Stagnating Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Need Advice All Welcome

scottYBRIDGEWATER

Thanks for taking my comments and advice seriously.

NO PROBLEM. I WILL RESPOND IN CAPS TO SEPARATE MY RESPONSES, SO I AM NOT YELLING.

I know it is scary to up your calories, I've been there. I've done 1200 for a while and then stalled. For days I was trying to convince myself to up it, and then when I did jump to 1500, I gained a tiny bit and then started losing again. Sometimes the body can't function properly if you don't give it what it needs.

MY PROBLEM IS THAT I AM STARTING FROM A POINT OF CALORIE RESTRICTION AND HIGH EXERCISE ALREADY. IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, I WOULD NEVER HAVE STARTED THAT MASSIVE CALORIE REDUCTION IN THE FIRST PLACE. SO I AM IN A DIFFERENT SPOT THAN MOST PEOPLE WHO OVEREAT AND DO NOT EXCERCISE. THAT IS AN EASIER FIX THAN MY SPOT.

I suspect you could be severly malnutritioned when it comes to micronutrients, since you do not eat a variety of food. Do you believe this will not have effect on how your body works? I think varied diet would be much better. If you want to control your diet as vigorously as you did until now, just plan the meals dofferent for each day of the week, to include all the vitamins, calcium, iron, pottasium etc at the end of the week. How does that sound?

I STUCK WITH THE SAME MENU DUE TO THE SIMPLICITY AND TO ACCURATELY TRACK MY MACROS. AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE ARE STILL SOME DOPES WHO WANT TO QUESTION IF MY NUMBERS ACCURATE. FOR THEIR BENEFIT, I WEIGH MEASURE, AND ACCOUNT FOR EVERYTHING INCLUDING WATER. SO I WOULD HOPE THAT WOULD BE A MOOT ISSUE. TO YOUR SUGGESTION, I WILL SWITCH IT UP ON MONDAY AND MY NUMBERS ON MACROS WILL BE SPOT ON.

As for upping your calories at once or slowly... I am a believer in a jump. If you do it steadily, you will see a weight gain each time you up a bit (as your glycogen stores replenish with water), and seeing how you are with the scale this will be a very painful and discouraging process for you. If you bite the bullet and jump to TDEE-20%, you will gain, maybe 5-10 pounds, but all at once and in a week or so you will start to lose again. Sounds better to me.


THIS IS THE TOUGH ONE AS I AM GETTING CONFLICTING ADVICE ON THIS POINT. SO I'LL HAVE TO DO SOME MORE RESEARCH. SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN A GRADUAL APPROACH WITH CARB AND CALORIE CYCLING HAVE SOME GOOD POINTS AS WELL. I HAVE TO REPAIR AND CONFUSE MY METABOLISM TO GET IT BACK ON TRACK.

As for the gains recently: have you started using a new dressing or cheese? It could be that the varying amounts of sodium on the dressings and cheeses would cause you to retain different amounts of water.

NO. THEY ARE CONSTANT BETWEEN 2 BRANDS WITH ONLY SLIGHT (VERY VERY VERY) DIFFERENCES IN FAT AND CALORIES. RECOMMENDED SODIUM INTAKE HERE AND MOST DIETARY GUIDELINE IS 2300. I AM AT ABOUT 1800.

And again, would you consider changing one hour of the cardio per day to strength training? Exercise is meant for health, not to help create a deficit and you should not see your treadmill sessions as slimming down, rather as helping your cardiovascular health. But strength training will help you retain muscle which is key to your metabolism.

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED MY REGIMEN, BUT I DO VERY HIT STRENGTH TRAINING 3 TIMES A WEEK AND HIT ALL BODY PARTS (2 PER SESSION) TO FAILURE. GOOGLE DORIAN YATES (6 TIME MR OLYMPIA). AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT HIT IS ALL ABOUT. THIS AINT P90X OR THAT OTHER LIGHTWEIGHT BS. THIS IS HARDCORE TRAINING WITH HEAVY WEIGHTS WORKING EACH MUSCLE GROUP TO COMPLETE FAILURE. THERE IS NO NEED FOR A 4TH DAY OF THIS. IT TAKES A WEEK FOR EACH BODY PART TO RECOVER. THE CARDIO IS ABOVE AND BEYOND THE HIT WEIGHT TRAINING AND DOES NOT REPLACE IT.

