Hitting a plateau with body fat

[yorkshirelass]

Hi guys

I'm supposed to be competing in 11 weeks but my body is being stubborn agian we've changed my diet once already and things started moving but its hit a little bit of a plateau again. This week I"d lost 2kg - 0.7% body fat but 1kg of muscle I suspect my lack of sleep hasnt helped that one.

I currently try to do cardio twice a day in a morning I run and either walk/X trainer my runs are usually something like this

Mon - 30mins 2mins at 12.0-12.5kph 1 min at 13.5-14.5kpm and I alternate for the 30mins last 5 or so mins I try to do 1:1. Then 20 mins on X trainer. On an evening I will do a hill walk for 30mins and 20mins on X trainer again.

Tuesday: Run 12.0-13.0 I gradually increase speed, 20mins on X trainer. On an evening I do my weights with my trainer then more cardio for 30mins.

Wed - Sometimes i rest in the morning and do a hill walk and x trainer at night or I'll just do an easy 20mins run

Thurs - Alt flat/hill run 12.0kph - 12.7kph for 2mins 1 min hill run up to incline 6. X trainer 20mins. I try to do cardio in evening but sometimes have the night off

Friday 20 min run and X trainer in evening i train again with my trainer then do more cardio usually 30mins/1hr.

Sat Run outside for 1hr or just on treadmill. Weights then more cardio 30mins/1hr.

Sun Rest but I usually try to go for a bit of a walk

So thats about it any ideas where I could change things any help would be great my diet is clean although this week has been a struggle as I'm tired and a little dispondent with my results last week so my enthusiasm has wavered a bit, howeve my diet has still been 100%. Didnt train this morning as I'm pretty shattered but I'm training tonight instead.

I've put a lot of effort in to this and now not sure if my body will be ready. I'm about 79kg height is 1.86cm and my body fat is 18.3% oh and I'm female!!!!!

Cheers

[teamfatboy]

ummm....I was sure the more knowledgeable would have chimed in by now...

If the diet's clean, are the ratios of protein/carbs/fats right?

One thing I'd check with your trainer is whether you could be doing too much cardio?

Good luck anyway!

[IronGame]

What is your lifting program and what is your daily diet?

I would wager your not lifting heavy enough and not eating enough protein.

How long have you been doing the same cardio?

Answer these and we can help you out alot

[frogie2001]

I found that most of it comes down to diet. depending on what you are doing at the moment, lift the protein and mineral (vege) and drop the carbs. are you taking any fat strippers? sounds like you are doing plenty of cardio though

[Cammo]

I wouldn't bother with fat strippers until the bf is a bit lower.

Have you tried carb cycling?

This posted by a guy who frequents another board I visit.

My Calorie Cycling Guidelines

I just posted this in Royce's thread, but here's how I set up days and a sample week:

My principles are pretty simple to follow.

Zero carbs are zero carb days. I do keep the protein intake steady this entire day and like you add some fat in for most every meal. I'm about 240lbs, so I'd probably look at 360-400g of protein on this day and about 75-80g of healthy fat. I like to eat 8 times per day, so that's about 50p-10f each meal.

On low carb days (of which I have on workout days more times than not), my carbs are at breakfast and bracket my workout (if I workout after breakfast than the next 2 meals are carb meals). On the carb meals, I may drop the protein a bit (not drastically) but low GI carbs are unlimited at these 3 times (Minimums being .8-1g of carbs per lb of bw over the three meals)... Protein isn't really limited per se - I want about 280-320g per day here, but during the 3 carb meals, carbs are first priority and then that 30-40g of protein minimum that I have for pretty much each feeding time.

On high carb days, or refeed, I can have all of the low-mod GI carbs I want with every meal except for the last meal. I keep fat relatively low (read: I don't purposely add olive oil or anything) and this is the lower protein intake of the week - along the lines of 1g per lb of bw or maybe even a bit less, like .8g/lb bw. I don't think about it. The goal is to get the carbs down and then eat about 30-40g of protein per meal. If I can get more protein down, I will, but not at the expense of carbs. Last meal, I'm usually not extra hungry, so I might add just a tiny bit of healthy fats to an all protein meal.

Now, depending on how I'm feeling or whatever, I will add a moderate carb day and it's basically carbs in 4 meals - breakfast, bracketing the workout and then one extra carb meal (in the meal after the post-workout meal).

One thing, fibrous veggies are UNLIMITED, especially on zero and low carb days. Those are non-impact carbs and I don't worry about those. I kind of steer away from them on refeed days, as I don't want absorption slowed.

Remember, my numbers are over an 8 meal per day stretch, not a typical 5-6. Adjust accordingly.

Few rules:

-No consecutive days of zero carbs.

