Plateau Woes

Options
patrickmathews
patrickmathews Posts: 41
in Health and Weight Loss
I've made major progress since getting started last August. I started at 270 and 33% body fat, now I'm down to 215 and 22.5ish% body fat. I've been at 212 - 220 for almost 3 months. I've been sticking to 1500 calories a day, exercising 2 - 4 times a week usually burning 800 - 2000 calories per workout (I wear a heart rate monitor so I think this is pretty accurate). I've been careful but certainly have areas I could improve on (I sometimes eat late - like right before bed).

I don't mind being 215 that much but I really want to lose some body fat. I'm between 21% and 24% depending on which device I use. My scale at home is always 23 - 24, while the hand held device at the gym is consistently 21 a few hours later. I'd like to get to 15% body fat. I don't much care if I weigh 195 or 215 as long as I'm at about 15% body fat.

I'm open to suggestions!

I plan on changing a few things:

I'm going to up my calorie intake to 2000 per day. I think the very low calorie diet may be making it hard to gain muscle mass. I've fallen in to the "skinny/fat" conundrum. Based on my math, I've actually started losing muscle so I think it's time to up my daily calorie intake.

Change my exercise routine so that I spend about half as much time doing cardio and twice as much time doing strength training. Up till now, about 2/3 of my workout (as measured by calories burned) was elliptical or swimming laps for 30 - 45 minutes with a target heart rate of 140. I'm going to switch to 20 minutes of stair master or treadmill with a target heart rate of 160.

Any other suggestions?

Replies

  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
    Options
    Is the 2000 calories that you are aiming for what you are netting or is it total? Because if it's your total, and you burn between 800-2000 calories, you are netting between 1200 and zero, which is way low.
  • patrickmathews
    patrickmathews Posts: 41
    Options
    2000 is my net goal. If I exercise 1000 calories, I'll eat 3000 calories that day.
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
    Options
    2000 is my net goal. If I exercise 1000 calories, I'll eat 3000 calories that day.

    Whew! Okay, that's good. To be honest, you should go to this thread and ask Sara and Sidesteel: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

    There is quite a bit of good info in the stickies alone. Their approach is no nonsense and sensible, based on training and eating in a way that is appropriate to your goals.

    They can also help you with your specific goals. Follow the steps in the sticky "The New and Improved Asking Questions About your Intake"

    Good luck with your progress!

Categories