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The rest of my body is quite athletic but I can't seem to lose the last 14lbs or so of fat around my belly and lovehandles. I'm genetically predisposed to carrying more fat around my mid-section. I've been weights training 4-5 days a week for a year and a half, and in the last 6 months I've been adjusting my diet to fuel my body appropriately (more chicken and clean protein, more vegetables, less carbs and only complex carbs when I do have them). Obviously I have 'cheat' meals and eat things I like, but 80% of the time I'm on top of my diet. Does anyone have any tips on losing this last bit of fat? I want to start the next 6 week challenge (april 13th 2015) with some solid plans that will work, but I feel like I've tried mostly everything. Thanks guys! My current meal plan: Breakfast: 4 fried eggs Lunch: 2 chicken breasts, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus. (Some days I'll add brown rice) Dinner: 2 chicken breasts, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus. (Some days I'll add brown rice and cheese) My current workout: Mon: Pull ups, bent-over rows and knees to elbows ab raise on pull up bar Tues: Bench press, dumbell chest flyes Weds: Rest Thurs: Biceps & Triceps Fri: Shoulders Sat: Legs Sun: Rest

I posted this on reddit but I'll post it here too maybe it will be able to help a few of you So what is a plateau? a plateau is a sticking point where the body refuses to respond like it used to making it very difficult to build muscle or lose more fat. Plateaus are a part of the process, you will encounter them at some point. It’s inevitable. The thing you need to do is know how to respond to them when they come. Most plateaus can be overcome with a few simple tweaks to your training or diet plan. Most of the common causes of plateaus are stale routines and over training. Today we’re going to fix that. So let’s examine a few tweaks you can do to get past them. Take a week or 2 off from training: If you have been training hard for the last couple of months, you might be over worked. This is pretty common and is a major cause of plateaus. The best thing to do would be to take a week or 2 off from training, continue to stick to your diet. Just limit the training. This will allow the body to recover fully and will allow you to hit the gym harder when you go back and start seeing those gains again. Try a deload: Another thing you can do if you don’t want to take a few weeks off from training is you can do a “deloadâ€. What is a deload you may ask. Well a deload is basically going light for the next few weeks. You will not use the same weights you normally use. You will also go a bit higher in the reps. Think of it as more of an active recovery. You will want to make sure that you don’t max out or go to failure in this deload phase. This technique also allows the body to recover and after a few weeks you can jack up the intensity to where you were before. This should cause the body to respond and produce some results. Change routines: (http://builttodominate.com/2014/11/without-workout-plan-youre-lost/ ) A very simple tweak is to try change routines. Since the body adapts very easily to the current you may want to switch it up by training on different days, maybe do some exercises you may never do. You can also even switch up your group on the current exercises you currently do. This will cause a new level of stimulus and will hopefully cause the body to respond by growing more muscle. Diet issues: Believe it or not but another major cause of plateaus is due to diet. If you are in a fat loss phase and you have been sticking to your diet for a long period of time and you are really struggling to lose that last bit of fat. It might be time to increase the calories for the next few weeks. This will allow your hormonal levels and metabolism to recover from the hard dieting you have put your body through. Don’t worry you won’t put on any fat during this time, you will actually continue to lose more fat since your body will begin to function optimally again. Here’s a case study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23412685) of a natural bodybuilder going through contest preparation. You can see how his hormones were affected. On the flip side. If you are trying to gain muscle and are training hard trying to make those strength and muscle gains you might find that you are eating too little. You may need to increase the calories for the next few weeks and see how your body responds. I know most of the times I’ve hit a plateau it was because I wasn’t eating enough. As soon as I increased the calories my body exploded with new growth and strength. That being said don’t over do it and eat so much you get fat. Just increase your calories by about 500 more than what you are currently eating. Monitor your body for the next few weeks if you are noticing too much fat gain then cut back a little bit and see how your body responds. Last but not least sleep: Make sure you are getting enough, its that simple. Heres a study on how sleep affects athletes http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24791913

I stumbled on NF yesterday and finding it very interesting. I am 44 year old mom of 3. I am pretty active, follow a paleo date (mostly), and generally take care of myself. I work out with a trainer 2x a week for my strength training, but also play soccer and go to kickboxing classes when I can. Physically, I am 5'2" and currently weighing in around 128. I have a medium size frame but carry most of my weight in my hips, butt & thighs. My trainer says I am in great shape but my thighs are larger now then they were 2 years ago. About 2 years ago, I started on the paleo diet and went from 129 to around 117 in 2 months and a majority of my body did slim down, but I could mostly tell the difference in my thighs. They were 2 inches slimmer. I also started strength training but I wasn't as religious about those workouts as I was with the kickboxing & soccer. I held strong for about 9 months around 118, then the scale started creeping up, without a change in anything. Last summer, I met with my trainer. Because I have a crazy job (during the busy season, I work any where between 8-20 hrs/day on top of being a mom), I started working with my trainer, forcing me to get in at least 2 strength training workouts a week. I send him my food diary to keep me in line because I still need monitoring and being accountable. Anyway, last summer I was back up to 128 when I started with the trainer. Over the past year, I have gotten down to 119 once but mostly held around 122. Today, when I weighed in, I was back to 128. I can see the difference in my legs mostly. I started looking for advise yesterday on the web and found NF. I have strong muscles but I want to be leaner. I will never be a twig but I know I can have thinner legs and a leaner body, because I have seen it. I am REALLY frustrated and looking for some help. I don't count calories but keep track of my carbs. I don't eat sugar. I don't grains. I might have a chip or beer now and again. Cookies are my weakness but save those for special occasions. I live off of chicken, steak, hamburger, eggs, salads, almonds, veggies. I don't eat a lot of fruit or nuts because I am always trying to lose weight. Since I am on day 2 of the NF rebellion, I am supposed to get my support system. If I tell most people I am trying to lose weight or lean up, I get the standard answer, "why? You are skinny." First, I've never been skinny because I have 'thunder thighs', but I do have the ability to easily get a 6-pack on my belly - pear-shape... I am looking to a fitness community for support. My husband is very supportive but likes to sabotage my efforts because of his own poor eating habits (not intentional). So, I am looking to NF for support, possible solutions to lean up. Any advise??? Thanks for this web-site. Very informative.