Plateaued, what now?

granpa1959

granpa1959

Never say never!
Trusted Member
Hi, looking for some advice here. I have been on a carb cycle meal plan. Using 70-120-200 I made great progress. I have lost a good amount of the fat. I have replaced it with some muscle gains. Feeling much better.

I have 2.5 weeks to go of 12 weeks. I am plateaued at 165 lbs. After an initial loss of 11 lbs I have gone back up in weight and remained there 2 weeks. My diet is ulta-clean. Training has slowly increased after months of recovery from surgery.

I am on 100 Test TRT/2IU Generic HGH. I returned to the gym yesterday after training at home for 10 weeks. I occasionally use Test Suspension pre-workout at 50mg.

Stats:
5'6"
165
64 years
If I had to venture a guess at BMI I would say 20% plus or minus 1. Shooting for 12-15% for now. I can faintly see my abs if I tense them. I have dropped 3+ notches on my belt. My T shirts are tighter at the chest/delt/bicep. Although slightly.

What would others do to:
a) Stabilize calorie intake to find maintenance amount
b) How long until I continue fat loss program
c) What strategy would you apply other than Carb cycle?

Cheers!
 
granpa1959 said:
Hi, looking for some advice here. I have been on a carb cycle meal plan. Using 70-120-200 I made great progress. I have lost a good amount of the fat. I have replaced it with some muscle gains. Feeling much better.

I have 2.5 weeks to go of 12 weeks. I am plateaued at 165 lbs. After an initial loss of 11 lbs I have gone back up in weight and remained there 2 weeks. My diet is ulta-clean. Training has slowly increased after months of recovery from surgery.

I am on 100 Test TRT/2IU Generic HGH. I returned to the gym yesterday after training at home for 10 weeks. I occasionally use Test Suspension pre-workout at 50mg.

Stats:
5'6"
165
64 years
If I had to venture a guess at BMI I would say 20% plus or minus 1. Shooting for 12-15% for now. I can faintly see my abs if I tense them. I have dropped 3+ notches on my belt. My T shirts are tighter at the chest/delt/bicep. Although slightly.

What would others do to:
a) Stabilize calorie intake to find maintenance amount
b) How long until I continue fat loss program
c) What strategy would you apply other than Carb cycle?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Hey man, if it will help, I can tell you what I have been doing very effectively with the carb cycling for fat loss. I'm in for 16 weeks.
Quick overview, I started out at 230, 38" waist, and 13 weeks in I am now at 203 with a 34.5" waist. Abs visible, but a bit of the belly button area fat and lovehandle crap still lingering. Very little, but annoying.

I'm 52, 5"11.

I set up my cycling as follows:

Protein is always 1 gram per pound of BW, so let's say 205 for now, Carbs on workout days: 1 gram per pound of BW. Fat is always about 50-60grams.

Low day: (non workout) - Carbs: 0, or close to it. Fat is a little more if you want, up to 100g, and protein: 205
Med day (workout) carbs: 205 eaten only before and after workout. Rest of day is Protein at 205g, and fats at ~50g
High carb day (on heavy workout day) 3-4g carbs per lb of bodyweight, protein is UP TO 205 g. Not as much as usual, due to all the carbs - so 205 or less. 0 fat if possible.

The refeed has cured me of plateaus, but I had to bump up the refeed day from 600grams of carbs to 800 and that lit a new fire in the metabolism, so the plateau was stopped quickly. I just found that upping the refeed while slightly lowering the carbs to 170g or so during the workout days (6 per week in a PPL) fixed me right up and now I'm heading towards the really low waist numbers that I haven't seen (truly) since high school - and that was the 80's. :cool:

So, that's the way I set it up, following some advice from a guy called Justin Harris. It's kicked ass for me, maybe your setup is slightly different, but this is what I can offer that worked well for me. I didn't want to have to take a "diet break" or anything, I just want to power through this and get on a blast.

EDIT:

Oh, I forgot: Cardio is 6 days a week, just a 5k walk, fasted, in the mornings.
 
