Need Advice on Where To Go From Here

[Fat2fit2017]

Hey guys..

I've been working hard to meet my goal of losing 100 lb for about 5 months. I've had a couple setbacks, but nothing hugely disappointing.. Just a moment of weakness or two. At any rate, I've managed to lose 48lb. And I'm stuck. I have a friend helping me out with a diet plan and we've reached an impasse, it seems.

Before I started, I really didn't eat throughout the day. And when I did eat, it was normally carb-packed or just junk food altogether. He started me off with the following:

Meal 1- 6oz egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup oats
Meal 2- 2 scoops UMP protein powder
Meal 3- 6oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup green vegetables
Meal 4- 6oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup green vegetables
Meal 5- 2 scoops UMP protein.

I'd supplement my diet with EHP labs Oxy Shred and Acetyl L Carnatine, BCAAs, and a Pre-Workout. Exercise would include 20 minutes of Stairmaster on the interval setting, 5 miles of recumbent exercise bike, all at a moderate pace but not paying close attention to heart rate. I would probably be guessing, but I estimate my mode heart rate was somewhere in the range of 145-150 BPM.

This worked well for some time, and we modified the diet and exercise a couple times throughout this process. But my weakness caused me to eat ****ty and in my haste, wedge come to the point where I'm now cutting carbs completely and working on the Stairmaster for 45 minutes at level 10 HIIT, along with a moderate lifting program.

My current diet is as follows:

Meal 1- 8oz egg whites, 1 whole egg
Meal 2- 2 scoops protein
Meal 3- 8oz tilapia, 1/2 cup vegetables (cabbage a lot of the time)
Meal 4- 8oz chicken breast, 1/2 vegetables
Meal 5- 2 scoops protein.

About a month ago, this exact diet was used with the addition to oats in my last shake and it helped me lose ~10lb. Now, however, it seems that I can't break through to the 230-220s plateau. I've now run out of oxy shred, and I don't know that it's really helped anyway.

I lead a fairly stressful life with my young kids and job, which I work odd hours. I have a history of depression, and though I feel great about my results thus far, I can't help but feel discouraged at this point. I don't really know where I can go from here, as literally everything has been cut to a bare minimum and my body seems to be holding on to everything. I have an appointment at the end of the month to see a doctor to have a full blood panel done to see where my hormone levels are, as I suspect I'm estrogen-rich and testosterone-poor.

I guess my question to all of you is this- where do I go from here? How do I get my body working to continue shedding fat at a more consistent rate? Do I need to reset my metabolism somehow? Cycle carbs? I've read that when proper nutrition and exercise is used, plateaus are a thing of the past. Where did I go horribly wrong?

 

[AntM1564]

Have you had any refeeds?

 

[Fat2fit2017]

Have you had any refeeds?

Refeeds?

 

[Dembel]

Maybe you have a problem with growth hormone levels. It is better to ask a doctor about hgh and testosterone levels. Only after this consultation you can decide what to do next.

 

[HIT4ME]

Refeeds?

Yes, a refeed is a PLANNED meal that is essentially a structured carb-up designed to "reset" your system. It is a decent idea if you are below 20% bodyfat but I am guessing you are not at this point.

How often are you having a cheat meal and how do you handle those meals? What is the plan?

How long have you been stuck at your current weight? And what is your current weight/height?

The thing is, plateaus will never really be a thing of the past. There is so much dogma out there about dieting but it is mostly fallacy that people choose to believe because it makes them think there is an easy way out or something they are doing is justified.

The two things I would say without the above questions being answered are:

1. Maybe you should cut out 2 scoops of protein and eat some more food in place of that. That could be another 200-300 calorie meal that would be more satisfying than a shake...or even 400 caps or more if you are mixing powder in milk.

2. Stay the course. This is just good advice. If you are eating in a deficit, you will lose weight. Sometimes that weight loss doesn't come as expected. You may have a week where you seem to lose nothing at all and then on that one day you suddenly drop 2 pounds. Your body doesn't work in a linear fashion like we like to think.