Training & Nutrition - Not seeing much improvements

For the last 4 months, my routine has been the following:

30-45min of free weights
20-30mins of cardio (running or stationary bike)

Diet:
Breakfast: Protien Shake + Cereal + Fruit
Lunch: Sandwich
Snak: Protien Shake + fruit
Dinner: Chicken and some pasta with red sauce

I would mix it up with a salad with my dinner once in a while.

I think ive hit a plateau. Ive definitley lost weight. I went from a size 40 waist to a size 36. Ive bulked up my muscles. But im still in the 200lb area.

But now it seems like i havent been loosing weight and not being able to lifting anything heavier than what im normally doing with out much pain and effort.

do you have any ideas?

disclaimer: I'm no personal trainer or nutrition expert...but I do have a trainer and cycling coach, so a little has rubbed off over the years.

How often are you lifting? Are you allowing your body enough time in between weight training workouts?

When do you do your cardio? How often? Can you increase your cardio times? Do you use a heart rate monitor when running/cycling? It will allow you to see what zone your body is in during your workouts...which will tell you if you are working at an intensity that would support some good 'ol calorie burn.

The diet looks pretty clean...You might want to consider mixing up your routine...shock the system...perhaps it is getting tired of doing the same old thing. Or maybe the intensity needs to be increased some.

Just some things to ask yourself.

How often are you lifting?

I lift monday, tuesday, wednesday, friday, saturday.

Are you allowing your body enough time in between weight training workouts?

I rest on thursdays and sundays

When do you do your cardio?

I do my cardio after i lift. Now that im back from a 2 week slump, im going to increase my cardio times 5 mins a week.

I do use a HR moniter when i bike. I am in the 160 range when i bike.

A LOT of cardiovascular exercise studies, and the American College of Sports Medicine say that in order for you to be fit and healthy, you have to exercise for at least 20 minutes before the body starts using fat is it's energy source instead of glucose. This is just to be fit and healthy- not to burn fat.

For you to burn fat, you will have to significantly increase your cardio. I suspect that so far, you've been able to get away with so little cardio because you were lifting, which resulted in a spike in your testosterone levels, which in turn, boosted your metabolism. BUT after a certain amount of time, doing the same lifting routine, you will have reached your maximum muscle size and you won't see any additional muscle growth without changing the routine.

1) Change your muscle routine- also, be sure that you are NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT working the same muscle groups two days in a row. It's the recovery time after the lifting session that stimulates the muscle growth. You tear the muscle in the lifting exercises, then you take the time off for the body to heal the muscle, which leads to the growth. Personally, I think you could stand to take 3 days off and just do heavier weights with less sets and less reps and see a substantial difference.

2) Increase INCREASE INCREASE INCREASE INCREASE your cardio... you can either do 45 minutes 4- 5 days a week of intense cardio (75- 85% heart rate max) or 1 hour 4- 5 days a week of moderate cardio (70- 80% heart rate max).

3) Increase your eating. I really think you're not getting enough calories for the amount of exercise you're doing right now. Just make sure that when you do increase your calories, eat good foods- complex carbs, fruits and veggies would work for you. Try to eat more like 5- 6 smaller meals per day. That way, your metabolism is spiked all day long, and you're fuelling those recovering muscles with the nutrients it needs to grow! Your breakfast looks fine, but I'd throw in a snack before lunch, then 2 more snacks before dinner. You can get a protein bar- like a powerbar as your second snack before dinner. Then increase what you're eating at dinner. The chicken and pasta thing looks ok, but definitely have that salad every time, perhaps some fruit, and another complex carb and some veggies with that.

I think if you do all that, within 3 weeks, you'll see some really positive results and some changes that you'll be pleased with. You won't have to keep up the exercise routine forever- once you get to your ideal weight, you just need to do maintenance to maintain your new, hard body! ;)

If you do this, send me a PM in about 3 weeks and let me know how things are going for you with this plan.

