Stopped Losing Weight

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve been dieting and loosing weight,I’ve went from 215 down to 170,but I’ve hit a bump…I havent lost any in 3 weeks.

Now for a little background.I’m 34 5’7".I’m wanting to get down to 160.I’ve been keeping a food journal now for about 5 months.The first weight loss was big but it slowed down to about 2 lbs a week…until the past 3.I’ve been taking in about 2100 cals a day and have been doing good on that but when I stopped loosing I dropped to 1800 this past week with still no weight loss.

I weight train 3-4 days a week and run 1-2 miles or bike ride 6-7 miles on my off days.I’ll take one day off during the week and do nothing.My weight training consists of mostly compound excercises…press,rows,squats etc.

My food goes something like this

breakfast

2 serving of oats w/ 1.5 cups of skim milk w/scoop pro powder

or

egg omlet…2 whole eggs and 3 egg whites w/ 2oz of roasted turkey and serving of fat free cheese.

snack 1 cup FF yogurt or can of tuna

lunch… sandwich either tuna,chicken or turkey or natural peanut butter on whole wheat

Supper…4-5 oz baked chicken breast,or 4 oz baked pork chop,or4 oz grilled steak,frozen veggies and maybe some FF cottage chese

The total for the day may be something like 1734 cals 217 protein and 116 carbs(this was one day this week)

I may have a extra cup of yogurt or maybe some fruit in there sometimes.

So what gives? I’m eating clean,NOT cheating on my meals and total cals and doing some weight training and cardio.Do I need to up my cals?

2

ahhh, this is a good one… and i only say that because i’ve been in the same situation.

first of all, scale weight is a terrible way to monitor progress. at the very least, you should be taking some circumference measurements (and since you’re a male, chances are you’re storing a good chunk of that extra adipose around yer gut). so, at the very least, take a waist measurement each week. if that’s decreasing while your scale weight is stable, i’d say you’re still making progress.

second, and if it all possible, you should be having your body comp checked in addition to weight. if you’re training properly, it’s possible that you can maintain a weight of 175 while actually improving your bodyfat percentage - and again, that’s progress.

finally, take a few weeks off your diet cycle (say 2 to 4), and then come back with a more cyclical diet which either boosts and depletes total calories, or macronutrient components of your diet, or both. there’s plenty on this site to choose from. but most improtantly, you need change.

good luck.

  • T
3

Be careful about choosing some arbitrary “weight” as a goal.

What you want to do is achieve an appropriate level of leanness, and that is not the same thing at all as achieving a goal weight.

4

Thanks guys.Maybe what I need to do is up my cals for a while and lift hard and see what happens,since dropping cals doesnt seem to do any good any more.Perhaps my body has gotten used to the cals and has adjusted.

5

Maybe increasing your cardio?

1-2 miles of running really does not burn that many calories, nor does biking 6-7 miles.

Maybe try and work up to 3,4 even 6 miles of running a few times a week. Biking also increase the distance/time.

Even still great job on losing 45 lbs!!!

6

You my need to just start your weight loss by using
a once a week carb refeed. When dieting for a long
time everthing slow down. Do a search on carb refeeds.

7

Eat more. Fat is a required nutrient for the body’s survival. Without it YOU DIE. The body knows this…you don’t. The body senses this shortage of dietary fat and is now in survival mode - it stores fat and is reluctant to build more LBM.

TNT

8

Cycling your calories may also help. Two days below maintenance, one above.

You could also try the anabolic diet.

9

Wow,there’s some good advice there.I knew I’d get some help here.Thanks.

A few things…
running a mile or two may not be much,I agree,biking in west Ky. hills is tough!Although I probably do need to up that some.It wasnt but a few months ago I couldnt bike 2 miles in these hills so i’ve come a long way.

I did some looking into the refeed idea.What a great idea.Thanks for bringing that to my attention.I wonder how that would work upping cals above maintenance on workout days and dropping back down of off days?Any thoughts on this?

The anabolic diet gives me the creeps.I have a history of heart problems in my family and anything with high fats just scares the hell out of me.I realize some fat in the diet is good,and I take fish oil pills for some good fat,but a diet high in fat just seems wrong for me.Maybe I’m wrong?

10

[quote]grnhd wrote:
Wow,there’s some good advice there.I knew I’d get some help here.Thanks.

A few things…
running a mile or two may not be much,I agree,biking in west Ky. hills is tough!Although I probably do need to up that some.It wasnt but a few months ago I couldnt bike 2 miles in these hills so i’ve come a long way.

I did some looking into the refeed idea.What a great idea.Thanks for bringing that to my attention.I wonder how that would work upping cals above maintenance on workout days and dropping back down of off days?Any thoughts on this?

The anabolic diet gives me the creeps.I have a history of heart problems in my family and anything with high fats just scares the hell out of me.I realize some fat in the diet is good,and I take fish oil pills for some good fat,but a diet high in fat just seems wrong for me.Maybe I’m wrong?[/quote]

I think that while the training could be tweaked, diet will do it here. I’ve had great success with my trainees by asking them to try and gain 1 pound. That said, usually the attempt results in more loss. People know very well that you need to change the training every few weeks, but miss that it is also true for diet. A gradual refeed will usually do the trick. Try adding some fat first, and if that doesn’t do the trick, add some carbs. Your protein seems okay. I challenge you to gain 1 pound, you’ll be glad you did.

Rolo.

11

Two things:

  1. Have you considered the Velocity Diet?

  2. I don’t know why anyone failed to mention HIIT instead of cardio?
    This site gives a bried overview of it:

12

Running a couple miles is good to go. Especially if you don’t have any particular intention of running for time.

You probably need to eat more. Check out the anabolic diet thread.

13

[quote]grnhd wrote:

The anabolic diet gives me the creeps.I have a history of heart problems in my family and anything with high fats just scares the hell out of me.I realize some fat in the diet is good,and I take fish oil pills for some good fat,but a diet high in fat just seems wrong for me.Maybe I’m wrong?[/quote]

The reason your body stores fat is that it is the best fuel going. If you get most of your calories from carbs and very little from fat, your body tries to store fat for future use. If you switch to eating more fat, your body realizes that it doesn’t need to store as much and you lose weight. The other thing you need to understand is that noone is saying that you have to eat mountains of saturated fat (although you do need some). The majority of the fats you eat should be monounsaturated.

Just out of curiosity, what dietary/exercise habits do those in your family with heart disease have?

14

Sharetrader…the family on my dads side all have heart problems/high blood pressure and…they all eat crap,smoke and don’t excercise.Dad had a heart attach at age 45,but he smoked,was a truck driver and ate crap.I’ve been on meds for blood pressure for several years and I’m only 34 but…point taken.It still concerns me though.

I tried to eat more today…and failed.It felt like I ate all day though.I can see where the “gain a pound” challenge would be useful.

My numbers went like this
cals 2050
protien 191
carbs 139
fat 81
Thats a big fat day for me.I got most of that from natural peanut butter(i love the stuff) 2 eggs and pork chops.

Thanks all for the help.

15

If you’ve been on blood pressure meds for a while, your primary goal should probably be to get your BP down, preferably to the point where you can go off the meds. It might be worth PMing one of the T-Nation diet gurus and getting them to do you a personalized diet/exercise program.

16

PS for fat loss, worth trying Charles Staley’s EDT for Body Composition or John Davies’ Fat to Fire.

Just a tip: if you go for the EDT program, Charles recommends icing muscles post-workout using a cryocup. I have found that I worked so many muscles in one workout that it was simpler to take an ice bath.