For the past 4 months I've been losing almost exactly 2 pounds a week, well now I'm stuck at 195. I wouldn't be so worried about the # but My abs are soooooo close to popping but it's just not happening. I'm thinking about lowering my starchy carbs and upping my fats but keeping my calorie count right around 2200 to see if that will make a difference.

Here is the plan I would like to use, If you can spare a moment please take a look and see if you can see where I can make any improvments.




7:00 1/2 cup (dry) Oats, 2 scoops of whey w/ water

10:00 8oz chicken Breast, 1 cup peas, 1 tablespoon flax oil

1:00 8 oz chicken Breast, 1 cup brocoli, 1 table spoon natty pb

3:00 45 min cardio at 65- 75%

4:30 Green Salad W/ 6oz. Chicken Breast 2 tablespoons low cal dressing

7:00 Chicken or Salmon and 1 cup of green veggie

8:00 Weights (4 day max ot split)

9:00 2 scoops of Whey, 4 Scoops Kent. Dextrose, 12 grams Glutamine, 1 multi, 1 tablespoon Natty PB

10:30 1/2 cup cottage Cheese.





The plan that has been working great for me was very similar but with more starchy carbs throughout the day and less fat. Do you think that switching this up will get me over the last 10 or so pound plateau, not make a difference or hurt my goal?

Anything I should switch up?


Thanks for taking the time to read all this and any help will be greatly appreciated :D

I would add a fruit to your 7:00 meal before weights. I'd even say a grain, but you should be ok with fruit. Otherwise, it looks decent. I say try it and stick with it for awhile so long as you have enough energy to do your workouts.

chicken 3 times a day 7 days a week?

i love chicken, but come on... i'd be sick of it after a week.

How much fat were you cutting out? If the body doesn't have enough of a fat intake, it will hold onto what it has much more. I intake 20% of my calories from healthy fat sources in a day.

chicken 3 times a day 7 days a week?

i love chicken, but come on... i'd be sick of it after a week.



:lol: There are a million ways to cook chicken. But that's not the point I would eat boiled chicken 7 times a day if it helped me reach my goal.

As Far as fat consuption, I used to only take in about 15% but I will now prolly bump it up to 30 or so percent.

Like I said, I'm only doing this to reach my cutting goal, if you don't think this plan will work please give me some advice on how to change it.

Andy, it's certainly a way to get over the hump. I'd suggest something to add fuel before your workout (fruit, high fiber shake, high fiber bar, etc - something low glycemic with about 20g of carbs) and then as you have indicated, get the majority of your carbs post workout. That's the way to do it. As your carbs go down, some strength coaches suggest your glutamine should go up - you could even get away with a lower carb post workout shake with several tbsp of glutamine, but that is also a bit pricier. Keep us posted with your progress!

Jeremy

For the past 4 months I've been losing almost exactly 2 pounds a week, well now I'm stuck at 195. I wouldn't be so worried about the # but My abs are soooooo close to popping but it's just not happening. I'm thinking about lowering my starchy carbs and upping my fats but keeping my calorie count right around 2200 to see if that will make a difference.

Here is the plan I would like to use, If you can spare a moment please take a look and see if you can see where I can make any improvments.




7:00 1/2 cup (dry) Oats, 2 scoops of whey w/ water

10:00 8oz chicken Breast, 1 cup peas, 1 tablespoon flax oil

1:00 8 oz chicken Breast, 1 cup brocoli, 1 table spoon natty pb

3:00 45 min cardio at 65- 75%

4:30 Green Salad W/ 6oz. Chicken Breast 2 tablespoons low cal dressing

7:00 Chicken or Salmon and 1 cup of green veggie

8:00 Weights (4 day max ot split)

9:00 2 scoops of Whey, 4 Scoops Kent. Dextrose, 12 grams Glutamine, 1 multi, 1 tablespoon Natty PB

10:30 1/2 cup cottage Cheese.





The plan that has been working great for me was very similar but with more starchy carbs throughout the day and less fat. Do you think that switching this up will get me over the last 10 or so pound plateau, not make a difference or hurt my goal?

Anything I should switch up?


