Hit a fatloss plateau, please help

[arbiterdbol]

Im 19, 195 6'. I started to try and reduce my bodyfat about 3 months ago. the first month and hald i lost about 3% bodyfat. Now no matter what i do i cant lose fat anymore. I lowered calories all the way down to 1800, and i lift intense 4-5days aweek with mild intense cardio on all days. My diet is very clean ratio of 50/30/20. Im now at about 17% bf and need to get to around 13% but didnt think it would take this long.

 

[tops2heavy]

hey my man... im also in the same boat with u right now... watever u do decide to do .. do not give up


anyways....

the first thing you might want to try would be a refeed or a carb up of some sort.. u mentioned how low your cals have been and this might help to get your body cranking again... also make sure you are getting enough fats in your diet, although its not very hard to take in a decent amount of fats you might want to sit down and add them up, and see what you come up with.. you could also try changing your cardio routine to something a little different than the norm

but anyways, speaking of, i gotta go hit up a session of cardio.. watever you decide goodluck! and don't ever give up, it won't be worth it

 

[dsl]

I would say that your metabolism has come to a screeching halt. Therefore, up your cals to 2700 for a week then drop to 2500 for a couple of week and continue to slowly drop cals.

Also, you don't need to do cardio every day. Really, what will you do when you can't drop cals anymore? Are you going to add more cardio? Just pick 2 days a week (preferable off days) to do 45 mins of low-intensity cardio in the morning and pick two more days when you do small muscle groups and do 30 mins of low-intensity cardio after that.

Also, you need a clean diet, several have been posted so make one then post it so we can critique it.

Fitday.com is a great place to make a diet and set up your cals.

 

[arbiterdbol]

my diet is awesome with 50/30/20 ratio of p/c/f. its been so long of following the diet that i think i should eat 3000-3500 cal/day for a week then start back cutting around 2500 cal/ day

 

[Jayhawkk]

Eat more
Eat clean
Eat often

1800 calories is way too low.

 

[bpmartyr]

Eat more
Eat clean
Eat often

1800 calories is way too low.

Agreed. Personally, I like to eat at maintenance while cutting and allow my cardio to produce the deficit. That and refeeds.

 

[arbiterdbol]

if im not losing fat at 2100-1800 calories, how can i lose fat at 2700 calories? should i clean bulk for a week then start around 2500 cal/day with lots of cardio and decrease cal again when fatloss stops?

 

[Brent]

if im not losing fat at 2100-1800 calories, how can i lose fat at 2700 calories? should i clean bulk for a week then start around 2500 cal/day with lots of cardio and decrease cal again when fatloss stops?

Your body is keeping the fat, known as starvation mode. Increasing the calories will allow the metabolism to speed up and burn the fat.

 

[bpmartyr]

if im not losing fat at 2100-1800 calories, how can i lose fat at 2700 calories? should i clean bulk for a week then start around 2500 cal/day with lots of cardio and decrease cal again when fatloss stops?

The suggested 2700 cals is intended to get your metabolism running again after it has been thinking your starving thus making your body more efficient/selective with the low level of resources it has to run your vitals and "not so vital".

Next is to taper down slowly and gauge results based off a thorough log of your diet and caloric expenditures. Find a sweet spot with an occasional (or as often as needed) refeeding to "refresh" the old 'tabolism.

IMHO
?

 

[arbiterdbol]

thanks, ill be eating 3000 calories the next week just to be safe, then ill refeed one day every couple of weeks to keep my metabolism up. ill start back at 2500 cal/day. should that be good?

 

[Jayhawkk]

You will probably see an increase in weight to start with due to the time needed for your metabolism to kick back in. Spread your meals out every couple hours so that your body is always breaking down the food.

I honestly wouldn't start that high at first since it seems you're at a halt now with the low calories. 2400-2700 would be plenty to start with and then adjust accordingly afterwards.

 

[myfathersboy]

I have little to add except that dsl, martyr, jay, and brent have given you some extremely solid advice that you should seriously consider.

 

[arbiterdbol]

so when i start back dieting ill start at 2500 calories and decrease when i hit a small plateau, with a refeed day once every 2 weeks. ill update when im done eating 3000 cal for a week.

 

[WannaGro]

Also try HIIT, I am about the same height and weight as you, BF% is a little different, so you could probably go lower, but I never go below 2700 while cutting, I get too weak and tired feeling. The cycling of calories and carbs along with HIIT and a solid workout plan, and you should cut pretty quick. The cycling calories that I do is I eat less on off and cardio days than I do on workout days, protein stays pretty constant but carbs are changed up alot. Good luck.

 

[arbiterdbol]

So when i get done with my 3000 cal/wk refeed how should i finish up my diet

2500 cal with cardio and lower carbs every 2 weeks

 

[tops2heavy]

hey man ... sorry if im cutting into your thread, but I figured this would be a good time to ask...


