Hi Guys,
I recently (2 months ago) started a weight loss program. I was around 215 and currently am 199. However, my weight loss has gotten stagnant, even with a perfect diet (very similar to velocity). I do very light cardio (cycling at 130 BPM) in the morning before breakfast and workout 3 times a week (full body) varying the reps and sets. Is there another workout or perhaps more cardio I should incorporate to make my weight loss “GO” again? Thanks
I’m not a diet expert but I’ve seen enough of these threads to know that most people won’t be able to help you given the limited information you provided.
People will likely need to know exactly what your diet looks like. Saying “perfect diet” doesn’t help much. Most people think their diets are already perfect.
Also, what does “very light cardio” actually mean? How many minutes do you cycle? How long are your workouts? How long are your rest periods between sets? What exercises do you do? Etc… etc…
Also, don’t be afraid to use the search function in this forum. You’re about the 973rd person with this problem (according to my count – I’ve been keeping track). If you search you might find answers or at least some ideas to try.
Good luck
Wow, thanks for the quick response.
Yeah, I definitely understand why the vague post was problematic!
So…
I weigh 199 lbs and I take in about 1700 calories per day. About 200g of protein, 66-100g of carbs, and some fats to fill in the gap. For breakfast I like to have some oatmeal and a casein shake (ON casein). I take skim milk with the casein…I take it maybe 4 times throughout the day, pretty much spread out, the last two times with water only. I have a cheat meal once a week, that’s a burrito usually 600-700 cals so the total for that day probably equals 2300 or so. Meals I have include chicken with bell peppers, chicken with cauliflower, things of that sort. I have sushi maybe once or a twice a week too, only after my lifting sessions though. I have whey isolate, 35g of dextrose, and water for my post workout nutrition.
As for my workout, I do 45 min of light cycling every morning. I do another session later in the day on the days which I don’t have a lifting session. During the lifting session (3 times a week), I do 3x8, 5x5, and 10x3 (M-W-F) with basically 5 exercises - incline bench, lat pulldown, leg press, shoulder press, and lunges with 30’s.
I guess I am thinking about incorporating a german training volume set (10x10) for one exercise per session. Maybe I should try doing more volume? I’m not sure - I’m about to start trying the one body part a day plan (which seems to be hated here haha) and just do more cardio. Just want to get out of this gutter!
I currently take caffeine and green tea for simulants. I also take BCAA’s before the cardio session, glutamine, and Costco brand fish oil (6 caps).
I basically want to look really good in a month…I guess I would consider sacrificing whatever muscle necessary (reasonable amount) to just looked shredded.
Thanks again.
If weight is the only result you are tracking then you really don’t know for sure that you have stalled. Weight is only one piece of the fat loss puzzle.
if you’ve alreasy lowered your calories to 1700, you’ve got no place to make any more cuts. i’d actually suggest upping for a bit, reset your body, and do a more sensible diet afterwards. you’ve most likely lost a bunch of muscle already.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
if you’ve alreasy lowered your calories to 1700, you’ve got no place to make any more cuts. i’d actually suggest upping for a bit, reset your body, and do a more sensible diet afterwards. you’ve most likely lost a bunch of muscle already.
S[/quote]
What the hell would you know about dieting?
Thanks Thanks…I may just reset my body by eating maybe 2200-2400 instead for maybe a couple weeks.
In regards to weight training, is that a good weight loss regimen?
[quote]AspireApex wrote:
As for my workout, I do 45 min of light cycling every morning. I do another session later in the day on the days which I don’t have a lifting session. During the lifting session (3 times a week), I do 3x8, 5x5, and 10x3 (M-W-F) with basically 5 exercises - incline bench, lat pulldown, leg press, shoulder press, and lunges with 30’s.
I guess I am thinking about incorporating a german training volume set (10x10) for one exercise per session. Maybe I should try doing more volume? I’m not sure - I’m about to start trying the one body part a day plan (which seems to be hated here haha) and just do more cardio. Just want to get out of this gutter!
[/quote]
How about doing HIIT cycling on the mornings that you do not work out instead of 45 min of light cycling?
As for GVT (10x10), my brother did not change his diet at all and does no cardio, but he is slowly getting leaner due to the volume aspect of GVT so it should help out as well.
[quote]AspireApex wrote:
During the lifting session (3 times a week), I do 3x8, 5x5, and 10x3 (M-W-F) with basically 5 exercises - incline bench, lat pulldown, leg press, shoulder press, and lunges with 30’s.
