3 weeks in and no success and IM FRUSTRATED

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Ok fellas, i have been dieting for three weeks now and im frustrated, i weigh 265, dont know what my bodyfat percentages are, i have a fair amount of bodyfat, and i have alot of muscle underneath the fat particularly, from 4 years of powerlifting and 2 years of mostly compuond lifting facilitated with some auxillary exercises, I have been doing cardio about 4-5 times a week after i lift, for 20 minutes each time, and i keep my heart rate between 80-90% maximum for 15 of the 20 mins, i havent chosen any particular diet, just reduced calories, and low carbs(not t dawg low carbs but prolly no more than 100 grams a day, i have been keeping my protein just below 1g/lb of bodyweigh around 240grams a day, cause its really hard to get that much protein in a day, i know my calories are below what i need to lose weight, if u multiply my weight by 16 for slow metabolism and subtract 500, and im consuming eless calories than even that, im pretty positive my calories dont exceed 3000 on any given day ,more likely 2500 a day is what i have been consuming, i am taking Md6 and t2 pro as directed for the past three weeks also, the thing that i am frustrated about is i have not lost any weight by the scale, or no more than 1.5 pounds if u take into account water weight discrepencies, I have taking my measurements each week, non of them have gone down in my problem areas like my hips or waist, and non of them have gone up in my arms (17.75 inches) or legs(28 inches), so i am wondering what the fuck i am doing wrong here, im not consuming too many carbs, my calories are way below what i need to lose fat, im doing intense cardio,im lifting 4 times a week(usually 6-10 rep protocols, based on compound lifts and using some single muscle specific exercises to make sure the muscle is worked well, im getting enough sleep, and im not overtraining (trust me i know the symptoms and i know when im overtraining, and i feel nothing but energy all day long when i converted to 5 meals a day protocol, so im absolutly positive that i am not over training, so what the hell are u all thinking could be my problem that im not losing any fat, after 2 weeks of not losing anything, i cut out 3 glasses of skim milk a day, and keeping my meals to single serving of each nutrients, and i have cut out any unecessary carbs i was taking in, my carbs come from 2 wheat pitas, and 2 glasses of milk a day, and i worldwide protein bar,so what do u all suppose is holding up my fat loss that i havent lost anything yet, its frustrating me to hell, i figured after the first 2 weeks that i was consuming too much so i cut out a few servings a day from my diet, mostly from carb sources, and after another week, i still havent lost anything.

any help or insight is appreciated

pugsley

2

Man, that is one long freaking sentence!

Anyway, I’m hearing a lot of guesswork here about macros and calories. Are you keeping a food log? Doesn’t sound like it. Something could be “sneaking” into your diet.

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One small problem I see is that you are doing cardio at 80% of max heart rate, which will mainly burn the carbs you have eaten, but it will burn some fat later. If you step down to 60% max heart rate, you will burn more fat while you are doing your cardio. I like to mix it up, so I burn some fat while I am exercising at 60% for about 20 minutes, then bring my heart rate up to about 80% for about 7-10 minutes so I burn some fat later as well.

4

i cant keep a food log its next to impossible, i am in college, and the lazy bastards that work there dont put any nutrition facts on anything, so my lunch usually consists of a wheat pita and chicken breast, lettuce,tomato, onions and fat free sour cream, almost all of my meals are similar to that, or they are salad with chicken or flank steak,i ask all the workers any questions i have about the preperation they use, so im pretty sure that nothing is sneaking in, my meals are usually, that stuffed pita and a glass of skim milk, plus a crystal lite. all my other meals are either liquid, or raw pakets of tuna albacore. so i dont think anything is sneaking in. i wish these food systems at school would be more professional than they are, but no nutriotion facts on anything so i just have to go by my inteelect of the nut. values of the food i eat.

