Frustrated at weight loss

[Jonnycave]

Mon : 3 x 10 reps Chest x 5 exercises + 45 mins cardio.

Tue: 3 x 10 reps Back x 5 exercises + 45 mins cardio

Wed 3 x 10 reps on shoulders & Legs x 5 exercises x 2 + 30 mins spinning.

Thurs Football 1hr.

Fri 3 x 10 Reps Biceps x 5 exercises + 45 mins cardio

Sat 3 x 10 Reps Biceps x 5 exercises + 45 mins cardio

Sun : Rest day.

eating 2000 clean cals mon - friday. 50% protein 30% carbs 20% fat (minimal sat fat)

my downfall is the weekend i think (beer and take away most weekends)

I've hovered around the 15stone mark for 6 months now. i would have thought the weight would have dropped off by now my muscle mass is getting slightly bigger.

i wish i had the metabolism of my mate who's skinny and eats crap all day long!!

this has my head battered.

[Hidden]

Hi Jonnycave,

I've got to say that I'm rather wondering what sort of BMI you come in at.

A guess is that you probably need to reduce you calorie intake a bit more to lose weight. It might be that you're building up some muscle underneath a layer of body fat. Just because you start to build muscle does not mean all the body fat has gone.

And the only way really to lose the body fat is to put your body into situations that trigger it into fat burning mode rather than fat storage mode.

And the beer, in fact all alcohol, is a double whammy because alcohol is high in calories, but the body sees alcohol as nutritionally useless and also as being basically toxic, so it prioritises dealing with it and whilst it's doing that it stops burning fat.

I would suggest that you have a good read of the NHSChoices live well lose weight pages. There's lots of good and free advice there, a BMI calculator, a free 12 week plan (which you can adapt to some degree to suit your lifestyle). There's also lots of stuff on these blogs from people who are actively "riding the weight loss bus".

I sneakily suspect that what good you are doing for losing body fat by exercise, you may just be undoing by some poor eating habits and extra so at the weekends but I could be wrong on that.

I also wonder if perhaps you might be better off having two rest days in a week.

Perhaps, if you tighten up your eating habits a bit, you'll find that's the key to tipping the scales in the direction you want.

Good luck.

[Jonnycave]

my BMI is 29 which for 5'11 and 31 yr old is overweight. and i'd have to agree as i'm between a mesomorph and an endomorph (closer to mesomorph though)

I've revised my shopping list this for this month over the last few hours and i will try the following in terms of diet;

Replacing extra lean steak mince to Quorn mince which is (23% less protein however 83% less fat) per 100g.

Replace other red meats i.e. steak with Chicken.

Replace low fat sausages with home made turkey sausages and grilling by combining;

Turkey mince

Sage

Thyme

Garlic

Salt/pepper.

i've also decided to ditch the protein/carb bars which i snack on rather than snickers etc... and go for a protein shake low in sugars/carbs (whey isolate) for post workout and whenever i'm feeling 'snacky' Understandably i can't just have protein shakes when i'm hungry i'll have carrots/celery with low fat hummous etc.... hopefully these small changes will help.

i've been using myfitness pal for some time now , i just need to remember to use it every day moving forward (i've seen the 12 week programme i.e. 1900cals and exercise)

i think i'll head over to the blog section to start tracking my progress.

[llb25]

Good luck and keep us updated

[Hidden]

Hi Jonnycave,

You might like to have a refresher look (assuming you've already read them) at the NHSChoices pages about nutrition and the eat well plate stuff. It's all good and helpful stuff.

You may be a tad heavy on the protein side, and that just might be knocking you off course of getting the full range of nutrients in your food. I'd suggest fitting in more fish, for one thing, as they're often a good source of Essential Fatty Acids.

A properly balanced diet, especially when losing weight, is really important. Lop-sided diets - missing various nutrients - can hinder weight-loss efforts. Your body needs all those building blocks to make up those hormones which tell you body to burn fat, rather than to store it.

And snacking properly (i.e. ter right way) is also important.

At that BMI, my guess is that you are still carrying a significant amount of body fat, so if you're heading for the 'body beautiful', so as to speak, you may want to focus on developing lean muscle, rather than just muscle in general.

So it's probably time to get on the weight loss bus!

Good luck.