Please help! Very detailed on what I do/eat, not loosing weight at all for 3 weeks!!!

[PigFlys]

Hello everyone, I been lurking around and reading here for 3 month now. I am 25 and have finally decided to really make a change on my body. I did a lot of searches and read/watched a lot of article/videos on this website. I think I am following almost every guideline but some how I am stuck already and I am only on week 7.

Currently I weight 233lb
My Body fast is around 27% (from scale not the clipper)
My goal is to build muscle and cut to around 185lb

My first week was really good, I lost 5 lb. Information on a lot of the post suggest that its because your body is in shock. So I thought everything is normal.

For the next 3 weeks, I lost 1.5-2 lb very steadily. And from what I read, it is what I want. I even had 1 cheat day but that didn't affect it at all.

The problem is from week 5-7. I went from 233lb to 233.5lb and down to 233.2 again this morning. And the thing is, I have only increased my exercise while keeping my diet exactly the same. NOT A SINGLE POUND LOST!!!

Here is what I do, trying to be as detailed as I can.

Monday - Chest, 30 min on elliptical (resistance and incline both at 8, keeping heart rate above 70% and below 80% of max which is 194)
Tuesday - Shoulder/ABS, 15 min on stair master (speed at 4, really burns), 20 mins on stationary bike with resistance on 10
Wed - 30 mins on elliptical (same resistance as Monday), 15 mins paddling backward (resistance at 8, incline at 0)
Thursday - Back/ABS, 15 min on stair master (speed at 4), 20 mins on stationary bike with resistance on 10
Friday - Bicep/Tricep/Leg, 20 mins of speed 3.8 on treadmill (taking it easy on the Leg)
Saturday - Shoulder/Back, (less intense compared to previous work out, but I want to work my shoulder and back twice since its really week), 30 min on elliptical
Sunday - 45 minutes on treadmill, running for 2 minutes and power walking for 3 minutes

On top of that, I do 30-40 of power walk or slow jog every morning right after breakfast. This is everyday, haven't missed once yet for 7 weeks straight.

Here is my diet

7:30am - 1 serving of oat meal, 10 almonds, little of flax seed and walnut, 4 egg whites
10:00 - 1 apple (depending on my class schedule, I sometime just forgets this)
12:30pm - 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of mixed greens, 5 small cherry tomato, 200 gram of chicken or turkey breast, 1 cup of brown rice or wheat pasta
3:00 - 1 scope of protein powder shake, 100 gram of chicken or turkey breast, half cup of sweet potato
workout follows 30 mins after, then 2 scope of protein powder shake
7:00ish - almost exactly the same as my 12:30 meal
No food at all after 8pm

*I also have some cottage cheese 2-3 times a week during breakfast and just not eat the nuts
*eat salmon once a week subing chicken/turkey during lunch only
*eat lean beef twice a week subing chicken/turkey during lunch only
*eat white fish twice a week subing chicken/turkey during lunch only

I wont say I am 100% following what I listed, but 99% is a very good estimate. After 2 weeks of not loosing weight, I changed my diet by taking out the carb from the 7:00pm meal completely. Still not a single lb lost.

As far as I can tell, I really haven't done anything that's not recommended. I shouldn't hit a plateau yet since its only 7 weeks in and I do feel the burn. I make sure I push myself as hard as I can during weight training. The weights I am pumping is studily increasing at 5-8 lb every 2 week. Its really starting to frustrate me. I do now know what I need to change. I know it takes time but most advice I read suggests that you need to make change if nothing happens for more than 2 weeks. But I honestly have no idea what needs to be changed.

The only thing I am not doing is counting calories. But I do not use any sauce or dressing or random stuff on my food, its really as clean/dry as it can be (not even vinegar or olive oil, just straight up dry salad and Gorge Forman grilled meats). I am drinking close to 1 gallon of water a day but sometime a bit less. Nothing seems to be very out of place to prevent the fat lost. I can see curtain part of my body to have that "toning line" change but the weight just don't add up.

I am not taking any other supplement except multi-vitamins, calcium, and protein powder. The protein I take I bought from GNC called Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60.

Please, any feed back would help.

[nlite2000]

Hello everyone, I been lurking around and reading here for 3 month now. I am 25 and have finally decided to really make a change on my body. I did a lot of searches and read/watched a lot of article/videos on this website. I think I am following almost every guideline but some how I am stuck already and I am only on week 7.

