That last 3-5 lbs!!!

[crazy chica]

Hey everyone,
Im more of an all around athlete (not training for body building or powerlifting) but still hit the gym 2x per week. For reference, I can bench sets of 8 w/ 50lb DBs (bad shoulder), can do 10-12 good pull-ups, and run ~20min 5km. I am 5'10" 137lb with fairly wide shoulders and somewhat big quads from years of bike racing.

I am looking to lose that last 3-5 lbs (yeah, who isn't??) which seems to reside on my belly and also a bit on my upper, inner thighs :-o.

For YEARS (8-10?) I have ALWAYS hit a plateau at ~136-138 lbs and can never dip under it. I read stuff about set-points but don't want to believe them. I see many female athletes out there who don't have this extra roll on their belly so why should I.

I have considered Paleo but honestly don't think I could do it long term. I LOVE oatmeal and milk!! Instead I am considering eating from the list of "qualified foods" that superqt posted. I have also considered intermittant fasting.

Does anyone have any tips for how to bust thru this weight loss plateau?
Thanks in advance!

 

[superqt4u2nv]

Hey everyone,
Im more of an all around athlete (not training for body building or powerlifting) but still hit the gym 2x per week. For reference, I can bench sets of 8 w/ 50lb DBs (bad shoulder), can do 10-12 good pull-ups, and run ~20min 5km. I am 5'10" 137lb with fairly wide shoulders and somewhat big quads from years of bike racing.

I am looking to lose that last 3-5 lbs (yeah, who isn't??) which seems to reside on my belly and also a bit on my upper, inner thighs :-o.

For YEARS (8-10?) I have ALWAYS hit a plateau at ~136-138 lbs and can never dip under it. I read stuff about set-points but don't want to believe them. I see many female athletes out there who don't have this extra roll on their belly so why should I.

I have considered Paleo but honestly don't think I could do it long term. I LOVE oatmeal and milk!! Instead I am considering eating from the list of "qualified foods" that superqt posted. I have also considered intermittant fasting.

Does anyone have any tips for how to bust thru this weight loss plateau?
Thanks in advance!

5'10 138 seems fairly light IMO rather than focus on the weight why not focus on the look you want which is to lose far in the last little area.

Can you share what your current diet is? How many macro's are you currently eating per day etc?

 

[crazy chica]

Yeah I don't think that I am heavy by any means. Remember tho that I am more of an all around athlete probably leaning towards endurance sports. Plus I have really small bones - tiny wrist, pin head , etc. I am not too worried about the number I see on the scale, I just use that for reference. I just have this small fat roll on my belly that I would like to get rid of and estimate that that might happen if I could get down to ~135 lbs. I think that I tend to carry more fat on my stomach than the typical woman. The rest of my body is relatively ripped compared to women who have LESS fat on their stomach than me. The problem is that I will get to 135 then bounce back up to ~138 again REPEATEDLY. I find that I am always hungry and occasionally binge on total crap (lotsa candy always available at work). I would like to NOT always be thinking about food.

Sooo I just added up a semi typical day:
0630 2 cups Cheerios, 1 sm banana, 3/4c skim milk 345 cal
0900 1c oats, 1 c skim milk, 1/2 scoop whey, 1.2 grapefruit 490 cal
1200 1c whole wheat pasta, 2/3c chicken, 1/2lb frozen veggies, sauce, cutie 470 cal
1500 1 slice whole wheat brd,1egg,1 slice fat free cheese,2TBs hummus, carrots 295 cal
1800 3 corn tortillas, 1/2c chicken,1/3c beans,1/3c brn rice,salsa , cutie 475 cal
1800 carbmastter yogurt, peanuts 105 cal

TOTALS: 2180 cal, 336g CHO (61%), 144g PRO (26%), 33.5g Fat (14%), Fiber 38g

On this day, I did a 1:15 pretty hard bike ride (intervals) at ~7:30. I am also trying to lose a few lbs so it is a bit light on calories.

It looks like I may need to up my fat intake???

Thanks for the help!

