Not Losing Weight

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hi

I’ve put on a little to much fat during winter and now am trying to get rid of it. I went from 205 to 230 at 6’1. I never had trouble losing weight, but now it seems to be more difficult than ever to actually drop any weight. My BF is around 15% . I’m following the 5/3/1 Program, which has been working for me for more than a year. I usually do some complexes at the end of the Bench and Press days.

My diet:
~2000 cal , 140g of Protein , 100g of Carbs, 120g of Fat)

Breakfast
4 Eggs, 1 Apple, 1 Piece of Fruit, 50g of Cheese

Snack 1 ( 200g of Cottage Cheese, etc.)

Lunch
150 g of lean protein ( chicken, turkey, fish) , 200g of vegetables/ salad)

Workout ( 50g of Whey after the workout , 5g of BCAA peri workout)

Evening
150 g of lean protein , 50 g of rice ( if I worked out)

Additional Supplements:

3g of fish oil
ZMA
Multivitamin

But somehow I’m not losing weight. Any ideas why?

2

[quote]ShunGokuSatsu wrote:

My diet:
~2000 cal , 140g of Protein , 100g of Carbs, 120g of Fat)

[/quote]
How long have you been eating this little?

3

[quote]JLone wrote:

[quote]ShunGokuSatsu wrote:

My diet:
~2000 cal , 140g of Protein , 100g of Carbs, 120g of Fat)

[/quote]
How long have you been eating this little?[/quote]

Three or four weeks. Refeed every 14 days

4

[quote]ShunGokuSatsu wrote:
Hi

I’ve put on a little to much fat during winter and now am trying to get rid of it. I went from 205 to 230 at 6’1. I never had trouble losing weight, but now it seems to be more difficult than ever to actually drop any weight. My BF is around 15% . I’m following the 5/3/1 Program, which has been working for me for more than a year. I usually do some complexes at the end of the Bench and Press days.

My diet:
~2000 cal , 140g of Protein , 100g of Carbs, 120g of Fat)

Breakfast
4 Eggs, 1 Apple, 1 Piece of Fruit, 50g of Cheese

Snack 1 ( 200g of Cottage Cheese, etc.)

Lunch
150 g of lean protein ( chicken, turkey, fish) , 200g of vegetables/ salad)

Workout ( 50g of Whey after the workout , 5g of BCAA peri workout)

Evening
150 g of lean protein , 50 g of rice ( if I worked out)

Additional Supplements:

3g of fish oil
ZMA
Multivitamin

But somehow I’m not losing weight. Any ideas why?
[/quote]

You eat 150g of protein in one sitting?

5

[quote]Jaycuts wrote:

You eat 150g of protein in one sitting? [/quote]

I guess i wrote that a little inapprehensible . I eat 150g of a lean protein source, e.g 150g of chicken , turkey etc.

6

Did you lose weight the first 4 weeks and now you have stalled out or have you not lost any weight so far?

7

The scary thing is i haven’t lost any weight at all. Maybe i cracked the magic formula for simultanious muscle growth and fat loss but realistically I think I just don’t loose anything. I don’t have any issues with the weight itself but it would be great to get rid of some extra fat while maintaining or increasing strengh.

8

[quote]ShunGokuSatsu wrote:
The scary thing is i haven’t lost any weight at all. Maybe i cracked the magic formula for simultanious muscle growth and fat loss but realistically I think I just don’t loose anything. I don’t have any issues with the weight itself but it would be great to get rid of some extra fat while maintaining or increasing strengh.[/quote]
Pretty sure your not re-comping your body at 2000 calories, but hey I’m not a doctor.

If I had to hazard a guess I would say:

  1. your metabolism has stalled
  2. your calorie intake estimates are way off
  3. Combination of 1 & 2
9

Some thoughts, just my opinions:

  1. You could try spreading your nutrients out more throughout the day. Even though you’re thinking about total calories in or out, the body can only absorb so much at once. Your body may not be able to utilize all the food you’re pumping in. After your body fills up on nutrients, the rest will be stored as fat, even lean protein like chicken. Although ultimately the most important thing getting your macros in for the day, spreading them out in smaller meals may be more conducive for fat loss.
  2. Add some cardio complexes, or fasted cardio in the morning. Not a cardio complex at the end of a workout, on its own day.
  3. Throw in a pulse fast once a week on an off day, does wonders to break fat loss plateau.
  4. Try an all out V-Diet, guaranteed to shed the fat off.

Good luck!

10

I guess I should do some fasted Cardio once the weather gets better. Do you guys think some steady state cardio would be a good idea on off days? (in my case wednesday and saturday)

11

Always a great idea on an off day! Adding steady state cardio to any day is great really, since there’s little to no risk for muscle loss when implemented correctly. For some fasted cardio alternative during bad weather, there’s lots you can do in your own home. Bodyweight exercise at a moderate tempo work very well, squats, push ups, jog in place, stairs, etc., just make sure to keep it non panting and don’t let the heart rate get too high.

12

I’d be careful with steady-state cardio, but go to town with NEPA.