Currently I weight 233lb
My Body fast is around 27% (from scale not the clipper)
My goal is to build muscle and cut to around 185lb

My first week was really good, I lost 5 lb. Information on a lot of the post suggest that its because your body is in shock. So I thought everything is normal.

For the next 3 weeks, I lost 1.5-2 lb very steadily. And from what I read, it is what I want. I even had 1 cheat day but that didn't affect it at all.

The problem is from week 5-7. I went from 233lb to 233.5lb and down to 233.2 again this morning. And the thing is, I have only increased my exercise while keeping my diet exactly the same. NOT A SINGLE POUND LOST!!!

Here is what I do, trying to be as detailed as I can.

Monday - Chest, 30 min on elliptical (resistance and incline both at 8, keeping heart rate above 70% and below 80% of max which is 194)
Tuesday - Shoulder/ABS, 15 min on stair master (speed at 4, really burns), 20 mins on stationary bike with resistance on 10
Wed - 30 mins on elliptical (same resistance as Monday), 15 mins paddling backward (resistance at 8, incline at 0)
Thursday - Back/ABS, 15 min on stair master (speed at 4), 20 mins on stationary bike with resistance on 10
Friday - Bicep/Tricep/Leg, 20 mins of speed 3.8 on treadmill (taking it easy on the Leg)
Saturday - Shoulder/Back, (less intense compared to previous work out, but I want to work my shoulder and back twice since its really week), 30 min on elliptical
Sunday - 45 minutes on treadmill, running for 2 minutes and power walking for 3 minutes

On top of that, I do 30-40 of power walk or slow jog every morning right after breakfast. This is everyday, haven't missed once yet for 7 weeks straight.

Here is my diet

7:30am - 1 serving of oat meal, 10 almonds, little of flax seed and walnut, 4 egg whites
10:00 - 1 apple (depending on my class schedule, I sometime just forgets this)
12:30pm - 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of mixed greens, 5 small cherry tomato, 20 gram of chicken or turkey breast, 1 cup of brown rice or wheat pasta
3:00 - 1 scope of protein powder shake, 10 gram of chicken or turkey breast, half cup of sweet potato
workout follows 30 mins after, then 2 scope of protein powder shake
7:00ish - almost exactly the same as my 12:30 meal
No food at all after 8pm

*I also have some cottage cheese 2-3 times a week during breakfast and just not eat the nuts
*eat salmon once a week subing chicken/turkey during lunch only
*eat lean beef twice a week subing chicken/turkey during lunch only
*eat white fish twice a week subing chicken/turkey during lunch only

I wont say I am 100% following what I listed, but 99% is a very good estimate. After 2 weeks of not loosing weight, I changed my diet by taking out the carb from the 7:00pm meal completely. Still not a single lb lost.

As far as I can tell, I really haven't done anything that's not recommended. I shouldn't hit a plateau yet since its only 7 weeks in and I do feel the burn. I make sure I push myself as hard as I can during weight training. The weights I am pumping is studily increasing at 5-8 lb every 2 week. Its really starting to frustrate me. I do now know what I need to change. I know it takes time but most advice I read suggests that you need to make change if nothing happens for more than 2 weeks. But I honestly have no idea what needs to be changed.

The only thing I am not doing is counting calories. But I do not use any sauce or dressing or random stuff on my food, its really as clean/dry as it can be (not even vinegar or olive oil, just straight up dry salad and Gorge Forman grilled meats). I am drinking close to 1 gallon of water a day but sometime a bit less. Nothing seems to be very out of place to prevent the fat lost. I can see curtain part of my body to have that "toning line" change but the weight just don't add up.

I am not taking any other supplement except multi-vitamins, calcium, and protein powder. The protein I take I bought from GNC called Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60.

Please, any feed back would help.

Everything else besides bolded is just noise. You are eating too much. If you are ~30% bodyfat and the scale isn't moving, steadily, you are eating too much. There is no way around this.

[mdoghman]

Everything else besides bolded is just noise. You are eating too much. If you are ~30% bodyfat and the scale isn't moving, steadily, you are eating too much. There is no way around this.

A question to you nlite2000.

How do you calculate how much calories you need? Some articles see you need calculate based on your "body weight" and some articles say based on your LBM. So which one is it?

[PigFlys]

A question to you nlite2000.

How do you calculate how much calories you need? Some articles see you need calculate based on your "body weight" and some articles say based on your LBM. So which one is it?

