6 week stall....Running out of ideas.

D

Dr. Jim

New member
Greetings,....amazing body of info here!


Basically, I've stalled for 6 weeks now,....and am running out of ideas!

6'4 male - 40yrs old - 1-1.5 gallons water/day. everyday.
- sedentary job (computer) - not sure of BF% - striations in arms, still fat gut - pant size 40 - no vascularity

Starting situation:
275lbs
Cardio: 20min x 5 days elliptical. moderate SS (no HIIT)
Weight: Basic routine 5 days plus core
Diet: clean! Intermitt fast. Low carb/low fat/ moderate prot (150/day). Calories a bit low,...vary from 1100-1500

Lost 15-20lbs in 2-3 weeks.......then started slowing. Held at 252-255 for 4 weeks. No additional loss.
Reviewed situation. Changed it up apprx 2 weeks ago:

Current situation:
Cardio: 20min 3xweek
Weights: Basic routine 2-3sets, 5-10 reps. 3 days a week
Diet: 2000kcal weight days, 1800 cardio days. low fat/med carbs/ high protein 250-275 per day.

Situation is,....I am still bouncing around like a ping-pong ball between 250-255. Depending on how much sodium is in my food, I might weigh a bit more or less...........

So here I am,....6 weeks now and cannot break 250lbs! No cheats.

Did I do some serious damage in that first period of time at the low calories? That is going to take longer to recover? I just dont know what to think.
At my weight,...and at these calories and such, the weight should be falling off I would think? Hard to keep up the motivation without losing 1lb in 6 weeks!

Thanks for any insight!

Best.
 
Hey there Jim. I'm not going to guarantee that this is the answer, but the first thing that jumped out and smacked me in the face was this:

Calories a bit low,...vary from 1100-1500

At 6'4" and 275lbs, 1100-1500 calories isn't a "bit low". It's darned near starvation, especially if you add exercise on top of that. I would suspect that you pretty much stalled out your metabolism after that first rush of weight loss. And I suspect your body is totally freaking out, going "what the HELL!!!" :)

Your revised version is MUCH better, although I think you could easily go up to 2500 calories and still lose a nice amount of weight.

So given that you changed things up only 2 weeks ago, I think you're going to have to just be patient and give your body a chance to recover from the indignity you did it by giving it so few calories for 7-8 weeks. :)

I don't think you did PERMANENT damage - you weren't eating that low for that long. I just think your body is probably still in freak-out mode and is going to have to readjust to receiving proper amounts of nutrition. I would imagine, if you keep eating at a reasonable amount and continue with your exercising, you'll start to see some loss again in a couple of weeks.

I know it's disheartening to not lose anything for 6 weeks, but I'd be willing to bet that when you do start losing again, it'll come off faster and more steadily. Just my guess.
 
Yes,......I am hoping for something like that to be the case.

Unless I know what I am doing,...I am going to stay with my current lifestyle and see what happens. If another 3 weeks goes by (5 weeks total)....then I may be addressing this again.

thx
 
Dr. Jim said:
Yes,......I am hoping for something like that to be the case.

Unless I know what I am doing,...I am going to stay with my current lifestyle and see what happens. If another 3 weeks goes by (5 weeks total)....then I may be addressing this again.

thx
Click to expand...

Hi Jim

I would try and kick the cardio up to 45 minutes at least 3 times a week.
 
I could see doing that......but here is my concern:

I was apparently eating way too little for too long and my metabolism got a bit wacked,....now I am upping my calories a bit to try and restore normal function...etc.

If I add even more cardio, wont that contribute to my deficit which is already borderline too low?...etc...etc.

I still find it quite ridiculous that someone who is 250lbs can go for weeks and weeks on such a deficit and not lose 1 friggin pound.

Honestly,..........after another week.......its time to think about PSMF.
 
Dr. Jim said:
I could see doing that......but here is my concern:

I was apparently eating way too little for too long and my metabolism got a bit wacked,....now I am upping my calories a bit to try and restore normal function...etc.

If I add even more cardio, wont that contribute to my deficit which is already borderline too low?...etc...etc.

I still find it quite ridiculous that someone who is 250lbs can go for weeks and weeks on such a deficit and not lose 1 friggin pound.

Honestly,..........after another week.......its time to think about PSMF.
Click to expand...

I have had this same problem a few times , where I hit a plateau and do not lose any weight. I'm on a low carb diet though. What broke my plateau was doing cardio 5 days a week instead of 3 for 45 minutes at a time.Usually when you hit a plateau it's good to make a change somewhere. You should be able to eat more calories than 1500 though.
Are you eating enough protein since you are doing weight training? Also , for the majority of people , 20 minutes 3x a week isn't enough cardio unless its HIIT. Look into what can boost your metabolism and how to break a plateau by doing a search on this site. I use L-Carnitine and I drink a lot of green tea.
Sometimes a cheat day can help break a plateau also.
The psmf is good. When doing weight lifting you are supposed to eat anywhere from 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound you way, but that can be hard , I also weight 250 lbs!
 
i think you are leaving us out of some details...

1- do you drink during the weekends? and gain weight durin weekend cheats?
2- do you drink any sodas, diet sodas, packaged fruit juices, sports drinks?
3- do you add ketchup, bbq sauce etc to your foods?
4- are you eating natural, unpackaged foods?
5- what types of carbs are you eating? any sugars? processed carbs?

Right now i think you should be able to break thru this plateau easily...

- dont eat 4 hrs before cardio, and make that meal 0 carbs
- up the cardio to 40 mins, natural setting is much better than threadmill of stationary bike... (time goes by much faster, not as boring)
- improve every meal slightly


that said, im not sure what your level of knowledge is... ive heard people tell me that the fattiest meats in the planet are 100% protein, that fried chicken with the oil in it is also 100% protein... some people drink gatorade while doing cardio...

not saying ur one of these but you might want to consider all these things. Usually when ive hit plateaus its cuz i tried to "ignore" some parts of the diet... Think about ur diet, analyze it, find things that u know are wrong and dont ignore them...
 
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