Hi Everyone.

I have been lurking for ages, and I love these forums.

Let me introduce myself.

My name is K.

I have been on this weightloss journey for about 3 years. I started out at 361 and am now battling at 218.

The first two years I lost so much weight so fast, Now from April 2009 until June 2010 I have only lost 31 pounds.

I went from 249 to 218.

I do cardio for 45 minutes 5x a week interval treadmill or elliplical interval
strength training 3-4x a week.

My strength training includes 3 sets of 12-15 reps where I choose three of these exercises per session:

squats, deadlifts, leg lifts, crunches, planks, arm presses, kettel bell swings, lunges, wood chops, sumo squats.

I have eat between 1500 to 1700 calories with a cheat day.

I think now I will just do a cheat meal without even the two glasses of wine I like to have.

I am strong. I can really lift weights now and rocket through many of these exercises, however, I am still fat, and not slender like I'd like to be.

For the last month in order to drop to 218 I had to limit my intake to about 1000 calories. It was so brutal I could hardly sustain it for a week.

I have checked my thyroid (TSH and T4) I am fine in that respect. My glucose is also pretty good.

I need tips on how to speed up my progress. I see so many articles in Self, Oxygen, Shape etc that talk about losing massive amounts of weight in short periods, but their suggestions are things I have already been doing for years (ie: calorie counting, cutting out soda, weighing/measuring food etc).

Help.

any insights are soo appreciated.

Hi K,

First off, congratulations on your continued success! Even though you are disapointed with your results this past year you still lost weight = )

I'm not an nutritionist but I have a suggestion for you that you may want to think about.

It sounds like your working hard enough with your exercise but may be limiting your success due to the low number of calories. When your working out 5 to 6 times a week your body needs good quality calories to fuel your body. Try upping your calories a bit and see how your body reacts.

Remember muscle helps BURN fat! So your weight training is good mixed in with your cardio.

You didn't talk too much about your diet, are you eating smaller meals spread throughout the day? Good proteins, carbs & fats? with lots of water?

Oh and I agree with your cheat meal or day, number one - the more you deprive your body the more it wants it. It's best to enjoy a treat once a week to prevent cravings & gorging (as long as you are putting in the hard workouts).

Take care,
Kevin (vinfit90)

Thanks for the sugggestions.

I eat small meals throught the day, but write down everything i eat to tabulate calories. Here is a typical day:

Breakfast:
coffee
2 packets of quaker apple cinnamon oatmeal w/ water


snack 1
babana
coffee


snack 2
apple
tea

lunch
3 oz of chicken
2 servings of broccoli (6 ounces)


snack 3
6 ounces baby carrots

snack 4
2 rice cakes with 1/2 cup cottage cheese

dinner:
lean cuisine added half cup of beans


I will admit, I love diet coka and diet pepsi and drink it all day along with black coffee. I am known to have 2 or three cups of coffee a day and several
diet sodas. Iknow its bad, but I hate water. I am also too tired to cook when I get home, so I alsway get a TV dinner (usually under 250 cals.. I CHECK), and I add beans for fiber and bulk.

I am going to up my calories by 100 and see, My jury is still out on my cheat meal which is usually bacon cheese burger with fires and two glasses of wine.
Maybe I should just skip cheat meals.

I definitely agree with this. It is scary but if you add in HEALTHY foods (veggies, lean proteins, etc), I think you may be surprised. Also -it doesn't look like you eat much carbs from your menu you posted but that's something to watch for types and quantity (for me, anyways).
Also, I am quite jealous of your fitness routine... you're doing amazing!!

Thanks,

I am so lazy to cook, since I work 11 hours per day.
I like to eat lost of instant foods, but as per your suggestion, i am going to try for more "whole foods" and see if I should add rice or somethign to my diet. I took out carbs because I know that I tend to over eat them a lot.

Congratulations on your weight loss!

I'm not an expert, but what I would try is doing less reps but increasing the weight to continue building muscle. If you can do 15 reps it's not enough resistance to build muscle, only to maintain.

Secondly I would switch the cardio workout. As you repeat the same motion over and over, your body gets more efficient and starts burning less calories for the same work out. Maybe add some rowing and stationary bicycle. Also get a heart rate monitor to see if your heart rate goes high enough, if not, increase intensity. The monitoring many machines have is not very accurate.

Thanks Lenore.

I followed your advice this morning during my exercise routine, and you know I discovered that I could actually run on the treadmill and walk on steeper inclines. I could also lift heavier weights. Like you said, my reps were less, and I had to struggle through my routine, but you were right I was more used to my routine than I thought.

Thanks!

I strongly believe that over processed food, although instant meals like Lean Cuisines and what not may contribute to immediate weight loss, do not help us lose weight in the end.

I would try to change your diet a bit. Do you have the weekends off? Why not cook meals for yourself for the week and then freeze them. That way you know your calorie intake in each meal, and you can make some healthier choices.

Try eating some more whole grains, brown rice is great with some steamed veggies and it's so easy and fast to cook.

You've done a terrific job and I feel like it's really not my place to advise you--you clearly know what you are doing, but I have a few thoughts.

One, you don't have to cook to have whole food "meals". I eat a huge bowl of cottage cheese twice a day--300 grams, which has to be over a cup. It's such a great protein and so flipping easy and flexible (you can put anything in cottage cheese, sweet or spicy). You could swat your oatmeal for cottage cheese and your protein/day would go way up and your carbs way down.

I see you eat chicken and veggies for lunch--there's nothing wrong with doing that twice (I do!). Chicken, again, takes such a wide variety of flavors that it never gets boring for me: tomato sauce, salsa, lemon pepper, mustard.

How often are your "cheat meals"? A big juicy burger and fries + 2 glasses of wine is about 1800-2100 calories. If that's once a week and you aren't counting it, you are really eating closer to an average of 2000 calories a day. I myself was really surprised when I did the math on that--averaged over a week, that's still a big difference. If, on the other hand, you have a "cheat meal" once every few months, ignore me.