My question is does anyone have any suggestions for breaking out of a fat loss rut? I am 6’1 242[not sure of bf% though]I started out at 297 back in the end of october first of november, and I have been stuck here for about 6 weeks. My typical day for diet is a low carb shake with half serving of cottage cheese, 1 small banana, and half serving of natural peanut butter right after my workout first thing in the morning at 6:30. About 9:30 or so I usually have 3 eggs,steak or some other meat,and a small piece of cheese.Then my next meal is another shake mixed with just water and 1 oz. of heavy cream. In the afternoon I’ll have a can of salmon or tuna[mixed with 1 teaspoonp. mayo and 1tbsp.mustard in the tuna]and a tangerine.Finally, around 7 or 7:30 dinner is generally grilled fish or beef and a small greens and tomato salad.My training right now consists of 25 min. cardio on the mornings I lift, 1 hour on days I don’t[it usually comes out to doing something 6 days a week].I also spar on the heavy bag for 6 3 min. “rounds” and jump rope one full minute before each round.I am currently doing the GVT program for lifting.Thanks in advance, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and welcome.
You mentioned the problem early on in your post by not knowing BF%, you will need this as the basis for calculating your calorie requirements and then altering as you go along. I suggest you read an article and links from issue 199 called The Essential Berardi. If you don’t already keep a food log do, a good one online is fitday.com.
I recommend that you start doing a more intense cardio session such as sprint intervals. If you would like to give it a try, a have a number of programs that I wouldn’t mind posting, just let me know.
Also, are you having any carb loads or cheat days?
no i don’t really have cheat days because i really dont care much for carbs anymore now that i have started taking a detox formula and an efa blend. However I do drink from 5 to 7 beers on a saturday night although not every saturday mind you, maybe every 2 to 3 weeks or so.
I just realized that you were doing GVT…You’d be better off going with a lower volume, higher intensity type program, such as 5x5. I will bump the “Alessi” thread up for you.
yes, I’d appreciate anything you can suggest.
You can visit my cardio page: www.tcnj.edu/~marion4/cardio.html
There are two sprinting programs posted there.
ok. thanks,Ill check it out. also, do you know if there is a way you can test for bf% without having the type of equipment they would have at a medical clinic, or am I just going to have to go have that done somewhere? thanks.
Rod - There are two methods that you can use to monitor your body composition.
1) skinfolds - Pick up a some skinfold calipers (Slim Guide, Accu-Measure, Fat Track) and use the male 3 site formula at www.enforcergraphics.f2s.com/ bodyfat.htm. The web site gives links to buy the calipers and pretty good instructions for how and where to take the measurements. Just ask and I can easily help you out with any details.
2) Bioimpedance - I prefer one of the newer Tanita scales with the athlete setting and a measurement to the nearest 0.1% body fat. I've already discussed a lot of details in other threads about this technique, so I'll just bump up the most recent thread about the subject entitled "Jason N:%BF Follow-Up." If you read through that thread you should have a real good idea about bioimpedance as a technique.
Final Point - Remember that you are looking for reliability, convenience, and the ability to track your body composition frequently. Accuracy is not nearly as important and is also pretty much unattainable (I've discussed this before in a thread entitle "Why you don't like your body comp numbers" - just do a search using "body comp" in the subject box or "Jason N" in the author box. Good luck!
You can pick up a pair of skinfold calipers to track your bf%. I like the FatTrack II digital pair; that’s what I use.