Nutrition Advice (Vegan in Plateau)

Hey everyone!

Actively learning about nutrition has been such a breakthrough in my relationship with "dieting". This notion of restrictive, traditional deprivation was flipped on its head to an abundance of healthy, balanced food. BUT I'm not a nutritionist or a dietician; I'm just a regular person who likes to understand nutrition for optimal health. Maybe that's why I get overzealous and swept away in a tidal wave of information from time to time...and well, confuse the heck out of myself.

This is where I humbly ask for sincere, outside advice. I was vegetarian for 7 years and have been vegan for 1 year. I feel better than ever, but even so I'm still working toward toning up and losing some fat. I've got about 7 pounds more I want to lose, and I've been plateauing for about a month now. I'll gain or lose and inevitably end up back where I am.

First, I've shaken up my workouts by adding in boxing classes (4 hours of cardio & conditioning each week). Plus, I run 12 miles every week, I do weights/circuit training twice a week, and I do yoga for 3 hours each week.

I workout really hard, so I feel like the problem must be with my diet then. According to MFP, my baseline caloric intake is 1220 plus the calories I burn working out. I usually average between 1300-1400 calories daily. That average isn't from deprivation, but it's where I feel comfortable; eating any larger portions makes my stomach hurt :(. I try to keep my carb:fat:protein ratios around 60-70%:20-15%:20-15% based on what I've read from Brendon Brazier.

My intentions are all good and well, but clearly I must be doing something wrong. Any ideas? Should I up my calories? Should I modify my carb:fat:protein ratios? I feel like an easy way to up my calories, if that's the answer, would be to include some healthy fats (like a handful of nuts or some avocado), but that would probably throw my ratios out of wack. Do the ratios even matter that much?

Thanks in advance! <3

Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    The exact ratios do not matter. You can add some nuts or avocado if you cut some carbs.
  • eelizabeth12
    eelizabeth12 Posts: 7 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    The exact ratios do not matter. You can add some nuts or avocado if you cut some carbs.

    So upping my calories should probably help knock me out of the plateau? Thanks for the reply!
  • kpolninja
    kpolninja Posts: 3 Member
    Look up Jeff Novic and Caloric Density on Youtube Amazing talk and amazing results from implementing his ideas. It seems to be the only thing to make me loose weight.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    When did you add in the boxing classes? Your body might just be retaining water for muscle repair.
  • eelizabeth12
    eelizabeth12 Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks kpolninja for the suggestion. I'll check that out for sure!

    And hollydubs85, I started up the boxing about a month and a half ago. Does it take that long for your body to repair?