Food/metabolism problem

Hello everybody!

I have a slight problem with my metabolism I´ve been wondering quite a while about it.
First some critical info about me:

I have always been doing a lot of sports, excercises and movement.
I am not overeating.
I don´t drink litres of beer or other s**t like Coke and stuff.
I don´t eat at fastfoods.
Yes, I sometimes eat even at night, but those are not some super-fat/sweet things.
I tend to eat a lot of vegetables.
I don´t eat a lot of meat. Occasionaly ribs (like 4x a year). Othervise only chicken, fish.
I goto the gym like 3x a week.

Still everything I eat seems to have an immediate effect on my body. Only when I used to do latino dancing and I spent about 30 hours/week on trainings(that is A LOT of cardio), only then I had a perfect condition.
But even with all the fact given, I am all the time like 5 - 7 kilos overweight and I cant understand why! It really makes me uneasy. I just don´t understand it. My mate eats the whole time. Anything.. most of the guys do. I ear probably the most healthy way out of them all, but still I am experiencing these difficulties.
I really dunno what to do. I used to keep a very powerful diet, but it is really very difficult to stick to it. It worked but after a few months, it was back. I am not going to just settle with the status quo. So please suggestions or advices are most welcome. My mood when I have my optimal weight and the mood with +6 kilo is a big difference to me. This really drains my power.
I feel like my body isn´t able to use the food the right way. I buy more quality products and a lotof raw stuff, but still.. Almost after anything that I eat comes the feeling of being heavy, sleepy and exhausted.
However I don´t want to become vegan or something. First, the balance is important and second, I like to eat different meals for its taste. I like eating. It just doesn´t like me.

Thank you, guys, for helping me out.

The_Protagonist

If you eat more calories than you use, you'll gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than you use, you'll lose weight. That's true regardless of your metabolism.

Given that you feel you're already exercising plenty and eat healthily, my first suggestion would be to spend a week making a very detailed diary of what you eat. Including what you drink, the size of your portions, any sauce, any snacks you have, everything. It could well be that you are eating more calories than you think you are. Eg you say one of the main meats you eat is chicken . . . but there's a huge difference between some slices of lean roast chicken, and friend chicken with a fat based sauce.

Also if you're eating three large meals a day with lots of glasses of pure fruit juice and an occassional snack or two, that could be a lot more calories than snacking (either healthily or unhealthily) all day long and drinking water. If you drink drinks that have "no added sugar" then you're probably drinking sweeteners . . . which have the side effect of increasing your appetite and thus encouraging you to eat high calorie snacks.

So, yeah, the first step is probably being aware of exactly how much you tend to eat, including overlooked things like snacks and sauce and drinks. Knowing what exercise you take is also important, but it's a bit harder to work out how much energy you're spending, so I'd suggest starting with the food.

Archer Wrote:If you eat more calories than you use, you'll gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than you use, you'll lose weight. That's true regardless of your metabolism.

This. Yes. I have a naturally very slow metabolism, but when I started watching my calories (combined with walking nightly) the weight came off easily. And now, I have lost over 55 pounds since January. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s -->

If you're really concerned about the weight Pro, visit your family doc to see where you fall in the weight range group. Maybe you're simply thinking you're heavier than you actually are.

Yes I understand that food prepared in different ways has different calories. I just wanted to make a point of approx. am I eating. I wouldn´t even count with something that you wrote <!-- s:-) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":-)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:-) --> Also I drink mostly water, sometimes milk (again, not with fat). Probably the truth will be that I eat a lot of calories despite this all. However it is really unbelievable for me. Anyway, thank you for your thoughts.

The_Protagonist Wrote:Also I drink mostly water, sometimes milk (again, not with fat).

Even fat free milk is high in calories! Calories can easily get out of control so be leery of portion size as things like cookies have a serving size of 2 for usually around 120 calories. It's very easy to eat too many calories in a day, more than you burn which as Archer said, causes you to gain weight. Trust me, I was there!

I know, I trust you. It is really problematic. I remember myself writing down specific amount of everything for that diet. I just hope that diary will help me. It sounds like a good idea to observe it. I´ve never tried it before. Thank you for this idea

Oh quick note..

Mom and her hubby work with food. They create a solution that one adds to fish and white meat to increase it's shelf-life and end product weight. Their solution is made of herbs and salts and is safer, more natural, and less "chemical" than what most companies currently use.

One of the things they've been marketing a fair bit is a solution for chicken. In doing so they've learned some rather horrible things.

Chicken is often injected with excessive amounts of salt AND sugar!
This is because it makes it's flavor a little sweeter and much more intense.
It's what makes chicken "taste like chicken" in MANY modern countries.

Standalone chicken-breast tends to be the worst.

Why am I stating this?
Well, someone mentioned chicken.. but also..
There may be "hidden" calories in what you're eating.
Read all ingredients lists of everything you ever eat, look for these things.

And don't fret over kilos. Go to a professional and have your body fat percentage measured.
Kilos are a poor measure of health.

Genetics can and does play a large factor in one's ability to gain/lose/maintain weight, metabolism, where one's weight sits, etc.

Seraphyna Wrote:Genetics can and does play a large factor in one's ability to gain/lose/maintain weight, metabolism, where one's weight sits, etc.

Yes it does, it is a major contributing factor in how many calories you use, but the equation is the same regardless of genetics. Eat more than you use = gain weight, eat less than you use = loose weight.

Yes, but things like water weight don't go by the calorie equation.