[quote]g_et3rnal wrote:
Hmmmm…well weight loss is mainly based around your diet. But you shouldn’t always use the scale as the end-all, be-all judge. The mirror is a good indicator too. I don’t like the idea of going on a higher calorie count for 4 weeks, a lot can happen in 4 weeks. I would try carb-cycling and playing around with your cheat days to break the plateau.[/quote]
The whole point is to bring the metabolism back up and allow it to settle in to place before dropping your intake again. It’s harder to do this with carb-cycling and cheat days when you’ve been dieting for a long time, hence the 4 weeks at maintainance intake.
That being said, it’s odd that you gained 2 inches to your waist if you only gained 5lbs. It seems that the only way to do that would be to lose muscle mass while packing on fat, which should not happen if you
a. Kept lifting heavy
b. Kept eating clean
c. Ate at a maintainance level
Now, if you loaded up on carbs and saturated fats, didn’t progress with you lifts, and just upped your intake by an arbitrary number, then you probably shot yourself in the foot. If instead you ate clean, kept lifting heavy, and gradually increased your intake while monitoring your weight, you should have been ok.
Perhaps I used too many carbs to increas my cals…shite…anyhow…
from today, should I drop my cals right away? Or should I slowly decrease them daily? Or zig-zig daily (1800 today, 2400 tomorrow, 1600 next day?) etc…
Try just dropping your carbs down gradually. If you went from a low carb protocol to a high carb one, there’s a pretty good chance that some of that weight is from water retention. I wouldn’t drop cals to drastically, try cutting out 250 cals for a week or two and see where that gets you. If you don’t see any change in weight, drop another 250.
Yeah, personally, I’m in the middle(week 5) of 9 weeks of maintainance before I start dropping down again. I’m up about 3lbs from the end of my last drop, which was around 18 lbs, and most of those came in the first week or so. Once I start really tightening the screws, it’ll come right off. Honestly, once you get the hang of it eating right is simple, just not easy.
I can appreciate the frustration of hitting a plateau wether in training, diet or whatever…it does suck. That being said I think everyone here has offered some great advice. I will throw in; from the sounds of things you may have elevated cortisol (the amount of energy expenditure, abdominal fat, everyday stressors). Some simple things to look at: are you geting the right amount of sleep and ENOUGH food. Also, being that bread is included in your diet you may want to consider gluten allergies or the ikl. What I am saying is that sometimes the food amount isn’t the issue as much as the types of foods and malabsorption or hormonal issues.
[quote]laroyal wrote:
Some simple things to look at: are you geting the right amount of sleep and ENOUGH food. Also, being that bread is included in your diet you may want to consider gluten allergies or the ikl. What I am saying is that sometimes the food amount isn’t the issue as much as the types of foods and malabsorption or hormonal issues. [/quote]
Wow! things to think about…alright, if you folks would indulge me here:
I get about 7 hours sleep each night…maybe wake up once to pee. 50% of the time I wake up slowly 'cause I still feel tired. But 15 min later, I’m ok (not sure if that means anything?)
average Meals:
Breakfast.
2 hard boiled eggs
2 low-cal toast with 2tsp natural PB
1 medium orange
1 oz low-fat cheddar cheese
2 Lipo 6
2000mg Omega 3
1 multivitamin
Try upping your sleep by an hour or 2 if at all possible - I found increasing sleep helped me get that extra bit leaner when I first started out.
I would adjust your food to this:
Breakfast.
3 hard boiled eggs
½ Cup mixed vegetables
1 oz low-fat cheddar cheese
4g Omega 3
1 multivitamin
1 cup green tea (try using 2 teabags - should give you an energy boost)
Snack 1.
1 cup fat-free dry cottage cheese
1oz plain almonds OR mixed nuts
Lunch.
8oz of fish (cod, or sole etc) or can tuna
½ Cup vegetables
1 cup green tea
4g Omega 3
Snack 2.
tomato
2 scoops ON Whey Protein with water
Dinner.
8oz chicken breast
2 cups steamed broccoli
Snack 3.
1 cup cottage cheese
Obviously if calories are too low, just increase the portion sizes. I would try keep around maintenance level, as your training/cardio will ensure that you are below maintenance when it comes to energy expenditure for the day.
Along with this, I would try not to eat about 2 hours before heading to bed. Have your biggest meal in the morning, and let the meals get smaller each time (snacks can be the same size, but decrease main meal size throught the day.) I would have just a protein shake after training.
DON’T weigh yourself every day, do it once a week. Your body weight fluctuates day to day and this will only leave you feeling like you are standing still with progress.
