Hi from the UK (warning: epic post inside)

[m00se]

Hi everyone

I'm a long time reader of the site and I've spent a long time here reading everything there is to read and trying most of it (with impressive results so far). Long story ahead – sorry about that…

Let me start at the beginning. I'm a doctor by trade, specifically an orthopaedic surgical trainee, and as a result spend long hours on-call in the hospital, usually walking a few miles a day and occasionally operating on people's bones but only rarely sitting on my ass doing nothing. Despite this, I always used to eat a poor diet because I was always one of those lucky kids who could eat anything and everything I wanted and never put on any weight (I suppose I still am that way inclined, to some extent, but it’s not quite so pronounced any more). I'd always have breakfast, but more often than not it'd be some toast or some cereal. During the day, I would eat whatever I could throw down my neck between patients, and busy days usually resulted in my skipping lunch, grabbing some chocolate or some pop from a vending machine. More often than not I'd grab something carb-heavy or greasy and deep-fried from the hospital canteen. On occasion, I'd bring my own packup with me to work but it'd usually be whatever was left over from last night, which was invariably far too much food anyway and usually ended up being a load of pasta or something similar. I was also drinking a few bottles of beer and cider during the week, and occasionally myself and the missus polished off a bottle of wine a night between us. I also used to smoke - not a lot, but still - and, other than being at work, I did little to no exercise of any sort. (I stopped the smoking cold-turkey in July of last year and have never looked back).

I eventually (inevitably?) reached the point a few months back (I think it was about the end of May) when I was sick and tired of being a bit overweight and a bit lardy (I wasn't fat, by any means, but I was definitely sort of rounded-off). I was always pretty strong and could do pressups if I wanted to (I didn't often want to). I was also fed up with being tired all the time and feeling horribly unfit - by the time I'd sprinted the quarter-mile or so from one side of the hospital to the other for a trauma call I was a gasping snotty gibbering mass of flesh in the corner. Not a good look (or particularly useful to patients). I wanted to be fitter, healthier, and less tired, with less fat on my body and more muscle instead.

So I started exercising. At first I started cycling to work and back - about 7 miles or so each way - and lifting some light weights a couple of times a week. When it got cold and rainy I bought myself an exercise bike and started exercising on that before and after work. I'd usually do about half an hour at a time of long, boring cardio. My diet didn't change a lot during this time. Despite this, I did manage to lose about ten pounds. I was only at this stage doing occasional weight training. I also had a Slendertone System Abs electric toning belt thingy which actually has done a lot to strengthen my core. This has more importantly helped enormously with my shitty back over the years which I've suffered with after one of my discs spaffed out all over my sciatic nerve when I was about 19. (The other thing that helped with that was falling over on my ass in a friend's kitchen whilst holding a cat, but that's another story). My back, from being daily agony, is now almost pain-free.

After this sort of exercising for six weeks or so I had lost a fair amount of fat. Most of this shed from my belly. I was starting to look a bit skinny, so I decided it was about time to pack on some muscle. I started lifting a bit heavier but didn't really change my diet all that much. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't really put on any muscle. I got a bit more definition, but that's about it. I started reading about Paleo at about the end of July and decided it made sense to me. I discovered NF at the start of August.

I realized at this point that the activity from the last couple of months was just kidding myself that I was making effort. I am determined, and I love the idea of ‘go hard or go home’. I don’t do things by halves – if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

I started eating much cleaner and lifting much heavier. I bought myself a barbell at the end of August (the dumbbells I had were just not heavy enough any more) and started military pressing, bench pressing, deadlifting, squatting, and cranking out pressups like there's no tomorrow. I've gone from being barely able to do ten pushups in May to doing twenty elevated-feet diamond pushups and am now looking for something higher to put my feet on. My deadlift weight has doubled. My squat weight has tripled. I am trying my best to work on my pullups, but they’re harder than I thought they’d be. I can probably do five before I start shaking and hurting. Pitiful, I know…I've also started drinking protein shakes after workouts and I’m finally putting on quite a bit of muscle. I also do HITT two or three days a week alongside the weight work.