And remember the protein intake, you should have at least 0.8g/lb of bodyweight, and chicken breast (in it's raw form) has only 21g in 100 grams. So please consider that too, cause if you burn through your muscle not only will you still look flabby even at 140lbs, your metabolism will be low and you will never be able to eat normal amounts of food without regaining some weight.

I TAKE IN ABOUT 185G OF PROTEIN PER DAY WHICH IS ABOVE THE 80% LEVEL. MY GOAL IS A 1:1 RATIO OF BW TO PROTEIN.


Good luck!

THANKS

Hiya, yes I missed your workout regimen, read one too many posts recently and wasn't sure if you listed it. I remembered the treadmill though:)

You may be in a different starting place having been at low cal and a lot of exercise, but that makes it even more important that you start taking nutrition seriously. by nutrition I don't mean only calories or protein/carbs/fat, but the micros as well.

I understand why you stuck to the same menu, and if you want to be in that much control, ok, go ahead. I would just suggest alternating more. Have a different meal plan for each day of the week. Having only one day of different food is not going to fix the lack of micronutrients. For example I put in your menu in my own diary and it seems there is not enough Vitamin A, Iron, Calcium. Since MFP doesn't track it and I will not look up every single vitamin/mineral for you, you might want to check what other things you are missing out on: Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, FLuoride, Iodine, Zinc, Selenium, Manganese, Vitamin B, E, K, Carotenoids, Omega 3... Those are all things that your body NEEDS to function properly long term, to keep your intestines working correctly etc. Not saying you lack all of them but with such a narrow diet you are most likely not hitting most. You have not addressed this in neither of my previous posts, but please consider this seriously.

If you feel more comfortable carb or calorie cycling, go ahead, nothing wrong. My only point is you should be ready for bigger weight fluctuation with such approach, and as I see you are very hooked on the scales, I didn't think that might be the best approach for you from mental point of view. Not discounting it's physical validity..

Gradual approach vs. jump again is a matter of preference. I stated mine and stated why I think it would be less painful for you to bite the bullet.

Not sure what you mean by Confusing AND repairing your metabolism. I think those things are contradictory. Right now your body is confused and doesn't believe you will provide it with sufficient fuel. Therefore in all likelyhood it has started a process designed to increase efficiency, so that it can survive (not live) on what you provide. This results in sacrificing muscle and lower BMR. It takes up to 7 years to repair a body that has gone through adaptive thermogenesis. I do not advocate "starvation mode"or suggesting you are gaining weight since your body holds onto fat while you are in deficit. But you're making it impossible for your body to function normally and further "confusing"it may not be a good idea.

What may be a good idea is to take a step back and forget about weight loss for now and help repair your metabolism (if you have been at this for months, otherwise this is just a temporary situation we're debating here). You could go into maintenance for a period of time, at least 4 weeks, but I would suggest even longer, 2 months at minimum. Once your body starts trusting that you will feed it appropriate amount of calories AND all the micronutrients I have listed above, you could ease into weightloss again, starting over like you suggested you wish you had.

I hope some of this resonates with you. I don't expect you to follow my advice to the letter, but please vary your meals so that you get adequate nutrition, or at least take a supplement.

