Please help me with some problems

F

frosted1

New member
In late mid/late 2009 I started using the Daily Plate at livestrong.com, and joined my college's gym and fitness program. I am 22. I started at 190ish and am now down to 169 LBS. I am a male and 5ft 8inches tall. I was at 25% BF and am now at between 17-21%. (More on this below)

Most of that weight loss came in the first couple of months though. I have been on a 1400-1600 calorie a day diet pretty much the whole time, and usually do cardio 3-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes. (Usually I burn 250-450 calories on the treadmill).

These last couple of months though I have only lost 1 or 2 pounds total and am a bit concerned. Have I reached a plateau? How can I get out of this and get back to loosing weight? I don't usually do resistance training so I probably should start, so I don't loose so much muscle too.

The handheld body fat tester we use at the college gym says I am at 20.5% body fat, but my home Health0meter scale says I am at 17% and am not sure which one I should trust.

If I go by the college's handheld thing then I would have 34.6LBS of fat, but according to my home scale I am at 28.7LBS of fat. That is quite a big difference.

One thing about my diet that might help in assessing my problem is that I usually get around 3000mg of sodium a day and absolutely love sugar. I can easily get 120+ grams of sugar a day.

I am thinking about changing up my cardio from the treadmill to jumping rope or the stationary bike. Will this help combat my plateau? Also I am thinking about ordering P90X to use that to loose fat and gain muscle. The infomercial and youtube success videos look like it might be a really good thing to try. Does this work?

Also is it possible to loose fat and gain muscle at the same time?

Thanks for reading this and please help! I am getting discouraged, and want to start loosing weight again!
 
Hi Frosted1

Hello,

I think I can help you with your problem. It very possible that you have hit a plateau but the good news I can help you get of out it.

In order to develop a jaw dropping physique and break threw your plateau training variety is the key! You need to change up your reps, tempos, the number of times they workout each week, the core exercises, etc. You need to literally change everything OFTEN keeping the body in a
state of "muscle confusion", which in this case is a great kind of confusion! When the muscles dont know what to expect from training, they adapt by getting stronger, more developed and leaner to prevent the "sneak attack" they just underwent from happening again. The key then is to...
you guessed it...change it up again!

For cardio the key to burn fat and build lean muscle is to do High Intensity Interval Training. Dont get me wrong, aerobic activity is good for the heart and building stamina...but when it comes to shedding fat and building lean muscle..the fittest atheletes and fitness guru's know it's literally
a ROAD TO NOWHERE! In order to achieve a body that would make even the top pros envious, you have to perform "HIIT" cardio. This form varies high intensity FUN movements with lower recovery periods...each of which never last more than 20 minutes from start to finish!

Have you ever heard of the system AthleanX? Its kind of like P90X but half the cost but I would recommend P90X as well as AthleanX for a good system to get you started.

EDIT: no no, can't do that.

Talk Soon!

Micah
DOUBLE SPAM LINKS REMOVED
 
Last edited by a moderator:
frosted1 said:
In late mid/late 2009
Most of that weight loss came in the first couple of months though. I have been on a 1400-1600 calorie a day diet pretty much the whole time, and usually do cardio 3-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes. (Usually I burn 250-450 calories on the treadmill).
Click to expand...
It is pretty typical that your weight loss slows. As you lose weight, your metabolism slows down just because it takes less energy for a lighter person to do the same activity. Your body also adapts to the calorie deficit and becomes more efficient.
These last couple of months though I have only lost 1 or 2 pounds total and am a bit concerned. Have I reached a plateau? How can I get out of this and get back to loosing weight? I don't usually do resistance training so I probably should start, so I don't loose so much muscle too.
Click to expand...
Sometimes you will hit a plateau where you are actually losing fat, but it is disguised by water weight. With that kind of plateau, you just have to wait it out, and your weight loss will resume eventually. I've had that happen as long as a month, but a couple months seems like an awfully long time.

At your weight, age, and height, you should be able to lose weight on 1400-1600 calories. Are you sure you are counting accurately?
Also is it possible to loose fat and gain muscle at the same time?
Click to expand...
It is possible for beginners to lose fat while gaining muscle. As you are not doing any weightlifting now, I believe you could put on a little bit of muscle. After that, you will need a calorie surplus.
 
Thanks both of you! I will try shifting up my cardio past just the treadmill and try some new things as well as start lifting weights.

I also heard some people talk about calorie shifts on this site. I think it is where after your body becomes used to the lower calories you then eat more normal amounts of calories for a week so your body thinks there is enough. Then the next week you start the low calorie diet again.

Will this help?

Thanks!
 
Focus on the intake.

3,000 mg of salt a day is something you do not need. This salt could retain more water and subsequently weight than you really want.

120 grams of sugar a day is also a lot of empty calories.

I would really watch your eating to make sure that the calories you eat per day are less than what your body burns.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top