My motivation - 1st post

DocNorton

1st post on the boards but just wanted to get a rant off my chest.

I'm sick of people who think they have the right to comment on your weight at a get together. I changed my lifestyle in Feb 2010 and hit the gym 4 times a week and totally changed my diet. I've got from 240lb down to 221lb and plateued big style - for months ! Also a weeks holiday has just seen me gain 4lbs but hey - what the hell - I enjoyed myself !

So I went to my friends house warming yesterday - BBQ and beer - the works! When a friends mum comes over and blurts out "My God Chris you've put some weight on!" in front of my wife and friends when I'm sat there eating a salad and drinking water with everyone else around me stuffing their face with cheese burgers and beer..

Really - after how I've been feeling over the last few weeks and even more so yesterday morning (can't stop staring at the fat) that was the last thing I needed to hear.

My plateu is really getting me down - I fluctuate from 221lbs to 224lbs week in week out for the last 6 months and just can't break it. I change my diet accordingly but nothing is working. My daily intake is 1600 cals - 500 under my maintenance intake. My expenditure is around 800 cals a day excersise.

I've tried meeting my intake of 2100 for a cpl of weeks and both maintained and put on then I adjust and subtract 500 and get the same results. Short of dramatically cutting my intake to about 1000 I don't know what to do...

Anyhow - I digress, my motivation is people like my friends mum "God you've put on weight" and also another friend who categorically told me that at 30 y/o I'm to old to ever be cut again. Apparantly I'll never loose my fat, I'll never be cut and I'll never get below 25% BF.

Every time I'm sat here thinking should I go to the gym tonight I just think of those comments and it spurs me on.

Off the subject a bit; if anyone has any advice or experienced the similar situation as me (plateued) could you let me know how to break it?

Ta

chris

Ge0rgiana

First of all, extreme calorie cutting is a BAD idea. I strongly advocate setting appropriate activity level, logging all exercise, and then more or less eating the calories your food diary tells you to. Give it a shot for a while if you haven't already. Secondly, have you had your thyroid checked? Seriously, it has created some rather fantastic plateaus for me. We're talking months on end and not only would I not lose or gain, the scale would never change. It wouldn't matter the time of day I weighed. I always got the same number. Now that I'm medicated, I'm doing MUCH better. Also, sodium is a killer. Try adding the sodium tracker to your food diary. Be forewarned that it might get ugly. :laugh:

No, at 30 you are NOT too old. You are never too old to get your body in shape. If I'm losing weight after 30 with thyroid issues, you can damn sure do it! And as for your friend's mother, don't let it get to you so much. People just say stuff. They don't realize, you know?

Keep hanging in there! :flowerforyou:

sportygal

First of all F off the people that discourage you. It hurts when its people close to you, but tell them to F off. This is YOUR journey and if they can't handle it, then they need to deal with it. I've heard so much crap from family, friends, strangers.....you just need to stay the course and stay committed.
Don't cut your calories. Improve the quality of your calories. Do you know 2 tsp of table sugar has the same insulin effect as 2 cups of broccoli? Make sure you are getting healthy fat in your diet....yes we NEED HEALTHY fat and it makes you feel full. Avacados, nuts, olive oil, whole milk....Don't fall into the Low fat society.
Change up your exercise routine....Add weight training over cardio...also make sure you're getting rest....also stress can affect cortisol levels which affect weight. Drink enough water. If you drink diet soda....processed foods....cut it off....it can really affect success. Try to live by the 90% rule.....healthy food 90% 10% not.....granted if you eliminate the crap, you realize you really don't feel well eating it. I really miss drinking alcohol, but I just feel HORRIBLE for two days...and thats after only 2 beers! You have to decide what is truly important.....listening to others (me included LOL) or staying committed and dedicated to your goal. You will find with this journey that it is more of a mental transition than a physical. I was overweight as a child, and obese as an adult and it took 20 years for me to figure it out! If you make the goal health and not what you look like or what people say, you are more likely to stay focused. Do you want health problems in your future? Tons of $$ on medications?
Yes.....my body has extra skin (which I have been criticized for) and I don't "look" the part of a strong athlete/boxer....but that is what I am. If people don't like me as me...then F off...If they know the whole person inside and out and are fine with me, then cool. YOU CAN GET THROUGH THIS.....The Zone and crossfit would be two things I'd google....worked for me.
Stay the course, it IS worth it.