Chris goes into this a bit here http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/diet_blog_hammer_velocity_shugart/running_makes_you_fat

Rather than just relying on the scale, get out a tape measure, and start measuring. This will give you a lot more information and take some of the guesswork out of “well, maybe I’m gaining muscle, but losing fat, but I don’t know”

How long has your diet been like this? What did you change it from? It’s hard to see if you’ve made any big changes if you weren’t tracking what you were eating before.

Hope this helps! Also - if you want the expert advice of Chris Shugart himself, jump over to the Ask Chris subforum in the V-Diet section - he can likely point you in the right direction.

13

I really started changing things up when my semester endend ( i’m a student). I trained only for maintainance, had a shitty diet (4000-5000 cal) + lack of sport = lots of fat. I restarted training about 6 weeks ago and started the afromentioned diet about 4-5 weeks ago. I really think my stamina has deteriorated to a point where i can’t run for 3km straight ( ~2 miles) so i have to do something about it. I’m still making progress on my main lifts though.

14

[quote]accidentalyogi wrote:
I’d be careful with steady-state cardio, but go to town with NEPA.

Chris goes into this a bit here http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/diet_blog_hammer_velocity_shugart/running_makes_you_fat

Rather than just relying on the scale, get out a tape measure, and start measuring. This will give you a lot more information and take some of the guesswork out of “well, maybe I’m gaining muscle, but losing fat, but I don’t know”

How long has your diet been like this? What did you change it from? It’s hard to see if you’ve made any big changes if you weren’t tracking what you were eating before.

Hope this helps! Also - if you want the expert advice of Chris Shugart himself, jump over to the Ask Chris subforum in the V-Diet section - he can likely point you in the right direction.[/quote]

Chris actually threw that up at me when i mentioned i was doing fasted walks. After some retrospect on my most successful cut I can tell you there is something to it. I was walking everyday with my dog in the morning(not fasted, usually a scoop of whey or a small snack) and would just mash the jump rope for 10-15 min after training.

Also make sure you are tracking your portions and not just guessing. Looking at some chicken thighs and saying ‘yeah 5 oz’ when in reality they could be 9 oz can throw your macros out of whack.

15

Good stuff, sounds like you’re very motivated! Just remember that the first thing you need to do is pick your #1 goal, and design your ENTIRE program towards that. Regardless of your goals, don’t even think about running. Really don’t think about running in general, this is the wrong site for that :slight_smile: AccidentalYogi posted an article from Chris about the detriments of running. This may go against the advice of every personal trainer you’ve ever talked to, but trust the info.

If building mass is your goal, design your program towards that by lifting heavy with a lot of compound movements, a few isolating moves, and a consistent caloric surplus. If getting lean is your goal, design your entire program towards that with lifting days, cardio complex days and a consistent caloric deficit. Running stamina has nothing to do with how “in shape” you are, it’s just an indication of your running abilities. Lots of people on here with low body fat probably couldn’t run too far either, because we do more complex and interval work as that’s better geared towards fat loss and muscle maintenance.

So to summarize, pick your #1 priority, design your entire program towards that, and don’t stop until you’ve reached your goal. The forums are nearly limitless with information to accomplish all this :slight_smile:

16

[quote]robstein wrote:
…[/quote]

That is a really good post.

I’ll think I will increase my calories a little bit and try to do some more cardio. I might post the results after a couple of weeks. Thank you for all your effort

17

[quote]ShunGokuSatsu wrote:
Hi

I’ve put on a little to much fat during winter and now am trying to get rid of it. I went from 205 to 230 at 6’1. I never had trouble losing weight, but now it seems to be more difficult than ever to actually drop any weight. My BF is around 15% . I’m following the 5/3/1 Program, which has been working for me for more than a year. I usually do some complexes at the end of the Bench and Press days.

My diet:
~2000 cal , 140g of Protein , 100g of Carbs, 120g of Fat)

Breakfast
4 Eggs, 1 Apple, 1 Piece of Fruit, 50g of Cheese

Snack 1 ( 200g of Cottage Cheese, etc.)

Lunch
150 g of lean protein ( chicken, turkey, fish) , 200g of vegetables/ salad)

Workout ( 50g of Whey after the workout , 5g of BCAA peri workout)

Evening
150 g of lean protein , 50 g of rice ( if I worked out)

Additional Supplements:

3g of fish oil
ZMA
Multivitamin

But somehow I’m not losing weight. Any ideas why?
[/quote]

Inflammation could be the cause of not losing fat even when eating a “hypocaloric” diet.

Try removing some of the problem foods like cottage cheese and rice. Replace that food with vegetables and especially fatty foods like olives, avocados, and nuts (not peanuts).

18

You sound similar to me - at 6’ and 220 I was desperately trying to lose weight at 1800kcal and successfully screwed up my metabolism. Raised it up to 2200 and weight is steadily dropping off, I plan to raise it further and add in cardio shortly.

19

I am in the same boat as you are. I weighed closed to 240 about 2 months ago and I’ve been going through a relatively lenient diet (just watch what i eat, lots of protein, less salt, less carbs). And I weigh just less than 220 now. I don’t do much cardio, maybe I’d go and cycle for 10 minutes before lifting. My lifts went up during the 3 months. The key is to just cut a little bit of calories and see how you can improve on your workouts to burn more calories.

Although diet plays a huge role in losing weight, people who just go on diets and don’t move never see the results they want. You have to hit the gym harder to really see good results.