I started changing my eating habits and exercising on 1/20/04 and have since lost about 10-12lbs and would like to losse 10-15 more. I know that I'm stronger than I was then as well. I have no pics yet, but will be getting a digital camera soon. I am 203lbs and 5-10". I have a stocky body type, so I lean more towards the
stronger thicker body type and I have a 36" waist, if that helps.

I work out 2-3 days a week with weights and 2-3 days a week of cardio.
I'm currently taking in right around 2000 cals a day. I eat clean all week and have a few beers and a cheat meal on 1 weekend night.

I feel that I'm gaining some muscle, but not loosing any fat. My waist has not gotten smaller at all, my belt actually fells a little tighter. I feel like my stomach is flabbier then before. I don't know what the hell is going on!

I'm seriously starting to get depressed about my progress now. I see all the progress everyone is getting on these forums and I'm totally lost. I don't know if I'm eating enough or too much. I'm not looking for pitty, I looking for help.

Thanks.

Sounds like you're pretty decently on track. You could write out your basic diet to see if others agree about your eating cleanly :)

First things I'd increase your cardio to 4-5 times/week. You probably are eating too little or too much. I'd hazard a guess that it's too much, but if you first test that theory and it's not true you coudl really hurt your metabolism, so raising your calories may be in order.

However, if I had to put money on it I'd say that if you do cardio 5 times/week and put your calories at 1800 you'll be in better standing.

I would give a little different advice, althought skoorb could be right. I weighed around 196-201 for about 8 weeks, and couldn't figure out why I didn't break the 196 mark. I was taking in around 1800-1900 kcal a day. I upped it to around 2200 a day, and the weight started coming off again. I would try to up it before lowering it if I were you. Give it 2 weeks and see what happens. Gook luck. :tucool:

I agree. Looks on track.

It's funny, what you said about your stomach. My stomach started to actually feel flabbier (is that a word?) just before it melted away.

I think the fat cells get less and less dense, thus the flabbiness, right before everything tightens up.

I'd say from your description that you're right on. Maybe just a little more time. I'm not good with the patience thing either... :D

I started changing my eating habits and exercising on 1/20/04 and have since lost about 10-12lbs and would like to losse 10-15 more. I know that I'm stronger than I was then as well. I have no pics yet, but will be getting a digital camera soon. I am 203lbs and 5-10". I have a stocky body type, so I lean more towards the
stronger thicker body type and I have a 36" waist, if that helps.

I work out 2-3 days a week with weights and 2-3 days a week of cardio.
I'm currently taking in right around 2000 cals a day. I eat clean all week and have a few beers and a cheat meal on 1 weekend night.

I feel that I'm gaining some muscle, but not loosing any fat. My waist has not gotten smaller at all, my belt actually fells a little tighter. I feel like my stomach is flabbier then before. I don't know what the hell is going on!

I'm seriously starting to get depressed about my progress now. I see all the progress everyone is getting on these forums and I'm totally lost. I don't know if I'm eating enough or too much. I'm not looking for pitty, I looking for help.

Thanks.

I have a very similiar body type though I'm also in cutting/loss phase. Right now I'm targeting 170lbs.. So i'm eating about 1700-1800 clean calories... Keeping the bad fat + bad carbs low and eating 8x/day. I weight train 3x/week and cardio 7x/week abs 3x/week. If your body is in the midst of a stall (which it sounds like it may be), I would suggest increasing your cardio bigtime to facilitate a calorie deficit and perhaps up the protein, drop 100-200 calories to see if it helps. Everyone's terribly different. You may also want to check out Jeremy Likeness' calorie staggering article on his site. One day you eat 1500 the next day 1800 and so forth, keeps your body guessing.

Everyone hits these plateaus when losing weight. They are very frustrating and usually a sign that you need to change something to kick start the weight loss again.

I agree with the idea of adding more cardio to your regimen.

I definitely would not go any lower on the calories. 2,000 already sounds low to me for your weight range and amt. of exercise. But you may need to modify what you are eating to help jolt your body into losing weight again.

I have a very similiar body type though I'm also in cutting/loss phase. Right now I'm targeting 170lbs.. So i'm eating about 1700-1800 clean calories... Keeping the bad fat + bad carbs low and eating 8x/day. I weight train 3x/week and cardio 7x/week abs 3x/week. If your body is in the midst of a stall (which it sounds like it may be), I would suggest increasing your cardio bigtime to facilitate a calorie deficit and perhaps up the protein, drop 100-200 calories to see if it helps. Everyone's terribly different. You may also want to check out Jeremy Likeness' calorie staggering article on his site. One day you eat 1500 the next day 1800 and so forth, keeps your body guessing.

I see a lot of guys posting on here that they are eating below 2,000 calories per day to lose weight. I guess whatever works...well, it works. But at your weight and amt. of exercise, I would expect that you could be eating in the low 2,000's per day and still lose 1.5-2 pounds per week. I may be biased, but I think when men eat sub-2,000, they are at risk for going into starvation mode and a slowing or cessation of the weight loss.

Thanks everyone for the advise. I think I may have shot a little low on the calorie intake. I think I need to really shoot for that 2000 range and up the cardio a little. It doesn't take much for me to gain muscle. Loosing fat however is another story. Anyone have a link to a good food chart (calories in common foods)?
I was feeling pretty crappy about the progress this morning, but after reading your posts, it charges me back up. I guess that's what these forums are all about.

I appreciate it more than you know.

Thanks.

www.calorieking.com

Abguy...I was almost wondering about this very thing myself. Honestly I often find my stomach seems 'flabbier" since I have been cutting. Its weird. I really hope this is a sign that it will soon melt off. It gets pretty discouraging since we are trying so hard to lose the fat and the opposite seems to be occurring!

Abguy...I was almost wondering about this very thing myself. Honestly I often find my stomach seems 'flabbier" since I have been cutting. Its weird. I really hope this is a sign that it will soon melt off. It gets pretty discouraging since we are trying so hard to lose the fat and the opposite seems to be occurring!

I really think it's loose skin. It does retract eventually, but it's a gradual process. I lost the bulk of my excess weight two years ago, and I am still noticing loose skin re-tightening.