5

Agree with TEK…it’s time to get “A&M” bro…anal and medieval…


You need to know EXACTLY what, how much, and it what percentage of daily calories you are consuming. It is EXTREMELY easy for calories to “sneak in” ,(as TEK said) ,ESPECIALLY with over-estimating serving sizes, “sneaking” a little piece of food here and there, and/or consuming calorically dense foods ; or for you to have macro percentages that are not conducive to weight loss. When you are not losing weight, guessing…or adding this here and subtracting that there…will not suffice. You have to sit down with the old pencil, paper and calculator and see EXACTLY where you are. Otherwise you’ll be shooting in the dark.


Good luck!

6

pugs…an ESTIMATE is better than guessing. You roughly know what you’re consuming daily…and by what you say, it’s pretty consistent…so you certainly can get some estimates…


(P.S.Don’t ever say “impossible” on this board…it will begin to make you sound “NAAFA-ish”…and get you flamed!) :)—!!!

7

My two cents. I found that like some others, milk had a detrimental effect on my body when trying to drop bodyfat. I’ve tried to find other ways of increasing my protein intake instead of drinking milk.

8

How many wheat pita’s are you eating? A wheat pita probably has anywhere from 20-40 carbs depending on the size. And chicken breasts usually have anywhere from 20-40 grams of protein also depending on the size. Find a site that has nutrition facts on food and guess at what you are eating(Netrition.com has one).Try to eat your carbs first thing in the morning and right after you workout. It has helped me. Make your last meal of the day protein and fats. Another thing are you eating any good fats. Last year I was stuck at a weight for 2 months after losing 77 pounds. I added in good fats(like flax oil and olive oil with my protein shakes) and lost like 10 pounds in 2 months. All in all I lost 87 pounds so I know what you are going through. Just don’t give up.

9

yo im in school too (jointly enrolled in two schools actually!) and i was in a similar situation as your’s just a few months ago…but thank God i stumbled upon this site and the great info and people here have really helped immensely…by far the corniest thing that absolutely MUST BE DONE is keep a food log, at least in the beginning…i did it for a few weeks and noticed that my mental calculations were all off…after i got accustomed to doin it, i started doing everything in my head…i keep a running food log in my mind and try to avoid shit that isn’t labelled…as for the cardio, try mixing it up a bit…i had success with somethin called ‘fartlek’ (i think its danish for speed play)…when you’re doin cardio vary the speed of the activity every minute or so…

and i sympathize a lot with you…it was rough the first couple of weeks…but in 2.5 months i dropped from about 215 to 185 (where im at now)…but the food log is critical, at least in the beginning. i would also look to go a little more hypocaloric and even less carbs… multiplying your BW by 16 for maintenence is a bit high; what i did was multiply it by 11 and THEN subtract 500 (that way you’re guaranteed to be hypocaloric). hope this helps, good luck and stick with it…the results will come…

10

just another opionion and comment about how great food logs are. It really is the “secret” to success. Don’t do something half-assed then complain to us about not getting results bro… obviously you are doing something wrong… so what to do… analyze what you are doing, change it… then see if it worked. That science stuff really works. Saying stuff like “low carbs but prolly no more than 100 grams a day” proves our point… take out the doubt from the equasion. Also as far as a suggestion… you gotta eat fat to lose fat. Atkin’s type diets work they’ve been proven, tho there for wussies… if you are in college then perhaps a fat fast isn’t the best idea for someone like you, but still supplement with some healthy fats (like flax oil), cut out ALL THE JUNK FOOD and sorry to say but most likely any cafeteria food is junk food, so start making your own food, time to put those muscles to good use so get a backpack, fill it with food and chow down on some healthyness. Mmmmm tastes like victory. Good luck.

11

Another thing. Are you sure you are not taking any alcohol?

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Here’s a good link: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

Don’t “play ping pong in the dark!”

Also, don’t forget to add up cokes and booze. It’s amazing how many people don’t realize that liquids count, especially weekend drinkers. Not saying you are one, just trying to cover all the bases. Oh, and try bodyweight x 12. That’s a good starting point when dieting, at least for me.

