Cardio results starting to slow down...

[xray1972]

Greetings to all.

Stats: 35yo Male, 5'11', 213lbs (~90% Belly Fat)
Goal: Build muscle / loose belly and look great.

Background: So I started my exercise and diet on January 1. To date I have lost 15lbs. Recently (last 3 days) I have noticed my average weight loss diminishing. When I first started I was loosing a pound a day. Now I am finding myself hungry and a bit discouraged.

Exercise = 40min cardio every day excluding Wednesday.

Diet:
Breakfast: Coffee, bowl cereal
Lunch: Soup, salad, bread stick
Dinner: salad, and chicken
Snacks: Cottage cheese, yogurt, protien shakes

Can someone lay out a plan for me that will fulfil my goals and not leave me hungry? Is it time to start lifting weights? (Was waiting until the fat was gone)


Thanks!

[CHIQUITITA]

Originally Posted by xray1972

Diet:
Breakfast: Coffee, bowl cereal
Lunch: Soup, salad, bread stick
Dinner: salad, and chicken
Snacks: Cottage cheese, yogurt, protien shakes

Can someone lay out a plan for me that will fulfil my goals and not leave me hungry? Is it time to start lifting weights? (Was waiting until the fat was gone)

Your going to have a hard time getting someone to "LAY OUT" a plan for you unless you pay them but at least for some starting pointers, I'd say you need to add in some more protien to your meals and break them down into 6-7 meals and eat at least every 3 hours.

For breakfast try having some egg whites, bowl of oatmeal and coffee

Lunch/Dinner: Toss in a chicken breast, ground sirloin or lean turkey cutlet. The best advice I can give you is learn to get creative in the kitchen coming up with some healthy recipes.

One rule of thumb I use when laying out my menu plan is generally having 1 protien, 1 carb and and 1 ess (ie:brown rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, green veggies) and an essential fat (ie:fish oil caps, evening primrose oils) as part of my meal, unless I'm carb cycling.

Hitting the wieghts definately wont hurt you now but first concentrate on getting your diet a little bit cleaner. You can also hit fitday.com to help you log your food intake to make sure your eating enough too. Access put up this great post to help someone improve thier diet... check it out and for what this is worth use it as a guideline in putting together your plan. Nutirtion 101

Good luck with your goals, dont get frusrasted and give up!!!! You've made some nice progress and there is definately alot of information on this board to help you get through.

[access]

You also need to remember that although your weight is not coming down does not mean your BF% isn't also. Most likely it still is unless you have hit a plateau of sorts.

Chiq's advice is great and I posted a thread earlier today which might also help.

Nutirtion 101

[dashizzle]

Hit the weights, for sure.
Building lean muscle will help ya burn fat faster.

Also, it isn''t really weight you want to take off, it is body fat, right?

[xray1972]

Originally Posted by dashizzle

Hit the weights, for sure.
Building lean muscle will help ya burn fat faster.

Also, it isn''t really weight you want to take off, it is body fat, right?

Exactly, i look pregnant for goodness sakes! lol... Thanks for all the replies, Ill start hitting the weights, and implement the smaller more frequent meals as suggested.

[underpsi]

i too have been on a quest to loose weight. this is the first time ever. i'm 39, weighed 192 and i'm 5'7" with a few months lifting under my belt after about a 1/2 dozen years off. looked in the mirror one day and couldn't believe i was getting fat ! anyway, to be honest i never counted calories, never calculated everything ect. in about 6 weeks i dropped from 192 down to 178 so far. followed some simple instruction.
EAT! my brain thinks - no food no weight right? of coarse i'll loose wight if i eat less and less. that's not always true. i eat about 8 times a day. i'm CONSTANTLY hugry. i found when i don't eat i don't loose weight. my body starts storing.

no magical diet. no counting calories ect. when hungry i eat. did a few things tho. cut ALL junk food. ALL fast food & fats as much as possible. took efa's (fish oil pills) tried to make everything i eat low in fats (except nuts) and low/no sat. fat & low/no sugars.

i can't do cardio in the am. so i do it after i lift. found it helped to do cardio after 45 min of lifting. body is already depleting during the work out, by the time i get to cardio i'm burning more fat. are bodies are tough and adjust to most anything we throw at it. might try taking a couple of days off. at first my brain thought i've got to keep going... keep moving... to loose this fat! found my body was adapting to the cardio. when i took two days off i'd break the next wall. sort of like when i was a kid and started seeing results from lifting. thought lift= size. more lifting=more size. so i started working lifting twice a day and about 6 days a week till i found out rest= growth

lastly, switch the cardio up. doing the treadmill? maybe grab a basket ball and hit the gym for an hour or some other type of cardio.

just a few things to think about. worked out for about 14 years prior and learned to listen to my body NOT always my brain. some say it get's harder to loose fat as you get lower. on the plus side, think my metabolism is getting higher. my goal is to get down to 172 and just under 10% body fat. that way i can do some test and by eating clean can pack on some serious lean mass. when i do my cycle i'm going to get technical with calorie/cabs/protein intake ect.

[paramuscle]

Cardio people............Cardio.

Everybody has some really good points for you and remember that if you can, eat smaller ~ more frequent meals and keep the fats down and the protein up. Stop eating bread sticks and cereal and start eating whole wheat toast with no jelly and cut out all the sugars and processed foods and read the diet links.



~PM

[Martano666]

Most people here are will help you if you are 'hungry' for knowledge. Sounds like you really need to research proper diet. You need:
6 meals a day.
each meal should contain :
-about 30 - 35 grams of protein. (or more)
-some high fibre carbs.
-some good fats. (poly & monounsaturates etc.)
-calcium. (proven to aid in fat loss) <-this may be best to get from a supplement.
-NO SUGAR.
-Lots of water.

This is a basic outline for a meal. Protein is you best friend and should be the largest portion of your meals.
There are several good posts about diet on this site, though some can get a little complicated if you are new to nutrition. A good and simple 'newbie' book to read is "The Abs Diet" ($10.00). It will really bring you up to speed on what types of food will do what for you. The only reason I say to check out this book is because certain foods have specific 'powers' that will help you on your quest and this book really simplifies it and makes it easy for beginners to understand. When these foods are used in proper combination, you can sky rocket your metabolism.
Also, get on the weight training TODAY!!!! Did you know that every pound of muscle on your body, burns about 50 calories per day, (even while you are sitting still) This means more muscle = more calories burnt in a day.
Listen to all of these guys, they know their shit.

[FlirtfromHell]

I love threads like this, everyone here is so knowledgeable and has wonderful advice.

Xray, good luck with your goals I know it's frustrating, I am there myself, although I am much more overweight.. you can reach your goals.. it takes not only exercise and proper diet but determination and dedication. Stay focused and good luck!