[quantum]

Hi, sorry, I didn't know where to put this thread. I really need some help. Story: I've been on a bulk for 3 years, I started with 8 inch arms and a 29 inch stomach but now it's 15.5 inch arms with a 37 inch stomach! I've been on a cut for just over a year. I was on a keto diet for 9 months and only lost 1 inch off my stomach within the first 2 months (I started with 38) of keto but I haven't lost anything since. The last 3 months I have been on a normal cut with calories at 12 x my body weight and still haven't lost anything. I lift weights 4 times a week, also. So, I've lost only 1 inch within the last year of heavy food restrictions. I'm getting close to giving up! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I've tried:
Having either 10 x bw or 12x bw in calories.
Having a day of high calories once a week or having high calories for a week every 2 months to raise my metabolism.
Both cardio and no cardio. (LISS) my legs don't handle HIIT well.
High carb cut and keto.
High fats, low fats.

Any suggestions? I'd really appreciated help! Thank you for your time.

[Thomas_Rivera]

Problem 1 - "I've been on a bulk for 3 years, I started with 8 inch arms and a 29 inch stomach but now it's 15.5 inch arms with a 37 inch stomach! I've been on a cut for just over a year."

You need to cycle your bulking and your cutting.

Problem 2 - "I was on a keto diet for 9 months and only lost 1 inch off my stomach within the first 2 months (I started with 38) of keto but I haven't lost anything since"

If this is true, you were doing it wrong.

What you need to do is tabulate how many calories you need to maintain your body weight over a week, then you need to cut out calories or add calories from there. Either that or you have some metabolic problem that needs to be medically addressed, but I'm going to bet its a calorie counting problem.

[quantum]

Thank you very much Thomas. I'll try your suggestion and report back.

[Thomas_Rivera]

What did you eat while on a keto diet? And a normal diet?

[quantum]

On the keto diet I had:
Meal 1, 30g Whey
30ml Olive oil (or 3 spoons of peanut butter)

Meal 2, 30g Whey
30ml Olive oil

Meal 3, Tuna
30ml olive oil

Meal 4, 4 eggs

Meal 5, 4 eggs

Meal 6, some cheese

All of the equaled 2208 calories (which was 12 times my bodyweight). I also tried for awhile having 10ml of oil for the first three meals which totaled the calories at about 1850 (10 times by bodyweight).

Normal cut:
Meal 1, 30g Whey
2 slices of multigrain bread

Meal 2, 30g Whey
2 slices of multigrain bread

Meal 3, Tuna
2 slices of multigrain bread

Meal 4, 4 eggs
some pasta or bread (both totaling 30g of carbs)

Meal 5, 4 eggs
2 slices of multigrain bread

Meal 6, 3 glasses of milk

Equaling about 2208 calories. I also tried lowering it recently and only having 1 slice of bread per meal.

[Thomas_Rivera]

90 ml of olive oil = 720 calories (120 per a tablespoon, 90 ml is roughly 6 tablespoons.)
8 eggs (lets say large) = About 600 calories

That covers about 1300 cals. I don't believe that 60 grams of whey protein and "some cheese" brings it up to plus 2k of food. It seems you are undereating and possibly just perpetually starving yourself.

[Thomas_Rivera]

Also as it concerns a keto diet, your fat, just eyeballing what you ate is too high.

[quantum]

I'm really appreciating the help. I guess I must have calculated it wrong, I'll start at 2500 and see how it goes. I thought low calories were fine as long as you're not losing muscle?

Do you mean I should be eating more protein and less fat?

[Thomas_Rivera]

Ratio should be at least 60 percent fat 40 percent protein.

Constantly low calories is not a good thing.

[quantum]

How does this sound: 2500 daily calories, 30g carbs (120 calories), 250 protein (1000 calories), 153 fat (1377 calories).

Also, what should I be having post workout? I tried the search button but nothing came up. I was having 30g whey and 30g Gatorade - I had people tell me it's ok and some say it's not.

[mindstar]

eat more veggies...seriously. I bet the only reason you could crap is because all of the fat in your diet. Add in FIBRE!

With dieting or bulking, the formulae are a place to start. Because everyone is different, you are probably going to need to adjust the calories and macros needed to accomplish your goals for your diet.

Another mistake is drastically cutting calories from the beginning. Smaller adjustments every time you plateau is better for long term weight loss. If you cut to 1500 calories off of the bat and it stops working, where can you go from there?

I also wouldn't bulk or diet for longer than 16 weeks at a time.

[Thomas_Rivera]

Originally Posted by quantum

How does this sound: 2500 daily calories, 30g carbs (120 calories), 250 protein (1000 calories), 153 fat (1377 calories).

Also, what should I be having post workout? I tried the search button but nothing came up. I was having 30g whey and 30g Gatorade - I had people tell me it's ok and some say it's not.

On a keto diet, those numbers look ok. Post workout I wouldn't bother with the gatorade.

[quantum]

Thank you, both, Mindstar and Thomas for your help. I'll report back in a few months.

[quantum]

Hey guys, thanks to your help I was able to lose just over half an inch around my waist within a few weeks but, unfortunately, I've hit a plateau. I've been eating 2400 daily calories while on a keto diet. I'm just wondering what you think I should do to kick start my fat loss again. I was thinking about going off keto for a week and eating at maintenance. What are your thoughts?
Thanks.

[mindstar]

what does your cardio look like?

[quantum]

I've stopped doing cardio. I was told doing cardio is exactly the same as eating less so I've just been eating less instead of cardio. Do you think I should start doing cardio? I was doing, before I stopped, 3 days a week LISS for 40 minutes each session.

[Thomas_Rivera]

Doing cardio is not exactly the same as eating less. They work quite differently actually. Cardio can create more effective form of fat burning than depriving your body food can.

[MMA777]

Just remember to sleep well and deep, you burn the most fat during sleep/rest.

[Moro]

Your kidding yourself if you think you dont have to do cardio,
Sorry to be blunt but thats just the way it is

[Thomas_Rivera]

Let me expand more on my post, I was dead tired when I wrote it. The calories you consume constitute a definite ceiling in terms of how many calories you can cut a day. This ceiling lowers as your calorie consumption goes down, lower calorie consumption = lower metabolism.

Low calorie consumption also decreases the macro AND micro nutrients that your body needs to perform, function and to repair/build up new muscle tissues.

To sum it up, calorie restriction beyond a certain point creates conditions in the body that are not favorable.

Lets look at something like HIIT style cardio. It takes 20 minutes to do, has numerous beneficial side effects that include but are not limited to:

1. Increased cardiovascular ability
2. Increased ability to use glycogen
3. Increased ability to store glycogen
4. raise in EPOC that can subsequently raise metabolism for as long as up to 24 hours (according to some studies).

Cardio will allow you to burn excess calories, boost metabolism and over all make you a better athlete.

[quantum]

Thanks for the replies. Thanks Thomas for the information, it was very informative. I just had 5 days off to restart my metabolism and I'm going to start doing LISS cardio 3-4 times a weeks for 40 mintues - hopefully it will stop my plateau. I'll work my way up to doing HIIT.

[Thomas_Rivera]

No problem. If your going to do HIIT just starting out, do it on your off days at least. Just 15 minutes on an off day can make a big difference.