My diet has changed enormously. I would guess I’m up to about 80-85% paleo now. I’ve almost completely stopped eating bread (but I do occasionally have a bit of toast and Marmite – my treat - and a *very* occasional cider). My typical day starts off with a breakfast of three to five eggs, usually with ham or bacon. Lunch would be a big lump of lean protein (usually fish, chicken, turkey) with a massive salad, loads of spinach or watercress, and occasionally some beans or chickpeas or something. Evening meal consists of lots of meat or fish with vegetables, sweet potatoes or similar, sometimes with a bit of brown rice if I'm feeling extra-hungry. Snacking during the day is on mixed nuts and raisins or apples and almond butter, and usually some fruit.

I’m still having trouble losing the last little bit of my belly/lovehandle fat, though. I know it took a long time to get there and I realize it’ll take a long time to go away. What do I really want at the end of the day? I suppose my ultimate aim is to get down to single-digit body fat and be strong like Superman. Getting to have a six-pack would make me giggle like a schoolgirl. I don’t know if I’m just being impatient, but I do seem to have plateau’d a bit over the last few weeks. My weight has stabilized (at about 16-18 pounds lighter than when I started, but with considerably more muscle on me). I do quite often work long hours and sometimes I’m not home for my evening meal until well after 9pm, when I have to be up again at 6:30. This makes my working out more difficult, I suppose, in terms of motivation, but I force myself to do it of an evening. I work out at least four days a week, with rest days in between for each major muscle groups.

Am I doing everything right and just being impatient? Or do I need to change things to get rid of the last few percent fat? I’m lifting heavy, HIITing and eating as well as I can (although I know the late-night eating thing is bad but there’s not much I can do about it with my shift patterns and the fact that people don't have the goddamn common courtesy to smash up their bones between 9am and 5pm). I’d just be grateful for any advice. I don't mind if I'm doing anything wrong, I just want to know how to optimise my gains. Thank you all in advance for any advice you might have.

For those of you who skipped to the end of that massive block of text:

1) Eating pretty clean

2) HIIT / heavy weights 3-4 times per week

3) Aiming for fat loss, muscle and strength gain, don’t care about the number on the scales

4) Plateau’d a bit, looking for either advice or reassurance that I’m not fucking it up

Thanks

[Denny]

HIIT / Heavy Weights sounds like a great plan! Welcome to the rebellion.

[m00se]

My plateau continues, but slightly differently. I've lost a total of 19 pounds since June, and my body fat has decreased from about 20% to about 11. Most of that fat % loss was in the last four weeks or so (after I started going almost entirely Paleo and lifting properly heavy). Still, my weight stays stubbornly stable.

I'm 6'3" (191cm), male, and currently smack on 200 pounds (14 stone 4). At 11% body fat that puts my lean mass at about 178 pounds. I'm just struggling to increase it. I'm eating a shitload of eggs a day (having six chickens in the garden helps with that!), drinking a few pints of full fat milk a day, and munching on as many dead animals as I can get my hands on. Whey after lifting and sometimes in the morning if I'm super hungry. Snacks are usually a big bag of nuts and raisins, or apple with almond butter. I want to make some beef jerky soon so I can carry that with me instead for more dead animal value. I guess I'm probably hitting about 4000 calories a day.

Any ideas on how to increase my bulk? I never realised gaining weight would be this difficult (after years of doing it easily before switching to paleo )

Thanks again people

[Guest Carjack]

Experienced with lifting and need to bulk up and break a plateau?

Google Chaos and Pain.

[Timmy M]

^seconded, aaaand greetings fellow brit!

[TibbyUK]

Another Brit to add to our minority!

Welcome!

[Cafeina]

Welcome! Congratulations on the progress you've made so far.

HIIT and weights for the win!