Well unfortunately I think that I have hit a plateau.....and Im not sure what to do about it. I have been on my "diet" and working out 6 days a week since February, and am at a stand still. Im a 23 yr old female, 5'2", and I weight about 118 lbs, with 19% bodyfat. Ive been those same numbers for over a month now and its starting to dicourage me. Heres a sample day of my diet:

Breakfast: 1/3 cup of oats, 3/4 cup of blueberries, a tbsp of ff plain yogurt and a spoonfull of protein powder.

Snack 1: 1 oz of almonds (22 or so)

Lunch: 2 plain rice cakes, 1.5 tbsp of natty pb and a sliced banana, 1/3 cup of cottage cheese, and vegs (usually cucumber and mushrooms cut up)

Snack 2: an orange or grapefruit and more cottage cheese

Supper: some type of lean meat, a huge salad, and more veg's

Snack 3: a can of tuna with mustard and salsa, and some cut up vegs


I drink 6L of water a day.

I do 3 days cardio, (HIIT) and 3 days lifting every week and take Sundays off.

Can anyone suggest where to go from here? I need some advice!!!

Thanks in advance.

Uh, you could come visit Houston ;)

It sounds like you've reached a pretty nice goal already. Is there anything more specific you're looking to do?

Welcome and..
Sorry, I can't even imagine 118lbs!
As a 32 yr male I think my bones weigh that much!
Tell you the truth you might want to scan through some of the other posts and look for a couple of the women that compete or are trying to get a nice toned look. They are very knowledgeable about the female form.
Maybe Rockenmama, Chameleon, or hibiscus09 ???
Only know them by their posts but seem to know their stuff.

Maybe switch out the HIIT for a bit and try low intensity, fasted morning cardio? I do both, but some people swear by the low intensity fasted stuff for fat loss.

Your diet looks decent, although possibly a little low in calories? Have you figured out how many calories a day you are taking in?

Also, how heavy are you lifting? Heavy weights/low reps?

I can't think how 19% looks exactly and I'm too classy to ask for pictures (hee hee), but if you want to continue losing fat I'd say double your cardio, seriously.

As far as your diet, it looks good but perahps some more protein earlier in the day would be good. Some eggs or chicken for the earlier meals.

I've read a couple times on the forum how women found that they stalled after a while and then only more cardio seemed to do the trick. I remember causticmuse has said that. Prehaps switching from HIIT to alow intensity steady state cardio would be better as it would be easier on the body.

Lastly, how is your weight routine? Your goal should always be to lift heavier and heavier weights with working sets of ~6-10 reps. I hope you are not of the opinion that if you lift weights that are too heavy you will become bulky. This is just not true. The amount of food you eat determines whether you will be able to pack on a lot of muscle, but with the lower calories that won't be possible. But it is still important to use enough weight to really work the muscles, to prevent muscle loss, while you are losing fat.

Maybe switch out the HIIT for a bit and try low intensity, fasted morning cardio? I do both, but some people swear by the low intensity fasted stuff for fat loss.

Your diet looks decent, although possibly a little low in calories? Have you figured out how many calories a day you are taking in?

Also, how heavy are you lifting? Heavy weights/low reps?

I agree, your carbs look incredibly low and your protien looks a bit low too... how many grams of protien do you take in? how many grams of carbs?

if you are not lifting heavy I would start to, as well as raising your carbs some and your protien. Try changing your cardio to LISS like featherz suggested and add a day or two to your current schedule, so that your doing 4 - 5 day's of fasted LISS in the mornings. It sounds like you are very lean but you could use some more muscle... and more muscle will help bring your body fat down... maybe go to 4 lifting day's a week. I lift 4 to 5 day's a week and try to get cardio in all 7 day's... sometimes I take Sunday off completely but not all the time. :gl:

also... I would limit your ff cottage cheese to once a day... just a suggestion... try adding egg whites to your first meal instead of the cottage cheese... about 6 egg whites would be about the right amount... I eat between 6 and 8 egg whites in a meal. ;)

also... I would limit your ff cottage cheese to once a day... just a suggestion... try adding egg whites to your first meal instead of the cottage cheese... about 6 egg whites would be about the right amount... I eat between 6 and 8 egg whites in a meal. ;)

How come?

Cottage cheese is high in sodium. It's really convenient though :o

Cottage cheese is high in sodium. It's really convenient though :o

Yeah- it is. I think it's a great food, and I eat a lot of it whether bulking, maintaining or cutting. Generally, I don't think restricting sodium is necessary unless preparing for a competition or wanting to look very lean for an event. I don't use added salt or eat excessive amounts of salty foods, but I don't restrict it. I think most people will be fine with the amount of sodium in their diets just by eating clean.

Hey everyone! Tks a lot for all the replys! I love asking for advice on here! everyone is always so willing to help out!

