- Oct 23, 2004
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I drastically changed my lifestyle for the better 3.5 years ago, when I was 25 yrs old, 6', 290 lbs and ~35% bf according to one of the inaccurate handheld bf measurers. I cut out most processed food and soda for about 1.5 years and worked with a trainer/winged it by myself and got down to about 270 and 30% bf.
Roughly 2 years ago I went strict paleo and started stronglifts. I became much stronger and dropped to about 258 at 28% bf after a few months. I kept at it and for the next ~9 mos my weight loss slowed down to bring me down to about 245 at 26% bf (according to calipers).
Since then, I've done stronglifts for a few months at a time, switched to a bodybuilder push/pull/legs 3x week routine, gone back to stronglifts + HIIT, and kept my diet VERY clean (although not strict paleo anymore) with 1 cheat day a week. My weight hasn't gone down below 245 and while I haven't tested my bf in quite awhile, my waist has been stuck at 47 inches (despite getting away with size 38 jeans) for almost a year.
I've gone through stints of counting calories and weighing my food, and when I do I keep it just below maintenance as recommended, but this hasn't helped at all. I've cut my carbs down to vegetables, minimal fruit and extremely minimal starch, been mostly gluten free, pound kale smoothies like it's my job, have 1 regular soda on my cheat day and at most 2 diet sodas during the wook, and am now working out 4-6 days a week, but no matter what I do I can't drop below 245.
A few times in the last year I've gone "off the wagon" for about a week at a time and put on 5+ lbs each time easily. I HAVE developed the "V" taper, my arms are more vascular when working out than guys far more ripped than me, and I get compliments from friends that I haven't seen in awhile for looking much better than in the past, but for the life of me my belly won't go away. I've put so much time and pain into the gym, and while I enjoy every minute of it, I feel like I'm not gaining anything any more besides muscles that are constantly sore and knotted.
I've always been completely "natural," but I'm at the point where I'm tempted to try an ECA stack or go to a nutritionist and try one of these new-fangled meal replacement programs such as HMR, which my friend has used to drop from 360 to 260 in 4 months.
Has anyone else gone through this frustration for this long? Is my only hope to suck it up and measure out every damn calorie for the rest of my life???
/end rant/cry for help
Roughly 2 years ago I went strict paleo and started stronglifts. I became much stronger and dropped to about 258 at 28% bf after a few months. I kept at it and for the next ~9 mos my weight loss slowed down to bring me down to about 245 at 26% bf (according to calipers).
Since then, I've done stronglifts for a few months at a time, switched to a bodybuilder push/pull/legs 3x week routine, gone back to stronglifts + HIIT, and kept my diet VERY clean (although not strict paleo anymore) with 1 cheat day a week. My weight hasn't gone down below 245 and while I haven't tested my bf in quite awhile, my waist has been stuck at 47 inches (despite getting away with size 38 jeans) for almost a year.
I've gone through stints of counting calories and weighing my food, and when I do I keep it just below maintenance as recommended, but this hasn't helped at all. I've cut my carbs down to vegetables, minimal fruit and extremely minimal starch, been mostly gluten free, pound kale smoothies like it's my job, have 1 regular soda on my cheat day and at most 2 diet sodas during the wook, and am now working out 4-6 days a week, but no matter what I do I can't drop below 245.
A few times in the last year I've gone "off the wagon" for about a week at a time and put on 5+ lbs each time easily. I HAVE developed the "V" taper, my arms are more vascular when working out than guys far more ripped than me, and I get compliments from friends that I haven't seen in awhile for looking much better than in the past, but for the life of me my belly won't go away. I've put so much time and pain into the gym, and while I enjoy every minute of it, I feel like I'm not gaining anything any more besides muscles that are constantly sore and knotted.
I've always been completely "natural," but I'm at the point where I'm tempted to try an ECA stack or go to a nutritionist and try one of these new-fangled meal replacement programs such as HMR, which my friend has used to drop from 360 to 260 in 4 months.
Has anyone else gone through this frustration for this long? Is my only hope to suck it up and measure out every damn calorie for the rest of my life???
/end rant/cry for help
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