Hitting a Plateau..

[mrdamo]

I have been losing weight for past two years now..going from 130kg(286pound) to 90kg(198pound).. But as most people do, I've hit a plateau..

I'm doing the same thing i've done for past two years, lots of cardio with weights mixed in.

Eating salad/fruit with around 5-7L(1.32gallons on average) of water everyday, 30-60mins of cardio a day(if I can). Each day i take "nature's way Metabolift Max Strength" with each main meal. But when I do big workout I also take "Horleys Ripped Factors Xtreme" Have just started adding in 2-3 protein shakes between main meals.

I would like to know if there is anything else that I can do/take(stonger supplement?) for an edge to increase workout or whatever to lose that little bit more off the stomach, i know you can't single out the stomach to loss fat from..


Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Damo

Couple pics of my transformation of last 2 years

 

[onelife]

If you could post up your diet it would be a huge help brotha

 

[t-bone2]

Also, your cardio - do you do steady state every day or mix it up with some interval type work? How many beats-per-minute are you typically at during your carbio sessions?

What do you mean by "weights mixed in?"

 

[mrdamo]

Typical daily intake(what it's been for past two weeks)

Breakfast - bowl of nutri-grain
snack - water, Banana or two with Invalid Link Removed
Lunch - water Dish of vegies with chicken or ham
Snack - water Banana or two with another Protein Revival shake
Dinner - Steak with vegies or couple of sandwiches(if craving overpowers me)

This is what intake would be if I can really control my urges and don't let the hunger overpower me. The 5-7L of water is spread out during the day put in with the snacks and lunch. The food intake each week varies on how strong i am, i may have little greasy meat instead of healthy lunch, one or two servings of subway, and have more bread than i really should. I'm trying to cut out as much bread as i possible can(i almost go through 2 loafs a week...wholemeal and/or grain bread)

My cardio sessions contain 30mins on cross trainer and if i have enough time i try to have a little break and then do another 20-3mins. I can really only do cross trainer due to recently getting disc protrusion in L4/L5, so can't jog or do anything that compresses the body. It's interval training on X-trainer(4mins low, 4high..so on for 30mins)heart rate is around 130-170, it used to get around 185-190 when i just went nuts, but now i'm trying different approach and gettin heart-rate in the target rate.

My weights consisted of 1-2 sessions a week with PT, consist of core exercises. ie. seated row, lat pull downs, pullups, squats, bench. I was doing a very large amount with leg press, but can't anymore due to injury.

 

[Rodja]

The best thing for you to do is going to be cycling your carb intake. Your physical situation makes an increased training load a bad idea, so tinker with your kcals.

One thing I want to stress is that you need more protein with breakfast.

 

[mrdamo]

Can you explain more on what you mean by "Your physical situation makes an increased training load a bad idea, so tinker with your kcals."

How much protein for breakfast, should i just have a protein shake itself aswell or other foods?

One thing that I don't know how to do is count cals/kjouls...how do you go about this?

I also have "redbak - wpi" is this good for another source of protein?

 

[Rodja]

Can you explain more on what you mean by "Your physical situation makes an increased training load a bad idea, so tinker with your kcals."

How much protein for breakfast, should i just have a protein shake itself aswell or other foods?

One thing that I don't know how to do is count cals/kjouls...how do you go about this?

I also have "redbak - wpi" is this good for another source of protein?

Since you have a bad back, it is not a good idea to workout more. A basic way to count kcals is 4kcals for carbs and protein and 9kcals for fats. I am not familiar with that particular protein supplement, but if it is whey protein isolate, then, yes, it si a good source of protein.

 

[mannip23]

Typical daily intake(what it's been for past two weeks)

Breakfast - bowl of nutri-grain
snack - water, Banana or two with Lo-Carb Protein Revival
Lunch - water Dish of vegies with chicken or ham
Snack - water Banana or two with another Protein Revival shake
Dinner - Steak with vegies or couple of sandwiches(if craving overpowers me)

This is what intake would be if I can really control my urges and don't let the hunger overpower me. The 5-7L of water is spread out during the day put in with the snacks and lunch. The food intake each week varies on how strong i am, i may have little greasy meat instead of healthy lunch, one or two servings of subway, and have more bread than i really should. I'm trying to cut out as much bread as i possible can(i almost go through 2 loafs a week...wholemeal and/or grain bread)

My cardio sessions contain 30mins on cross trainer and if i have enough time i try to have a little break and then do another 20-3mins. I can really only do cross trainer due to recently getting disc protrusion in L4/L5, so can't jog or do anything that compresses the body. It's interval training on X-trainer(4mins low, 4high..so on for 30mins)heart rate is around 130-170, it used to get around 185-190 when i just went nuts, but now i'm trying different approach and gettin heart-rate in the target rate.

My weights consisted of 1-2 sessions a week with PT, consist of core exercises. ie. seated row, lat pull downs, pullups, squats, bench. I was doing a very large amount with leg press, but can't anymore due to injury.

