Breaking a plateau

[sharaabi]

Through this site, ive come down from 270 all the way to 215-220.
Ive basically plateued!! I was a junior in college when i joined this site and now have a full time job and a majoooor life change. Along the way, ive wasted a whole 1.5 years lifting and dieting the wrong way, thank god for no injuries!! Anyway, Ive been eating clean for over a year now except maybe ONE meal in 2 weeks where id go ALL out on burgers and cheese fries.

I have some questions on my diet, lifting and this one article I found on this site. Your input will be greatly appreciated. Im 6'00, 23% body fat.

1. Diet - been there done that, South Beach to points, PSMF to carb cycling. Seems like a lot of it comes back. I was thinking in terms of minimizing carbs to breakfast, pre & post workout.
questions:

a. any suggestions on breaking a plateu?
b. USUALLY RMR's are 10X current weight TO CUT up. then i can either 50/40/10 , 40/40/20 or whatever it. Everyones body is diffent , but when hitting a plateu, what worked for you?

2. lifting - im thinking of doing 2-3 circuits of HEAVY lifting to preserve / build mass. Based on this article and analogy attached, do you think its worth a try?
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do...ydra?id=459809

3. cardio - I REALLY hate cardio.
q. If my diet is clean along with good lifting, does anyone recomend keepin my cardio to HIIT, basketball and brisk walking or change it up?

thanks for the input!

[candyass]

1) I tried a zig-zag eating method, which worked well. I would reduce my calories by 500 for 3 days, then increase them by 750 for a day. The theory behind it is that you'll get your BMR up again with the increased calories after its been reduced by the calorie reduction.

2) Lifting heavy is pretty much always a good idea (but i'm biased).

3) Keep the HIT.

[sharaabi]

I've read a lot about zig zag and timed carb diets. I think Im gonna go with zig zag for a month and post my stats.

cardio Il keep one day Hiit, a day of bball and lastly raquetball.

LIFTING- lifting heavy in the 4-6 range is something i NEVER did. I just wanted to know or wanted advice from someone who has reduced their bodyfat from lets say 24%ish to anything under 16% using HEAVY lifting.

Not sure that heavy lifting is the way to go about dropping fat, but it sure will add muscle to your frame. If you have never gone that route weightlifting before then it certainly is time.

And BTW - congrats on your terrific weight loss. Excellent job :

[sharaabi]

Originally Posted by IronMan

Not sure that heavy lifting is the way to go about dropping fat, but it sure will add muscle to your frame. If you have never gone that route weightlifting before then it certainly is time.

And BTW - congrats on your terrific weight loss. Excellent job :

thanks for the encourgement iron man.
It seems like diet is what i may need to work on. How would you advise LIFTING wise for someone to drop bf assuming diet is clean.
Personally i HATE cardio and do it in the form of sports.

[tim_mcf]

I've been doing a little research on this myself. As I understand it, you really can't lift for fat loss - the amount of calories burned are never going to make it significant enough. What the lifting does is create more muscle mass, which is more costly to maintain than fat, and therefore your metabolism is faster which makes it easier to lose fat. Therefore, the best way to lift is whatever will make your muscles biggest.

[sharaabi]

tim,

I kinda agree with you there too. Ive been doing some research and I've read:

for fat loss: calories burned > consumed. The aim here is to give the body the amount of calories it NEEDS to survive and burn more calories somehow that will KEEP the muscle and burn the fat. Lifting , which means stretching and straining the muscle , creates a need for repairing itself which needs nutrients. So by giving it the proper nutrition at the right times, you can only hope to either fix itself and maintain it, OR build more of it.

For muscle/strength gain; you basically lift hard and heavy and give it the muscle nutrients knowing that it will repair itself and make more which also gives you some bodyfat in the process. Hence, the phase of bulking and cutting came along.


my quest/knowledge is more of the long term. Id love to have a chissled and rock hard body as some people on this site have transformed themselves to....but doing the research and giving it thought, MOST sites and training articles assume a. you are a professional bodybuilder and do nothing all week but lift, eat and maybe socialize once a month . b. you have a set schedule every week. I mean people in their 20's , married, kids who are always out and about. Dont get me wrong, you need to schedule in your workouts but sometimes i feel alot of these articles dont take into consideration that some workouts that make you work 6 days a week IS GREAT, BUT NOT for me!

I want basically want to be able to have a bodybuilder type physique but also want to be able to maintain it. If i am unable to workout for a week during xmas time, family commitments, vacations, I want to be able to come off this period and MAYBE be smaller in frame but still look healthy. Ive noticed most people who walk away from training just get fat. Now if they eat bad, they hey.... i can understand their fat gain, age, genetics etc... but I just cant seem to live this cutting, bulking, ud2, south beach lifestyle. Il struggle and take measures to get the body I want, but whats it gonna take for me to maintain it is my million dollar question?!?!??!


anywayz, thanks for your input man.

[candyass]

Originally Posted by sharaabi

I want basically want to be able to have a bodybuilder type physique but also want to be able to maintain it. If i am unable to workout for a week during xmas time, family commitments, vacations, I want to be able to come off this period and MAYBE be smaller in frame but still look healthy.

A week off won't make a bit of difference; you won't get smaller. In fact, a week off could be a good thing as it staves off over-training. Chances are good that you'll come back stronger after you take the time off. I take a week off after 4 weeks of training.

You're stressing out over nothing.

[sharaabi]

I guess you're right.
This plateu im going through is just NOT fun. Plus the weather, job deadlines, passion to bodybuild and be healthy, mom jumpin on my back to do stuff in "life"...... aaghh, need to manage time better.

[candyass]

Sounds like you need to manage stress better. Judging by you last post, I'd say that's one of the bigger things keeping you off track.