its official, im at a plateau

[Lao Tzu]

Sucks. in the last 6.5 weeks my weight has not changed any and even though i've lost 2.5 inches on my waist since 6.5 weeks ago, that was in the first 3 weeks. in the last 3.5 i have lost nothing on my waist.

I have a plan (im not doing ckd im doing low fat) to try to break this plateau

Right now i do about 40 min. cardio 4-5 times a week and i do about 10 min HIIT 2x a week. Im thinking of boosting my regular cardio in one of several ways

1. do 40 min cardio 4-5 times a week but on top of that on exercise days do a 20 min. walk. that will add as much calorie burn as 10 min of cardio.

2. split my cardio. i find it hard to do 40 minutes at once i can't boost it to 50-60 minutes. so im thinking of doing 25-35 minutes 2x a day. The only problem with this is having to take 2 showers a day. But im sure i'll adjust.

im also thinking of cutting calories by 200-300 a day beyond where i'm at (roughly 2800 a day down to 2500-2600). so i guess i'll have to pay more attention to GI and have to take some appetite suppressants on & off to maintain this so my appetite doesn't gnaw at me.

And maybe doing HIIT 3x a week is a good idea but i'm not too sure on that. i think i will overtrain doing that much HIIT.

keep in mind im not trying to cut drastically for summer or anything, im trying to lose weight for the long term. i want a program that is realistic that i can stay on for life.

 

[ffknight84]

When you do your cardio, do you give as much effort into it as you do your lifting. Also where do you do it, on a treadmill or outside. I dont know where you live but i find running outside makes cardio moer fun and i can easily do over an hour.

Personally i would say dont cut calories, just step up your running. Try 3x a week HIT, if you have to eat a little more. Also split up your lifting and running, atleast 4 hours apart, that should help.

Also what are your current stats and goals, just curious because i might be able to help more if i knew them.

 

[Lao Tzu]

my goal is to lose about 40 lbs and another 8" on my waist. i dont know my BF, a 3 point caliper puts it at about 16-17% but i am assuming closer to 22%. i weigh 262.

the thing is i used to do HIIT 3x a week but i started getting the symptoms of overtraining (lethargy, inability to do cardio for more than 10 minutes). when i cut to 2x a week it went away.

 

[Gymgurl]

Why would it help to split your cardio and weights 4 hours apart? Just wondering

 

[dirtyboi]

Some people do like a 2 week overfeeding to raise hormone levels back to their previous levels. This is supposed to help them to lose the weight as rapidly as when they first started.

 

[Lao Tzu]

Why would it help to split your cardio and weights 4 hours apart? Just wondering

because i can barely do 40 minutes at once so im going to have alot of trouble getting to 50-70 minute cycling habits. So maybe 2 30 minute cyclings is a better idea.

i didnt include weights in there, thats an extra hour or so a week (im just doing maintenance lifting, not trying to build anything new right now. 2 sets to near failure 1x a week per bodypart).

 

[Lao Tzu]

Some people do like a 2 week overfeeding to raise hormone levels back to their previous levels. This is supposed to help them to lose the weight as rapidly as when they first started.

So for 2 weeks just eat at maintenance (about 3600 a day for me)? should i accomidate for the calories burned by exercise? i assume so. i guess eating 3700 a day will suffice if i do that.

Where did you hear of this theory, any links? do you know if it needs to be 2 weeks? does it need to be at maintenance or slightly above? do you eat anything or stick to your diet when on it?

 

[Lao Tzu]

based on what dirtyboi said i think i may change my new plan.

Instead i will stick to my low fat diet but use high fat food to push my daily calories to slightly (100-200) above maintenance for 2 weeks. After that i will try cutting to 2700 calories a day, adding green tea (which if it gives a 5% boost will add 150 calories a day to expendature) and boosting cardio by 5 minutes, which will burn an extra 75 calories.

so thats a -100, +150 & +75 = 325 caloric defecit higher than im currently running.


im only making minor changes because im sure i'll hit another plateau, then perhaps i can cut another 100 calories and add another 5 min. to cardio.

 

[dirtyboi]

well, my mentioning of the overfeed pertains to Leptin. Do an internet search on it and I think it will be enlightening for you.

 

[Mr.X]

Sucks. in the last 6.5 weeks my weight has not changed any and even though i've lost 2.5 inches on my waist since 6.5 weeks ago, that was in the first 3 weeks. in the last 3.5 i have lost nothing on my waist.

I have a plan (im not doing ckd im doing low fat) to try to break this plateau

Right now i do about 40 min. cardio 4-5 times a week and i do about 10 min HIIT 2x a week. Im thinking of boosting my regular cardio in one of several ways

1. do 40 min cardio 4-5 times a week but on top of that on exercise days do a 20 min. walk. that will add as much calorie burn as 10 min of cardio.

2. split my cardio. i find it hard to do 40 minutes at once i can't boost it to 50-60 minutes. so im thinking of doing 25-35 minutes 2x a day. The only problem with this is having to take 2 showers a day. But im sure i'll adjust.

im also thinking of cutting calories by 200-300 a day beyond where i'm at (roughly 2800 a day down to 2500-2600). so i guess i'll have to pay more attention to GI and have to take some appetite suppressants on & off to maintain this so my appetite doesn't gnaw at me.

And maybe doing HIIT 3x a week is a good idea but i'm not too sure on that. i think i will overtrain doing that much HIIT.

keep in mind im not trying to cut drastically for summer or anything, im trying to lose weight for the long term. i want a program that is realistic that i can stay on for life.

I would suggest you take a 2 day refeed, where you do about weight x 15 60%carbs/30%protein/10%fat
This will alow you to replenish liver and muscle glycogen while creating the glycogen-supercompensation that you need and restoring thyroid levels to their normal.

Mr.X