How much weight to lose?

**GCRobbo** · 25-01-2012 11:29 PM

Hi everyone,

Since roughly August last year I have been on a rather low calorie diet and have lost a reasonable amount of weight as a result which was my aim. I'm 17 and was 12.5 - 13st but am now around 10.5.

I'm also just under 6ft, around 5'10, and do regular cardio, around 3-4 times a week. I had quite rapid weight loss at first but now it has started to plateau and I don't know whether that's just my body's way of telling me to stop losing weight or there's something else I need to do? I had a look at refeeds but wasn't really sure how to go about one.

Before I lost weight I did regular weight training and played rugby but since I lost weight I lost all my muscle with it and my ultimate aim is to get back in the gym, leaner than I was before and really commit to it and make some serious gains.

So my question is whether I should keep losing weight? I still have some body fat around the stomach and hips, but will that hinder a good physique after some gym work?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

**funb** · 26-01-2012 08:01 AM

I have a similar background to you, having lost a lot of weight through cardio and low calorie diet. My weightloss also stalled until I stopped all the cardio, started doing my weight training in a committed way, and started eating for muscle growth. I reckon you are now very conditioned after all that cardio and your metabolism has adjusted, hence the plateau.

I can only speak anecdotally but what has worked for me is to focus on weights and drop the cardio down to 1 session per week, if that. But I'm sure a more knowledgeable forum member will have some sound advice for you too

**James** · 26-01-2012 09:18 AM

Go by the mirror and how clothes fit, NEVER set a goal of absolute weight loss, this can set up a mental block in your head meaning that you obsess so much on your goal weight you may even diet and become underweight to reach the figure. Never use a set number figure as a goal.

**GCRobbo** · 26-01-2012 06:54 PM

Quote

Originally Posted by funb

I have a similar background to you, having lost a lot of weight through cardio and low calorie diet. My weightloss also stalled until I stopped all the cardio, started doing my weight training in a committed way, and started eating for muscle growth. I reckon you are now very conditioned after all that cardio and your metabolism has adjusted, hence the plateau.

I can only speak anecdotally but what has worked for me is to focus on weights and drop the cardio down to 1 session per week, if that. But I'm sure a more knowledgeable forum member will have some sound advice for you too

So how did you body shape and weight change when you began focusing on muscle growth diet and weight training rather than cardio? I was thinking I would start weight training on something like stronglifts programme monday, wednesday and friday with cardio on thursday and maybe saturday but I dont know if thats too much cardio?

If youv'e had the same experience as me when it comes to weight loss then maybe we will have the same experience if I started weight training and altered my diet to coincide with that.

**GCRobbo** · 26-01-2012 06:56 PM

Quote

Originally Posted by James

Go by the mirror and how clothes fit, NEVER set a goal of absolute weight loss, this can set up a mental block in your head meaning that you obsess so much on your goal weight you may even diet and become underweight to reach the figure. Never use a set number figure as a goal.

Iv'e still got a slight belly but it's pretty flat, much flatter than it used to be. With mostly weight training and cardio will my body shape continue to change to something leaner with more definition if I began eating for muscle growth and focused more on weight training?

**funb** · 27-01-2012 07:52 AM

Quote

Originally Posted by GCRobbo

So how did you body shape and weight change when you began focusing on muscle growth diet and weight training rather than cardio? I was thinking I would start weight training on something like stronglifts programme monday, wednesday and friday with cardio on thursday and maybe saturday but I dont know if thats too much cardio?

If youv'e had the same experience as me when it comes to weight loss then maybe we will have the same experience if I started weight training and altered my diet to coincide with that.

Firstly I should probably tell you that I am female and any program you do will likely be vastly different to mine

If you want to see the details of my progress you can check out my training log (link in sig). As a quick summary, since October 2011 I have lost 3.7% body fat, put on 0.7kgs lean mass and lost 2.9 kgs overall. And that's including a 3 week holiday with lots of bad eating and very little training!

I do whatever my PT tells me, and the first thing he did was implement a cardio ban. I did full body workouts followed by HIIT up until about 2 weeks ago, now I'm on a upper/lower split with some intervals. Currently I am on a 2 week fat loss bootcamp program where I am allowed 1 cardio session per week. I really wanted to do my cardio at the beginning and fought for it, but now I am glad I didn't do it. I think it depends largely on WHEN you do your cardio, i.e. fasted cardio in the morning is probably ok, but cardio late at night is a defnite no-no. What time of day do you train?

**GCRobbo** · 27-01-2012 05:15 PM

Ah ok so we probably won't have similar long term training aims as well as changes to body shape. Sounds like your trainer pretty much set you up, what I really want to do is natural bodybuilding rather than training for power and strength, so maybe a session with a personal trainer would be the way to go for advice on a training programme and if i'm the right body composition at the moment?
From how you describe it he seems to have given you a set of goals that are yielding great results, perhaps they could do the same for me. It sounds like I'm in the situation you were in, Iv'e read a few training diaries and exercises but I'm really new to all the structure of nutrition and training. I really want to be able to get it right the first time round.

At the moment I run about 9km every Thursday and then fit in around half an hour of cardio (running/cycling) at my gym when I have time throughout the week which is normally 2/3 times a week on top of the 9km runs as I have been making a special effort with cardio for the weight loss.
Very minimal weight training, it stopped all together during weight loss and I go very rarely, not enough to make any difference to body shape.

**GCRobbo** · 27-01-2012 05:17 PM

Forgot to reply with a quote but I'm replying to your last comment funb!

**funb** · 28-01-2012 12:11 AM

Yeah we probably have very different long term goals - Bev Francis, I ain't! So yeah, seek advice from a trainer - make sure they're a good one though, get a referral if you can. Otherwise there is tons of info on this forum! But maybe a boy is better placed to talk to you about your training etc.

I do think cardio has its place when you have a lot of weight to lose, but there comes a point where you have to put it aside while you concentrate on your weights. I persevered with my cardio for way too long, and only started seeing changes again in recent months on the new weight program and nutrition strategy.

**ben 21** · 28-01-2012 12:32 AM

was i the only one who had alarm bells going off when i heard, near on 6ft and weighs 10 stone?! at 17? your still growing! eat! the reason that last bit of fat wont go is because it cant! you need to eat to fuel your metabolisum. your metobolic rate is probably too low to lose fat now. you wana make gains? stop trying to lose weight now, when you,ve added some muscle mass you probably wont notice the what i immagine to be, tiny amount of fat around the waist!