Weight loss plateau...help needed

KRuth22

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Hey, my brother has yet to join the site but I showed him around and am trying to get him some advice. We both started a weight loss contest and both doing very well. He started at 328 and has gotten down to 283 since January 4th and has since hit a big plateau. His typical day is:

-breakfast-protein shake w/banana and 1 tbsp of peanut butter
-snack- 1 oz almonds and apple
-lunch- turkey or tuna sandwich with light whole wheat bread and half a grapefruit
-snack- apple and can of tuna or 6oz. chicken breast
-workout
-8-10oz of chicken, fish or lean beef, 2 cups broccoli, 1oz almonds
-snack 1/2 cup cottage cheese.

Very minimal variation with only slight changes avocado for almonds, ect.
He also has an 8-5 desk job, with a half hour lunch to rule out any midday cardio. Morning cardio out of the question.

Supplements: OEP, CLA (2g a day), Sesamin (3g a day), Fish oil (10g a day), Jack3d (pre workout), multi

Workout 5-6 days a week. 4 days of cardio 30-40 minutes (bike, walk incline, or recently HIIT run/walk)
Weight portion is usually supersets with each muscle once per week. With short rest periods.

The last three weeks he has lost a total of 5 pounds total with a 1lb gain this past week. He has not been cheating at all on the diet and I know his workouts have been good. I was trying to give him my own advice on what he should do, and all I can think of is maybe taking a couple days off of the workout and diet just to confuse the body a little. I assume that he is hitting the wall due to just body adaptation to his routine. He was thinking of starting a Keto diet to push beyond that plateau. Any advice would be great and hopefully he can get registered pretty soon and I'll get him to post in here when he does.
 

CJSalcedo

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There really isn't any "plateauing" on weight loss. He needs to slowly lower his daily calories the lighter he gets as he will spend less and less calories exercising the less he weighs overall as the body adapts to adversity. Have him go for a 500 calorie deficit, or even do keto if he has the will power.
 

KRuth22

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Just because I am not talking about how much someone can bench press doesn't mean there is no plateau. If you are loosing weight and that weight loss number hits a stall, there you go...plateau.
Second please read my post, obviously with someone who is 280+ pounds and eating what I listed his is definitely below maintenance. I'm looking for some insightful advice to give him, not someone spitting back something everyone on this site knows about weightloss. Thanks
 

scott2hott99

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I don't know how much help it'll be but im also on a cut right now, and i've noticed that if I take a cheat meal/day once every week or two it helps to mix up my metabolism. Also, i've done keto a few times before, specifically a ckd, and after the initial period refeed meals/days are important to fuel your muscles for the next week. The workout looks good but if he hasnt been maybe try to switch up what exercises he does in the supersets or switch his whole workout up for a few weeks.
 
DAdams91982

DAdams91982

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When you say typical day.. is at least one cheat meal included in the week? Or is it just straight through hardcore dieting. What is the total cal's he/you are in taking in a day? Can you lay out the weight routine?

By reading the "Typical" day, he may be in taking to little cal's now, and possibly to little fat (at least fat provided by diet). So, how many Cals, and break it down to Macro's (Protein/Carbs/Fat)?

I would drop the CLA due to new research in light, dial back the Fish Oil since you are also taking sesamin, maybe throw in Alpha-T2 to stoke the thyroid, along with one nice cheat meal a week. Can help provide further when you hit us back with some more info.
 

youngandfree

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I agree that total cals are pretty low for 280lbs. Calculate total cals for his typical day. He definitely needs a few day break from super strict diet. Take 3 days off and have him eat 500-1000 more calories, fairly clean to jump start metabolism. When doing long term diet, I find its best to cycle calories up and down throughout week. Have 2 days below maintenance, 1 day at maintenance and 1 day 200-500 above maintenance. Then repeat.

For example: M,T- below, wed at, thurs- above, fri, sat below again. Sun at maint. It keeps the metabolism stoked better than just long term cal deficit. And on the above maint day have that cheat meal as reward. Don't go crazy, but a nice meal out with a small desert.

I also suggest changing up the workout routine. If he can get cardio in before work then some lifting after would boost the energy expenditure.

Your body does stall out after prolonged diet and same workout regimen. When it does, you have to change something. And as stated before when body weight goes down, so do calorie needs. But he is already pretty low right now so he doesn't have much room to lower them much. And congrats for the progress so far.
 
triton185

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He should keep doing what he is doing. I went from 280+ down to 212 where I am right now. It has been over 2 1/2 years since I started the process.....I had months where I barely lost anything and then would drop a few pounds and I have always been consistent. I never just dropped pounds every week...week after week....normally I would drop a few then stay steady then drop a few more....I think that is natural. If he is comfortable eating and exercising like he is right now then he should just continue. He doesn't need to change anything drastically. Just my 2cents....
 

KRuth22

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When you say typical day.. is at least one cheat meal included in the week? Or is it just straight through hardcore dieting. What is the total cal's he/you are in taking in a day? Can you lay out the weight routine?

By reading the "Typical" day, he may be in taking to little cal's now, and possibly to little fat (at least fat provided by diet). So, how many Cals, and break it down to Macro's (Protein/Carbs/Fat)?

I would drop the CLA due to new research in light, dial back the Fish Oil since you are also taking sesamin, maybe throw in Alpha-T2 to stoke the thyroid, along with one nice cheat meal a week. Can help provide further when you hit us back with some more info.
He was not doing any sort of cheat meal or load of any kind. I tried convincing him it would do his body well but he didn't want to sway from the diet. After reading some responses and talking with him I got him started on a Scivation Cut diet where he can be cycling his carbs and getting some good recovery from those carb load meals. That is the diet I have been doing and have gone from 260 to 219 since January and I'm hoping it can get him through this slow moving weight drop.

Also, has their been any other research on the CLA than the one article? I'm skeptical until the new research is proven by more studies

Also, w
 

youngandfree

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The Scivation Cut Diet is a good plan because it takes into account carb cycling and calorie cycling in a well structured plan that's easy to follow.

What calorie plan is he doing?
 

rcruth

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This post is actually about me. My bro told me about this forum and I'm surprised at the quality of most of it's members. This is my first post on these forums.

I'm doing the Scivation 2500 calorie cut diet. When I plugged my body type and weight into the formula they provide I came out with 2600 calories and rounded down. This is WAY more than I was eating before and the first carb-up meal was pretty miserable to finish.

I just ordered some Alpha-T2 from NP to stack with my OEP that I've been taking for 3 months now (I cycled off OEP for a little over a week at the end of Feb.). I figued I would give my body something extra to get through this sticking point.

I just started lifting heavy again for the first time in 2 months. I've been doing high reps/low rest since then to burn more calories during my workout. Now I'm lifting 3 days a week (M,W,F) and doing HIIT (treadmill) 3 times per week (T,TH,S).

The workout is a similar split to the DoggCrapp program for those that are familiar.

I figured that I will lift like this for 6 weeks, see how i'm progressing weight-wise, then change it up again.

I hope this has provided more insight to get some more excellent feedback. I'll keep posting my progress. Thanks!
 

youngandfree

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I feel ya on the carb up. I did that plan last year and it takes a couple times to get used to it. They recommend not drinking so much water or fluid during that meal. So I usually made my oatmeal a bit watery to compensate. And the sweet potato I used calorie free butter spray and cinnamon and it was to die for.
 

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