Plateued for over a year and now gaining weight

Posts: 8
11/17/12 11:19 A

I sent you a private message, I am very interested in hearing more of your feedback.

Posts: 6,051
11/16/12 12:41 P

AROMKEE

Tabata Protocol drills are 4 minutes in duration not 40 and I have never seen anyone do more than three repeats of the 4 minutes. There is no rationale for extending a workout to 60 minutes unless you are planning to participate in an endurance event. Thirty minutes maximum is enough if the intensity is high enough.

I am not a fan of split workouts since the body is not engineered to work that way, muscles are synergistic and the more muscle you recruit and activate per exercise the greater the benefit. Full body and compound movement exercises will produce better results in a shorter period. You want to use weights which restrict you to executing 8 to 10 repetitions in good form to properly challenge your muscles.

Feel free to contact me via Spark mail for more detailed answers to your questions.

Posts: 8
11/16/12 12:19 P

Thank you for your reply Sergeant Major! Your questions is exactly what I have been looking for, but wasnt sure where to even start. I work out in my own home "gym" for multiple reasons that I will not bore you with.
I have been doing Tabata drills - the current workout that I have goes for 40 minutes then I start it over again to go the additional 20 minutes to do an entire 60 minute workout. I can burn about 600 calories per workout. Yes there are days I need to take a few extra breaks due to my heartrate being too high - but for the most part I stay in the 157 to 168 zone.
When I do strength training I have been using Cathe Frederich's programs, I push myself as hard as I can, and sometimes I am lazy. I use 8, 10 & 15 lb weights for upper body work, I use 30 and 50 lbs for working my lower body. When doing the weights for my lower body (as I am a pear) I push until my legs are shaking and I have a hard time doing another rep.
I thought maybe if I did half an hour of HIIT then half an hour of strength training per day I would get results and I have not. Sooo, yes I am all over the page....

Posts: 6,051
11/16/12 11:43 A

I hate to sound like a an adversary but I doubt that you can do HIIT for an hour at a time, most HIIT programmes are no more than thirty minutes in duration. Even normal interval training should only last thirty minutes. Recent studies have shown that a thirty minute workout has the same benefits as a 60 minute one if the intensity is great enough.

How is your strength programme structured? Does it consist of only full body and compound movement exercises or are small muscle group isolation exercises included? The more muscles you recruit and activate per exercise the more benefit you will obtain. If you are using weights which allow you to do more than 8 to 10 repetitions per set your weights are too light and not challenging your muscles adequately.

More specific information as to what your workouts consist of will get you more accurate recommendations and advice.

Posts: 8
11/16/12 10:22 A

I too have a small frame.. I read an article from the man you posted, and I did some massive dieting to drop from 160 to 128 for three years. My health kept declining and I kept getting really sick, so I stopped with the extreme dieting and started eating food. I still watch what I eat but I dont track everything religiously like I did before. One person suggested it is time to kick up my workout and do running or bicycling..?

Posts: 8
11/16/12 10:19 A

I do HIIT training 2 to 3 times a week and strength training 2 to 3 times a week. I alternate my weeks with 3 days cardio and 2 days strength, then switch the next week to 3 days strength and 2 days cardio. I workout for at least an hour 5 days a week.I do try to keep a "general" idea of my calorie intake, but I seem to be in rebellion against really tracking it after doing it for 3 years and feeling like junk and never reaching my goal..

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11/16/12 7:41 A

What size is your body frame? If you have a medium build then you're already the perfect weight for your height. I'm aiming for the low end of my BMI but that's only because I have a petite frame and that would be the ideal weight for my size and height.

Maybe your body is fighting against you because it realizes this is the perfect weight for you. From what I've read, your body has a certain weight it feels comfortable at and trying to get below this weight will be received with a lot of resistence from your body. You may lose the weight by your body will fight to put it back on again.

Try giving Coach Dean's story a read: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=725

And if you're only trying to shed a few more pounds, you should be eating close to maintenance and maybe even aiming to lose only 1/2 lbs every 2 weeks.

current weight: 111.8

163 148.5 134 119.5

105

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11/16/12 6:18 A

Instead of monitoring your weight, monitor your body fat %. You need to track your calories taken in and burned. Do you strength train? Do challenging strength training and some HIIT. There must be a caloric surplus behind the increase in size of your jeans.

Edited by: MPLANE37 at: 11/16/2012 (06:19)

Body Fat %: 25.0

30 27 24 21

18

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11/15/12 9:01 P

I hear you! Plateaus's are no fun! I recently just re-joined a gym after doing home workouts for about a year. I actually did some of the programs you mentioned like P90X and Brazil Butt Lift (no results for that one either!). I find that now that I am back at the gym, I am able to challenge my muscles in different ways. You may want to sit down with a personal trainer and.or nutrition person to create goals and a plan to help you get back on track.

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11/15/12 7:38 P

Hi AROMKEE,

According to the BMI calculator you are well within the normal range for someone of your height and weight. While I understand that this method doesn't work for everyone, if you are at a healthy weight for your height, losing any more weight may require you to lose lean body mass.

Remember our weight is just a number. It does not tell us how healthy and fit we are.

If you are access to a gym you may want to see if they do skin caliper measurements. This will determine your body fat percentage to see if you even need to lose any more or just work on firming up.

I hope this helps!

Coach Nancy

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Posts: 8
11/15/12 6:46 P

Hello -
I am 5'8.5 (yes that half inch really counts that much to list) 34 and I weigh in at about 135 (I am afraid to get on the scale anymore. At one point I was 128 lbs and I still had not "toned" my bottom pear half, but I felt like I was getting there. I plateued, could not lose another inch or pound, went to a weight trainer dropped calorie intake to 1400 per day and was burning 700 calories per workout for 2.5 months - still nothing. Now I still workout, sometimes I hit 600 calories per hour, i dont count calories anymore cause I just don't seem to care. I am so burnt out on counting calories and my body doesnt tolerate the foods I was eating to stay slim any longer. I would love to drop some of this flab, but I am wondering if I am living in a fantasy world and need to adjust my goals?
I have done P90X, Crossfit training, Cathe Frederich, Brazilian Butt lift (waste of money) and some of my own workouts adapted from weight training guides. I am BORED and not going anywhere on the weight loss scale. I have even gone up a size in jeans!!!
I have several food allergies so that prevents me from eating a lot of foods.
Any suggestions would be welcomed!!