Want to introduce myself and ask for some help/critiquing

[gsteclipse97]

Hello I have lurked the board for a bit and would like to introduce myself. I am 22 years old, 6'2", 200-204 lbs, and 20-21% bf (digital caliper). I was always in pretty good shape in high school, played basketball, but over the years i packed on the pounds. About 3 months ago I was 230 lbs and about 30% bf. I am currently trying to cut another 5-8% off in the next 4-5 weeks and have hit somewhat of a plateau and ask for help.

My diet:

7:30 - 1 cup oatmeal or cereal and about 5 oz. non fat milk w/scoop whey
10:00 - some kind of vegetable or fruit snack
1:00 - lunch of chicken or fish with a salad or a vegetable and sometimes a cup of brown rice or another carb.
5:00 - pre workout snack on way to gym, usually a protein bar since im driving.
6:00-7:00 - workout
7:00 - post workout shake of water, 2 scoops whey, and either oats or dextrose for carb.
8:30 or 9:00 - dinner which is similar to lunch but no carb
11:00 or 11:30 - 1 cup non fat cottage cheese

My training:
Mon, wed, fri - cardio, 30-40 min of non stop cardio keeping heart rate between 140-150.
Tues, thurs, sat - weights

Basically over the last few weeks the weight loss has slowed/stopped and I am asking for any advice or critiquing that you guys might see that could help me out.

Thanks a lot.

[Augury]

Well, congratulations on the huge loss that you have already achieved. You should be stoked about that to start with

Regarding the plateau you have hit...well there are a bunch of solutions. Basically your body has adapted. Its job is to adapt and its damn good at it. You need to keep suprising it with new things to adapt to and whilst its adapting you will lose weight/fat...i assume its fat you are attempting to lose and not muscle mass.

I would have reccomended you go have a look at Lyles UD 2.0 diet at
www.bodyrecomposition.com
but basically that diet is recommended for people trying to get from 15% into the single digit teritory. Its still a facinating read though and will certainly explain to you in graphic detail why you have hit plateaus.

Regarding getting yourself from 20% to the 15% mark...first have a week off. Seriously. Keep your diet as it is but mix up the foods a little and have a few treats. Cheer youself up. You wont do any harm. Ease down on the cardio a bit and maybee even stop the weights for a week...just eat at maintenance.

Then when you are done chilling and regrouping and feeling positive and ready to rock...look at your intensities. Are you working in the gym as hard as you could be? are you pushing yourself like someone had a gun to your head? Try doing some variations...perhaps do 2 weeks of low rep/heavy assed weights and then follow with two weeks of tension workouts...more sets, less rest time and medium weights for the burn. Then swap back again.

Also look at HITT training instead of a 60 min jog. Let your heart rate worry about itself and go for it. If you dont know about HITT training look it up. Its intense and short lived cardio that gives you a significantly raised met rate for the day.

Hope that helps. Main thing is just keep changing things around and the weight will continue to fall off. Once you hit 15% things will get tougher and perhaps time to look ove the UD2 diet. Depends on your goals and where you want to get to.

Augs.

[Dedicated]

How many calories are you eating a day? If you know how many calories you eat everyday there is no reason you can't get down to like 8% bodyfat I would think. You can track them, and take weekly averages, and if you don't lose weight lower them. Then if you stop losing weight, and they are fairly low, implement refeed days, this will allow you to bring your calorie average back up once again. Rinse and Repeat. Just track your calories and you cannot fail. Goodluck.

[Vido]

Your 10am meal should have some protein in it.

[gsteclipse97]

thanks everyone for the responses. i am very stoked with my progress so far. when i originally started my goal was to be down to at least 15% bf by july 1 so i am just tryin to make it since i have slowed down on the fat loss. AUGURY,thanks for the tips, i will check out the diet. As far as intensity i am crazy in the gym, i work out alone so that i can go non stop, i try to keep my heart pumpin the whole time and i lift as if i was bulkin and not cuttin. DEDICATED, i eat roughly 2000-2300 calories a day i would say and about 220-230 grams protein, 175-185 grams carbs, and 35-45 grams of fat on average. VIDO, thanks for the info i will probably through in some cottage cheese or somethin.

[wleon]

eat maintenance level for a week then cut again ... you will then lose fat ...that has been my experience ..m