Worked really hard to loose a stone but now im stuck

Yucca · 25 Jul 2013 at 21:22

Evening all,

So let me explain my story so far....

One month ago:
Im 26, 5 foot 11 and 15 stone. I eat far to much food as im a foodie and far to much junk ie Pizza, Fried food, bad carbs, cakes, sugar/sweetener in my 6 cups of coffee a day etc etc.

Id put on about 1.5 stone in the last 2.5 years due to eating to much and to much crap as well as my job changing from physical to desk work.

I did a 7 day GM diet and lost 3/4s of a stone and started going to the gym to do Spin about once a week.

Since the initial week iv been eating REALLY clean, I mean bang on and only about 1500 cal a day. I feel better, stronger, my clothes fit and iv lost some belly fat.

Iv done about 4 Spin classes so far. But i cant seem to shift any more weight/loose more belly fat even though im now running a decent calorie deficit, eating clean and doing some exercise.

Two days ago I went for my first personal training session which was hardcore upper body, arms, chest etc.

Its now been two days and my muscles ache so much that I can hardly move my arms.

Questions:

1) How do I carry on loosing weight/belly fat by running the calorie deficit whilst at the same time eating extra carbs and protein to quickly repair my damaged muscles so that I can train again?

2) Why am I not loosing any more weight/belly fat.

To be honest im not really concerned with how much I weigh, just how I look. But the belly fat and side fat is not getting any better, Iv not seen any changes since the first two weeks when I lost the 1 stone.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Puppetmaster · 25 Jul 2013 at 21:53

Can you post an example of your typical food for the day?

Skillmister · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:00

Wait so you did a fad diet and a week of exercise and are complaining you haven't seen miraculous changes?

1. Don't bother with fads.
2. Work out what your intake should actually be by reading this http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18299646
3. Make sustainable changes.
4. It takes time.

Not to purposefully demotivate you but the majority of the weight you lost doing the GM diet (whatever the **** that is, a quick google says its basically a week of fruit, veg and water?) will be water weight, not fat. You won't get anywhere doing that.

I mean bang on and only about 1500 cal a day

Sounds highly accurate.

Yucca · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:03

Skillmister said:
Wait so you did a fad diet and a week of exercise and are complaining you haven't seen miraculous changes?

1. Don't bother with fads.
2. Work out what your intake should actually be by reading this http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18299646
3. Make sustainable changes.
4. It takes time.

Not to purposefully demotivate you but the majority of the weight you lost doing the GM diet (whatever the **** that is, a quick google says its basically a week of fruit, veg and water?) will be water weight, not fat. You won't get anywhere doing that.

Sounds highly accurate.

Although I appreciate your input you seem to have belittled me and haven't really answered my question which is basically 'Can I we weight training and adequately repair my muscles whilst running a calorie deficit?'.

Murf · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:04

This is going to seem arsey, but it's doing my box in......

Lose - Misplace
Loose - Doesn't fit tightly.
To - When you are going somewhere, I went to etc.
Too - When there is an excess of something, it's too much etc, or can also mean 'as well'.

And some basic advice, you can't really build muscle\strength and lose a lot of weight at the same time. If you eat clean, train well, but make sure you're eating enough food to repair your muscles you'll burn the fat, just much more slowly. Weight loss slows after initial drop offs too.

grudas · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:04

and here we go again.

Skillmister · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:06

Read #2. Of course you can, but not by picking an arbitrary calorie amount out of the air that will give you very little to work with.

Yucca · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:09

Murf said:
This is going to seem arsey, but it's doing my box in......

Lose - Misplace
Loose - Doesn't fit tightly.
To - When you are going somewhere, I went to etc.
Too - When there is an excess of something, it's too much etc, or can also mean 'as well'.

And some basic advice, you can't really build muscle\strength and lose a lot of weight at the same time. If you eat clean, train well, but make sure you're eating enough food to repair your muscles you'll burn the fat, just much more slowly. Weight loss slows after initial drop offs too.

My primary goal is to loose the fatty belly. But I read that to much cardio breaks down muscles so figured some weight training would aid in my fat loss.

So do you recommend I continue to eat clear, run my deficit but not to much and continue with both my cardio (spin classes) and weights training? This should help me shift the fat slowly whilst retaining the muscle mass that I have right?

grudas · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:44

Spinning once a week? That's hardly anything.. 1.5 k is really low too.. What you need to do is get off your bum start lifting with good protein fat carb intake and deficit of 300-400 cals/day. You'll lose the fat gain muscle SMF overall feel better a little cool down session of cardio after weights won't hurt.. But train at least 3/days week.

I'd love to see your food break down for today tho.. Just to see how 'clean' your munching really is

I have a feel that there's a lot of sugar involved, not enough water and protein, carbs etc.

grudas · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:45

Oh oh oh IMO I should add I'm hardly a pro when it comes to diets but listen and more importantly read the main threads in this section of the forums.

