Little advice

[Double D]

I have this friend. Hes been doing very well losing weight. His maitnence caloric level is around 3500 calories. He was all the way down to 2100 calories a day and losing weight like crazy. I have already informed him he has done it much to quickly, but thats way past due. I have told him to try around 3200 to 3000 calories and do it slowly.

Now heres the problem. Its been 8 weeks and his body has stalled and he cant seem to drop weight now. So what should he do? Hes been taking in around 2,000 calories still for the past 8 weeks! I told him he ought to eat an maintnence for a few weeks then restart. What do you guys think?

 

[bigsahm21]

Exactly. Up the calories again and then slowly start cutting again.

 

[BigDyl]

I have this friend. Hes been doing very well losing weight. His maitnence caloric level is around 3500 calories. He was all the way down to 2100 calories a day and losing weight like crazy. I have already informed him he has done it much to quickly, but thats way past due. I have told him to try around 3200 to 3000 calories and do it slowly.

Now heres the problem. Its been 8 weeks and his body has stalled and he cant seem to drop weight now. So what should he do? Hes been taking in around 2,000 calories still for the past 8 weeks! I told him he ought to eat an maintnence for a few weeks then restart. What do you guys think?

He probably lost 90% muscle like that.


He going to have to up his calories to maintenance level or higher for a couple of weeks, and then try again... the right way.

 

[dannygeale]

im having the same kinda problem too ?

what kinda things could we eat to i normally eat heaps of fruit and veg
and 100 grams of chciken a day .should i still cut the bread out ...i do boxing so i need NRGi normally have a plate of pasta before i train 100 grams of pasta

 

[KentDog]

He probably lost 90% muscle like that.


He going to have to up his calories to maintenance level or higher for a couple of weeks, and then try again... the right way.

I agree with this . It may also have something to do with his training. Can you tell us more about his workouts? Perhaps diet as well.

 

[KentDog]

im having the same kinda problem too ?

what kinda things could we eat to i normally eat heaps of fruit and veg
and 100 grams of chciken a day .should i still cut the bread out ...i do boxing so i need NRGi normally have a plate of pasta before i train 100 grams of pasta

 

[Tom_B]

Okay he's got one of two options ..

1) He could try to incorporate refeeds into his diet. (Not a CHEAT but a REFEED .. there is a difference.). How lean would you say he is? The leaner he is the more frequent he'll need these refeeds. He can try one for one week, and if that doesn't help he should try doing two refeeds the next week (One every 3-4 days). I would suggest he try this option first, and see what happens but if it doesn't help then he could try the second option..

2) As others suggested he could get his calories back to maintenance and then try doing a slower cut ... however, he shouldn't put his calories right back to 3500, he'll gain some weight with alot of it being fat! He's put his body into starvation, and his 'maintenance' is no longer at 3500 so he has to work his way back up there.
So tell him to increase calories by 10% each week until he's back up to 3500 ... so something like:
Week 1: 2200
Week 2: 2450
Week 3: 2700
Week 4: 3000
Week 5: 3250
Week 6: 3500

I know that's a long time just to get himself back to maintenance, but he really screwed his metabolism up! Once he gets back there he really should start a slower cut, starting at 3000 calories, and then reducing that by 10% each time his weight loss stalls. And depending on how low carb he goes he may need refeeds, he'll definitely need them once he starts to get lean ..

 

[Double D]

Excellent post Tom! Thanks.