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Carole9819

Hi Chris,

First of all, you look great! Looking at your picture, I would never take you as overweight. As for your friend's mum, blow her comment off. Only people who are insecure with themselves & have low self esteem, dare to say something as rude as she did!!
It is very hard to eat healthy at gatherings - but you DID ~ be proud of yourself...I'm sure your wife is!
Your plateau, your body needs to have the exercise routine mixed up a bit. Try some strength training and switch up your cardio.
Good luck!
Carole

kimberly428

Wait, you must have met my mother in law LOL Some people can just be extremely rude, and I personally think they are just so miserable with their own lives that they cant help but bring others down. So sorry to hear you had to run into that situation.
As far as the plateau, I dont have much advise, I haven't hit one yet. I was planning on "zig zagging" my calories and adding another work out session in and switching up my work out types when it occurs.
I hope you can get though this soon...

roadchic18

First off, Congrats on your success so far. Secondly, some people are just dumber than a box of rocks! It also seems some are only happy when they're being critical. As for a little back and forth that happens, you just keep going. Maybe you could change up whatever excercise you are doing, vary between cardio and strength training. I wouldn't cut more calories, but rather be certain you get them from the right places, lean protein is very important. Good luck!

P.S. My husband lost 70 pounds in his late 30s and is now cut at 43!

waguchan

You look great in your profile pics! And you are still so young! My husband will be 42 soon and he is cut... absolutely ripped! I had a year long plateau and finally snapped out of it after gaining about 15 pounds over the holidays. I came back to MFP in January and have lost over 30 pounds since! You can do it! Ignore those idiot negative people.

dbjones04

Chris, I'd bet money that you have lost inches off your waist. Let me ask you this..When you see yourself in the mirror how do
you feel? When your in the gym 4 times a week how do you feel? I've been stuck at the same weight for weeks now,I've never felt stronger or looked better to myself. keep working hard..don't meet your goals bet your goals...Yesterday was Yesterday. Good luck
this week!!!

odatcindy

Sometimes we just aren't quick on our feet - but the next time someone says that, make a comment like - "Gee, I wasn't aware you were interested in my body! Kind of grosses me out." I know, you have to maintain a relationship because she is your mother-in-law, but she won't know that she did something hurtful unless you tell her. The other side is that if you keep focusing on what she said, you are letting her control you and hurt you and she doesn't even know it, so the only one hurting is you.

Let it go and focus on the work you are doing each and every day. I had a dietician come to our office this week and speak to the employees. She stated, and I'm sure we are all aware, that you have to leave 500 calories on the table each day in order to lose a pound in seven days. You can earn these calories so that you can eat the minimum, which is between 1,200 and 1,600, or you eat less. I wouldn't recommend going below a 1,200 calorie plan, but you could earn the calories thru increasing your workout time and then leaving those on the table.

If you haven't spoken to a nutritionist or a dietician specializing in nutrition, I would recommend you do this. You may also need to change up your percentages, so that you are either getting an equal amount of protein and carbs or one is greater than the other. I wouldn't recommend changing your fat from 30%, though. Ok - enough advice from me. Good luck, Chris.

DocNorton

Hey everyone,

Wow I wasn't expecting such a response to my post. Thank you all for the kind words & motivation. I'm really concentrating on breaking this plateau now so I'll take all your advice on board and mix it all up a bit...

I have lost inches but I'm sure I'm not the only one that looks in a mirror and doesn't see it so I still wear my old baggy clothes so it hides my bumps I do feel better after a good gym session and I'll carry on in the knowledge that I did manage to loose the weight initially so it will start shifting again one day (soon I hope)

I'd decided (after much calculation) that my daily intake should be 1600 calories (BMR is 2100) so using the MFP app on the iPhone I'll be keeping track of it all...

One thing that worrys me is keeping on top of the protien - 150g a day needed to aid the weight lifting I'm doing - is this right? Lean body mass is 150lbs: 1g protien=1lbs LBM... Thats alot of chicken !

Looking forward to speaking to you all again - and well done to all of you - your journeys (and hard work) sound really interesting and rewarding... Seeing how well you are all doing and your determination really does help

roadchic18

I would say 150 g is right. When I was following the P90X nutrition plan I was taking in approximately 119 g a day. You can find good protein in other things besides chicken too, like Greek yogurt, beans, fish. I also drank a recovery protein powder drink every day and/or had a protein bar.

DocNorton

I would say 150 g is right. When I was following the P90X nutrition plan I was taking in approximately 119 g a day. You can find good protein in other things besides chicken too, like Greek yogurt, beans, fish. I also drank a recovery protein powder drink every day and/or had a protein bar.

I'm going to google this P90X plan as I've heard about it before...

I also like 3 bean salad which is full of kidney beans etc so I hope this would cover some of my intake. I also use Whey Protien shakes after the gym but I've been told the one I've been using isn't worth using (Body Fortress) so I've been advised to go to myprotien (don't want to publish the www address as I'm not an advertiser !)

I'm thinking of getting some bars too - do you find them worth it?

roadchic18

I do. I don't know what you have over there, but I use Pure Protein Bars. They taste good and have roughly 18-20 g of protein for 180-210 calories. Just be sure to look at the sugar content. Plus if you have a good quality protein bar on hand you can always use it to replace a meal if you're in a rush. I'm sure the P90X bars are good, I just can't afford them.