Stuck at 240

Thatguy2320

I'm 6'4 23yo training for the local fire Dept which has a rigeroud PT test. I started at about 248 now I'm at 240 and have just kind of been stuck here. I've been eating relitively clean 1500-2000 calories of chicken, protein powder, fish and veggies. I don't use sauces. Once a day I'll have a energy drink. I bought a case of these energy drinks forever ago and just had my last one since I don't waste money.

Anyways could that one energy drink a day be the entire set backs reason? A buddy was telling me the sodium and sugar in it could be causing me to retain a lot of water.

6 days a week my workouts involve running 1-3 miles. Doing an hour of a CrossFit class competing against the states top athletes. Then some isolation lifting. Then at night at work sometimes I'll do stair laps with a 30lb pack up 5 flights for a few rounds.

I can tell a big difference in muscle gain but I doubt I'd be gaining muscle weight faster than I could lose weight from fat in this short of a period. Opinions are welcome thank you.

rmgnow

Wow. You run 1-3 miles a day and eat under 2000 calories? I don't know what you're doing wrong.

Only thing I can think of is that you're not eating enough. If you don't east enough your body tends to think food is scarce and hold on to fat.
How long have you been stuck?

Poisonedpawn78

rmgnow wrote: »

Wow. You run 1-3 miles a day and eat under 2000 calories? I don't know what you're doing wrong.

Only thing I can think of is that you're not eating enough. If you don't east enough your body tends to think food is scarce and hold on to fat.
How long have you been stuck?

lol... no

Muscleflex79

rmgnow wrote: »

Wow. You run 1-3 miles a day and eat under 2000 calories? I don't know what you're doing wrong.

Only thing I can think of is that you're not eating enough. If you don't east enough your body tends to think food is scarce and hold on to fat.
How long have you been stuck?

thank goodness for the 'woo' button!

rmgnow

http://www.livestrong.com/article/421552-undereating
States that your body holds on to fat. Maybe the article is wrong.
But I'm not the one that needs help anymore advice for the original poster

Poisonedpawn78

rmgnow wrote: »

http://www.livestrong.com/article/421552-undereating
States that your body holds on to fat. Maybe the article is wrong.
But I'm not the one that needs help anymore advice for the original poster

Did you even read the article ? if you did, do you even understand what its talking about?

MaddMaestro

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

Did you even read the article ? if you did, do you even understand what its talking about?

Yeah, I don't think he did.

rmgnow wrote: »

http://www.livestrong.com/article/421552-undereating
States that your body holds on to fat. Maybe the article is wrong.
But I'm not the one that needs help anymore advice for the original poster

Most of that article is talking about malnutrition. Eventually, your body WILL get rid of the fat, but starving yourself to achieve fatloss is NOT recommended because of the toll that malnutrition will take on your body.

To quote said article about the body holding onto fat reads:

Fat

Eating less than your body needs causes levels of cortisol to rise. This stress hormone causes the body to hold on to every morsel of fuel that comes its way. The best place to store those morsels is in the abdomen. The less you eat, the more your body thinks it’s starving, so like a small child refusing to give up his favorite toy, your body isn’t going to give up any fat stores until it absolutely has to. That means under-eating isn’t going to eliminate stomach fat until there isn’t enough muscle to consume.

Many people will tell you to either eat a high protein diet so your body uses fat as fuel instead of muscle, or just do weight training - even if it's a small amount. Eventually, your body WILL get rid of the fat, but starving yourself is NOT the best way to do it.


To the OP - keep doing what you're doing. Maybe scrutinize your macros more so you get more out of building muscle. You will see a difference, but it will take time to burn the fat.

Luna3386

Op, how are you measuring your food? Estimating? Measuring cups? Using food scale is the most accurate. Get one.

Poisonedpawn78

MaddMaestro wrote: »

Eventually, your body WILL get rid of the fat, but starving yourself is NOT the best way to do it.
.

Not to mention a 240 lb person would have to lose about 150lbs before this situation would even be considered. Studies done have proven that 4-5% body fat is this point after you have burned most of your available muscle. At which point you will look like a skeleton with skin.

rainbowbow

To be quite frank, OP... at your current size if you're not losing weight it's because you're eating more than you think you are.

You should be able to lose almost 2.5lbs per week, so how long have you been at this and how much are you averaging in weight loss each week?

First and foremost, regardless of your size or activity level, you need to dial in your calories. It's not the "clean" foods, the "energy drinks", etc. it's the total amount of energy you're consuming. So let's start there.

How much are you eating EXACTLY each day? Is this consistent? Are you weighing your foods? Are you accidentally adding calories here and there in the form of drinks, oils/fats, etc.? Are you picking and logging the right foods in the database? Are you trying to eat back "exercise calories"?

rmgnow

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

MaddMaestro wrote: »

Eventually, your body WILL get rid of the fat, but starving yourself is NOT the best way to do it.
.

Not to mention a 240 lb person would have to lose about 150lbs before this situation would even be considered. Studies done have proven that 4-5% body fat is this point after you have burned most of your available muscle. At which point you will look like a skeleton with skin.

LMAO. Dude. I said that this was the only thing I could think of. Then you said I didn't read the article. Now you're saying that this cannot happen till after loss of 150. Lol thanks a lot doc.

As I said before, what is your suggestion to the OP?
What suggestion do you have for someone eating less than 2000 Cal's per day and running 1-3 miles per day?

Poisonedpawn78

rmgnow wrote: »

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

MaddMaestro wrote: »

Eventually, your body WILL get rid of the fat, but starving yourself is NOT the best way to do it.
.

Not to mention a 240 lb person would have to lose about 150lbs before this situation would even be considered. Studies done have proven that 4-5% body fat is this point after you have burned most of your available muscle. At which point you will look like a skeleton with skin.

LMAO. Dude. I said that this was the only thing I could think of. Then you said I didn't read the article. Now you're saying that this cannot happen till after loss of 150. Lol thanks a lot doc.

As I said before, what is your suggestion to the OP?

The OP would weigh 90lbs or less for the situation to happen. Do you understand that?

Its clear the OP is eating more than they think and POSSIBLY over estimating exercise calories. The energy drink alone will have 200+ calories in it. The OP also doesnt mention how long they have been "stuck there" for, It could be that the OP is being impatient. It could be that the OP ate a heavy meal that is masking the loss. Not enough information was given.