Hit Wall Need Help

Hey....Maybe try meeting with a nutritionist?  Also myabe have you considered that you may not be eating enough?  Since I have had to decrease my activity b/c of my injury I have dropped some wieght.  I haven't really changed my eating, I'm swimming a bit more and biking a bit more and stopped strength training for the most part.  I was on a plateau for A YEAR.  fitday.com helps because it give an idea of what I burn up for my weight, activity and exercise....What I know for meis...if I stay to 1600 caloires a day I will lose wieght but will have no friends or employees because I am a miserable starving bitch.  If I hang around 2000 a day it seems to work OK for me.  this had been A LOT of trial and error.  I keep a food journal on paper because I find fitday a bit of a pain and I can't log on all the time.  Mostly I use it for find out what I burn for the day so I can try to stay under that number. 

I hated WW too...I was dizzy and hungry all the time.  I keep emergency food around all the time (in the office in my car) so I won't make a really bad choice.  Mostly I keep almonds and fruit bars on hand.  Hope this helps -SMO PS you are doing great

I eat healthy. Every since I started tries I've been on the chicken salada diet ha! I eat the same thing mostly everyday. I don't eat fast food, pizza, potato chips etc. only on special occasions but not regularly like I use to. There is no room to cut out stuff. I don't eat a lot of junk food and thankfully I'm not a sweet fanatic. I eat 5-6 small meals aday nothing over 400 calories at a time. I eat more veggies than meat etc. So I don't know what's going on. I going back on the strict diet since and limiting my calories to 1600 cal a day. I'm also going back to logging my food on fitday and yes it is a pain.

Still, I'm training for a 1/2 IM with 2-a-day workouts and it kills me to not eat. I just bonk like crazy. So I'm trying to balance my weight loss needs with my training needs. Ughhhh. It's so freakin' frustrating.

I totally agree. If you've been eating that low with the two-a-day workouts for awhile now, your body has become so used to it and is indeed in starvation mode. I bet that if you slowly start raising your calories, you'll see the pounds go off. A nutritionist would offer the best guidance to do this.

Even varying your calories from day to day and having the cheats will help your metabolism...your body will use the nutrients more readily and your metabolism will increase.Good luck!

Ovetta,

You've been one of my inspirations here.  Your new avatar looks like a completely different woman than your old one.  Your workouts are incredible, and, oh my god- you're doing a half-iron distance race.  You, my dear, are a success story!

I also would encourage you to visit a sports nutritionist.  Your body needs some serious fuel to carry you through those tough workouts.  I would encourage you to forget about what the scale says and focus on fueling your body.  It sounds like you're taking in way too few calories for what you're expending- no wonder you bonk!

Planning to lose 40 pounds in 6 months may be setting yourself up for failure.  Who know how your body is going to respond?  Your body is doing amazing things for you- don't get mad just because the number on the scale isn't what you want it to be.

Ok, so all the above is my rational self speaking.  The other part of me is right there with you.  I've been stuck between 202 and 210 for months.  I get really jealous of people who consistently drop 1-2 pounds every week in these weight loss challenges.  I started all this at 254 and I try to tell myself that the weight will all come off at its own pace, but man, do I get frustrated!  I work out harder than all those skinny gals- it's just not fair! 

Let me know what you end up doing.  By the way, have you read "Nancy Clarke's Sports Nutrition Guidebook"?  I found it really informative.

Debi

Lots of great information on the GSSI site.

http://www.gssiweb.com/sportssciencecenter/topic.cfm?id=99

“Endurance athletes may benefit from improving the macronutrient content of their diets. Specifically, a diet rich in carbohydrates (7-10 g/kg), moderate in protein (1.2-1.7g/kg), and low in fat is recommended.”

http://www.gssiweb.com/reflib/refs/334/michellerockwell.cfm?pid=61&CFID=723262&CFTOKEN=46166544

So a 210 pound endurance athlete needs 2672 carbohydrate calories a day, 458 protein calories and 10% to 20% of calories from fat.  Since it is recommended to have a 500 calorie deficit for weight loss, you are definitely not getting enough calories.

I think you should ditch the salads (good for rabbits, bad for athletes IMHO) and replace them with slow burning energy carbs, like oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain breads and beans.  You won’t bonk and your workouts will be more effective.  They're low in calories and you'll feel full for hours.  Just try eating a couple rice and bean burritos or veggie burger on whole grain bread to see the difference.

Timing your meals are important too.  You need to eat carbs and a little protein shortly after a workout to speed recovery.  This builds your glycogen reserves so you don’t bonk the next workout.  It takes about 20 hours to replenish glycogen.

How about consulting with Shanna Armstrong?  Since you spent a week feeding her, maybe she could offer some advice in return.  I’m sure she knows a lot more than I do.

Check out this article on two a day workouts:

http://www.gssiweb.com/reflib/refs/75/d0000000200000262.cfm?pid=38

 Keep us posted on what works for you.

