Why does it feel like my body is not responding?

wffolkes
wffolkes Posts: 186 Member
in Motivation and Support
So this is kind of a rant to help get this frustration out of my system!

I had some success I lost 25lbs through 5 days a week of short gym workouts, i did circuits, strength training, HIIT a good mixture of workouts which were measurable and I was improving in fitness and dropping lbs.

My diet was in check but I think I went to way to low of a calorie deficit as i hit a plateau, I figured I messed up my metabolism so I went about trying to fix it by slowly upping calories and eating a TDEE.

I then started insanity and completed it, I am now doing SL 5x5 x3 a week weight training.

Since doing insanity I have monitored my calorie intake on a spreadsheet and following IIFYM lifestyle my diet is 80-90% healthy.

OK so heres the frustration my body doesn't seem to be responding to whatever im doing I did insanity and got super fit, looked a bit leaner in the mirror but measurements and weight stayed about the same.

I increased calories to try and fix my metabolism I gained only 2lbs

I am trying IIFYM and it seemed to be working for 3 weeks I lost very slowly like -0.5lbs a week now this week (week 4) im back to where I started in terms of weight and measurements are still the same.

I will continue with SL5x5 and heavy lifting and im making good progress and I love the programme.

This is a long journey but I don't seem to be making any more gains since my initial 4 months good progress at the start. I can't visually see the benefits of doing insanity it's like those 2 months of extreme sweat and hard work amounted to very little visually and numbers wise.

I am definitely comfortable i look way better than when I started and im proud of what ive achieved so far but I want to get to my goal which is below 15% bodyfat but it seems no matter what I try my body is not responding.

I know you cant watch what others are doing but its so frustrating when it seems whatever im doing is amounting to nothing, the last 5 months ive been at the same weight.

I do track very closely weighing food making as little guesses as possible to be accurate as possible.

I will go back and have another bodypod reading end of september and hope it reads a lower bf%.

Thanks for listening to me whine ***** an complain...

Replies

  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    My weight hardly changes too, so I feel you.

    Is SL your only workout at the moment? I'm doing 5/3/1, but I found I need to up the intensity and duration a lot from the programming to see much aesthetic improvement. For me that meant adding a second compound movement to each day (Deadlifts with Clean and Jerk, Squats with Trap Bar Deadlifts for example) and I also do a fair amount of isolation work.

    Are you taking pictures regularly to see your progress? Pushing for bigger one rep maxes? Those two things help keep my head down and plugging away. The "men lose easier" thing has not been true in my case :P
  • wffolkes
    wffolkes Posts: 186 Member
    Not added anything else in yet however I play 5 a side football on a monday too which is very intense.

    I'm still building up to my PB's with SL the weight is very easy at the moment but im trying to perfect technique Give it x2 weeks and the intensity will increase every workout.

    After the 12 weeks ill add cardio in on the weekends.
  • IGbnat24
    IGbnat24 Posts: 520 Member
    Once you get into the thick of SS, you'll see changes. You wont grow if you aren't throwing up challenging weight so don't stress about the intro part of the program.

    I'm not familiar with the cardio side of SS (if there is one at all). Can you add in HIIT or some treadmill sprints 3x a week? I see the most changes in my body when I am on a good sprint program. All it takes is 15-20min a few times a week.

    Sounds like you have a good start. Patience is what it's gonna take. The close to ideal body comp you are, the more slowly changes will be seen. 1/2lb a week is pretty good.
  • angusmcf
    angusmcf Posts: 1
    Saw a cool bbc dodo on the plane recently which indicated that some 'genetics' don't respond to exercise (re glucose response and Vo2). At 15% body fat, maybe there is an equilibrium that means improved fitness doesn't modify the stats you're used to monitoring! (I found a similar thing at a certain weight- fat content).

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