First off I have a similar story to you bro. In Jan of 06 I was 19 years old and 300lbs, and I am now 6'2 180 and under 10% bf. You have to train like an animal but diet is by far the most important part. I see a lot of things wrong with your diet, and I am really suprised you did not hit a stopping point after losing 20lbs. First off get rid of the nutrigrain and the banana's. I have never heard of nutrigrain ceral but if its anything like the bar's its loaded with high fructose corn syrup one of this worse things for you. Most ceral is loaded with process sugar. If you need ceral the Kashi go lean is acceptable. If you are tying to lose weight fruit is something you usually want to stay away from. You want complex low GI carbs. Banana's are the worst fruit as far as simple sugars and high gi carbs. If you have to eat fruit, eat it first thing in the morning or right after weights. Apples and blueberries are two of your better choices here.
You need to be eating 6-7 meals a day. This will make your metabolism a fat burning muscle sparing machine Roughly eat every 2 1/2-3 hours. Don't be afraid to eat healthy fats. YOU NEED FAT TO BURN FAT OR ELSE YOUR BODY WILL STORE IT!! You need to get between 7-12 g's of fat a meal. Half should come for lean animal sources, and the other half should come from fish oils, flax, and nuts

Here is a simple guideline, put one of each protien and complex carbs together for meal 6-7 times a day plus add veggies in for three or four meals. Cut your carb out either in the 2nd to last meal or last meal and put a veggie in its place. (Stay away from carrots late in evening though)

Protiens (try to make a serving that you get atleast 40 grams of protien each meal)
extra lean ground meat
Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast
All seafood and fish
egg whites (egg beaters)
lean cuts of steak (top rpund and top sirlon)
eye of round roast
low fat or ff cottage (great to eat before bed has a lot cassien protien which is slow burning)

Complex Carb Sources
old fashion oats (the best thing for you to be eating)
plain yams
plain sweet potato
hot whole grain ceral
brown rice
any bread that is 100% whole grain
100% wheat pasta
some fruits and plain white potatoes are acceptable but they are not as good as the ones above

Throw in a nice cheat meal once a week for a reward and to give a shock to your body. After about 2- 3 months of eating like this your metabolism will be out of controll. The pounds will melt off once this happens.

 

[mrdamo]

rodja, this is the redbak product.. Invalid Link Removed

cereal is "just right original" got mixed up there..

The thing i'm noticing with the protein is that if I have to much it just goes straight through me..This is from the shakes, would it be different due to eating solids?

mannip23, you speak of healthy fats..What is classed as that? I'm always getting mixed up with these poly or mono-unsaturated and so on..

 

[mannip23]

rodja, this is the redbak product.. Invalid Link Removed

cereal is "just right original" got mixed up there..

The thing i'm noticing with the protein is that if I have to much it just goes straight through me..This is from the shakes, would it be different due to eating solids?

mannip23, you speak of healthy fats..What is classed as that? I'm always getting mixed up with these poly or mono-unsaturated and so on..

get 70% of your fats from animal sources The other 30% should come from these sources
omega 3's
flax seeds fish (salmon, herring, mackerel)
sardines
Foods high in Omega 6 include:
sunflower seeds
vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, sesame, soybean, safflower)
pumpkin seeds
mono-unsaturated
Foods high in mono-unsaturated fats:
olive oil
avocado
nuts (macadamia, peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios)

 

[Rodja]

rodja, this is the redbak product.. Invalid Link Removed

cereal is "just right original" got mixed up there..

The thing i'm noticing with the protein is that if I have to much it just goes straight through me..This is from the shakes, would it be different due to eating solids?

mannip23, you speak of healthy fats..What is classed as that? I'm always getting mixed up with these poly or mono-unsaturated and so on..

IMO, powders should only be used in situations when time is limited or for post-WO. Try to make the majority of your diet whole foods and use protein powders for convenience. Also, try to have less refined carbs, such as breads and cereals, in your diet. Many people can maintain there weight while eating these, but losing weight is difficult.

 

[mannip23]

IMO, powders should only be used in situations when time is limited or for post-WO. Try to make the majority of your diet whole foods and use protein powders for convenience. Also, try to have less refined carbs, such as breads and cereals, in your diet. Many people can maintain there weight while eating these, but losing weight is difficult.

Exactly protien powders and meal replacments are fine if your in a bind and can't get real food. Natural food has a thermogenic effect if eaten in the right portions and frequency. Eating like I posted above will put your body in a fat burning furnace state after a short time. The processed cereal and bread should be stayed away from however 100% whole grain breads and 100% whole cereals are ok.

 

[waimoku]

consider Ezekiel 4:9 products for your grain sources. Their bread, pasta and cereals are from sprouted grains which have a low glycemic index value. Oh yeah, and they taste pretty good despite the low to no sugar content.