In regards to weight training, is that a good weight loss regimen?[/quote]
I am no expert on weight training, but the total body training 3 times a week can be good for fat loss if you do it in circuit or super set form. As an example, if you can do:
A1. incline bench (rest 1 minute)
A2. lat pulldown (rest 1 minute)
2. Leg press
B1. shoulder press (rest 1 minute)
B2. lunges (rest 1 minute)
or however you want to pair the exercises. It is usually very difficult to do a real circuit because of the problem of tying up multiple stations at once, but supersetting 2 exercises should be no problem in most gyms.
That way you are still doing the same exercises, sets and reps but increasing intensity (perceived not absolute). Hope this helps.
I agree with Stu. I’ve dieted down before to the extent where all losses had stalled, yet my muscles didn’t look nearly as full anymore. I believe that I crashed my metabolism and was beginning to burn muscle at that point. Bring your calories back up, get your metabolism normalized and reassess. I’ve had some decent success personally with dieting hard for short periods of time, recalculating my maintenance, staying there for a week or so, then putting myself back into a deficit. This seemed to help prevent crashing.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
if you’ve alreasy lowered your calories to 1700, you’ve got no place to make any more cuts. i’d actually suggest upping for a bit, reset your body, and do a more sensible diet afterwards. you’ve most likely lost a bunch of muscle already.
S[/quote]
Agreed!!
Unless you are in the final stages of a contest prep. going below 10 cal./lb of BW is not a good idea.
What did you consider maintenance calories prior to beginning your diet?
Holy tap dancing Jesus! 1700 kcals is too extreme in my book. I’ve stupidly have taken part in such a diet only to find myself trully lighter with abs beginning to show and about 10-15lbs lighter worth of muscle. No it wasn’t because I was depleted. No amount of shitloading is going to put 1.5-2 inches back in your biceps. NEVAH AGAIN! I do endorse an extremely low carb aproach when I diet down though, but my protein shoots up to 2-2.5g/lb and I eat my fats religiously.
What I would do is cut the fullbody part training malarky out and redesign your training program. Chest/tris, back/bis, legs, shoulders,tris/bis would be my suggestion with your cardio thrown in after the session or early in the morn. Kick up your protein and fat intake and thrown in an OTC fat burner for shits and grins. My two centavos
-GB
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
The Mighty Stu wrote:
if you’ve alreasy lowered your calories to 1700, you’ve got no place to make any more cuts. i’d actually suggest upping for a bit, reset your body, and do a more sensible diet afterwards. you’ve most likely lost a bunch of muscle already.
S
What the hell would you know about dieting?[/quote]
lol… no kidding. Stu needs to change his username to Mr. Diet. The dood knows his sh!t
Yeah i was just following the calories guidelines for the velocity diet…maybe that’s only for precontest
While the velocity diet is very low in calories, it all depends on the individual’s body composition. If the OP is 199 lbs and less than 20% body fat, of course it is extreme. If he is the same weight but 30%+ body fat, it is not as extreme as one would think.
AspireApex what is your present level of body fat?
Right now, I’m at 18%. Ideally I would like to get down to 10% or lower, but over the course of a year or two.
During the college, I gained 60 lbs eating pizza late at night. Two years ago, I started eating pizza earlier in the day rather than right before sleeping due to a food coma and lost about 30 lbs. I had been around 8-9% in high school when I played tennis but that was with basically no muscle. I lifted in college which gave me decent muscularity, just with a lot of fat (five year bulk?).
I’m going back for a high school reunion in Cali @ the beach (it’s our 10 year) so I wanted to look good - it’s May 17th. I’m just trying to look as good (with as little fat as possible) as possible at that date and afterwards I will resume a normal carb cycling clean diet. I just wanted to lose fat as fast as possible and velocity seemed really good - logically, less calories, more fat loss. Obviously it doesn’t work quite that way…haha
that same shit happened to me during my cutting phase after about 3 months.
I added a little more carbs in the morning and mixed up my cardio and the problem went away.
just mix things up a bit.
[quote]Da Vinci wrote:
I agree with Stu. I’ve dieted down before to the extent where all losses had stalled, yet my muscles didn’t look nearly as full anymore. I believe that I crashed my metabolism and was beginning to burn muscle at that point. Bring your calories back up, get your metabolism normalized and reassess. I’ve had some decent success personally with dieting hard for short periods of time, recalculating my maintenance, staying there for a week or so, then putting myself back into a deficit. This seemed to help prevent crashing.[/quote]
I’m on that step.
For the OP:
Don’t waste all your resources in one shot, you’ll stop losing fat quickly increasing the risk of muscle loss. You have to modify cardio, diet, and supplementation gradually as you advance in your cutting. I think the 1)bring calories up, 2)normalize metabolism, 3)and reassess to create a deficit optimal for fat loss maximization and muscle preservation is a great way to go, considering that during the first weeks of dieting (3 to 7) is the time when fat loss is faster and muscle tissue is preserved the easiest.