-All the fiber you want on zero and low carb days

-Find a good point for refeed for you. Refeed doesn't mean CHEAT. It means resetting your body's hormone production and sensitivity by increasing carbohydrate intake. I refeed ever 3-4 days. Some people do it every 2 weeks. The leaner you are, the more you should refeed.

_________________

Here's my sample week. I'm relatively lean, so I refeed more often than someone else who wanted to lose more fat. They'd probably be a 1x per weeker or once ever 10 days or so, even.

Monday: Chest/Shoulders

-Low Carb Day

Tuesday: Back

-Refeed

Wednesday: Rest

-Zero Carbs

Thursday: Rest

-Low carbs

(first 3 meals of the day)

Friday: Arms

-Low Carbs

Saturday: Legs

-Refeed

Sunday: Rest

Low or zero carbs, depending on how I feel. USUALLY low.

__________________

http://the-personal-trainer.com

http://personalfitnessrevolution.com

http://www.mightysworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2845

[yorkshirelass]

Hi

have 3 days of different calories 1300, 1500 & 1800, as follows:

Day 1 - egg whites, bread & orange juice, flax seed oil

100g orange, 100g chicken

cottage cheese, lettuce, tomato and carrot & mountain bread

pasta and tomato sauce

Day 2 - egg whites, bread and orange juice, flax seed oil

fish, sweetcorn, tomatoes and zucchini

tuna and salad as above, mountian bread

chicken, peas and broc

Day 3 - egg whites, bread and orancge juice, flax seed oil

tuna salad as above and mountian bread

fish, beetroot and peas & watermelon

fruit

steak, yoghurt and fruit

Was on a high protein diet before however I just hit a plateau for about 6 weeks and we couldnt budge anything, this one has been working just hit another stale mate. Not using any fat burners just plain old cardio.

With regards to my weights I can only do weights 3 x per week as I live out in the country so travel over an hour to get to the gym. I have a PT who is an ex bodybuilder and a current judge so I have a lot of trust in him. I train Tues - Chest and Tri's, Fri's Back and Bi and Sat Legs & Shlds sometimes it gets mixed up with an extra day Thursday and I might do legs on their own. I think I'm lifting heavy enough as I have a trainer there to spot me I'll just give some of my heavier weights DB chest presses are 17.5kg I can gt 3 sets of 6 out. My lat pulldown is 90 or 100 depending on how I'm feeling, BB curls 50/55lb 10-12reps, shoulder press 12.5kg DB and shoulder is probably my weekest point. My biceps are struggling to grow in fact they arent budging at all.

Hope this helps to understand where I'm at, thanks for all your comments I really appreciate the help as I'm becoming a bit frustrated I've had a light week on the cardio this week as I've been exhausted was starting to feel sick and ache so just dropped it back slightly and feeling better today so will be back in to it tonight and the weekend.

[teamfatboy]

Hi

Was on a high protein diet before however I just hit a plateau for about 6 weeks and we couldnt budge anything, this one has been working just hit another stale mate. Not using any fat burners just plain old cardio.

I think I'm lifting heavy enough as I have a trainer there to spot me I'll just give some of my heavier weights DB chest presses are 17.5kg I can gt 3 sets of 6 out.

Hope this helps to understand where I'm at, thanks for all your comments I really appreciate the help as I'm becoming a bit frustrated I've had a light week on the cardio this week as I've been exhausted was starting to feel sick and ache so just dropped it back slightly and feeling better today so will be back in to it tonight and the weekend.

I wonder whether maybe you need to drop the weights and increase the number of reps...I always thought hi weight/lo reps was muscle-building, but hi-reps, low weight to burn fat?

Good luck

[Small]

bread as ure soure of carbs?

:/ shit imo, wats wrong with potatoe, kumara, oats etc

[IronGame]

I would stick with those heavy weights, lose the orange juice and the bread IMO very poor carb choices.

[Pseudonym]

I like the sound of Cammo's carb-cycling suggestion. If you made progress on a high-protein low-carb diet before stalling, then progress on a high-carb low-protein diet before stalling again, perhaps a diet that continually changes is the answer?

It sounds like your PT is well qualified, and he's the one who can see you, not us, so you should definitely trust his judgement. Having said that, you should also feel free to ask him questions and make other suggestions (like the ones here). A good PT will be able to tell you why he's taking a particular approach, and not another one.

[frogie2001]

agree, I don't know what mountain bread is. but try switching to whole wheat for breakfast. carb choices should revolve around potatoe, yam, sweet potatoe, etc. Rule of thumb when cutting down. if the food can remember where it came from than go for it. The more processed it becomes the worst it is. That is boiled / baked spuds good. chips, pasta not so good