Greetings! Anyone else over 40 that's slow to lose?

[Determin8tion]

I'm new to posting here, but have been reading for a couple of weeks. This is the BEST forum I've seen in its category- most everyone seems responsive and not "muscle head" crazed like some of the hard core boards with all steroid users. [I've got nothing against that BTW, but I'm natural].
I'm 45 and am trying to lean out. Here's my inquiry- anyone here over 40 with similar goals/success/failures to my experience. Training hard for almost 2 years, with a personal trainer who is great. Muscle gains-ok, its hard work and slow gradual transition- I'm fine with that. BUT- I'm the same weight as over 1 year ago, minor muscle gain in weight.
Can't shed fat on a normal 55%, 35%, 15% carb/prot/fat diet, which keeps me in good shape, but even with cardio 3-4 times/week, fat loss is minimal.
I've consulted with a registered dietician who set me straight on basic nutritional advise, but I can't lose even if I vary that diet. Too much cardio ( over 4 times/week and beyond 40 minutes) and I lose muscle. Thermogenics don't make a dent-just space me out.
Keto? Tried for 4 weeks and didn't lose any fat, even with carbs below 60grams/day and cardio 3-4 days.
I know it must be some variation in the diet.
I thought I'd try the diet posted with carbs/prot/fats in 3 even splits for a while.
Anyone else have success besides Keto, high cardio, with a diet mod. that was slow to lose? My metabolism must be very slow...

Thanks for any input. If there are any dietician recommendations for someone in LA area who works with bodybuilders(and not just steroid users) I'd give that a shot.

 

[cyberflash]

questions

give us your stats:
how many calories do you eat ???
what is your weight ????
when do you do cardio ???
How long do you do cardio ???
what supplements do you take ???
what's your diet ???

I have the slowest metabolism on this planet and could not lose any weight for the last 5 years. But now, I lost 30 lbs.

55% carb - that's too much !
I did 50/30/20 protein/carb/fat

what kind of protein do you take ???? it makes a difference ...

 

[Determin8tion]

Here you go CyberFlash:
My diet:
45/31/23 carb/prot/fat-most recent one I tried.
Breakfast:
Labrada shake
1 cup oats
1 fruit

Meal 2:
Labrada bar
1 fruit

Meal 3:
Baked potato
4oz meat
1 fruit
1 vegie
1 serving fat

Meal 4:
Two slices of bread with turkey breast

Dinner:
potato or 1 cup rice
4oz meat
1 fruit
2 vegie
1 serving fat

Meal 6:
1 slice bread
1 metrix shake
Totals: 2,600 calories

Admittedly, I didn't stick to the letter on this as variety resulted in minor variations.
Supplements: EFA, flax seed oil(1-2 tablespoons/day), creatine, glutamine

Cardio:
Eliptical EFX trainer, 35-40 minutes-3-4 x week, sometimes 1 recumbent bike substituted.
Stats: Height 5'10", 193 lbs, BF 14.4% (was 13.4%, but with age 45 Traiiner added 1 percent to the formula)

What the H$LL is wrong with me that I can't lean out?

 

[cyberflash]

I can clearly see what's wrong with this:

You are eating too much. The normal formula for caloric intake do not work for us ... with very slow metabolism.

Here's the formula: bodyweight x 10 =daily caloric intake

In your case, that's 193 x 10 = 1930 calories

Now, the story does not end there, you have to go below this caloric level by another 500 calories ....

In short, you should only be eating 1500 calories (not 2600).

I went from 200 lbs. to 172 lbs. eating 1200-1500 in 2 months ... then I went back to 2000 calories afterwards.

Ok, now you're wonder .... how the hell did I not get very hungry with only 1200-1500 ?

1) I bought a supplement at GNC called Scan Diet ... it's only 160 calories and make me more full than Whey protein. Labrada shakes are 230 calories. I can see that you are drinking Whey protein. I advice that you shift to Soy Protein which has a leaning effect due to isoflavones. (After you lose weight, you can go back to Whey, whey/soy, or multi-source like metamyosis from metrx, but take Soy while you are losing weight). Remember that soy is cholesterol free and Whey is not.

2) Drink at least 1 gallon of water ... this will help you feel full.

3) Yogurt (60 cal.) also made me feel full.