Thanks. I do take several supplements, multi vitamins, omega, and branch chain amino acids which i neglected to mention. So i think i have that area covered. I am interested in seeing what the testing will show and discussing the issue with a nutrionist and doctor. Right now I am gathering information and appreciate all suggestions here. Some i intend to follow and some I won't. But I am in the process of gathering information and considering different points of view. Not everyone is right and not everyone is wrong. So I have to evaluate alot of information to make an informed decision. So some people don't need to get bent out of shape if I don't immediately embrace their ideas or suggestions. There is a lot to consider. Thx

scottYBRIDGEWATER

Another issue is the use of the TDEE as a relevant measure and its actual usefulness. I have used several different calculators and come up with a low of 2590 to a high of 3424. The calculators, methodologies, and the lack of precision estimates for activity levels and intensity make the calculation suspect and borderline useless. Its basically a dartboard with ranges all over the place. People can be way off depending on the subjectivity and lack of precision in the selected activity levels. So whatever baseline you are using can be way off from the reality of what is actually correct. That why I want to get a more accurate test. I think many people are way over estimating their caloric maintenance/loss levels.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/metabolism/ART-20046508

cmeiron

Another issue is the use of the TDEE as a relevant measure and its actual usefulness. I have used several different calculators and come up with a low of 2590 to a high of 3424. The calculators, methodologies, and the lack of precision estimates for activity levels and intensity make the calculation suspect and borderline useless. Its basically a dartboard with ranges all over the place. People can be way off depending on the subjectivity and lack of precision in the selected activity levels. So whatever baseline you are using can be way off from the reality of what is actually correct. That why I want to get a more accurate test. I think many people are way over estimating their caloric maintenance/loss levels.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/metabolism/ART-20046508

Any calculator can only provide an estimate. These estimates can provide a useful starting point in terms of picking an appropriate intake level. The only way to determine your true TDEE is to meticulously track your caloric intake and monitor your weight for a period of time (at least a month, more, ideally). You can use those data to get a very close approximation of your actual TDEE. This is what I did. My actual TDEE is several hundred calories higher than what most calculators predict for me. And, of course, your TDEE can change over time as your weight and activities change. You have to make adjustments all the time. The reality is that it IS a moving target.

dmt4641

Weight lose is not as precise as you would like to make it. TDEE calculators can come out with varying numbers, but all of them say you should be eating at least twice what you are now. The consensus seems to be that you should up your up your calories even though this will result in a short term gain (of water, not fat). Whether you do that over a period of days or all at once is beside the point, and you seem to prefer to do it over time. Eat some more food, vary your diet and continue with your exercise. You are not going to lose 15-20 lbs in a month, but at least you will be losing and not at a standstill.

wilsoje74

Listen to all the people who gave great advice,

Patience, and yes normal body fluctuations can be as high as 10lbs.

Weigh yourself weekly and watch for trends over months, not weeks,

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1088600-dear-mean-people-of-mfp

MY GOAL IS TO GET OFF 15-20 LBS IN A MONTH.

Why so much? You know losing that fast is not healthy and more likely to come back.

neanderthin

Just keep going, fluctuations will happen, but eating more isn't going to miraculously make you lose weight, that's not how it works. Generally it's the math..............you have to be honest with yourself...........studies on consumption have been done and even when people we're told they needed to accurately record their food for short periods of time were still out almost 400 calories a day. Plus labeling can legally be out 20%..............take a break and get back to it unrelenting and see how it goes.

Please feel free to re read my list of macros. I weigh, measure, and accurately count every one of them. Feel free to tell me where exactly any one of my numbers is off. I've also left the manufacturers and brands so you can contact them directly if you want to dispute their numbers. Or you can cross reference them to MFP or fatsecret. Until then, we need to move on from this issue.

That's what they all say, otherwise the studies wouldn't exist.

scottYBRIDGEWATER

Listen to all the people who gave great advice,

Patience, and yes normal body fluctuations can be as high as 10lbs.

Weigh yourself weekly and watch for trends over months, not weeks,

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1088600-dear-mean-people-of-mfp

MY GOAL IS TO GET OFF 15-20 LBS IN A MONTH.

Why so much? You know losing that fast is not healthy and more likely to come back.