Would like to know as well. If you give a link or two, that would really be great. Thanks, gonna get a pen and start punching that calculator.

[ploquatro]

Everything else besides bolded is just noise. You are eating too much. If you are ~30% bodyfat and the scale isn't moving, steadily, you are eating too much. There is no way around this.

This. Start counting calories, weighing and measuring everything you eat.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

[Dleary4395]

First let me just say kudos to you for taking the intiative to improve your lifestyle!

According to your diet regimen it looks like you're in the same boat of a lot of other people that post on here. It sounds like your body is in starvation mode, and trying to save everything you're putting into it. You're eating like you're in a bomb shelter saving food for the coming years. Are you scared of fats just cause you're trying to lose fat? It's one of the 3 macro's and i don't see any in your diet what so ever except breakfast. Which happens to be the meal that i completely ignore fats, because after atleast 8 hours of sleeping your body needs some fast digesting proteins/carbs to get your blood sugars regulated again. When i first changed my lifestyle i was roughly the same weight as you, so i can give you a few key things i learned along the way.

- FATS ARE ESSENTIAL NOT EVIL! For one of your snacks throw in some almonds or natty peanut butter or something. You're trying to make your body burn fat as fuel, and when you're not eating fat it just has proteins and carbs to use.
- Before bed i drink a protein shake with some natty PB to slow down digestion and give my body something to digest instead of my own muscle over night.
- Don't eat the same thing day in and day out. Your body will adapt to low calories after a while, so try mixing it up. Some days have higher fat intake and lower your carb intake, and then other days do the opposite.
- Mix it up. Keep your body guessing. Change up your routine, cycle your carbs. Eat higher carbs on heavy training days like back and legs and drop some carbs on cardio days.

You don't have to count calories per-say but atleast count your macros. If i remember correctly i was taking:
1.5-2.0g/lb - Protein
1.0g/lb - Carbs
.5-.8g/lb - Fats
Again some days this will differ to keep your body guessing. Hope this helps

[nlite2000]

A question to you nlite2000.

How do you calculate how much calories you need? Some articles see you need calculate based on your "body weight" and some articles say based on your LBM. So which one is it?

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

^ I've used that calculator periodically, it's been more or less accurate.

Basically, I cut at 2000, maintain at 3000 and gain at 3500-4000. It's not an exact thing, the scale moves or the scale doesn't depending on your intake though. In the case of the OP, he's eating too much.

[PigFlys]

First let me just say kudos to you for taking the intiative to improve your lifestyle!

According to your diet regimen it looks like you're in the same boat of a lot of other people that post on here. It sounds like your body is in starvation mode, and trying to save everything you're putting into it. You're eating like you're in a bomb shelter saving food for the coming years. Are you scared of fats just cause you're trying to lose fat? It's one of the 3 macro's and i don't see any in your diet what so ever except breakfast. Which happens to be the meal that i completely ignore fats, because after atleast 8 hours of sleeping your body needs some fast digesting proteins/carbs to get your blood sugars regulated again. When i first changed my lifestyle i was roughly the same weight as you, so i can give you a few key things i learned along the way.

- FATS ARE ESSENTIAL NOT EVIL! For one of your snacks throw in some almonds or natty peanut butter or something. You're trying to make your body burn fat as fuel, and when you're not eating fat it just has proteins and carbs to use.
- Before bed i drink a protein shake with some natty PB to slow down digestion and give my body something to digest instead of my own muscle over night.
- Don't eat the same thing day in and day out. Your body will adapt to low calories after a while, so try mixing it up. Some days have higher fat intake and lower your carb intake, and then other days do the opposite.
- Mix it up. Keep your body guessing. Change up your routine, cycle your carbs. Eat higher carbs on heavy training days like back and legs and drop some carbs on cardio days.

You don't have to count calories per-say but atleast count your macros. If i remember correctly i was taking:
1.5-2.0g/lb - Protein
1.0g/lb - Carbs
.5-.8g/lb - Fats
Again some days this will differ to keep your body guessing. Hope this helps

Wow...um... does starvation mode prevent you from loosing weight? I sort got the feeling that Calorie deficit is whats going to loose the weight. If my output is higher than my intake, but being in starvation mode, I wouldn't be loosing?

thanks!

[nlite2000]

First let me just say kudos to you for taking the intiative to improve your lifestyle!