I am also cutting and I was wondering if anyone has any well sourced documents on refeeds or carbing up and why/ how it helps to "restart the metabolism" any documented studies would be awesome... thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[WannaGro]

Well I don't understand the lower carbs every 2 weeks, unless you mean run lower carbs while at 2500 and then carb up at 3000 cals every 2 weeks. Usually you would carb up alot more often, then every 2 weeks, and then its just for a day or 2 instead of like an entire week. My cycling cals/carbs is based off an overall weekly deficit equal to what I want to lose minus cardio deficit. So days I would need more energy I would eat more cals. Try to get or make a simple calorie calculator to figure basal metabolic rate or BMR and figure out calorie needs based on that. Because what calorie levels and macro ratio works for one guy may not for anther. Body mass has a large influence on this, the general number is an extra 50 cals per day are burned for each additional pound of LBM. So based off of this, my body burns ~1000 cals more per day then your does, so you would need either lower calories or more cardio, than I would.
As for info on carb cycling, check out the nutrition section on this board, and also check out the ebook Ultimate Diet 2.0 by Lyle McDonald (also refered to as UD2), as well as the articles called Twin Peaks Carb Cycling, these should have everything you need. UD2 also mentions some studies and research on leptin and hormone levels, while dieting. You can find almost all of this around this board and its sponsors.

 

[tops2heavy]

alrite well im not really looking for info on carb cycling... What I am wondering is why / how refeeding the body works..

the advice is to eat more for a period of time to get the metabolism running again, I'm not doubting the advice, I'm just wondering if there has been any studies done on this...

 

[WannaGro]

Look up the UD2 book, it talks about how the body starts changing the hormones in a low calorie/low carb state, its done as a survival response, so it decreases the metabolism and becomes catabolic to conserve fat. The refeeds are kind of for metabolic confusion, so you can get cals and carbs low without your body going into that state. It explains it in depth. As far as finding studies, look around on place like pubmed and google it. Sorry I can't be any more help right now, I'm studying for tomorrows final, I'm a senior in Computer Engineering, it sucks.

 

[tops2heavy]

alright... well thanks a lot for your help... I'll definitely check into it... yea my studying will start tomorrow also... goodluck on your exams :frustrate

 

[BigDago]

I cycled carbs once a week (re-feed). Saturdays ! It gave me an opportunity to get my wife out of the house, or if you have a girlfriend. It also was my reward for being a good boy. Keeps ther metabolism from getting stale. The same reasoning why a starvation diet doesn't work for the spring dieters. I started this from the get go. Before I platued. You wont have to re-feed as long.

 

[WhatsaRoid?]

damn sometimes i hate how smart youy guys are lol...i love this board..I learned a lot jus from this thread..

 

[Brent]

damn sometimes i hate how smart youy guys are lol...i love this board..I learned a lot jus from this thread..

Let me know when you learn complete sentences and have something to actually contribute.

 

[dsl]

Let me know when you learn complete sentences and have something to actually contribute.

Brent, do you feel better about yourself now?


../../members/whatsaroid.html
WhatsaRoid?, just keep reading there's plenty of info here!. I've learned a lot from this board over the years.

 

[Brent]

Brent, do you feel better about yourself now?


../../members/whatsaroid.html
WhatsaRoid?, just keep reading there's plenty of info here!. I've learned a lot from this board over the years.

Whatsaroid has made 27 posts in one night. Look around. I am not the only one complaining.

 

[Basso]

] Ultimate Diet 2.0 by Lyle McDonald (also refered to as UD2), as well as the articles called Twin Peaks Carb Cycling, these should have everything you need. UD2 also mentions some studies and research on leptin and hormone levels, while dieting. You can find almost all of this around this board and its sponsors.

Holy crap Body Opus boy wrote a book??? :jaw: This guy is like 120lbs soaking wet. I'm not saying he doesn't know anything I'm saying like withvany other author don't take his word as gospel. A few years ago he logged his BodyOpus diet which lasted for like 3 months(which if you know BO is insane).
Anyway is the book a rehash of Opus or did he create his own version?

 

[WannaGro]

I don't take his word as gospel, it just has some good info, its good to help some one set up a basic carb cycling plan. Alot of people actually did pretty well with the UD2 diet, I read a few logs on this board of people doing it. Oh and I have never read body opus.

 

[myfathersboy]

Brent, do you feel better about yourself now?


../../members/whatsaroid.html
WhatsaRoid?, just keep reading there's plenty of info here!. I've learned a lot from this board over the years.

Yeah, I thought the same thing, like Brent's on the rag or something....then I realized what this jackass is doing....turns out Brent is right on the money......:duel:

 

[Basso]

I don't take his word as gospel, it just has some good info, its good to help some one set up a basic carb cycling plan. Alot of people actually did pretty well with the UD2 diet, I read a few logs on this board of people doing it. Oh and I have never read body opus.

Kinda took me by suprise, because when I was playing with BodyOpus I spent a lot of time reading his logs, it was pretty popular 6-7 yrs ago and it sounds like he rode his popularity into a book. Well good for him, I'll probably check out the book, never can learn enough, especially when it comes to dieting.
BodyOpus=exteme ketosis diet, very cool but not meant for long periods of time. I wouldn't spend more then 2-4 wks on it and only when your close to ending your cut. Anyway there are much better ways to diet!