I'm not an expert in this but you could do a mini bulk like bumping up your calories for 1 or 2 weeks to jump start your metabolism then continue cutting again after. It's not great to bulk or cut for two long or metabolic damage can happen and slow down your metabolism. This is why mini cuts and mini bulks can be helpful. If your interested you can Google more about it there should be lots out there
 
Declan said:


Give this a watch, helped me break through when I got stuck at 10th week.This was very helpful. I examined my eating habits as I get closer to the 12 week mark. I found I had calories and carbs(all healthy) bleeding in during meal prep. Lol!! Licking the spoon popping spillage in my mouth etc. I doubled down on weighing shit closely. I upped my training a bit from 3 days - 4 days. Added a bit more cardio. Less intense cardio but longer duration.
Click to expand...
 
If you are hitting a fat loss plateau at 20%bf then your diet is not good at all. What @starbarf posted is similar to what i do, but i never do no carbs all day. Eat fuel (carbs) for what your going to be doing between that meal and the next or for needed things like post workout recovery etc. If your doing fuck all why up carbs, if your going to workout then up the carbs.

Simply carb cycling on a 3 day split or whatever is not good enough, unless you do the exact same thing every day. Then you would just reduce your carbs/calories. Or just up the calories burned until u hit a plateau again. Every plateau for fat loss you either adjust calories burned or calories ingested or for ax speed fatloss you do both. What type of calories and when are important to but at 20%bf you should not hit any plateaus. Your of an older age, its harder even with better diet and hormones. Nevertheless the idea is the same even if the system is older like 4 or 8 track, whatever it was lol
 
deeknows said:
If you are hitting a fat loss plateau at 20%bf then your diet is not good at all. What @starbarf posted is similar to what i do, but i never do no carbs all day. Eat fuel (carbs) for what your going to be doing between that meal and the next or for needed things like post workout recovery etc. If your doing fuck all why up carbs, if your going to workout then up the carbs.

Simply carb cycling on a 3 day split or whatever is not good enough, unless you do the exact same thing every day. Then you would just reduce your carbs/calories. Or just up the calories burned until u hit a plateau again. Every plateau for fat loss you either adjust calories burned or calories ingested or for ax speed fatloss you do both. What type of calories and when are important to but at 20%bf you should not hit any plateaus. Your of an older age, its harder even with better diet and hormones. Nevertheless the idea is the same even if the system is older like 4 or 8 track, whatever it was lol
Click to expand...
It was 8 track.....groan yeah that old. Thanks for the help. I am making adjustments. I have upped training to 4 days, eat more carbs on training days and do static cardio post workout. I continue to eat 1+ gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.
 
If i want to get into certain condition then there is no choice but to go really hard with both diet and cardio. My carbs are basically down to nothing and my cardio gets increased in time and intensity to a level that is not maintainable long term.
This is my genetics and theres not no cheating it.
When younger, getting shredded was more important so i would live like this too often. Now, its not really worth being miserable.
I have a cuba trip booked and usually i would want to get as close to or under 10% bf.
Last year i could not get myself to drop cals as im old and bitter. I went there at 15-17% and honestly i was happier about it. I looked fine as i have a decent amount of muscle but i wasnt trying to look like i just stepped offstage.
 
I NEVER weigh myself anymore. I always go by what the mirror tells me. My nemesis is carbs. When I want to lose fat, and always start by adjusting my carb intake and only limit to eating good clean carb sources. Cardio is your friend. Add lifting light to moderate weights to compensate for any calorie reductions. But make sure you up reps.

If abs is your goal, understand getting those abs will make your life miserable. Especially at our age. You've got a lot of good advice here.

I always tell people, "Nothing tastes better than looking good!"
 
Thanks all of you!for the help! I generally go by my how my clothes fit and the mirror. I got so far out of shape after the spinal fusion I am just I am just getting back on track. I like the idea of finding maintenance, use calorie deficit and figure out my macros. Its far more challenging at this age. I had a rude awakening!!
 
Update: Relaxed on the weekend. Attended a BBQ and saw a buddy in hospital. Watched sports and slept in.
Weight down 3 lbs this am.
Up this morning for 1/2 hour walk t fasted, 1IU HGH.
Going to breaky with a woman. Getting my car detailed.

Then off to the gym.
 
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