Hi Everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Apologies in advance for the length of this post... I've been reading these boards (+BB.com [apologies for cross-post!]) for over a year, and they have been incredibly helpful while developing and fine-tuning my gym routines, as well as improving my diet and supplements.

It is coming up on the end of my first 12 months into what I hope will be a long-term transformation. On Nov 10, last year I was 117.72 kg (259.5 lb), and at my last weigh-in yesterday, i was 89.9 kg (198.2 lb). I am currently a size 36" waist, down from a 46", aged 24 years.

While it feels incredible to be able to shop for 'normal' clothes again, and everyone tells me I look great, I honestly dont feel that I look any different (asides from the stretch marks) from one year ago, which sometimes gets me down... Like I am smaller all over, but still have a gut, manboobs, love handles, etc. Regardless, I am determined to go on and reach my goal weight of 75kg after another 12 months of work.

Unfortunately, I have reached a major plateau, and I can't figure out what the best course of action would be to bust it, and would love to hear anyones suggestions. I have totally changed the time of my workout from 6pm to 6am in hopes that a 'body shock' technique might do something, but the scale won't budge.

My main concern is that I just greatly increased the intensity of my weight training, now that I have a gym partner, and that I may actually be losing fat, but gaining muscle, therefore not seeing any difference in weight. Not really sure what to try, but open to anything.

My second concern is that I am going backpacking for six weeks in about a fortnight, and I have no idea how to keep in shape, although that is another thread in itself, but thought I would bring it up in case anyone had a thread or anything else to reference.

I hope this is the appropriate forum to be posting this in, if not, please let me know and I will move it.

I am going to write in some possibly relevant information that may shed some light on my current situation.

Average Weekday is like this:

-5:30 am, have 1teaspoon of Carnitine Fumarate (just started this)
-6:00 am, One Banana, Multivitamin, 3g Fish Oil
: Workout (Mon; Shoulders, Tue; Back, Wed; Legs, Thurs; Biceps, Lower Back, Fri; Chest) : 4-5 Exercises, Drop Sets, 45 minutes
-6:45 am, 1 Scoop VP2
-6:45 am, 30 mins cardio @ 70-80%
-9:00 am, Grande Skinny Latte, 6 packets splenda
-10:00 am, 1/4 Cup Muesli + Individual Serving Size of Fat Free Yoghurt
-1:00 pm, Salad w. Vinaigrette, + Greens + Poached Chicken
-4:00 pm, Apple or Fruit Salad
-7:00 pm,Can of Tuna in water, plain, Rice Crackers, (Or Steamed Chicken + Broccoli, etc) 3 Fish Oil Pills,
-9:30 pm, Bed

Sometimes there may be an extra coffee in there, or something small here or there, but nothing that should majorly throw anything off? Weekends I dont really eat as frequently, because I am always out and have to eat out. Sunday Night is my cheat meal (Usually consists of going to the pub for a bowl of chips and salad).

Anyway, if anyone has any comments or questions on the above, please let me know. I would be in debt to anyone offering help in this forum. Hopefully when I go back home in 6 weeks (I moved to Australia 4 years ago from New York) I can grab some fat pics so everyone can get an idea of how far I have really come.

Thanks again for everyone who posts here and helps make it the great resource that it is!

Best,
Jeremy

Don't worry. Plateaus are easier to break than you might think. The key to any succesful plateau breaker is to get your body confused in a good way (you already got the idea with "shocking" your body). The key word is change.

1. Take a week off: Hard to do, but in a way its like starting all over agian. Remember the results you got when you started. You won't become a tub of lard overnight unless you try (don't use this as a free pass to indulge for a week).

2. Zig Zag Calories: The way I figure this is on lifting days I eat 200 over maintence, then cardio days I eat 200 under, on my rest day I eat at maintenece level. Anway the point is to never eat the same amount of calories two days in a row. DON'T do it with protein though. Always eat at least 1 gram per pound of body weight per day. On the other hand carbs are okay to zig zag.

3. Switch it up: This is easy to do. You can change stuff like lifts you do, # of sets or reps, the day and time you work out. This is a great plateau breaker

4. Sprints: Sprints are the best form of cardio for fat loss in my opinion. The benefits are plenty but include; elevated metabolism throughout the day, less lean mass sacrificed, less time then long distance running, great way to tone legs.

5. AM Cardio: Best advice here is to read up on it and try it only if you think you can do it. When I say A.M. Cardio I mean on an empty stomach.

Also you seem to be at a point where your about to go crazy. Don't worry about upping the intensity (unless you know your not giving your best effort, and from the sound of things you don't have that problem). Many people get worried and up the cardio while lowering the cals. This will cause your metabolism to slow down and cutting will become harder. Your body at that point is begging you for time off.

