hey everybody, long time lurker, first time poster here on this site. This place is a sea of knowledge. kudo's to john and all the work he's put in over the years to make it his passion to help others achieve their goals. ANYWAYS.... I was always athletic in high school, never above 10%BF and always between 190-200 lbs depending on if i was bulking for football or losing weight from basketball. I am now a 21 yr old college student who has fallen off the bandwagon of working out, dieting and being lean. in the course of 3 years my weight has fluxuated between 225 and 250lbs! (250 being my heaviest as of six weeks ago) I am currently at 237lbs, no idea what my BF% is, but if i was to guess i'd say between 20-25% I do not have access to a gym, however I have "the block" dumbell set which gives me 5lb-45lb dumbell set increasing my inc. of 5 lb. I also have a treadmill which I have been doing cardio on. My diet is high protein, low carbs and low fat. Since I am a college student my snacks are usually a slim fast optima shake as they are easy to bring with me, are fairly inexpensive.. and go down quick. the problem I'm having is that for the past two weeks, my weight has not gone up or down.. and i'm not really sure why.. here's my sample day:

8am: 40-60min cardio on treadmill doing intervals (not quite HIIT, but a little more intense than LISS)

9am: Protein shake (1 cup liquid egg whites, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 bananna, 1 tbsp splenda, 1 scoop chocolate whey powder) about 300 calories, about 50 g protein

11am: slim fast optima shake

1pm: 3oz chicken breast, 1 cup mixed veggies

3pm: slim flast optima shake

4pm: weight training

5:30pm: protein shake (same as morning shake)

8pm: 6oz fillet salmon, 1 cup mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, peppers)

I try to get in a gallon on water every day. some days I drink more, some days less.

should I be putting more carbs in my diet? I am not trying to build muscle with the weights, i have a solid frame under my layer of fat, but to assist in kicking metabolism in high gear so I assume i dont need as many carbs. any input would be awesome!

You say you are eating high protein, low carbs and low fat. It's generally not a good idea to be low on carbs and fat. A breakdown of 40% protein / 40% carbs / 20% fat is a good place to start.

Also looks like you are under-eating. Have you worked out roughly how many calories you are consuming?

should I be putting more carbs in my diet? I am not trying to build muscle with the weights, i have a solid frame under my layer of fat, but to assist in kicking metabolism in high gear so I assume i dont need as many carbs. any input would be awesome!

i don't know how tall you are, or what your lean body mass is, but whew. that doesn't seem like many calories.

I'm 6 ft tall, and if it helps I had my bf% measured in high school when i was 195lb and it was 12%. Id like to get back around there. As for my calorie consumption is between 1500-2100 depending on my class schedule... some days i can't get home to have a proper meal for lunch, so its either another slim fast shake or its a couple nutrigrain bars or a tuna sandwhich from the school cafeteria. how can i lose weight by eating more than that? over the last 6 weeks my stomach has shrunk and I am extrememly full after eating my chicken and cup of veggies. plus with all the water I drink It makes eating more even more difficult. my fats isn't as low as it might seem.. my chicken is fried in olive oil and I eat lots of fish

I'm 6 ft tall, and if it helps I had my bf% measured in high school when i was 195lb and it was 12%. Id like to get back around there. As for my calorie consumption is between 1500-2100 depending on my class schedule... some days i can't get home to have a proper meal for lunch, so its either another slim fast shake or its a couple nutrigrain bars or a tuna sandwhich from the school cafeteria. how can i lose weight by eating more than that? over the last 6 weeks my stomach has shrunk and I am extrememly full after eating my chicken and cup of veggies. plus with all the water I drink It makes eating more even more difficult. my fats isn't as low as it might seem.. my chicken is fried in olive oil and I eat lots of fish


I find it helps at least for me at my job, if I prepare all my food for the week. I cook my all my food on Sunday for the entire work week so all that has to be done is throwing it in a mirowave. Protein shakes are good and all but they are def not a replacement for real food just because they are easy. They are an addition to a good diet.

If you don't get enough food you will be in the same spot I was in. Your lean muscle will go and your body will start to store fat in an attempt to preserve what fat storage it has left. A survival mode of sorts. If you give you body enough food it will start go into a fat burning mode during your workouts cause it will expect the a constant influx of food. At least thats my basic understanding of how it all works. It was hard for me to understand, eat more, lose weight. But so far i've lost 12lbs of bodyfat and can lift more weight than ever. Just get enough calories in good foods and you won't have anything to worry about. :gl:

I'm 6 ft tall, and if it helps I had my bf% measured in high school when i was 195lb and it was 12%. Id like to get back around there. As for my calorie consumption is between 1500-2100 depending on my class schedule... some days i can't get home to have a proper meal for lunch, so its either another slim fast shake or its a couple nutrigrain bars or a tuna sandwhich from the school cafeteria. how can i lose weight by eating more than that? over the last 6 weeks my stomach has shrunk and I am extrememly full after eating my chicken and cup of veggies. plus with all the water I drink It makes eating more even more difficult. my fats isn't as low as it might seem.. my chicken is fried in olive oil and I eat lots of fishAs I always say "Preparation is key". I make my meals days before and get them sorted the night before I wanna eat them. And you need to eat more my friend.

thanks for all the help guys. I gotta head to the supermarket anyways tonight so i'll pick up more off the 'good stuff' (chicken, fish.. ect) and get some brown rice to help up the carbs. should I be aiming for more of a 2000-2500 calories a day then?

You could start off with 2500 on a 40/40/20 PCF ratio. See how that goes? After a while the ratios may need to change some what.

Why are you basing your progress on weight alone? I'm also cutting and for the last 2 weeks I did not lose a single pound. I did however manage to drop 3/8 of an inch each week off my waistline. You're a good example of how so many people lose their will to keep at it. Measuring tape only costs a few bucks, go out and get one if you can't afford to track your BF%. For all you know you may not have to change a thing.