I did the calculations a few times, and I should be taking in between 1300-1450 cals to lose weight- which is basically right where I am. I guess like some of you mentioned, more protein would be a good idea. But would that mean more on top of what Im already eating? or take something out and add a more protein rich food in there?? And a question about the egg whites- how do you cook these?? I know that sounds silly, but do I crack an egg and seperate the yolk and eat just the whites?? I read about ppl eating these all the time, but I have never done it myself!

About the cardio, maybe I should switch to low intensity for a while- I just thought that HIIT was the thing to do to burn the most fat? But maybe my body has adapted to that and needs something new- or make my HIIT sessions even that much more intense?????

Also, no one has mentioned it, but should I concider incorperating a refeed day into my weekly schedule? I have read that this is beneficial, but not sure if I should do it or not. I dont have a cheat day, so really my body gets the same foods day in and day out.

Any other suggestions I would love to hear! And thanks again for the advise thus far! :tu:

I'm not a fan of 'cheats' to shock the system, and I'm not going to propose that. But if you have been cutting for a while and don't need to cut further for a comp or something, I would suggest trying to 'bulk' very slowly. Since you already have suggestions of things to add to your diet, I would add them while keeping the rest the same or similar.

If you say increase calories by ~100kcal/week for a few weeks (maybe get up to ~1700-1800), you will probably put on some muscle. You might start to put on some fat, but it won't be much before you realize this was perhaps a bad idea. My guess is that you will raise your metabolism and possibly drop some fat to begin with.

I have seen that as I transition into bulking from cutting, I actually loose a bit more fat than I would expect for the first couple of weeks, rather than fat loss slowing. Then it slows and finially I maintain before bulking. The calories in vs out thing does not work simplisticaly for me in that if I'm loosing 0.5lb/week, then adding 250kcal/day slowly does not put me at maintanance.

Once you are at the higher calorie level, you can then drop back down much quicker than 100kcal/week if you want to continue cutting, rather than bulking. I have even had success with dropping immediately to below what I was previously cutting on for 1-2 weeks, before bringing the calories back up again over 1-2 weeks. (It's a nasty 1-2 weeks and lI get sore lifting from the reduced calories, but it works for me for that amount of time).

Dunno if this made any sence, I guess it's just calorie cycling but with a slow increase, then a quick drop for a short time. I do keep protein as high as I can given the calories I have to work with and reduce fats to minimum +EFA's etc.. (i.e. cut out peatnut butter and such) for the 2 week lower-calories time. I also reduce carbs - dare I say it - even going minimally post work out (make sure you still have enough energy for the workouts). Like I said, I get sore and it's not sustainable, but I haven't lost muscle yet.

Also I don't think one can necessarily keep running this cycle, it's sort of a 2-3 times/year thing when I really want to cut up.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Also, no one has mentioned it, but should I concider incorperating a refeed day into my weekly schedule? I have read that this is beneficial, but not sure if I should do it or not. I dont have a cheat day, so really my body gets the same foods day in and day out.




I wouldn't do cheats, but even if you don't want to do anything quite as drastic as I suggested above, I am a big believer in calorie cycling. I have always done this, and never plateaued my weight loss (I stop for other reasons).

My take on refeeds is that 1/week is not necessarily the best way. If you get to day 7 and feel like you are going to make more good progress, why refeed? I know my body quite well and can feel when I'm going to have to 'refeed' and it might be anywhere from 7-20 days. The longer and lower the calorie restriction, the longer (in terms of days) the refeed. Doing 1 day at 1000kcal extra is not as beneficial as 2 days at 500kcal extra.

So I would suggest calorie cycling, but make the refeeds 1-3 days, maybe only 200-400kcal more that you are eating right now. That also allows you to do some days lower than you are right now if you can not get too hungry.

I agree, your carbs look incredibly low and your protien looks a bit low too... how many grams of protien do you take in? how many grams of carbs?

My carbs seem low?? Really? When I track my food in fitday, my carbs are usually higher then they are sapposed to be (40/40/20 is what I go by). They arent that much higher then they should be, but they definitely arent below 40. I usually consume about 1400 cals a day- which is where I think I should be. Can you give me any more tips on anything at all?? Tks for the advice already as well! It nice to have a womens input sometimes :nod:

The only change to your diet would be always to eat protein at every meal/snack. Substitute more protein for the pb during lunch. Eat some cottage cheese or chicken with less almond at snack #1.

I would keep doing your HIIT maybe 1 or 2 days a week, but don't do LISS, do some kind of medium to high intensity cardio for 40-50 mins, 2-3 more days a week. You REALLY have to make sure that your HIIT sessions are hard, difficult to finish, and they make you almost want to puke. They just can't be effective if they just become intervals.