Vonhelmet · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:53

Yucca said:
Although I appreciate your input you seem to have belittled me and haven't really answered my question which is basically 'Can I we weight training and adequately repair my muscles whilst running a calorie deficit?'.

Par for the course.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I don't even ****** lift.

grudas · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:54

You don't lift bro.. Leave now

tbh.. Start cycling lol easiest way IMO

AndrewNR · 25 Jul 2013 at 23:04

These threads all go the same way...

Hey brah, lift dem weights and read this 400 page thread...link.

Good nighttime reads.

wozza2k · 25 Jul 2013 at 23:19

What is with these threads recently? Is it because its summer???

Seriously basics are if you eat more than you use up, you put on weight and vice versa.

There are a few sticky threads here which you should read but basically a good number will tell you it's a lifestyle change you need here, a 'diet' to shift a few 'pounds' here and there will be no good as you will only put it back on when you stop.

Start by working out your BMR and complete a food diary (the phone app 'MyFitnessPal' is highly recommended), to lose weight ensure you stay below your bmr a few hundred calories.

Exercise can also help but it needs to be consistent.

grudas · 25 Jul 2013 at 23:32

wozza2k said:
What is with these threads recently? Is it because its summer???

Seriously basics are if you eat more than you use up, you put on weight and vice versa.

There are a few sticky threads here which you should read but basically a good number will tell you it's a lifestyle change you need here, a 'diet' to shift a few 'pounds' here and there will be no good as you will only put it back on when you stop.

Start by working out your BMR and complete a food diary (the phone app 'MyFitnessPal' is highly recommended), to lose weight ensure you stay below your bmr a few hundred calories.

Exercise can also help but it needs to be consistent.

summer.. my gym got like 40% increase in "daily usage" when the summer hit.. "omg i gotta get those abbzzz"

during january etc it was half empty.. now its packed with skinny nobs trying to get them abz toned beach body and stuff..

Phantom Shadow · 25 Jul 2013 at 23:52

I recently started using myfitnesspal.com which makes it very easy to get a reasonable idea of how many calories you are eating.

Using that without any exercise and I start losing weight, weight loss is all about net calories out being more than net calories in, exercise just allows you to eat more. (although there are ofc other benefits).

Also reading through the large threads on here about diet etc was very helpful (the first few pages contain the main bulk of the information) if you want to get more specific about your diet.

Nexus · 25 Jul 2013 at 23:57

grudas said:
summer.. my gym got like 40% increase in "daily usage" when the summer hit.. "omg i gotta get those abbzzz" during january etc it was half empty.. now its packed with skinny nobs trying to get them abz toned beach body and stuff..

Surprising, as summer is technically supposed to be the quietest time for gyms. Due to the weather people want to be outdoors and there are long evenings that bring up plenty of excuses for doing other things. Its also the only time that gyms tend to bring in proper deals and discounts for new members.

I personally have been doing so much outdoor activity this month with how nice the weather has been that I've not been to my gym much.

mrthingyx · 26 Jul 2013 at 05:19

Right... This will be interesting.

Yucca:

First off, well done for deciding to change. This will be one of the best decisions you ever make, depending on whether you stick to it.

Secondly, you lost weight doing a diet that probably did your body more harm than good. It was mostly water weight and will slowly work it's way back on given half a chance.

Thirdly, you really do need to find out a bit more about your body, how it maintains itself, and how it deals with exercise because your OP demonstrates you know very little. This is why Skills is being blunt with you, and why he suggested you do some additional reading.

Your calorie deficit, for example, is possibly the main reason you aren't losing weight, believe it or not, simply because it is too big, causing your body to think it is starving and preserving the few fuel reserves (fat) it has left. This is the answer to your second question.

The answer to your first is another question: what are you eating that is stopping you from eating enough protein/fats/carbs for your training? There is no reason this needs to be the case, so post your weekly diet.

Finally, you can't lose belly fat alone. Fat is (in basic terms) considered a single store by the body, and will get burned according to your own particular metabolism. I, for instance, carry a lot of my fat on my stomach, so can have a curiously gnarled back whilst not having any abs whatsoever.

platypus · 26 Jul 2013 at 08:47

Yucca said:
Although I appreciate your input you seem to have belittled me and haven't really answered my question which is basically 'Can I we weight training and adequately repair my muscles whilst running a calorie deficit?'.

Vonhelmet said:
Par for the course.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I don't even ****** lift.

The trouble is it's hard not to belittle with the OP. Changes like this have to be a lifestyle change and not a fad diet and non-committed exercise. 4 spin classes in a month; What good is that going to do?

It's good to want to make a change but there is an awful lot more to it then that.

Tenzo · 26 Jul 2013 at 09:04

AndrewNR said:
These threads all go the same way...

Hey brah, lift dem weights and read this 400 page thread...link.

Good nighttime reads.

The replys are the same, because the majority of OPs are the same. There is so much good information on this forum it's crazy and even when offered direct advice, 80% of them don't listen.

If people can't be bothered to read and to learn how to do things properly, they'll never change, never achieve their goals and live in a state of permanent mediocrity