Looking for advice - Hit a brick wall

[endofleg]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and have came here seeking advice.

First I guess a little background. I'm a 35 year old 5'10" who has piled a lot of weight on since I settled down and had a family about 8 years ago. Now even when I was fairly thin and in shape I never weighed less than 200lbs (14 stone-ish) as I've got fairly heavy bones it seems... but still several months ago I checked weight and I was up to almost 280lbs (about 20 stone) and had a body fat % of 56% - coupled with not recognising myself in a photo I decided it was time to do something about it.

I changed diet and started working out at the gym wherever possible, doing a mixture of cardio and weights. Shortly after I hired a Personal trainer for some advice who did a fitness test and was surprised how fit I was scoring "excellent" in several of the criteria (in other words, I could move for a fat lad), I took some advice on varying routines and whatnot and went on merry way - hitting the gym 5 days a week for 1 hour plus squash (playing hard and keeping hart rate around 80% of MHR)

I've managed to get weight down from 280lbs (20 stone) to 236lbs (16stone 12lbs) and BF% down from 56% to 38% - pretty happy with that so far, still have a bit of a on me but can finally start to see a difference.

problem is, I have been stuck at this weight and BF% for a couple of weeks now. diet is pretty good - been using the myfitnesspal calorie counter to track calories, protein and fat intake and I sometimes struggle to get over 1000 net calories in a given day after exercise so I know I'm not taking in too many calories (not feeling tired or under performing at the gym so I'm not running on empty) and I'm pretty obsessive about adding every single thing into it. Food mostly made up of salads, tuna, soups, chicken, sunflower seeds and boiled eggs. Rarely eat bread. and if I can get to the gym early enough I will go before I eat breakfast in an attempt to burn fat.

On average I'll take in about 900 - 1400 calories of food and (according to HRM less about 10% to be safe) burn about 800-1000 calories 6 days a week via exercise.

Why am I stuck at this point? Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated as there must be something I'm missing but just can't see it.

Cheers

[endofleg]

In addition - I thought I'd best give a brief idea of workout routine

Treadmill for 20-30 mins - running at 10.5 km/h (6.5 MPH) keeping heart rate at around 80-85% of MHR, slowing to a fast walk for 30 to 60 seconds occasionally (usually about 3 or 4 times in the 30 min session) and occasionally sprinting at 14.5 km/h (9 MPH) for 60 seconds (usually 2 times per session)

I move on to the weights, usually upper body and core, rotating and resting ( right knee is a bit dodgy and gets worse bending with weights so I avoid it but try to regularly do some squats or use the machines with lighter weights)

After about 20 mins on weights I'll usually finish with another 10 minutes on the treadmill at 10 km/h but taking more regular rests (walking at 6 km/h) and finishing with one last sprint at 14 km/h (8.6 MPH)

I do vary it occasionally but cross trainers, rowing machines and bikes all seem to cause problems with knee but the treadmill doesn't so I usually favour that with a slight incline (0.5 - 1%)

Hope this helps a little. Thanks in advance for any advice

[Alinshop]

First congratulations on your weight loss so far, excellent job!

1st question: How long have you been on the same gym/diet routine?
2nd question: Your daily calories seem low for a man your age & weight, plus you seem to stay quite active. Are you sure that's enough calories for you?

[vamp]

congrats on your success so far! Great work! I would also lead to fueling up a bit more, the engine is running hotter now and consuming more but wants to hold fat stores it has as a just in case... you should be closer to 1,800 - 2,000 healthy calories, higher protein diet with some veggies and fruit!!

Secondly, time to wind down the cardio and up the weights, work the muscles around the bum knee. You would be far better served to do a 5-10 walking or jogging warm up on the treadmill and then hit the weights.... pulleys and free weight more than the machines. Big lifts like squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, bench press, shoulder press, planks, chin ups and pull ups and even dips. Every time you hit the gym you need to change something... 1 more rep a set, 1-5 more pounds to the weight, another set of the exercise.... Same weight all the time for the same reps and sets does not promote growth but allows body to adapt and use less energy to do the same task day after day.

It sounds like the body has plateaued to in the high cardio atmosphere with low calories... if you up the calories, improve the protein some (especially within the first hour after exercise) and vegies and fruit!!, your body will ramp up its metabolism. Even switching your gym cardio to a circuit style resistance work out where you do 6-10 exercises non stop and then break for 3-5 minutes and do it again. 3-5 times. You stated "your routine is"... your body was made to excel at doing routine efficiently so it will burn less and less energy. Changing the routine is needed. Squash is a great sport for your hear muscle and flexibility and agility and hand / eye coordination and balance.... I think it is a great addition for you... but workout cardio followed by little bit of weights followed by more cardio I think has but you in a rut. Focus on weights in the gym not cardio and get your cardio on the squash court

Just some friendly suggestions to think about

Once again, you have achieved a great amount and you should be proud of yourself!!!
Welcome to the site

Chris