Diet results starting to plateau - advice needed.

fret_wimp2

This year I decided to sort out the diet, as I'm moderately fit but I want to look the part also.

I hit the gym 4-5 times a week with a mix of hiit, cardio and weight lifting, so that side of things is sorted.

I weighte about 65kg and was 18.5% body fat.
I started monitoring everything I was eating and found I was eating way too many carbs.

Based on advice I cut the carbs to no more than 150g per day, with one day of 200g to keep metabolism guessing a bit, 200g of protein a day and no more than 50g fat per day, and kept calories overall down to 2000cal most days.
I alsotry to have 4-5 medium meals instead of 3 big meals.

I stopped boozing and started post or lout recovery shakes also.

It's worked a treat, and I've lost fat, leaned up quite a bit but without losing much muscle mass, gotten some definition and am actually performing much better in the gym (weight training numbers started going up again)

But after 4 months the whole thing has slowed.i can't get my fat any lower and I am obviously not oing to be gaining muscle on that calorie regime.

I need some advice to kick this off again, be it from folks here who have been through this, or contact details of a pro who have given proven results.

Rower2

could you say if your male or female? just curious with there being such a difference in body fat ranges between the two.

How low is your body fat now?

fret_wimp2

Sorry for absence of details, I'm male and my body fat is roughly 15%

Mellor

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

Based on advice I cut the carbs to no more than 150g per day, with one day of 200g to keep metabolism guessing a bit, 200g of protein a day and no more than 50g fat per day, and kept calories overall down to 2000cal most days.

You reason for a single 200g carb day is silly. You can't keep your metabolism guessing. That's just a total made up phrase.

Also, there's no benefit to keeping fat low for a given calorie intake. Extra fat with less carbs won't slow your progress.


If you are sticking to that diet everyday, then its more likely not the issue. That's a big if, its very hard to track intake accurately.

But after 4 months the whole thing has slowed.i can't get my fat any lower and I am obviously not going to be gaining muscle on that calorie regime.

Assuming you were starting out relatively untrained, you should be able to keep making progress in the gym for longer than 4 months.

I hit the gym 4-5 times a week with a mix of hiit, cardio and weight lifting, so that side of things is sorted.

Just because you are going 4 times a week doesn't mean that side is sorted. A huge portion of people regularly go to the gym and waste their time.
What exactly is your training plan?

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

Sorry for absence of details, I'm male and my body fat is roughly 15%

How did you calculate this?

Hardonraging

Earn your carbs, dont just eat more for the sake of it, and as already stated the extra fat wont kill you, 2000 cals might be a bit low, did you work out your base level given you are in the gym 4 times a week ?

alibab

I also think your calories are way too low . I am a 55 kg female who lifts 3 days a week with maybe cardio 2 days in between and i would eat 2,000 calories a day and i maintain no problem on this . Also think your carbs and fat are a bit low so maybe increase these , I presume you are trying to lose body fat and gain some muscle if this is the case i would increase the calories . Your body needs fuel especially when doing so much cardio with the weights .

fret_wimp2

Thanks folks. apologies for the lack of response, to answer some questions asked:

You reason for a single 200g carb day is silly. You can't keep your metabolism guessing. That's just a total made up phrase.

bad phrasing. its my "cheat day", to stop my metabolism slowing down from teh same nutrition 6 days a week.

Assuming you were starting out relatively untrained, you should be able to keep making progress in the gym for longer than 4 months.

Ive been hitting the gym 3-4 times a week for the past 18 months. a lot of that was learning new skills ( oly lifting, gymnastics etc) and my "actual" fitness level, so im not altogether untrained. im at a stage in the gym where my skills can and do improve but not as quickly as when i first started.

But when i started becomming much more deciplined with diet this year, weight numbers went up and a lot of things just seemed to improve.

What exactly is your training plan?

Im attending a crossfit. Training is 4-5 times a week.
1 hour consists of:
-10 mins gymnastic warmup (chest to bar pullups, light (16kg) kettlebell swings, ring dips, muscle ups etc)
-15 min lifting - back squat, deadlifts, cleans (full, hang, high hang) & Jerks, snatch.
-15-20 Metcon - changes day to day. relatively short intense workout involving anything (lifting, pullups, ring dips, muscle ups, running, kettlebells (30+kg) squatting, prowler/sled pushing etc etc.

body fat is about 15%, How did you calculate this?

A body building mate with a calipers. Ok, not a doctor or a nutritionist, but he's at it a few years, and is very very much in shape, so knows what he's talking about. i have a policy that I only take advise from people who walk the walk, i.e if a gym instructor has a big gut and smokes, im unlikely to put much faith in their routine and advice.


Based on the advise you guys have offered ive made a few changes to the diet:

1. Earning my carbs. Im being a little stricter with the carbs. Im having a small amount before the gym and a recovery shake after with roughly 60g carbs. any other carbs i get come from veg really.

2. making up my calories with fats, mainly almond butter & eggs.

3. upping my calories to 2500 per day for the next month. A month is enough time to see how well it works. aim is to:
-keep my current defionition. its not bad at all, just could do with a bit more muscle.
-lose fat. not expecting to lose a lot of fat really but if i increase muscle at all, and keep fat at same levels all is good.
-energy levels stay good. if i end up performing worse in the gym il have to go back to higher volumes of carbs and lower fats to balance it out.