If you're trying to "lose weight," I'd like to give you a little hope today.
Let me say right up front that, unfortunately, there are some people for whom this won't be true in as drastic a sense as what I'm about to type. People with extremely slow metabolisms due to physical/hormonal issues will still see progress, but it will likely be a bit slower. I know it's not fair, and I hate it. But if this is you and you are consistent with the right things, you will see progress.
Now, to the point: If you are on a proper weight lifting program during your weight loss, then when you reach your goal body fat level and are consistent with the weight training, you won't have to worry as much about food.
I say this because food is such a huge part of a weight loss journey. Working out helps you burn some calories. Strength training helps you achieve the body you probably want, and increases your metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories), but if you don't get the food under control, you won't have the meaningful weight loss that you want. In order to lose weight (and what you really mean when you say that is that you want to lose body fat), then you have to consume fewer calories than you burn.
A solid workout may burn 500 calories. A single sandwich from a fast food restaurant can easily gift those calories right back to you. Workouts alone will NOT solve your body fat problem if your eating is out of control. This is because you are trying to LOSE. In order to make your body do something different, YOU have to do something different. And that something different is giving your body fewer calories. This can look so many different ways, and that's a different topic, but it must happen.
Once you hit that goal, though, and sometimes even before, you are no longer trying to LOSE, but are trying to MAINTAIN. And what you will find if you are weight training is that you can consume more calories and not gain.
I'll use myself as an example here. I'm 30, and my metabolism is not what it was in the past. Unlike when I was 20, if I go absolutely crazy on food, I do see body fat appear that wasn't there before, especially in my torso.
But, the only thing I typically pay significant attention to in my diet is protein. I make sure I get a lot of that, and I try to eat pretty high carb to fuel my workouts. But unless I'm actively trying to cut down a little, I don't track calories, eat small portion sizes, or turn down doughnuts. I eat well, but I eat what I want. Then I go lift increasingly heavier weights, burn a ton of calories, continue to increase my muscle mass and improve my body composition, and don't gain large amounts of fat. When I go up a percentage or two and want to bump it back down, I count calories for a week or two to put myself into the deficit, then I get right back to normal.
Losing is hard. Maintaining isn't as hard. Keep this in mind, fight hard now to make this progress, and get to place where you don't have to concern yourself so much with your food.
Message me with questions!
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