4) OK, your dietician or some people may argue that 1200-1500 is too low and may make your body lower it's metabolism. I actually do one Cheat meal a week ... a big huge 12 oz. steak for lunch ... 72 g. of protein ... you have to have a stuffing meal to shock your body out of its tendency to slow metabolism ...

5) Eat peanuts (small amounts) ... studies have shown that peanuts make you fuller the longest of all snack food.. it's also rich in unsaturated fat (mono)

6) By the way, fruits can have too many sugar and carb. Cut that on meal 5 and 6 ... if possible don't eat any carb in meal 5 or 6 ...

7) Again, any kind of diet (Keto) or hi-protein will fail if you don't cut your calories PERIOD. Your caloric intake is just TOO MUCH for a body that has slow metabolic rate.

8) You may want to try a Laxative ( dieter's tea) ... because part of having a slow metabolism is that your digestive system is not very clean and needs flushing ...

9) increase fiber intake .... my favorite are apples and pears

 

[cyberflash]

You also have to do cardio on an empty stomach in the morning ... that's the most effective time to burn fat while you have low blood sugar levels. Your body will burn fat and not carb/sugar (because it's low) .... once you eat your fruit which has fructose (sugar) then the body will use that instead of fat.

 

[rmurf62]

a couple of things:

1. the keto diet is much more hardcore than just cutting carbs - the absolute limit is 20 gms of carb a day, and that has to be spread out (one 20g cookie will knock you out of ketosis). Furthermore, you have to start with a calorie ratio of 75% fat/25% protein, or your body will convert protein to glucose.

2. people with slow metabolisms (me, anyways) convert carbs to fat really, really easy. 55% is pretty damn heavy for an older, slower metabolism.

3. are your carbs complex carbs (green veggies) or starch/sugar? If the latter, try cutting out starch/sugar & see if that works.

4. crash/starvation diets don't work, but you know that.

5. everybody's got an opinion, the collected opinions will all conflict, and half of them will be wrong (but you don't know which ones).

I think you realy need to explore and see what works for you. and, you gotta have patience. My metabolism is hideous slow (I'm 39), and even on the ketogenic diet, the fat's coming off really slow. Good luck!

 

[rmurf62]

sorry, just read your other post.

I concur. Cut back the maintenance calories. All the diet charts which suggest 2600-3000 cals a day are for faster metabolisms. Don't starve, just knock back to around 1500 & see if that works. (keep eating the protein.)

 

[keiko]

I'm 48, female, and hypothyroid--I should be slow to lose, but I've maintained a steady 1.5 pound loss since Feb. I eat isocaloric and I eat every 2-3 hours. My cals go between 1500 to 1800 with a big meal once a week. I lowered my BF from 28% to 20%, which means I had no significant muscle loss--just fat.

I think dropping your cals too low isn't always a risk, but not eating often enough will set you back. I don't eat carbs after 4 pm. You eat much more fruit than I do, but I eat about 3x your amount of veggies.

I do cardio for 60 minutes (about 11 cals a minute) 5 days a week. I do it on an empty stomach, except for after lifting. I take 1 day off, and walk as much as I can. Rad WarLobo on the Women's Board about the longer cardio sessions.

You can reset your metabolism by eating more often, lifting heavy, and upping your cardio.

Soy protein is fine (with my thyroid problem, I don't eat any soy). Personally I like milk and egg protein.

 

[Determin8tion]

Wow- you guys are great-thanks for all the quick responses.
Something is underlying here- I've got to cut back on the cal's and try the am cardio on an empty stomach.
Thanks for all the input, Cyberflash.
I have an intuition the problem may very well be the total calories and I'm willing to try and cut those.
Strange that the dietician doesn't account for that when calculating my BMR and AMR and the corresponding cal's I need to "just stay" in place, which were calculated to be around 3,100 /day with my level of activity.
I do a cheat meal once a week already.

Now, has anyone tried the Isocaloric diet by Dan Duchaine, with the 3 even divisions of carb/prot/fat with any success?
thanks to all who responded so far.

http://bestanimations.com/Signs&Shapes/Smileys/Smiley-03.gif

 

[keiko]

Uh, hello? Did you skip my post? I eat Isocaloric. You can search for my posts about it. I've had good success.
I also keep track of what I eat with this on-line site: http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/DayFoodsTab.asp