I’ve also found that as long as I get adequate protein&fat every meal, along with some vegetables, that it is best to vary your food choices so that your diet doesn’t become boring.
[quote]rdolmat wrote:
Wow! things to think about…alright, if you folks would indulge me here:
I get about 7 hours sleep each night…maybe wake up once to pee. 50% of the time I wake up slowly 'cause I still feel tired. But 15 min later, I’m ok (not sure if that means anything?)
average Meals:
Breakfast.
2 hard boiled eggs
2 low-cal toast with 2tsp natural PB
1 medium orange
1 oz low-fat cheddar cheese
2 Lipo 6
2000mg Omega 3
1 multivitamin
Lunch.
6oz of fish (cod, or sole etc) or can tuna
1 apple
8oz Plain Chicken breast
1000mg Omega 3
1 multivit
2 Lipo 6
Snack 2.
tomato
2 scoops ON Whey Protein
1 cup milk
Dinner.
8oz chicken breast
2 cups steamed broccoli
Snack 3.
1 cup cottage cheese
average Cal: 1900-2000
[/quote]
I think rsg’s dietary advice for you is pretty good for the most part, the only thing I would look at is the heavy emphasis on milk proteins. I am not saying it is wrong just different than the approach I use. Mine and my clients protein intake is usually arranged as such:
Meal 1:Steak and Eggs (high in tyrosine good way to start the day)
Meal 2:Fish (fatty fish e.g. salmon, sardines -yuk- etc.)
Meal3: Shake (Metabolic Drive is what I use and recommend)
Meal4: Buffalo
Meal 5: Fish (white fish Halibut, Cod whatever)
Meal6: Turkey (high in tryptophan and conducive to a good night’s rest)
It isn’t written in stone but I find this model to be a great one and it shows what I mean by rotating food choices to avoid food allergies and get a complete spectrum of amino acids.
If you need to do a shake because of time constraints I tend to go with:
2 Scoops Metabolic Drive, primal greens, 1T flax seeds and 1/4 cup frozen blueberries.
You can rotate between whey and casien based protein sources, just remember whey digests relatively fast so it’s usually a better choice post work out and casien is good throughout the day because of it’s slower uptake.
I will touch on your sleep issues:
First and foremost, sleep is directly coorelated to hormone levels and isulin resistance.
According to Charles Poliquin if you wake up during the night at: 11pm to 1 am it means you have reactive hypoglycemia, 1 am to 3 am = liver toxic, 3am to 5 am lack of antioxidants.
Improve longevity by waking at same hour every day.
Also, according to Paul Chek some studdies support that an hour of sleep prior to 12 is equal to 2 hours after.
Hope this helps. Keep us posted on your progress and again, congrads on the progress you have made thus far!!
I am not a fan of ANY deli meats (to many nitrates and high percentage of kcals from bad fats) I would also say ixnay on the orkpey.
Some good cheap proteins are:
Canned tuna, salmon, or chicken (the ones in the air tight pouch are good too), eggs, and for your red meats try to go every 2 days and get the ones that are about to expire and marked down. If you can do the dairy stuff then there are a lot of good cheap alternatives, just be cognicent of how well you are digesting them (do you feel gassy or bloated) finally you might check around;
I, for instance, have the luxury of living in the midwest and by just asking around with local farmers I can get grass-fed beef for about 3.45/lb NOT BAD!!! My last suggestion is try dealing with the butchers: if beef is 5.00/ lb tell them you are a local lifter and you like their product would they consider giving you a discount to 2.50/lb if you were to take 20lbs.
If they agree find a friend or two to split the costs with and freeze what you don’t need within the next three days. I know how expensive food can be and I agree it sucks but at the same time if your diet is on point you save on supplements because you don’t need as many. I hope this answers your question and helps!
I’ve been fluttering around 36-38" waist for months now (since my original post 6 months ago!)
I’m about 38" and took about a month off to goto England, Vegas, Disney etc…not much lifting going on!
Anyhow, I want to go back into ‘cutting’ mode and get to my 35" waist I was before all this crap started happening!
I’ve been going back to the gym (and can finally say I can do 8 chinups in a row!!) I know that’s not much, but hey…coming from a guy who lost 47lbs and couldn’t do ONE chinup…that’s gosh darn good!
Anyhow, any suggestions on getting rid of this extra summer-flab? Perhaps lose 2-3 inches?
I’m averaging about 2000cal/day now and weight 202lbs (I actually gained weight since starting to workout…but also gained muscle too).
