're eating enough calories for all the cardio you're doing? You don't want the deficit to be too great, just enough to burn off some stored fat while you build muscle.

try eating more carbs

How much weight have you lost ? It sounds like you have cut back too much, speak to your trainer about your food but yes adding back some carbs would probably help.
In order to make your weight loss long term sustainable it needs to be something you can do for life your current regime sounds too intense.

More specific info would be useful, it doesnt sound like your diet is great if you are looking and feeling ill...you don't mention vegetables except salad, they are an important source of carbs in the absence of starchy carbs, your body needs a source of energy and this comes from carbs. You also don't say how much protein you are eating, this is also vital to body repair and maintenance. Do you know how many calories you are eating and how this breaks down between carbs, fat, protein?

And fat is also important (to consume, not cut out), you don't mention that at all!

The PT says eat small but regular eat porridge and eggs for breakfast, things like chicken salad, chicken again or eat everything meat like chicken or beef or turkey. Everything is meaty.

My diet would be porridge an 3 boiled eggs, those packet chicken salads, 3 types of fruit like kiwi, grapes and banana (which he tells me off about apparently should only eat one portion of fruit) a cereal bar (which he says is bad) 3pm ish tuna salad again in evening tuna and salad or chicken and salad again or veg or jacket pot. It's always meat and apparently to him I don't eat enough meat still. Should eat it every meal

I have lost a stone since April

My ribs and everything hurt and i have a headache all the time

Hi crisps sounds as if your pt is hard core. Did you have much weight to lose ie what's your bmi ?
I have or once a week I do other exercise in between but I find the sessions very intense and even if I could afford it more frequently I don't think it would give my body time to recover.
Bottom line is you need to listen to your body, you are either not getting enough nutrients or calories at the minute or you are overexercising.

Darn kindle fire it should read that I have personal trainer once a week

I think your diet sounds very unbalanced. You need about 20-35% protein, up to 25% fat (healthy ones, avocado, oily fish etc) then lots of vegetables, some whole grain carbs, oats, brown rice, and a bit of fruit. Also lots of water.

You need carbs, fat and protein to be able to burn off stored fat and make more muscle, and you need to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need. You also need to make sure that you're getting enough calories into you to almost cover all the cardio you're doing. About a 15% deficit works wonders for me, and is easily sustainable without hunger. That means on a cardio heavy day, I have to eat more.

You should eat protein with every meal, I'd agree with that, but it doesn't have to be meat! It sounds like you have cut down on too many fronts, good to cut the processed carbs but you have to increase veg and good fat. Myfitnesspal is a great tool to give you a picture of the composition of your diet as well as calories consumed, try logging on there for a week and see what it shows.

I would adjust the diet a bit, it obviously isn't doing you good, even if you are losing weight on it.

How about having

-two boiled eggs with a slice of buttered rye toast for breakfast
-Or have some spinach or asparagus topped with butter and poached eggs, with smoked salmon for a treat maybe
-or some full fat Greek yoghurt with berries and a handful of raw nuts (or add berries and nuts to porridge). Berries are lower sugar than most other fruits.

Make sure your salad at lunch has good fat in it...eg avocados, olive oil dressing. Add cheese or fish to mix up the source of protein (make it oily fish like salmon or mackerel at least twice a week). If you didn't have eggs for breakfast make an omelette with 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites and fill with chopped veg, some cheese if you like, or another source of protein. Salad on the side. Make a spicy tuna or chicken (incidentally, turkey is higher in protein than chicken if you can get hold of it) wrap with salad and yoghurt dressing.

Evenings I would personally try and avoid carbs (other than in veg). But choose quinoa, lentils, pulses over white carbs if you want them.

Snacks - half an avocado, celery sticks spread with a small spoonful of peanut butter, a palmful of raw nuts, (especially almonds), a protein shake made with milk, crudités with houmous, a small banana to boost sugar levels, a couple of squares of dark chocolate. Ditch the cereal bar.

X post with mrsmango!

Does the pt only have you doing cardio or are they including resistance training?

I think you should be eating more red meat.

Ooh I'm hungry now thinking about poached aggs with asaparagus! Off to the kitchen! :)

Cos basically he's got you on a muscle building diet and if you're only doing cardio it's the wrong diet.

i would change PT. Hes a trainer, not a dietician. Your body is telling you something isnt right.

I was thinking that too Rhonda, he's got her on a bodybuilder pre-competition diet and also doesn't seem to be doing any weight training with her to boot . He sounds a bit shit to be honest OP

I tried eating no carbs twice - both times for around 2 months. I felt really terrible, had no energy at all and lost nearly no weight. I have no idea why people promote this diet. It can't possibly be good for you and in many cases it doesn't work. I think the only way to loose weight is to eat a well-balanced diet, lower your calories and exercise regularly.

Glad I'm not the only one who's thinking perhaps another pt would be a good start.

I think it sounds as though you're eating too much protein. It can put a big strain on your kidneys. And are you drinking too much water? You don't actually need the much-touted 2 litres a day in addition to other food and drink - it's 2 litres TOTAL.

I'm really surprised a PT is also just concentrating on cardio. Resistance training like weights would be much more suitable. And like everyone else has said, more good fats, good carbs and a good one day a week where you treat yourself to cheesy pasta and cake. Protein at every meal is great but like has also been said this doesn't have to be meat. There are PTs and PTs. You can do a very short course and call yourself a PT. Yours doesn't sound great tbh. Well done for doing this though - just make sure you're doing it healthily.