According to your diet regimen it looks like you're in the same boat of a lot of other people that post on here. It sounds like your body is in starvation mode, and trying to save everything you're putting into it. You're eating like you're in a bomb shelter saving food for the coming years. Are you scared of fats just cause you're trying to lose fat? It's one of the 3 macro's and i don't see any in your diet what so ever except breakfast. Which happens to be the meal that i completely ignore fats, because after atleast 8 hours of sleeping your body needs some fast digesting proteins/carbs to get your blood sugars regulated again. When i first changed my lifestyle i was roughly the same weight as you, so i can give you a few key things i learned along the way.

- FATS ARE ESSENTIAL NOT EVIL! For one of your snacks throw in some almonds or natty peanut butter or something. You're trying to make your body burn fat as fuel, and when you're not eating fat it just has proteins and carbs to use.
- Before bed i drink a protein shake with some natty PB to slow down digestion and give my body something to digest instead of my own muscle over night.
- Don't eat the same thing day in and day out. Your body will adapt to low calories after a while, so try mixing it up. Some days have higher fat intake and lower your carb intake, and then other days do the opposite.
- Mix it up. Keep your body guessing. Change up your routine, cycle your carbs. Eat higher carbs on heavy training days like back and legs and drop some carbs on cardio days.

You don't have to count calories per-say but atleast count your macros. If i remember correctly i was taking:
1.5-2.0g/lb - Protein
1.0g/lb - Carbs
.5-.8g/lb - Fats
Again some days this will differ to keep your body guessing. Hope this helps

strong broscience in this post.


Starvation mode? How many fat people do you see in subsaharan africa?


Keep your body guessing? It isn't a game of cards. It's a matter of energy. Less=weight loss, more=weight gain.


Any percieved success you had on account of manipulating macros day to day to "keep your body guessing" were on account of water fluctuation. You lost fat because you ate less than your body needed, the same way anybody loses fat.

[MetalLover]

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

^ I've used that calculator periodically, it's been more or less accurate.

Holy ****... it says my basal metabolic rate is just 1887 calories a day. Is that true?! I've been trying to hit that to lose weight, and all along it's my bmr?!

[nlite2000]

anyway, OP, if you want to make it easy----eat 2000 calories a day, with 120g of protein coming from dead animal flesh. Fill the rest of the calories to taste, being sure to get some veggies in there.


You can cruise on that all way down to lean. That deficit will get less and less large, commensurate with how fat you are.

[mdoghman]

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

^ I've used that calculator periodically, it's been more or less accurate.

Basically, I cut at 2000, maintain at 3000 and gain at 3500-4000. It's not an exact thing, the scale moves or the scale doesn't depending on your intake though. In the case of the OP, he's eating too much.

thanks man ...
i was on the right track ..

[PigFlys]

anyway, OP, if you want to make it easy----eat 2000 calories a day, with 120g of protein coming from dead animal flesh. Fill the rest of the calories to taste, being sure to get some veggies in there.


You can cruise on that all way down to lean. That deficit will get less and less large, commensurate with how fat you are.

Cool thanks man, I will use that as a starting point.

Was just punching everything I eat in a day into the calculator, finding everything in cal/per is kinda a pain. Trying to find how exactly how much calories I have been eating all these times.

Also, whats your take on the no food after 8pm thing? I found myself often gets hungry at around 10:30-11:00 which is exactly when I try to sleep. Its kind of hard falling asleep now compare to before. I like roll on the bed for a good 30 minutes even tho the work out and cardio do burns me out. Feeling tired and not being able to sleep is painful.

[mdoghman]

Cool thanks man, I will use that as a starting point.

Was just punching everything I eat in a day into the calculator, finding everything in cal/per is kinda a pain. Trying to find how exactly how much calories I have been eating all these times.

Also, whats your take on the no food after 8pm thing? I found myself often gets hungry at around 10:30-11:00 which is exactly when I try to sleep. Its kind of hard falling asleep now compare to before. I like roll on the bed for a good 30 minutes even tho the work out and cardio do burns me out. Feeling tired and not being able to sleep is painful.

it does not make a difference whether you eat before you go to sleep or not ..
at the end of the day: calories in should be less than calories out to lose weight.

[Dleary4395]

strong broscience in this post.


Starvation mode? How many fat people do you see in subsaharan africa?


Keep your body guessing? It isn't a game of cards. It's a matter of energy. Less=weight loss, more=weight gain.


