Stuck at 22 stone!!

[Tommytenbell]

Hi All,
Am new to the site and just thought id post a few details about my situation.
This time last year I weighed a little over 24st, I ate ****e almost the time did little exercise and basically let myself go.
since then I've made big changes to my lifestyle , diet etc and have lost nearly 2 stone.
My problem is I'm now stuck between 21.5 to 22 stone. Oh I'm 6ft 7in tall too
.
I work nights so I feel that my metabolism is all ****ed up because of this as its been a real battle to get this far as I was doing 30-45 mins cardio 3 times a week, in the evening when I got up and on an empty stomach.
I'm now doing the same cardio but with 2-3 weights session per week too as I want to keep my top end bulky.
This is my rough weekly guide
1900-2500 Cal per day coming from low fat meals x2 and 2-4 pieces of fruit a low fat yoghurt and maybe a cuppa soup as a snack.
Mon morning after work n legs and back
Mon Eve - cardio
Tues Eve cardio
Wed morning - chest and shoulders
Thursday Eve cardio
Friday morning arms
odd Saturday I go for a bit of a swim

Now in my eyes I should be losing weight still even though I'm doing weights, but maybe someone can tell me where I'm going wrong.
I have just ordered some some diet whey from the site so will be trying to incorporate that into my diet as a meal replacement.
Sorry for the essay I just wanted to give as much info as possible!

Thanks in advance guys!

Tom

[MB1]

Hi Tom. Hopefully everyone on here can give you a hand.

The progress you've made so far is great, how long have you been going with the new lifestyle? Can you give an example of what you eat in a day?

It would also be handy to know how old you are and what kind of cardio you have been doing.

Finally, how long has your weight been stuck where it is?

[Check1]

I wouldnt bother having a whole workout for arms, stick with big compounds.

In short, I doubt you will stay at 22st with that diet and routine. Others will probably give some more complex advice but mine is stick it out and enjoy it!

Good luck.

[Tommytenbell]

thanks for the replies lads, as for daily food intake, im eating low fat dinners the missus cooks, roughly around 400-600 cals per meal, then taking leftovers to work and eating that again for my lunch, then just snacks at regular intervals 2-3 hours, comprising of fruit(althoough a friend told me to try and leave fruit out ?) , cuppa soup, can of tuna, stuff like that, and once a week having maybe a chinese or a pizza on a free day.
I have been fairly strict since christmas with 1 weekend having a blowout on drink, 10-15 pints of guiness over the weekend but other than that ive been a good lad, but still only lost 2lbs since christmas.
I also was told that having free day would keep the cravings at bay as i would look forward to my free day and having my treats on that given day.
I should have my impact diet whey tuesday or wednesday so would like to start using that as a meal replacement and just eating the one home cooked meal per day then and cutting out fruit altogether. Could anyone suggest a plan for using the diet whey ?

[Tommytenbell]

oh forgot to say im 29and been doing this plan with weights for around 16 weeks

[funb]

What will help keep your cravings at bay is having more good fats in your diet, like nuts, avocado, hummus, etc. If you are not getting cravings or feeling deprived, you don't need a cheat day. If you ARE getting cravings/feeling deprived, a cheat day will mean a blowout and effectively undo all your good work the rest of the week. I would up the good fats, lose the cheat day, and lose anything that's not real food e.g. cuppa soups. You can probably afford to eat a piece fruit on your cardio days.

[MB1]

At your current weight cutting out fruit isn't going to have a huge effect. The advice above pretty much covers things.

You may want to question how hard your working at the gym, are you sweating/tired afterwards? It may be that you need to up the intensity and cut the amount your going.

As for the diet whey, have it after your session before work or as a snack during the day.

[bigtanker198]

hiya pal . ive just shed 7 stone i found when i was in the gym doing my programs i did 20 min cardio to start then a weight program training all muscle groups then finished with 20 min cardio. worked a treat for me. kept my diet to porridge on mornings salad for lunch and a good evening meal.

[davecpfc]

Youve got to make sure you eat enough dude, youre a big bloke and if youre eating a calorie restricted diet you might end up storing more fat rather than shifting it. Im a big fan of a cheat meal because I feel it rewards you for all your hard work in the week but dont over-do it. Eat well all day and have a cheat meal, dont let it turn into a cheat DAY because you WILL undo all your hard work!

With your cardio, incorporate intervals into the routine, it saves gym time and burns more calories in the long run and are also more interesting than steady state cardio for hours. With your weights you need to do some big compound lifts that burn lots of calories instead of doing single joint exersises such as bicep curls that only burn a few calories.

Heres an example of what I feel is an effective gym session:

- 5-10mins warm-up on rower or x-trainer
- 3sets of 15reps - Squats, Bench Press, Bent Over Rows, Deadlifts, Dips, Pull-ups/Lat Pulldowns, Shoulder Press
- 30mins cardio Intervals - bike - 20secs fast/40secs recovery 10mins
- rower - 15secs fast/45secs recovery 10mins
- X-trainer - 30secs fast/1.5mins recovery 10mins
recovery means steady pace not rest!
-Cool down and stretch 10mins.

Hope this helps buddy.

[zag_2005]

Good work so far, but now its time to tweak. So 1st off the exercise side of things...

Intervals deffinatly rule the way when it comes to cardio, you can do them on any piece of equipment, infact you dont even need equipment really. A nice starting point is doing 60seconds steady pace and 30 seconds at a high pace, so a ratio of 2:1, for example on the bike - 60 sec Level 3, speed 70 : 30 sec Level 6, speed 120. Make sure your struggeling towards the end of the interval, thats how it should feel. When you get fitter you can then go on to tabata training, thats flat out for 20, no exercise at all for 10seconds x 8, so 4 mintues total, very hard system! burns loads of kcals!

For the weights, as every 1 has said, big movements, use's lots of muscles, heavy weight, low reps, aim to fail at 8 reps.

Diet - So many people have different opions on what and when to eat, i do a few things that probably go against the grain, but you have to do what works for you.

You need to be aiming to eat between 5-6 small meals per day. With your 1st meal of the day being your highest in carbs, so oats! Then every meal there after needs to be less in carbs, untill your very last meal of the day has no or few carbs. This is called calorie Tapering, gradually wining off the carbs over the day, as your body will only store them overnight if you consume too many.

For example:
7am -bowl of oats and whatever flavouring
10am - meal replacment shake - True MRP is great from myprotein! choc orange! you get 20 portions, but i devide them into 2, so getting 40 portions
1pm - 3-4 x low fat cottage cheese on whograin ryvita, could add spinach for your greens or add strips of chicken, what ever you want.
4pm - True MRP
7pm - Steamed fish + Veg, or tuna salad or chicken salad, what ever, the less carbs the better in the evening. but you could add brown rice etc if you wanted.
10pm - Slow relese protein - cheapest form is cottage cheese.

It helps to plan ahead, what your going to eat, it also helps to eat the same things every day, for a week or so, that way it becomes easier to achieve.
For yourself with working nights, the times of feeding change, but the principle dont, eat big when you wake and little before you sleep, also the eating times will change around your workout time.

As for cheat days, i got into a bad routine not too long ago, and a cheat saturday quite often changed into a cheat weekend, although over the 7 days i still lost weight, it wasent as much as it should of been, now i only have a cheat saturday morning, consisting of a fry up and full fat coke! Then as soon at 12pm lunch time comes around, back on the routine.

Hope this helped,

Gaz