Currently dropping a LOT of fat. Now fully (or as fully as can be expected) from back injury, lifting 4 days / week, cardio other three. Work UB 2 days, LB 2 days, cardio is 20 min HIIT in Concept 2 rower. Lean bodyweight is about 172. Have gotten stuck. No progress in fat loss last 10 days. Lean bodyweight continues to increase. Diet is good – 5 or 6 meals / day. Numbers for last 7 days, averaged:
Callories: 1501
Protein: 147 gm
Carb: 98 gm
Fat: 46 gm
Please, serious replies only. You may assume that I have read the site extensively. 17 years experience lifting in various styles. Squats, deads, and bench with bar are out due to back, shoulder problems. (This is a serious pain in the ass).
Based on what I know, I think perhaps cutting about 30 gms / day from carbs and putting it into protein, and adding 2 long (one hour plus) rows per week may do it.
Aren’t your calories quite a bit low?
Seems like it to me.
If you really choose to stay that low, yeah I think your carbs are far too high in relation to your protein/fat.
Honestly I believe you would have better success by eating more (like more protein for one), not less, but to each his own.
huck,
I have an idea that might not be popular, but see what you think:
It’s supposed to be bad to eat lots of protein and then drop your protein intake suddenly because your body will continue to use protein near the same level you took in, meaning your muscles are being eaten away.
In theory, what if you did this with fat? Eat a lot of fat, low carbs, and maintain protein levels for a bit, then quickly lower the fats. Your body should be used to fats as energy, and might turn to bodyfat for fuel.
This is just a theory of mine. I’ve tried it and it has worked for me.
Upping the protein and reducing carbs might not be a bad idea, though.
Neil
Try adding 1000-2000 kcals from monos/omega 3 and protein and adding sprint work and check progress after 2 weeks.
I definitely agree with Antiliberal. Drop the carbs a bit and up the protein and healthy fats big time.
Without using a androgen, imo your calories are way too low. I suggest reading t-dawg 2.0 or don’t diet. With 172 lbs of lean mass, 140g of protein, and 1500 calories is just going to kill your metablism. That’s why fat loss has stalled, unless you’re on some roids.
Thanks guys. Based on further reading and your responses, I will add some more HIIT, and up the cals with Protein and healthy fats. I’ll try taking it up to 1800 cal/day with more fat / protein and cut the carbs back to <75. Let you know in 2 weeks.
If upping it to 1800 kcal doesn’t effect it. I’d like to hear how getting in 2,100 kcal, and 245g of protein would work out for you. You could keep carbs low, and it would give you a little range to reach 100g of fats(monos and polys) which will aid in fatloss and optimal hormone production. Your metabolism would go up a bit as well. Unless you’re very lean, you should be able to lose 1-2 lbs of fat on something like this.
Huck, upping your calories and increasing the amount of HIIT you do is a move in the right direction, but let’s dig into your situation a bit and get more precise.
At 172 pounds of LBM, you need 175 to 250g of protein per day (1 to 1.5g per pound of LBM). That should be first on your list. Those numbers need to be met. I’d recommend 6 meals a day at 35g of protein per meal (210g).
Carbs are highly individual. If 98g provides you with enough energy to work out and do your cardio, I wouldn’t change that number. However, I would eat P+F meals except for PWO Meal #1 (Surge) and PWO Meal #2 (whole-food P+C). Take in those 98g of carbs (or most of 'em) in those two PWO meals. And make the carbs in PWO Meal #2 quality starchy carbs (oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice). It will help give your metabolism a bit of a boost.
Fat requirements are .5g x LBM; 86g per day. You should get 21 or 22g of fat in each of those 4 P+F meals you eat, a little every meal. Fat requirements can be met with mayonaise, peanut butter, butter (avoid margerine!), olive oil, etc. But meet your EFA requirements first. That’s one tablespoon of EFAs per 50 pounds of BW. You can use either Udo’s Choice, flaxseed oil or fish oil to meet EFA requirements.
Additional recommendations
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Separate cardio sessions from weight lifting sessions. It gives you two metabolic kicks in the butt.
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At your BW, drink 8 quarts of water per day. I drink 2 in my cardio sessions and 2 in my weight lifting sessions.
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I love HIIT. But for fat burning, consider AM cardio sessions (I do mine fasted state, taking in 15g of BCAAs + Glutamine), longer duration (45 minutes), moderate intensity (65 to 75% of MHR). Save your HIIT for down the road when you hit another plateau, at which point I would add in 15-20 minutes of HIIT AFTER your weight bearing exercises.
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Take a look at Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST). Even though I’m cutting, I managed to put on some LBM. Fabulous program.
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Consider using some supplements to preserve your LBM (Hot Rox & Methoxy).
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Don’t worry about calories right now. Worry about hitting your carb grams, protein grams and fat grams.
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Do NOT be getting your protein from protein bars, except in an emergency. Eat quality protein.
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Get someone to measure your BF with calipers (same person, experienced, pay 'em if you have to) every month so you know exactly how much LBM you have (number ideally would be going up) and how much FM you have (number ideally would be going down). If those two things are happening, the scale number DOES NOT MATTER!!!
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Start reading up on cheat meals here on T-Mag. There are physiological reasons for refeeds/cheat meals. Take a look at the following link, and tell me you don’t see yourself in the first guy’s story. (Be sure to take out any spaces that appear in the link.) http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=78d9efdf.0307280730.672d6a32%40posting.google.com&rnum=1
Good luck to you, Huck, and let me know if you have any questions.
Terry, where do you buy your BCAAs? I am going to try doing your fasted state, moderate cardio three times a week.
Excellent info!
LS
Get your injuries fixed.
huck: you’re simply overdoing it and undereating. And I KNOW you know that you can even undereat during a fat loss phase.