Any percieved success you had on account of manipulating macros day to day to "keep your body guessing" were on account of water fluctuation. You lost fat because you ate less than your body needed, the same way anybody loses fat.

I'm not sure why people are so quick to assume that people's advice is always bro science. I'd say the best way to get into the shape you want is to take advice from the people that actually went through the transformation YOU want to go through. I guess all my progress doesn't matter and i had no idea what i'm doing sorry for posting, but i just assumed you wanted to go through a transformation kind of like myself. This is just 7 months.

[nlite2000]

I'm not sure why people are so quick to assume that people's advice is always bro science. I'd say the best way to get into the shape you want is to take advice from the people that actually went through the transformation YOU want to go through. I guess all my progress doesn't matter and i had no idea what i'm doing sorry for posting, but i just assumed you wanted to go through a transformation kind of like myself. This is just 7 months.

I was quick to call your post broscience because everything in it was textbook broscience other than the notion that one needs to consume fats.


Furthermore, OP is obese, not an already in decent shape dude, looking to get shredded. It's really as simple as eating less for him.

[Dleary4395]

He's roughly where i was before i started working out. So i disagree with you completely but i respect your opinion

[nlite2000]

He's roughly where i was before i started working out. So i disagree with you completely but i respect your opinion

6'0 233 is not even in the same universe as your before picture.


Be as butthurt as you want, but do do a little reading.

[PigFlys]

I just finish doing a rough estimate of how much calorie I eat on a daily basis, turns out to be 2200ish.

I guess I am eating too much oats, brown rice/pasta, and not enough protein.

Going to see how to keep it below 2k while up-ing my protein.

Im going to try 1800 for 2 weeks and go from there. Really cant have the scale at 233 for a day longer. I guess I was really eating more calorie than I thought.

Thanks guys for all the input!!!

[PigFlys]

Dleary4395, I think you might have missed my body fat %. If I am like your before picture, I will be very very very happy. I am really just fat and I know it. But thats going to change !!!!

Thanks tho for the input, I think eventually I will run into the problems you had. But I dont mind having new problems because you got rid of your old ones At least I know I am changing.

[mdoghman]

Dleary4395, I think you might have missed my body fat %. If I am like your before picture, I will be very very very happy. I am really just fat and I know it. But thats going to change !!!!

Thanks tho for the input, I think eventually I will run into the problems you had. But I dont mind having new problems because you got rid of your old ones At least I know I am changing.

Take it from me ( I used to be athletic. then obese, then lost weight, and now obese but i am losing weight without suffering).
Do not go too low in the deficit ... just calculate how much you need a day: lets say 2500, eat 2000 and not less.
you can always exercise more, walk half an hour a day if you feel you need to eat more ..
at the end of the day what matter: calories in vs calories out. eat things you like:
a piece of chocolate, pop corn, just do not eat too much (make it fit into your macros)
when u feel less motivated, come back and u will someone to motivate you!

[Sawa3]

I love the www.myfitnesspal.com. They have apps too. If you put in your stats and goals it will give you some guidelines or cals. Be sure to change your protein and carbs though on there if you use it. Their auto numbers aren't great.
Nlite had it right. Count your cals. See where you are eating now an tweak it some.
They are right saying fat is good. A balanced meal with some fat and carbs with plenty of protein is grey for you. Good luck and be sure to change up the working out an keep the intensity up too!!

[PigFlys]

Roger that guys/gals. Thanks for positives and encouragement. Just as I started to make a change, I get more and disgusted at myself when I look in the mirror. Kinda got that "how did I let myself get here" feel.

These three weeks of not making a change really is a bomber. But I also understand that it does indeed take time and there really is no short cut. I try to just eye ball my food and such but now I know it won't cut it. I will pace myself and hopefully one day I will not be so embarrassed about myself that I will take a picture and post it here.

[polishprancer]

Try fitday.com its a really solid calorie tracker. Also disregard the eating after 8 pm thats just simply not true.

[Sawa3]

Everyone plateaus here an there. It's not getting discouraged and figuring out why is where is at. You can do it

Roger that guys/gals. Thanks for positives and encouragement. Just as I started to make a change, I get more and disgusted at myself when I look in the mirror. Kinda got that "how did I let myself get here" feel.

These three weeks of not making a change really is a bomber. But I also understand that it does indeed take time and there really is no short cut. I try to just eye ball my food and such but now I know it won't cut it. I will pace myself and hopefully one day I will not be so embarrassed about myself that I will take a picture and post it here.