 

[superqt4u2nv]

Yeah I don't think that I am heavy by any means. Remember tho that I am more of an all around athlete probably leaning towards endurance sports. Plus I have really small bones - tiny wrist, pin head , etc. I am not too worried about the number I see on the scale, I just use that for reference. I just have this small fat roll on my belly that I would like to get rid of and estimate that that might happen if I could get down to ~135 lbs. I think that I tend to carry more fat on my stomach than the typical woman. The rest of my body is relatively ripped compared to women who have LESS fat on their stomach than me. The problem is that I will get to 135 then bounce back up to ~138 again REPEATEDLY. I find that I am always hungry and occasionally binge on total crap (lotsa candy always available at work). I would like to NOT always be thinking about food.

Sooo I just added up a semi typical day:
0630 2 cups Cheerios, 1 sm banana, 3/4c skim milk 345 cal
0900 1c oats, 1 c skim milk, 1/2 scoop whey, 1.2 grapefruit 490 cal
1200 1c whole wheat pasta, 2/3c chicken, 1/2lb frozen veggies, sauce, cutie 470 cal
1500 1 slice whole wheat brd,1egg,1 slice fat free cheese,2TBs hummus, carrots 295 cal
1800 3 corn tortillas, 1/2c chicken,1/3c beans,1/3c brn rice,salsa , cutie 475 cal
1800 carbmastter yogurt, peanuts 105 cal

TOTALS: 2180 cal, 336g CHO (61%), 144g PRO (26%), 33.5g Fat (14%), Fiber 38g

On this day, I did a 1:15 pretty hard bike ride (intervals) at ~7:30. I am also trying to lose a few lbs so it is a bit light on calories.

It looks like I may need to up my fat intake???

Thanks for the help!

Yeah your fats should be at least 20% closer to 30% would be ideal for most people I say 30% carbs but being a endurance type athlete you might be able to get away with 40-50% but 60% is a bit high.

I put in bold the carbs you are chosing are less than ideal. I would select ones from the list I have in the sticky.

Do you do weight training at all? I know you want to look a certain way but if you are an endurance athlete if you look around most long distance runners etc they have flab and jiggle compared to a sprinter that focus on intervals as well as weight training.

 

[crazy chica]

Thanks superqt,
I printed out your list and am going to swap out my cereal and ww pasta and corn tortillas (im going to miss those!) for brown rice and sweet potatoes. Ill try dropping the carbs to 45-50% and upping the fat and protein.

I lift 2x per week (db bench (50s), chins, db rows (55s), leg press, tri-pushdowns, mil press (35s),and a bunch of shoulder rehab little exercises).

Hopefully readjusting my C/P/F %s will help me lean up just a little more and feel more satisfied. Thanks again for your help!

 

[Rebecca D]

Hey everyone,
Im more of an all around athlete (not training for body building or powerlifting) but still hit the gym 2x per week. For reference, I can bench sets of 8 w/ 50lb DBs (bad shoulder), can do 10-12 good pull-ups, and run ~20min 5km. I am 5'10" 137lb with fairly wide shoulders and somewhat big quads from years of bike racing.

I am looking to lose that last 3-5 lbs (yeah, who isn't??) which seems to reside on my belly and also a bit on my upper, inner thighs :-o.

For YEARS (8-10?) I have ALWAYS hit a plateau at ~136-138 lbs and can never dip under it. I read stuff about set-points but don't want to believe them. I see many female athletes out there who don't have this extra roll on their belly so why should I.

I have considered Paleo but honestly don't think I could do it long term. I LOVE oatmeal and milk!! Instead I am considering eating from the list of "qualified foods" that superqt posted. I have also considered intermittant fasting.

Does anyone have any tips for how to bust thru this weight loss plateau?
Thanks in advance!

Hey crazychica,

I think I'm in the twilight zone. I'm 5'5" 131lbs, I can bench the 55lb dbs for 8 reps and I can do 10 good pullups. I can't get that last five pounds off and I have that lower belly (c-section) roll that will not tighten up. Just thought the similarities were interesting.

Good luck,

Rebecca D

 

[crazy chica]

Hahaha! Well, I am going to try upping the fat in my diet and lowering the carbs a bit combined with making all my carb choices from superqt's list and see how that works.
If you ever find the secret - lemme know!!!!

 

[slat1]

SuperQT nailed it. You need more fat. You need both animal and plant fat. EFA's and Primrose Oil will do the trick.
If you don't eat enough fat your body will crank up its estrogen production. Estrogen makes women hold fat on their lower abs, hips, thighs and butts.