I am having one hell of a time losing fat. I’ve never had any problem before, but about six months ago I used T3 for about 2 weeks at a maximum dose of 75 mcg. Since then I’ve been trying to go from about 14% bodyfat to around 8%. I’ve now got down to just about 12%, and I’m really frustrated. I’m 21 years old, 5’5", 155 lbs. and my diet, & routine are as follows.
Meal 1: 1 cup cottage cheese, 2/3 cup oatmeal,
1 cup apple sauce.
Total: 65 carb; 30 prot.
Meal 2: Three whole Egglands Best Eggs, three
egg whites, romano cheese on top.
Total: 18 grams fat, 30 grams protein
Meal 3: Post workout, 30 grams whey, 65 grams
dextrose.
Total: 65 grams carbs, 30 grams protein
Meal 4: 5 ounces chicken, 1/4 cup peanuts
Total: 35 grams pro., 16 grams fat
Meal 5: 1 cup cottage cheese, vegie/fruit drink
(I make it myself)
Total: 30 grams pro., 65 grams carbs
Meal 6: 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 tablespoon flax
Total: 30 grams pro., 14 grams fat.
Total macro ratio: 40/40/20
Total cal: 2000
Workout 2x/week HIT style
Cardio is 5x/week, 30-40 min.
I don't know if my thyroid is supressed or what. Any help would be much appreciated.
SPE: Just some thoughts. Thyroid supression would show up as extreme tiredness and more than just the ability to LOSE fat; you would (in most cases) be gaining fat. So, I think you’re okay on that front. Next…congrats…it looks like you’ve got the nutrition thing down! Your diet is clean, macro’s look good and you’ve got good partitioning. Now…the big question…how to lose the fat…1) make sure that with your portions you are exact and not “guesstimating”. 2) If that’s okay, then begin a slow weekly reduction in carbs amounting to ABOUT 150-200 cals./day (500 would be too much; you’re already on a 2,000 cal regimen). A reduction in fats, by the same caloric amounts, would be next (if needed).This whole fat loss/presevation of LBM game still boils down to cals in vs. cals put (in general). IF you’re still not losing fat, then look at upping your cardio as a “last resort”. (You’re doing a pretty fair amount already) AND make sure you are doing high intensity intervals. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the reply Mufasa. I’m going to give your advice a try. I really don’t use high intensity intervals any more. I used to and they did work really well so I’ll begin using them again. Thanks
your diet looks alright- If you wanna go totally clean ditch the apple sauce-too much sugar eat more oatmeal- this shit is good for you. Try getting your fats from only good sources that have little or no saturated fat, like flax or Udo’s oil, avacado’s, peanuts are ok, but I would ditch em. Ditch the cheese. Ditch all dairy products, I would trade in the cottage cheese in for egg-whites or chk breast or rinsed tuna in water. you dont need that many carbs after post workout, especially if your trying to lean out, and what is that fruit drink your creating? It’s probably loaded with sugar, you want results ditch any carb that has alot of sugar, stick to grains and fiberous carbs. Oatmeal, brown rice, broccoli, sweet potatoes. Try keeping your carbs no more than 150 grms a day, and on non training days lower. One more thing no carbs after 4:00p.m. You’ll notice you get really vascular and the end of the night. Try it my brother…hope I helped. Oh and try working out more and doing less cardio. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn my friend. - J
It has nothing to do with your brief T3 usage long time ago. First of all, you are probably eating too much. If I had your weight and my present metabolic rate, I would not be able to lose fat if I ate more than 1600 kCal. My suggestion would be to cut the carbs even more and keep protein intake high, above 2.5 g/kg bodyweight. Ditch the HIT bs and start using 4x/week schedule. Cut the cardio to 2x/week, 5-10 minutes preworkout and 20 minutes postworkout. Before proceeding with this, do two weeks of maintenance, isocaloric would do, at 2600 kCal. Of course, various supplements help, I bet you will be able to incorporate them into your exercise regime yourself.
I think Mufasa summed it up … I just want to add two things. 1> I don’t know the specifics of your workout, but make sure you do leg work, that’ll help. 2> Get a heart rate monitor … will make your cardio sessions tremendously! Keep the faith. We’ve all been there!
Hey Mufasa…don’t mean to ressurect a (somewhat) dead issue, but didn’t JMB state that low intensity cardio is better for fat loss than intervals…have you gotten great results from HIIT…just wonderin…Mike
For the most part everything looks pretty solid. Don’t drop your calories much…the lowest I would go would be 12x bw. I would also switch to a modified Zone plan (40 pro, 30 carb, 30 fat). Ditch the applesauce and use veggies or something w. a lower sugar/glycemic index. EFA’s would help tremendously…flax, Udo’s and or fish oil caps. I might disagree about no carbs after 4, but this is largely dependent on what time of day you work out. Here’s the kicker: drop the HIT and try the German Body Comp program. You would have to do minimal, if any cardio, and I guarantee you the fat will start to come off. Refer to the Bowlful of Jelly article if you are unfamiliar with the routine. Good luck!