Haven't lost weight in 2 weeks - Have I hit a plateau??

[gregg917]

Thanks everyone for having a look! I promise to try and not make this post boring!

Age: 22
Weigh: 207
Body Fat: 25%
BMI: 31.4

I used to weigh 250 lbs, I dropped down to 165 and maintained it well until I lost job and fell back into bad habits. I lost a lot of that weight from practicing raw veganism and was consuming mostly raw fruits/veggies with occasional 'splurges'.

I'm vegetarian however I do not consume milk, sour creme, etc...only animal product I consume is cheese otherwise I try to aim for vegan products.

I'm concerned because for a little over 2 weeks now I've maintained the same weight, body fat and lean mass are nearly the same.

I do cardio (walk/run combination) about 5 times a week for an hour each and complete about 4-5 miles (400 calories on average burned) per session. Rarely do I do any strength training, when I do complete workouts, I follow it with a vegan protein shake. (Sunwarrior Raw Protein with soy milk)

I try to consume between 1,700-1,900 calories (on days when I don't workout), I used a calculator that said that amount would be most appropriate when trying to lose 2 pounds per week. I end up consuming a total of about 2,100-2,300 calories on days I work out (1,800 based on calculator and the additional 400 after burning it off). I only eat about once or twice a day, I know I should be eating smaller portions more often. Even diet is off because I don't always consume the calories I need for that day and try to make up for those calories on following days.

Also I work in retail so sometimes I don't fall asleep till 2AM but get about 10/12 hours of sleep every night.

question is, what does it seem like I am doing wrong?

I almost feel I am doing too much cardio and not sure if consumption of calories is correct? Am I not to consume the additional 400 calories that I burn off?

If I've missed any info, I'd be more than happy to provide whatever it is I might've forgotten

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for taking the time to read post

[dustin807]

I don't think you are doing anything "wrong" sometimes we just hit plateaus. The body is constantly adapting and fighting to maintain status quo.

Some things you might want to experiment with are:

1) eating more than once or twice per day. You might find it beneficial to break your caloric intake into 3-4 meals per day instead of 1-2 meals per day. This may have the effect of increasing your metabolism. It could be that currently your body goes into a fat hoarding mode since it knows the next meal might not come until tomorrow. Perhaps eating more frequently will free your body to burn the food you give it at a faster rate.

2) Train for Performance

You talk about doing cardio 5x/week for 1hr each and complete about 4-5 miles. However, you say nothing about how much your performance has improved or not improved. You might find more success if you stop thinking of it as "cardio" or "exercising" and start thinking of it as "training." Train yourself to run faster. A lot of people track calories, but very few track performance.

You lay out detailed explanations of your caloric intake. I think if you paid as much attention to getting faster and stronger as you did to calories, you might enjoy the process more.

Set performance goals. Exceed those goals. Then set new goals. Then exceed those goals. Repeat forever.

3) Experiment with Strength Training

Do you know what a Toyota Prius is? It is a very fuel efficient car. It is fuel efficient because it has a very small engine (and is battery assisted). However, the Porshe 911 Turbo has giant engine and is not very fuel efficient.

Perhaps you need a bigger engine, i.e., more muscle mass. Muscle burns calories (fuel). Less muscle mass means a more fuel efficient body. In this case fuel efficiency is a bad thing because you want to burn calories at a high rate, i.e., increase your metabolism.

The easiest way to increase your metabolism is to build muscle mass (get a bigger engine).

How many pushups can you do?

If you are currently 207 pounds and you can perform 20 pushups in a row, what will your body look like when you are able to perform 100 pushups in a row?

More muscle mass will also make your cardio training sessions burn more calories.

If you know anything about boxing or mixed martial arts, you know that the fighters with more muscle mass always tire out quicker than the skinny guys, even if they are in the same weight class. That's because muscle requires more in terms of oxygen and calories to operate. So these heavily muscled fighters have less stamina than their skinny counterparts. Their bodies operate too inefficiently to last an entire fight. Their engine is too big.

Spend some time making your engine bigger, making your body less fuel efficient.

Here are two of the best fat loss articles I've read. A bit of warning, they are a little bit hard core.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... t_loss&cr=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... t_fat_loss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ultimatehlth]

I have to agree with Dustin about adding resistance training. One big reason people hit plateaus is sameness. You need to shake up your exercise to force adaptive change. Try adding more speed and interval work into shorter sessions. Use the time savings to add resistance training twice a week (full body high intensity circuits). Keep a food journal and time your meals out better with breakfast and your post workout meal being the most important.
Best,

John

[Alinshop]

I have to agree with Dustin about adding resistance training. One big reason people hit plateaus is sameness. You need to shake up your exercise to force adaptive change. Try adding more speed and interval work into shorter sessions. Use the time savings to add resistance training twice a week (full body high intensity circuits). Keep a food journal and time your meals out better with breakfast and your post workout meal being the most important.
Best,

Los Angeles Personal Trainer Hollywood

Interval training is an excellent way to shorten up your standard cardio session yet reap almost twice the benefits.

[ChariceT]

I think Dustin explained it very well. Here are just a few more ideas I use for workouts:

1. work have two workouts: Workout A and Workout B. This will help you mix up your exercises easier and keep your body guessing.

2. do supersets: do two exercises one right after the other without rest between. Then rest 1 minute. This keeps your heart rate up which will burn more fat. I usually like to do one upper body followed by one lower body and not two exercises that target the same muscle group. You could also do one that's repetition (lunges) followed by a resistance workout (plank). So many variations to work with here.

Hope this helps!

[Alinshop]

How is it going for you Gregg?