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ntwrks.com - This website is for sale! - ntwrks Resources and Information. This site has a pretty decent food chart.

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Do some homework and figure out how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat you eat. Its a must. Buy a food content book and use it all the time. Keep track of everything that goes in your mouth including pop, beer, candy, etc. Post again after doing this for several days. I bet you’ll be amazed at how much you really eat. I know I was when I first started doing that. After some time, you will be able to eat without the log book. And take an English class.

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WWW.Fitday.com

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well alot of questions… first of all im consuming 5-6 1000mg flax oil caps a day to get my efas, in addition to tuna fish almost every day by itself, i have 2 wheat pitas a day, and 2 glasses of skim milk, those are my only sources of carbs i consume a day, Given i do eat alot of veggies in my wraps and salad so i dont know what carb contenets those have but I dont think lettuce, tomatoes, cukes,onions, peppers have any significant carbs sources in them. I have 60 grams of protein from grow, my last meal with just water and ice( grow is good, but i prefer whole food during the day, or else i will pig out cause shakes dont fill me, i forgot to add that i have been consuming no regular soft drinks, only diet and i consume 2 of those a day, as well as crystal light 2 times a day, i have not been consuming any alcohol at all during this three weeks cause im not much of a partier at all. No smoking. if i lose fat shouldnt my measurements go down? I thought of the idea that i was losing fat and the weight was being replaced by muscle, but after three weeks i think a weight drop would occur cause its alot easier to lsoe fat than gain muscle and fat is more readily used isnt it. I was under the impression that no matter what percent heart rate i am at…calories are calories whether from carbs or fat…what gets burned up in carbs ,my body will have to make up for by burning fat, for internal body processes such as digestion, when that carb stores are depleted is this corect with the knowledge of cardio u all have?
the problem with keeping a food log in college is that none of the food here has any nutrition label on them so i have to go by portions, cause for example on brand on wheat pita could have 100 calories and 25 carbs and another could have 200 and 40 carbs that is a big difference, and all the food can be like that so counting what calories are supposed to be in a food item to me just seems like pissing in the wind and throwing out geussing numbers to calculate. just my thoughts, did that clear up any questions u all have about my entire fat loss plan?

help and opinions welcome

thanx alot guys
pugs

17

Hate to jump on the bandwagon BUT it’s going in the right direction. You MUST keep a log. An impossibility is getting anywhere if you don’t know where you started. Start the log and get your bodyfat checked so you know where you’re starting at. Your a student so check with your health facility and see if they can do it or buy a scale or some calipers.

I’m a research program administrator and excuse myself from meetings to get my meals in and write them down in my logbook. I’ve been doing this for 2 weeks and I’ve discovered that the kcals I assumed were low enough weren’t! Only now am I starting to drop weight because I now know “exactly” (about as exact as one can be) what I’m ingesting.

If you’re going to do it, then do it and do it right.

18

Get some liquid flax and olive oil. Mix a teaspoon or a few to get enough fats in with your protein shakes. Your only getting 5-6 grams of flax oil and tuna in packets don’t have much EFA’s. I personally do better with more fat in my diet and that is why I eat a 40P/30C/30F diet. Being that you are overweight than that is probably your case too. I am eating 2200 cals now and 80 g fat. If you are getting say 150 grams carbs, 250 grams protein and 50 grams Fat then that is only 1850cals. At 1850 cals you should be losing weight fast. You are probably eating more than you think. If you don’t know what you are eating and trying to diet then you could say you are pissing into the wind. I’m not trying to say you aren’t trying, but dieting and cutting cals work. It worked for me and I was fat all my life.

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Also how tall are you? What is your waist measurements? Trying to get an idea of your size.

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how about water?
i noticed you said 2 diet cokes and some crystal light, but how much water are you taking in? How about dropping the diet soft drinks completely until a cheat day?

it helped me even though it had 0 calories.