Weight Loss Plateaus

[Takeem406]

So about mid February I started getting back in shape. Cut out all alcohol, Rocksar, MTN Dew etc. No more Taco bell and junk. And been living by my dietitians meal plan she laid out for me.

5'7" and started at 227-230`ish. I've been stuck at 221 for the past three weeks.

I'm seeing muscular toning and I feel a lot better.

For training I was doing once a day for an hour a mix of cardio and strength training. When I lift I go for reps over weight.

I lost the six pounds and decided to push myself more and started working out for an hour before work and a little longer after work.

Of you're working out more I read you need to actually up your calorie intake quite a bit to stay fueled right? So did I end up putting myself into starving mode maybe if I haven't really been eating more?

Taking in around 19-2k calories a day. My Garmin says I'm burning about 2800.

I was anorexic in college after being the far kid in high school and I really don't want to lose weight unhealthy like that again. But I'd like to get to 190.

Been logging my meals too. I do cheat on Sundays but I'm still within around 2800 cals easily!

Just kinda frustrating to train harder and only maintain. My scale measures body fat and it says I've been maintaining my body fat for what that's worth.

Thanks!

 

[Takeem406]

Oh and yeah, I've been getting usually no less than 7.5 hour of sleep a night usually 8 or more... So that's pretty good there I'd think.

 

[BruinPoint]

Plateaus suck. The BMR calculated for a 30 year old sedentary man is nearly 2500 calories per day for your height and weight. If you were burning 600 calories per day you could eat 3000 calories per day to maintain your weight. I think you're cutting too far if you're only eating 2000 calories a day and working out twice a day. Find a BMI calculator you think is trustworthy, but I would guess you should still be losing a pound per week or more while eating 2500 calories on workout days. I would also consider only doing 1 workout a day but upping the intensity.

 

[Brightwhite]

Plateaus suck. The BMR calculated for a 30 year old sedentary man is nearly 2500 calories per day for your height and weight. If you were burning 600 calories per day you could eat 3000 calories per day to maintain your weight. I think you're cutting too far if you're only eating 2000 calories a day and working out twice a day. Find a BMI calculator you think is trustworthy, but I would guess you should still be losing a pound per week or more while eating 2500 calories on workout days. I would also consider only doing 1 workout a day but upping the intensity.

I agree here, it was my first thought that youre not eating enough. I would also add more calories into your bfast. Add in some coconut oil to your eggs for bfast and maybe even add another egg or two. I like the Tim Ferris philosophy of no starchy carbs (veggies ok) and a min of 30g of protein within 30 mins of waking up every morning. Try that and see if that kickstarts your metabolism and give you more energy to start the day. I precook my bfasts and portion them into Tupperware so I can wake up, toss a portion in the microwave and I scarf it down while the shower is getting hot.

I also agree with mixing up your routine more. Look into adding METCON days...if you're not familiar (I'm no expert,but know enough to be dangerous), these are high intensity intervals. I did a METCON workout today that looked like this:
Warmup with stretching air squats, light jog, and stuff like that
*no rest between these sets, all done as fast as you can, It's ok to break up the exercises if you can't complete them, but the goal after each exercise is to take 4-5 deep breaths and dive into the next one. You can do it for time, I just aim for completion based on how I feel that day.

Run 400m (I was on a treadmill)
21 dumbell thrusters
21 pull-ups
21 push-ups
Run 400m
Then repeat exercises, but 15 reps
Run 400m
Repeat exercises at 9 reps
Run 400m

If you aren't a sweaty mess ready to kill over after that then you've done something wrong.

sounds like you're doing a great job, just don't be afraid to eat a little more and workout in less time with more intensity.

And water water water...

 

[BroodBuster]

I'm 5'-8" and started in mid Nov at 234# and was 182#'s last Thur. Except for Super Bowl weekend I've lost two to three pounds each week. The only exercise I'm doing is 1.5 to 4 miles most nights with a 50 lb pack. Of the 50#'s I've lost about 6 have been muscle mass. Right now I can barely pull my 68# bow back. The place I'm going does not want me doing any weight training just my walks. Their coaching is to get the weight off first and fast and build the muscle later. Basically they are saying burning fat mode and building muscle mode work against each other.

I'm staying under 1500 calories each day mostly protein and piles of veggies with some Olive oil. I've yet to plateau.

 

[mohawk32]

I'm 5'-8" and started in mid Nov at 234# and was 182#'s last Thur. Except for Super Bowl weekend I've lost two to three pounds each week. The only exercise I'm doing is 1.5 to 4 miles most nights with a 50 lb pack. Of the 50#'s I've lost about 6 have been muscle mass. Right now I can barely pull my 68# bow back. The place I'm going does not want me doing any weight training just my walks. Their coaching is to get the weight off first and fast and build the muscle later. Basically they are saying burning fat mode and building muscle mode work against each other.

I'm staying under 1500 calories each day mostly protein and piles of veggies with some Olive oil. I've yet to plateau.

The place you're going is intensely ignorant and I was legitimately horrified reading your post. Unless 1500 calories was a typo in which case they're still ignorant just not criminally so.

 

[BroodBuster]

I could be off on the calories but the computer says my metabolism is about 1650 a day so I doubt it's over 2k a day. This has cost me good money so I'm interested in the ignorent part.

 

[molliesmaster]

I'm 5'-8" and started in mid Nov at 234# and was 182#'s last Thur. Except for Super Bowl weekend I've lost two to three pounds each week. The only exercise I'm doing is 1.5 to 4 miles most nights with a 50 lb pack. Of the 50#'s I've lost about 6 have been muscle mass. Right now I can barely pull my 68# bow back. The place I'm going does not want me doing any weight training just my walks. Their coaching is to get the weight off first and fast and build the muscle later. Basically they are saying burning fat mode and building muscle mode work against each other.

I'm staying under 1500 calories each day mostly protein and piles of veggies with some Olive oil. I've yet to plateau.

Brood, You should ask for a refund just for sheer lack of good information provided by them. Energy is created in the muscle, I.e. fat is burned in the muscle. The more muscle mass you have, the more fat you can burn.

Congrats on losing weight, that really is an accomplishment, but be safe.


TO the OP:

Care to post up your diet? Maybe the last couple of days? I would be willing to bet you're eating too many carbs.

Also, I would stick to working out once a day for now. There's no point in risking injury or over training, which are both a real possibility considering you're at a caloric deficit.

 

[les welch]

Ask your dietitian and listen to what they say.

If the rest of you aren't dietitian's giving nutritional advice isn't the best idea. It's "beyond your scope of knowledge" so to speak. You can definitely advise what you do and don't do, but please don't tell anyone else what to do.......

 

[Takeem406]

Yeah I was guessing I was starving myself. Honestly the meal plan is from a few years ago when I probably could have been clinically anorexic. It was bad... People thought I had cancer but I thought wearing 30“ wranglers and weighing 135 with no muscle was awesome.

She did make another plan for me that's 2500 calories. I'll start using that. Then I'll get back in touch with her and see if she can make an updated plan.

I start a new position at work next week so I won't be able to workout twice a day. Which is probably for the better. I guess that sleep is pretty important for a training athlete.

Yeah, when I lift I don't take any Facebook selfie breaks unless km grabbing a quick drink of Enduro. But 10-4 on making sure I'm going all out.