 

[mrdamo]

I've bought new stack of food, i'll try to write up a daily plan for this week and get everyones opinion on it.

waimoku, i'm in australia.. so most of the stuff you get over there I wouldn't have a chance of getting here or even hear of it.

thanks heaps for your help

 

[t-bone2]

...however 100% whole grain breads and 100% whole cereals are ok.

mannip23 has given you some great advice, especially with regard to fruit and grains. HOWEVER, use caution with "100% whole grain" products. I've noticed lots of these recently that are incorporating High Fructose Corn Syrup. Read the ingredients.

 

[mrdamo]

What's the danger of "High Fructose Corn Syrup"?

sugar or something??

 

[Force of Green]

I apologize in advance for having read only the first post, but consider yourself extremely lucky that it took 2 years of the same '$#!+' for your body and mind to just say, "screw it, I'm bored." That's awesome that you've been so disciplined and you have had an awesome transformational 'metamorphisis'. However, the best thing to do to improve quality of life in all aspects is to embrace change. You've done so with the way your body has changed. [Pat on the back]

...Now, figure out a lifestyle guideline... don't be so strict. Always make sure you have ample food choices. The worst thing you can do is to research a diet and follow it verbatim. Controlled Labs has a motto "Lift In Color" or something like that... One my guidelines is to "Eat In Color". Eat 5 wholesome meals a day and give yourself a good protein base, whether it be poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, rabit, deer, shark, alligator, or lean red meat. Then to build off of that, choose a good carb source from some kinda whole grain or something like squash, carrots, yam, whatever... Ezekiel bread... Pick a vegetable or a veggie medley that's raw, steamed slightly, grilled, baked, or broiled. If there is no type of fat in your meal, drizzle some oil on your veggies (olive oil, walnut oil, sesame oil, etc) and use reasonably healthy and low sodium seasonings.

I am good friends with a guy who works at Koo Koo Roo (fresh market type place) and I'm lucky to get the manager discount on my food. I pick out 5 meals from their a day and it costs me like 22 bucks. A typical meal plan for me would be this...

Well, first thing in the morning I drink whey hydrosolate/isolate blend to break the fast (only 20 grams).... then I can shower and shave before eating breakfast.

Meal 1. Turkey, butternut squash, broccoli, carrots

Meal 2. Chicken (roasted), greens salad, black beans, cole slaw

Meal 3. Same as 1 or 2

Workout, followed by 50 grams whey isolate (Oryx Goat Whey) and 2 Ezekiel tortillas with 2 tablespoons of honey in the middle. LOL

Meal 4. Similar to 1, 2 or 3... Probably change it up a bit like
Chargrilled chicken, marinated mushrooms, green beans, and a yam.

Meal 5. A healthy Asian chicken salad with extra chicken. Not one of those calorically dense ones. This one's made with fresh lettuce, radish, cabbage, carrot shreds, almonds, roasted chicken, and I put the dressing on myself.

Yeah... and the staple supps should be a good multi (MVP-365), fish oil (omega-3), and some good anti-oxidants like Lean Green or Tea-3 and Super Curcumin by Life Extension. ECGC in the green teas will compliment the components in curcumin and the bioperine will increase both the availability of the green tea extract and curcumin.

Vary your workouts and don't worry about numbers. I like full body workouts because my body is so much better synchronized and the flexibility and creativity involved is limitless. Don't stress the fact that strength went down a little or some stupid s**t like that. It's all water under the bridge or over the dam. When you are an old man, are you going to bore your grandchildren with talks of, "Ya know kids, when I was 27, I increased my caloric intake by 300 calories and this increased my hammer strength press by 20 lbs on each side... blah blah blah".

Life is too short man. You've done well so far. Now forget everything you think you may know about fitness and accept that belief is the death of intelligence. Take your new physique and reboot; Start from square one. You are in the NOW. Don't live in the past.

 

[EasyEJL]

a few things I noticed...

Coconut oil was left out of healthy fats, and its an important one, great to use for cooking or even just eating. has nice flavor

Oats may not be the greatest carb source as some people have levels of allergic reaction, quinoa is better as a grain type, plus quinoa is "denser", so eating 50g of quinoa is about volumewise like 30g of oats.

also even higher glycemic index foods get their index LOWERED by taking them in with high fiber, solid proteins or heavier fats, as the body digests them slower. So although a banana may be a little higher GI wise than oats, if you are eating it chopped up in a higher fiber cereal, or even with cottage cheese it gets down fairly low.

You can use Invalid Link Removed to track your calories, there are others as well, but its easy to use, and they don't spam blast you. Also, if you want to look at glycemic indexes of foods you can go here Invalid Link Removed


Also, i'm going to finish explaining Rodja's carb cycling for you Carb cycling is lowering your carb intake on non-workout days, leaving them steady on workout days. This will help break a plateua for sure. You don't need to lower total calories non-workout days, just make up for the carbs with healthy fats + protein. You may also want to look at or try carb tapering - taking in the majority of carbs before noon, and none at all after 6pm. the combination of that and cycling is sure to help.

 

[workin2005]

The best thing for you to do is going to be cycling your carb intake. Your physical situation makes an increased training load a bad idea, so tinker with your kcals.

One thing I want to stress is that you need more protein with breakfast.

:goodpost:

Workin