Thanks for taking the time to read all this and any help will be greatly appreciated :D

As your carbs go down, some strength coaches suggest your glutamine should go up - you could even get away with a lower carb post workout shake with several tbsp of glutamine, but that is also a bit pricier. Keep us posted with your progress!

Jeremy

Yeah, I agree. I'm currently eating 50% protein and 25% each for carbs and fat on many days. maybe even slightly more fat than carbs. other days, I'll eat the traditional 40-40-20 split and other days in between these. so some of my days (at 50-25-25) are fairly low carb though not excessively so. I'm taking glutamine. I take 5g in the morning. 10 post-workout, and 5g at night. But I still have a higher carb post-workout. My carbs are largely focused around my workouts, in fact. It's working. I'm losing fat and maintaining muscle. Hopefully this approach with take me to the single digits by the end of the month as planned before I start my bulk. I have never full-fledged but without it, but I think the glutamine helps. (although I have yet to check responses to my query about it's effectiveness). good luck

Got my glutamine from Kent Nutrion yesterday, looks like it showed up just in time :D Thanks for the help everyone. I'll throw down some fruit pre workout so I have some fuel.

I'll keep you all updated in my How long till I see some friggen abs thread :d_biggrin

Ok, after breaking out the calculator and reading lot's of food labels, this is what I came up with. Not sure if this is the optimal diet to get my abs to finally pop out so if you see anything that looks off please let me know.





Time Descrition Calories Carbs Protien Fat
7:00 1/2 cup oatmeal 140 26 5 3
2 scoops whey 218 4 44 2
1/4 cup sugar free syrup 30 12 0 0

10:00 6 oz. Chicken Breast 232 0 48 4
2/3 cup peas 70 12 5 0
1 oz. Almonds (26) 169 6 6 15

1:00 6 oz. Chicken Breast 232 0 48 4
2/3 cup peas 70 12 5 0
1 Tablespoon Flax Oil 130 0 0 14

3:30 45 min Cardio

4:30 Medium Green Salad 100 1 3 1
Low Cal Italian Dressing 20 5 0 0
6oz. Tuna 150 0 32 1

7:00 5oz. Chicken Breast 200 0 43 3
1 cup steamed broccoli 24 4 2 1

8:00 4 Day Max OT Split

9:00 2 Scoops Whey 218 4 44 2
3 Scoops Dextrose 120 30 0 0
12 Grams Glutamine 50 1 9 1

10:00 1/2 cup cottage Cheese 90 6 14 2

2263 138 308 53

24% 54% 22%


Crap, I just noticed that I forgot to add some fruit in there, Guess I'll throw some in with my 7pm meal.

IMHO I think just reducing your calories a bit more is the way to go, as you seem to have your protein/PWO bases covered, as well as the cottage cheese before bed (w/ the casein) so you don't have to worry abt too much abt losing LBM. Experiment with 1800-1900 calories a day for a week or so, and see what happens. If that doesn't work, try cycling your cals so for eg. 2100 on one day and 1600 on another, while keeping the macros the same.

IMHO I think just reducing your calories a bit more is the way to go, as you seem to have your protein/PWO bases covered, as well as the cottage cheese before bed (w/ the casein) so you don't have to worry abt too much abt losing LBM. Experiment with 1800-1900 calories a day for a week or so, and see what happens. If that doesn't work, try cycling your cals so for eg. 2100 on one day and 1600 on another, while keeping the macros the same.


Yeah after working out the numbers I am still taking in about 140 grams of carbs so I wouldn't exactly call that "low carb" But after only a couple days of upping my fat intake I feel like I have more energy and I'm less hungry, but who knows that may just be in my head.

I don't really have a lot of muscle to start with so I want to keep as much as I can so I was kinda worried about dropping my calories too low. But your suggestion may not be a bad idea. Maybe that will be what i need to shock my body into losing the last few pounds.

Maybe my math is off, but isn't that 110%?

Yes-sorry about that. some days I eat 50-25-25. other days I'm 40-30-30, and still other days my split is the more common 40-40-20. But i'm not afraid to have fat and carbs in equal ratio. This does work for me. I'll edit my earlier post.