As for your backpacking trip. I'm simply not the guy to ask. The only idea I can give you is that I've been out of the gym for almost a month (1 week of recovery followed by 3 weeks of the flu. Don't worry the two aren't related. I'm just a victim of circumstance.) I haven't lost much muscle nor gained a lot of fat. I hope that helps but you might be safer asking someone who has experience in the department.

Do you know how many calories you are consuming in a day? From the looks of your diet, it doesn't look like you are getting enough to eat. Between 5:30AM and 10AM the only thing you're eating is a banana (and that's BEFORE your work out). It doesn't look like you're getting much protein either. Not enough calories in your diet will definately stall your weight loss efforts.

It's your diet!

Travis-

Thats what I'm thinking. What is the #1 thing you think I should be looking at? I just spend so much time preparing stuff as it is, I hardly have anymore time to cook and such which is leaving me vulnerable when some small hunger strikes. I feel like my protein is low, but really cant afford the 100 calories that is in one scoop of powder (25g), and would rather get it from whole foods.

Can anyone suggest some minor changes/additions etc to my listed meal?

Thanks everyone!

Can anyone suggest some minor changes/additions etc to my listed meal?



First off, meal number 1 needs some serious bolstering. You are doing an awful lot on a banana. I'd add a couple eggs and maybe some oatmeal or sprouted grain toast w/butter and possibly a little cottage cheese. It's gotta be hard to have any intensity in the gym on virtually no fuel.

What's with the latte w/6 packs splenda? Just an enjoyment thing I take it? It isn't providing nutrition anyway.

I'd probably, after your workout- just jump right into cardio and have the VP2 (I'm assuming it's a protein powder?) after that (7:15 ish) Then by 8 add a whole 'nother meal. Something like your 7pm meal.

The whole thing really just needs revamping. I can't even figure it out right now.

Chris- where are you?

Travis-

Thats what I'm thinking. What is the #1 thing you think I should be looking at? I just spend so much time preparing stuff as it is, I hardly have anymore time to cook and such which is leaving me vulnerable when some small hunger strikes. I feel like my protein is low, but really cant afford the 100 calories that is in one scoop of powder (25g), and would rather get it from whole foods.

Can anyone suggest some minor changes/additions etc to my listed meal?

Thanks everyone!

You don't need protein powder to meet your protein needs -- It helps, but it isn't necessary. Judging by what you posted, it looks like you may only be getting around 50 grams per day....if that. Given your weight, you should be shooting for double to triple that -- think foods like: Cottage cheese, chicken breast, fish, beef, milk etc. etc.

Also, be mindful that if your caloric intake is too low, that will also stunt your progress.

Joe-

I hear that mate. The whole diet thing is really killing me. No matter how much I obsess over it and try to work it out, it comes down to the fact that I cant or dont have time to cook or prepare food for the life of me. I end up going to the salad bar every day for lunch (impossible to calculate the calories, but its clean) and haveing some raw tuna every night for dinner, getting nowehere! I wish I could just nut out a /sustainable/ 5-day menu that would offer some variation and would be easy to prepare, and could accomodate my 6am workout time and 5:30am wakeup time. That seems to be the biggest thing, trying to figure out a prewo and postwo formula... Anyone know anyone in Australia who I could pay to help me out with that?=] Sorry to have a whinge, but I just want to sort it out. Its been 12 months, and I just cant seem to find something that works for me, and all the threads on this just seem to confuse the hell out of me and the plateau has caused me to lose a bit of patience! Can anyone guide me on the right path? Good karma awaits you...

Best,
Jeremy

longdrive and jeremy

make tupperware your friend. i Just cooked 2lbs of uncooked brown rice and have it in a gallon size tupperware container, so i dont have to cook everyday. I eat canned chicken and tuna everyday (a 13oz can of chicken yum). Get a can opener, some hot sauce and mustard for those bad boys. Almonds for fat, you can take with you anywhere. Make up a container of 3 scoops of protein powder so you can drink that over a days time. Take multivitamins, vitamin c, calcium, fish oil and/or flaxseed capsules. eat some broccoli or another low gi low cal veggie too.

you could also chose to eat beans from a can, though i highly suggest draining them of the brine first .

just put everything your'e going to eat in a bag, and the rice in some tupperware.... this stuff isn't that hard, its about your willingness to take the 10 minutes at night to get it together for the next day

[QUOTE=Travis]First off, meal number 1 needs some serious bolstering. You are doing an awful lot on a banana. I'd add a couple eggs and maybe some oatmeal or sprouted grain toast w/butter and possibly a little cottage cheese. It's gotta be hard to have any intensity in the gym on virtually no fuel.

Can anyone give me an example of sprouted grain wheat bread by brand name or where it is sold? I'm confused by all the wheat breads and want to know which ones will really be good for my diet.