You are my hero! First I congratulate you on your AMAZING sucess story!!! :-) :-) :-)Maybe i can add my 2c what worked for me.

First i tought oh, no OMG! not only 1600 cal diet - but everyone already told everything. IMHO eating much more good stuff would increase your methabolism.

Here's my experience: When I want to lose weight, I eat like mad - I feel like all those veggies (and some fruit) somehow take fat away, i know it sounds crazy, but when i eat less then huge piles of good stuff, i stop losing weight. And i very, very easy gain weight.

So there are some thoughts:

Maybe you find suitable to redefine your goal as losing 50 pounds of BF instead 50 pounds total? Maybe it is ok to you to state your goal in %BF or in tape measurements or the size of clothes you want to be (it's my favourite) - i found scale so frustrating!

Some amount of lean protein with every meal, even the smallest one, would also speed up the metabolism.

Your weight training - do you do same routine? How many reps? It is good to shake it from time to time. I sugest you to do split routine - to divide body into parts and to hit one body part no more than once a week. Also i sugest to do one sets of excercises no more then 2 months in a row, then to switch to completely different excercises for another 2 months and so on.

Least but not last - power of affirmations; i know it's silly but they actualy work and it doesn't matter if one believe or not, it is working anyhow. Unconsousness mind can't discern between reality and imagination. You are what wou think. The more advanced your training is, mental training is more and more important.

Only one example: "No matter what I eat or how much I excercise I AM easily losing weight." (Explanation of procedure is missing but i don't want to waste your time, maybe you know all that already. If you are interested i can write down the whole procedure.see Luse Hay's books.)

OK. i hope sometehing helps.

I adore your new avatar! Good luck!! YOU GIRL ROCK!!!

You are truly a wonderful person. Thanks so much for being a sponsor. Without people like you we couldn't change the world.

OK guys. You're right. I am not eating enough. When I lost weight on the Zone diet I ate like a mad cow, all day long. So I'm going to up my calories. Thanks for all your advice guys. I'll keep you posted.

Hi Ovetta-

It sounds like you've been following a very good plan and have obviously made huge progress.  It's common to reach a plateau along the way.  This could be as simple as needing to change things up for a short while.  Your body will become conditioned to the same thing over and over and eventually stop responding in the way you want it to.  First of all, if you are currently 210;bs and training for a 1/2 IM I think you aren't eating enough.  A 500-800 calorie deficit is the lowest I would suggest on a daily basis.  Like you said, you need to balance the energy needs of your training with your weight loss goals.  FitDay is a great way to keep an eye on your daily intake.  500calories below daily requirements should give you about 1-lb per week weight loss on average.  Restrict your intake too much and your body will fight to keep every last bit of energy it can (as well as slow your metabolism) and will actually convert food to fat preferentially as a survival mechanism. 

A few thoughts...

1) It's a good idea to throw your body a curve ball once in a while...have yourself a mini-binge...ice cream, cookies, chips, cake, whatever your "junk" of choice might be.  And not just a couple cookies...have a bunch and really enjoy it, you work hard and deserve it.  Believe it or not, this can actually help to rev your metabolism from time to time.  This sin't an every week thing just once in a while if you feel yourself going flat.  Plus it's good to endulge in the things you really enjoy (in moderation)...it makes us happy.  I know a Big Mac makes me happy  

2)  Are you eating enough good fats? Olive oil, flax oil, nuts, salmon...all contain "healthy" fats that help you burn body fat.  Don't shy away from fat in your diet completely.  I'm currently abour 7% body fat and eat 100-150g of fat every day...fat doesn't necessarily make you fat if you're eating the right stuff.

3)  If you are bonking on a regular basis during your training then you definitely aren't eating enough...probably not enough carbs specifically.  If your muscle glycogen stores are always low then you don't have that energy source to feed your long workouts.  Your muscles are most responsive to uptake of carbs and glycogen re-plenishment immediately after a workout.  I'd suggest a good recovery drink like Endurox after all intense or long training sessions.  Your muscle swill eat it up and you won't have to worry about those carbs becoming fat.  For all the rest of your carbs through the day stick with low-GI stuff, whole grains, fruits, veggies, and maybe cut back your carb intake in the evening.  If you have a good recovery drink after your afternoon workout you can do without a main carb dish at dinner.

4) Protein...shoot for at least 1.5g per kg of body weight.  So your goal would be about 140g of protein each day.

5)  Do you test your body fat % regularly?  You very well could be building lean mass nearly as fast as you are loosing fat which would keep your weight about the same.

One last thought about jump-starting your weight loss.  If you have the dedication and are willing to work with a rather difficult diet we could talk about doing a few weeks of CKD (cyclical ketogenic diet) which would probably get you 10-15lbs of body fat loss over 2-3 weeks.  Then I would suggest you go back to a regular healthy diet and see if you can keep getting results.