Friendly Advice Requested

rusnew2

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To start I want to say that up to now my progress has been awesome. However I have hit a plateau and am looking for some advice. A little back ground. Last year I was diagnosed to have low testosterone by my physician. Last July I started taking Testosterone Enthanate on a Hormone Replacement Therapy regimen under the guidance of my physician. I currently am taking 200mg of Testosterone a week. I also decided to change the way I lived at that time. I have completely cut out soda and fast foods from my diet. And have begun following the below routine (diet and exercise). I have followed this diet and exercise plan pretty much since the first week of July last year. Since that time I have lost 105lbs. I started at 360 lbs with a 56” – 58” waist. I am currently at 255lbs and have a 38” – 40” waist. However I am not quite satisfied with my results and wish to actually get to between 215 – 225 (we will see where that lands when I am happy with the way I look). And hopefully a 32” – 34” waistline. My problem is that I have hit a plateau and have been stuck at between 255 – 260 for almost two months now. I know I need a change to kick it further but am looking for the most effective way to take what I have now and just cut it all up and trim it out. (I do have before and after pics that I am willing to post if necessary.)

Fat-loss Supplements:
None

Pre-workout supps:
GNC Pro Performance® Amino Complex 4400 (8 caps 20-30 min prior to workout as directed on bottle)
Have been considering switching to No-Xplode
Daily Supps:
Optimum Nutrition: 100% Whey Gold – 1 Scoop post workout with my lunch
Creatine Monohydrate – 5g (mixed in with protein shake at lunch post workout).

Diet:
My diet has greatly improved from what it was but I am sure can be tweaked to be better.
I do use some sliced cheese on the turkey burgers, and shredded cheese and low fat sour cream on the taco’s but I use it sparingly.
I work fairly diligently to not exceed 2100 calories a day.

Fats:
Natty PB
Almonds
EVO oil – (used in preparing meals instead of using butter)

Carbs:
Kashi oatmeal or one of a few Kashi cereals (I always make sure that there are more grams of protein than fat in whatever I eat.)
Nature's Own 100% Whole Grain Sugar Free Bread Sandwiches/Turkey burgers/hot Dogs
Mission 6'' Fajita Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas

Fruit:
Bananas
Oranges
Apples
Blackberries
Grapes

Veggies:
Green beans
Romaine lettuce
Tomatoes



Protein:
Turkey / ham sandwich meat
Chicken breast or ground chicken
Ground Turkey (97% lean or better). Use it to make spaghetti sauce, turkey burgers, Taco Meat etc…
Hebrew National Fat Free hot Dogs. (Got to have a cheat item and to be honest it works with the kids never more than two dogs at dinner and just the dog and the bun listed above).



Workout/Cardio
I have been trying to do two a days. I try to hit the gym in the morning before work for 30-40 minutes of Cycling for cardio. Then I hit the gym for 1hr -1hr 15min at lunch for weight training.

I lift 5 days a week, my schedule is like this.

Week -1
M- Upper body
T- Lower body
W- Upper body
Tr- Lower body
F- Upper body
Sa&Su- Rest

Week – 2
M- Lower body
T- Upper body
W- Lower body
Tr- Upper body
F- Lower body
Sa&Su- Rest

My workout consists of mostly the following. I do 5 sets of 10 on every station unless otherwise noted.

Upper Body
Bench Press (smith machine)
Preacher Curls
Lat Pull downs
Dips (on an assist machine)
Chin ups (same machine)
Overhead Cable extensions (cross over machine)
Standard Cable Crossovers

Lower Body
Leg Press
Smith Machine Squats
Calf Raises on Leg Press
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Leg Abduction
Leg Adduction

AB – I do Ab work all 5 days smattered through out my regular workout.
I do leg lifts between bench press sets on the bench machine. (hands behind my head and lift legs from a horizontal position to a 90 degree angle, same as a hanging leg lift except laying flat on back.)
I do hanging leg lifts with knees bent
Hanging leg lifts with knees straight and toes pointed out (jack knifes)
Ab Bench with moderate weight
Ball Crunches
Planks (split between on ground and on stability ball planks)
 

youngandfree

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Hey man congratulations on the progress so far. A couple basic things I might suggest.

First off you have been dieting for a long time and your body has stalled out. The key to ongoing. Fat loss is keep your body guessing. It is an amazing machine that is always trying to achieve homeostasis and balance. Losing weight and fat doesn't fit into that plan usually so it adapts and stops losing after a while. So the first thing I would do is bump your calories a bit for a couple weeks to get your body back into the mode of "being fed". No more than 500-600 cals a day, preferably protein from whole food. Chicken, lean beef, turkey, eggs. Don't go crazy. Then after 2 weeks, start calorie cycling. Instead of maintaining same calorie level, you fluctuate it up and down throughout the week. Do a couple days at 2500-2600, then 2 days at 2200, then 3 days at 1800 for example. You might find you can bump the totals a bit but that gives you a basic idea. Do your high cal days on weekend to help restart the furnace and drop them on M and T. Then drop again for W-F.

To lower cals work on dropping the carbs. And the carbs you do eat, eat them early in the day, no later than 4-5pm. Green veggies in the PM.

Try to write out exactly what you eat so you know exactly where you are. Use fitday.com to help track everything if you need help.

If you really want to change things up, look into a Cyclic Ketogenic diet.

As far as workout goes, you are doing quite a bit which is why I think you can get by with a few more calories each day. I would say you can change up workout plan. If you like the upper lower split maybe change it to MWF. It will give your body a bit of rest. Do upper on MF and next W. Lower on W and MF of next week like you are doing just dont lift on tues or thurs. Pick 3 exercises for each bodypart and do 1 each workout. Change up your reps and pick some new free weight exercises. For each 2 week cycle you do 3 different exercises for each bodypart. Come up with. A new workout plan and diet plan and. Post it up.
 

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