Setting my goals high. If I whack off 10 its still good....

neanderthin

Just keep going, fluctuations will happen, but eating more isn't going to miraculously make you lose weight, that's not how it works. Generally it's the math..............you have to be honest with yourself...........studies on consumption have been done and even when people we're told they needed to accurately record their food for short periods of time were still out almost 400 calories a day. Plus labeling can legally be out 20%..............take a break and get back to it unrelenting and see how it goes.

Please feel free to re read my list of macros. I weigh, measure, and accurately count every one of them. Feel free to tell me where exactly any one of my numbers is off. I've also left the manufacturers and brands so you can contact them directly if you want to dispute their numbers. Or you can cross reference them to MFP or fatsecret. Until then, we need to move on from this issue.

That's what they all say, otherwise the studies wouldn't exist.

STFU and go troll elsewhere you dope! I just read a study that says you are proven to be a moron......

People have tried to give you advice. Your 220 lbs and consuming just over 1200 calories and when consuming 100g's of spaghetti squash it made you gain 3 lbs every time you consumed it.....like I said take a break, then get back too it and see what happens......fluctuations do happen. The only other answer would be you have a medical condition or your a special snowflake. BTW, chill.

scottYBRIDGEWATER

Just keep going, fluctuations will happen, but eating more isn't going to miraculously make you lose weight, that's not how it works. Generally it's the math..............you have to be honest with yourself...........studies on consumption have been done and even when people we're told they needed to accurately record their food for short periods of time were still out almost 400 calories a day. Plus labeling can legally be out 20%..............take a break and get back to it unrelenting and see how it goes.

Please feel free to re read my list of macros. I weigh, measure, and accurately count every one of them. Feel free to tell me where exactly any one of my numbers is off. I've also left the manufacturers and brands so you can contact them directly if you want to dispute their numbers. Or you can cross reference them to MFP or fatsecret. Until then, we need to move on from this issue.

That's what they all say, otherwise the studies wouldn't exist.

STFU and go troll elsewhere you dope! I just read a study that says you are proven to be a moron......

People have tried to give you advice. Your 220 lbs and consuming just over 1200 calories and when consuming 100g's of spaghetti squash it made you gain 3 lbs every time you consumed it.....like I said take a break, then get back too it and see what happens......fluctuations do happen. The only other answer would be you have a medical condition or your a special snowflake. BTW, chill.

I appreciate all of the good advice I have received in this thread. Your comments do not happen to apply. Feel free to stop posting ITT and move along. Your advice is not wanted and not needed. Goodbye.

scottYBRIDGEWATER

So on Sunday I went up to 227lbs. I met with a nutrionalist/bodybuilder and he put together a program for me. He echoed much of what was said here:

1- My calorie intake is way to low
2- My carbs are too low
3- I am excercising too much and at the wrong intensity

Although he believes my metabolism is messed up he does not believe that you can permanately damage it. That your body can rebound and adapt fairly quickly to certain conditions. Here is his program

Calorie and carb cycle on alternating days
High Calorie (1700) and High Carb (100g) on weight training days
Low Calorie (1300) and Low Carb (25g) on cardio days
Drink between 32 and 64 oz of water each day. No more and no less.
2 cups of coffee per day. One after lunch (biggest meal of day) and one after dinner (smallest meal)
Continue to intermittent fast and workout in AM.
Back down on the intensity level of treadmill. Stay between 90 and 100 HR.
Stay off the scale for one week. We will do a weigh in on sunday AM after workout.
Do this for 2 weeks and he will evaluate after RMR and VO2 test results come back.

Have an RMR test scheduled for Monday. Still looking for a Vo2 place

scottYBRIDGEWATER

Had my weigh in this morning:


217lbs.!!!


A 10lb weight (fat) loss in one week. The largest weight loss I have ever had, in spite of eating more, doing less cardio, and doing less intense cardio. This nutrionist/body builder is a genius. He wants me to follow the same program for another week and then we will reaccess after my RMR test. We will reset my calorie/carb cycle after the results come back. I'm within 8 lbs of goal and may actually shoot for a lower goal now.