Koffee

I agree with Koffee sounds like you are trying to mix a muscle gain routine with a weight loss diet to achieve everything at once .It works better to focus everything on one objective or the other for a period of time.For weight loss cut back on the amount of weight in the gym and add more cardio.I recall in the past you have mentioned a problem with focus/motivation with indoor trainers so get outside and ride for several hours at a time.For weights try to up the pace perhaps with more supersets etc.You might consider extending the sessions to more like 45min. to an hour to get through a fullbody program with three or four sessions a week leaving a few days to focus exclusively on longer rides.Again like Koffee said you may have to increase the calories/carbs somewhat to fuel a higher activity level but you still want a slight to moderate deficit .

I can help you out I think because I've been going through the same thing. I use Weight Watchers, bike, and weight train. Try eating every 3 hours which is what I do. You probably need to eat more too. I try to do 30 minutes or more of cardio in the morning before breakfast. I also try for a second cardio work out later in the day. I usually do cardio before breakfast, weight train after breakfast before lunch, and cardio again after lunch. Thats done 3 days a week though, on my days off or my first night shift. On my day shifts I will try for 30 minutes before going to work and another 30 after dinner. You are probably getting more protein than you need too. Change your weight lifting routine too, all new exercises. One day every couple weeks, indulge a little and eat something you know you shouldn't. Don't go too crazy that day, but maybe one meal or for a snack. Change your eating routine too. Eat 5 well balanced meals every 3 hours, than do 4 balanced meals every 3 hours, with a bag of popcorn thrown in, and do a the 3 meals per day thing. Try variations every couple days so the body doesn't adjust to it.

Stick with the cardio at first. Do weight lifting 3 days a week.
At this point, cardio is more important. Granted, the more muscle you have, the higher the metabolism.

I stuck with the above for 2 years and dropped from a size 42 (238 pounds) to a 33 (165 pounds).

Originally posted by pletcgm
Stick with the cardio at first. Do weight lifting 3 days a week.
At this point, cardio is more important. Granted, the more muscle you have, the higher the metabolism.

I stuck with the above for 2 years and dropped from a size 42 (238 pounds) to a 33 (165 pounds).

what was your weekly workout like? What days did you do what?

i heard that you burn more calories when lifting that when doing cardio. is this true?

Thats true per unit time.But how much time are you actually spending lifting .Even within that 30-45min. much of the time is spent between sets.So that is why you should pick up the tempo and add more aerobics where you can greatly extend the time while burning mostly fat vs. sugar for the anaerobics(ie weights).These will complement each other with the weights burning more calories /unit time and raising the metabolism more and the aerobics burning more fat and more total calories if you can extent the time long enough

Originally posted by killerasp
what was your weekly workout like? What days did you do what?

I first started out just walking on the tread mill the first few weeks. I then started inclining the treadmill until I reached max inclination. I did this everyday for 8 months and lost my first 30 pounds.

I then started doing cycling and that lost my next 30 pounds.

I am now into a combination of cycling and weight lifting and I have dropped another 5 pounds already within 2 weeks.

I have 15 more pounds that I want to lose and I will be in perfect shape.

Originally posted by pletcgm
I first started out just walking on the tread mill the first few weeks. I then started inclining the treadmill until I reached max inclination. I did this everyday for 8 months and lost my first 30 pounds.

I then started doing cycling and that lost my next 30 pounds.

I am now into a combination of cycling and weight lifting and I have dropped another 5 pounds already within 2 weeks.

I have 15 more pounds that I want to lose and I will be in perfect shape.

Why did you walk instead of run? What does your diet consist of?

Originally posted by killerasp
Why did you walk instead of run? What does your diet consist of?

I walked at first because I was so huge that I couldn't run for any distance. After a tenth of a mile, I was worn out.

In the morning, after I get to work, I will eat four eggs w/o yolks, toast, grits, and Special K Cereal.

Lunch: Subway 6" Roasted Chicken Breast on wheat.

Supper: 2 Healthy Choice Dinners, or a Lettuce Wedge with Blue Cheese, or a Sunshine Chicken Salad.