A little advice please...

[Dskinnerau]

OK...so the long story short is about 19 months ago I weighed 305. Over that period of time I lost 120 pounds. I started lifting weights about 6 months ago and I can see some results. I got down to 182 but over the last month I have gone to 194 without changing anything. I lift 5 days a week and do five sessions of cardio (run, walk, or mountain bike) each week. The scale won't move. I have played with my caloric intake going anywhere from a net of 2000 to a net of 1300. I never have cheat days. I feel like I am pretty hardcore about everything. I supplement with protein shakes, bars, pre-workout shakes, etc.. I try to take in about 300 ounces of water daily. I mean I feel like I am doing everything right. My current bf% is around 17 but I would like to get to 10. I have worked so hard for almost 2 years and I want to be absolutely ripped for once in my life. I will be 42 in 2 weeks so I feel that my time is limited to achieving this goal. Any ideas????

[Blaidd]

Ever heard the saying "muscle weighs more than fat"? It's true! You could be building more muscle than you're losing fat at the moment! Look at your average sportsman, they might weigh the same as you but not be fat.

Don't just focus on the pounds, you need to focus on inches and BF% too, if those are still dropping then you are indeed building muscle and you should keep doing what you're doing. I've been told that the last bit of fat is always the hardest to lose - those silly stubborn fats - so honestly don't be disheartened. You've already done so incredibly well!!

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[Blaidd]

Oh another suggestion, instead of dropping calories, drop carbs. Protein shakes and protein bars have quite substantial carbs - I use USN pure protein and that's easily 38g per bar. Mark Sisson from Primal Blueprint recommends 50 - 100gr carbs per day for weight loss, but you need to do what feels right for you.

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[notanartmajor]

You might try an intermittent fasting protocol like Leangains. It's supposed to be good for people in your situation, and lots of folks round here do it and I'm sure would be glad to give you advice.

[aj_rock]

A few things to try:

- change nothing. Odds are you've built muscle. It'll just take time. Fat loss will slow as you get lighter because your base metabolic rate is much lower after you've dropped 1/3 of your total body weight.

- Aim for a smaller deficit. That much physical activity needs proper fuel.

- On a similar note as above, loosen your strictness a bit. Be more flexible in your dieting. It's been shown that taking a break from dieting for a few weeks can help your body normalize and allow you to diet again later with better results.

- Double check your input/output. maybe you have a discrepancy somewhere.

- If all this fails, maybe THEN it's time to look at alternate eating/exercising patterns. Try the re-feeding first though.