If you want to do low intensity, get up early, go for a 2 mile walk before you eat...then do your normal routine. Or, if you want, throw in 20 mins of medium-high intensity cardio after your weight sessions. There are quite a few of us here who do that with good results.


My carbs seem low?? Really? When I track my food in fitday, my carbs are usually higher then they are sapposed to be (40/40/20 is what I go by). They arent that much higher then they should be, but they definitely arent below 40. I usually consume about 1400 cals a day- which is where I think I should be. Can you give me any more tips on anything at all?? Tks for the advice already as well! It nice to have a womens input sometimes :nod:

I would keep doing your HIIT maybe 1 or 2 days a week, but don't do LISS, do some kind of medium to high intensity cardio for 40-50 mins, 2-3 more days a week.

I am curious what is the difference between LISS and "medium to high intensity cardio for 40-50 mins" in your above post. Heart Rate?

LISS is usually assumed to be 75-80% of max heart rate. Are you suggesting to go higher than this? for 40-50 mins?

Well, there are quite a bit of conflicting opinion on what exactly low intensity (the L-I of LISS) cardio really is. There are many world class bodybuilders who do the so-called "fasted state" cardio with merely a walk in the morning, everyday. It doesn't seem to me that would be anywhere near 75% MHR.

On the other hand, it seems that "steady state" medium and high intensity cardio, which I would consider a more challenging session, is often overlooked. Many people, including a lot of the newcomers on this board, are looking for an easy-way-out cardio session- and LISS gives them this. When some try out HIIT, they see only 15-20 mins, and forget that you need to be hitting close to 90-95%MHR per interval to make it effective.

This medium-intensity cardio, that I tend to enjoy, is similar to the heartrate range one would hit on a good run (not a jog)- somewhere around 85%MHR (for me, around 165-170 BPM). I think bumping up intensity is not only good for plateaus, but also great for cardiovascular health. If you ever followed the old idea of "fat burn zone" and "cardio zone" which has been discussed to death, the "cardio zone" (medium/high intensity) still burns more calories. If you are doing this mid-day, after eating, you are reaping the benefits of the improved cardiovascular health AND sparing more muscle (as opposed to performing this same cardio on an empty stomach).

But then again, many don't do cardio.




I am curious what is the difference between LISS and "medium to high intensity cardio for 40-50 mins" in your above post. Heart Rate?

LISS is usually assumed to be 75-80% of max heart rate. Are you suggesting to go higher than this? for 40-50 mins?

Yeah, I agree. I like to do some medium intensity cardio (moderate-paced running or biking) and sometimes hard interval sessions. What and how much I do depends on my mood and my training. If I'm bulking it may be very minimal. As far as LISS, I highly doubt that a walk would work for most people to get to 75% heartrate. This is not to say that a nice 40 minute walk doesn't burn extra calories and doesn't speed fat loss, with adding benefits of not stressing the body and little likelihood of overtraining. But I can't imagine it'd really get your heartrate up unless you're fabulously unfit.

Well, there are quite a bit of conflicting opinion on what exactly low intensity (the L-I of LISS) cardio really is. There are many world class bodybuilders who do the so-called "fasted state" cardio with merely a walk in the morning, everyday. It doesn't seem to me that would be anywhere near 75% MHR.

On the other hand, it seems that "steady state" medium and high intensity cardio, which I would consider a more challenging session, is often overlooked. Many people, including a lot of the newcomers on this board, are looking for an easy-way-out cardio session- and LISS gives them this. When some try out HIIT, they see only 15-20 mins, and forget that you need to be hitting close to 90-95%MHR per interval to make it effective.

This medium-intensity cardio, that I tend to enjoy, is similar to the heartrate range one would hit on a good run (not a jog)- somewhere around 85%MHR (for me, around 165-170 BPM). I think bumping up intensity is not only good for plateaus, but also great for cardiovascular health. If you ever followed the old idea of "fat burn zone" and "cardio zone" which has been discussed to death, the "cardio zone" (medium/high intensity) still burns more calories. If you are doing this mid-day, after eating, you are reaping the benefits of the improved cardiovascular health AND sparing more muscle (as opposed to performing this same cardio on an empty stomach).

But then again, many don't do cardio.

Oh I see. I never realized people sometimes are referring to walking when they are talking about LISS. I was assuming that it meant the moderate intenisty cardio you are talking about. thanks.

But it seems that whatever you've done, it works for you!

I've heard that the big boys who have lots of muscle to spare and don't want to lose it, do the fasted state walk. And those getting ready for real competitions, have a deadline, so usually they use any method to pull the fat off, which from what some friends have done, are two high intensity cardio sessions a day when preparing for a show.


Oh I see. I never realized people sometimes are referring to walking when they are talking about LISS. I was assuming that it meant the moderate intenisty cardio you are talking about. thanks.