Advice on my diet, stuck on a plateau

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Hi good guys and gals of Cyclechat,

I am looking to be enlightened by my good friends on what I am doing wrong and why despite my efforts my weight is neither going up or down and I’m not seeing any Noticeable changes to my body shape.

My typical daily diet is something like this;

breakfast is one of these three options
A) bowl of porridge oats and a tablespoon of golden syrup with skimmed milk
B) bowl of bran flakes with a yoghurt of some kind in lieu of milk. Usually onken fat free vanilla yoghurt or an Aldi caramel yoghurt(artisan ones)
C) two slices of toast, one with butter and one with jam.

Thinking the problem here is too much sugar? To try and fill me up I have also been eating a banana and a cup of tea with skimmed milk or a black coffee with 2 sweetness.

For lunch it is usually something carby like pasta or cheese on toast as it’s quick and I am also feeding three children. Think spaghetti on toast, tomato soup with a slice of bread that type of thing.

Tea time usually consists of a balanced meal with vegetables, protein (quorn or chicken or lean sausages as don’t eat beef) and a dessert such as strawberries or tinned peaches and pairs. Occasionally I’ll have some custard with it.

On a evening I’m doing Joe Wicks PE 3 times a week and getting 45mins to an hours riding in twice a week (avg 16mph - 10-16 miles ish).

As my youngest still wakes up in the night I find my belly is rumbling in the evening. A glass of water usually sees me through to 7am when I start the day.

I have a sedentary desk job and throughout the day I have about 5 cups of tea or coffee with skimmed milk.

I’m currently 10st 13 and 5ft 7 with estimated body fat around 20% (mid rift is a bit pot belly) so I am just in top end of my BMI with 4/5lbs to play with. 32 inch waist and a 35 inch hip. I’d ideally like to get down to 10st which is the middle of my BMI.

Is my sugar intake to blame at breakfast and/or too many carbs?
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Are you a bloke ? Under 11stone, 5ft 7, sounds OK. Work on posture if you think you have a belly at your weight.
 
OP
OP
bikingdad90
Yeah bloke. I am working on strengthening my abs and back muscles as suffer from a pre herniated disc (Bulging) which I am trying to prevent becoming herniated or a slipped disc or worse. I go to bed about 10pm and I’m up around 7am, any longer in bed and my back can’t tolerate it.
 

Slick

Guru
Yeah bloke. I am working on strengthening my abs and back muscles as suffer from a pre herniated disc (Bulging) which I am trying to prevent becoming herniated or a slipped disc or worse. I go to bed about 10pm and I’m up around 7am, any longer in bed and my back can’t tolerate it.
At least sleep isn't the issue. If I'm in bed at 10, I'm usually wondering round the house like a ghost by 5am. :eek:
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
I'm with you on the excess carb angle.

FWIW curtailing my carb intake has been the only "diet" that's ever allowed me to lose any weight (extended water fasting notwithstanding, not sure if it counts as a diet since no eating's involved!)

Over around 2yrs I've dropped from around 85kg to around 67kg / 10.5st. I began by cutting out carbs almost completely, then slowly allowing them back in as my resolve faltered. The loss has been typified by spells of maybe 3 months on it and losing around 0.5kg/wk, then a lapse, a small regain (mostly water retention) then more losses and so on..

Long-term / consistant changes are that as a rule I eat a lot less processed, carb-heavy, high-GI crap (crisps, milk chocolate etc) and by default my meals are usually carb-free (meat or fish with veg or salad). I'm also pretty much off the alcohol too (not just for weight loss) which seems to make a reasonable difference. I love soft-boiled eggs on toasted seed "bread" for breakfast; two eggs and two slices is about 400-500kcal, but only around 20g of carbs and it's really filling / delicious. Where I fall down mostly is snacking / when I have a lack of choice (such as when eating out) or I'm miserable so comfort eat.

I'm about 177cm / 5'10" and still have tits and a belly (37.5" chest, 33.5" around my fully relaxed belly, 35.5" hips); sadly it appears I have very little muscle mass (at least in my upper body) so can appreciate where you're coming from with your BMI and body shape.

Best advice I can give is to sack off the high-GI / refined carbs completely if you can, bin the carbs at meal times and when you do eat them try to restrict yourself to lower-GI stuff, and ideally no more than 50g per day. Oppo low-carb / calorie ice cream is great, while 70% dark choc is a reasonly cheaty-treat as it contains about half the sugar of milk choc, but of course that's no good if you eat twice as much :tongue:


All that said I found it easier (in terms of will power) to stick to an almost carb-free diet as it kills the cravings once you're on the wagon and hunger becomes much less of an issue. The flipside to that it can be challenging to maintain this diet due to other practical constraints, such as finding meal ideas and coping when you have to get food on the move.

Sleep is also massively important; tiredness weakens my already weak resolve further and makes me crave high-GI stuff. Same goes for other stressors.. an interesting game to play with yourself is when you feel the "need" to eat, ask yourself whether this is stemming from a physical emptyness in your stomach or "something else" - if it's the latter you don't need food and are instead being driven to eat for some other reason; such as boredom or depression..

Anyway, HTH - good luck ;)
 
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Gazjacko

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you’re in balance with your intake and output so the whole ‘lose weight’ thing has ground to a halt. Remember fat doesn’t weigh as much as muscle, but if your body fat is constant ( use ‘fat scales’ and take the results as a reference but only to trends not actual scorers they are notoriously inaccurate) I’d be trying to kick start your body to target fat burning, and break your diet routine.
So my advice, for what it’s worth, would be to go onto 5+2 for a while to challenge your body with really low intake days. Careful of your exercise levels on the fasting days, and concentrate on training your body to ignore the hunger cravings, distraction techniques worked for me during massive steroid (medical) induced sugar cravings. You already recognise water can stave off hunger, but once your body realises it has to find new metabolism paths for your day to day output energy, that maybe enough to process any healthy food intake whatever you choose, even maybe a complete vegan day.
Good luck with your efforts and remember healthy is better than skinny.
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
I'm 5'5" with waist 31/32" and my weight varies between 153 to 155lbs so we are pretty similar. Most people think I look OK in weight and body shape. For me if I hit your target of 144lbs I would look gaunt and be skin and bone. I'm 66. When my weight does go up to 157 I immediately feel it on my waist, I don't need scales to tell me! I feel my body shape is fine and it doesn't sound as though you have much of a problem.

From what you've posted you are carrying more belly fat than you would like? The body lays down excess calories as fat to use for energy when it's not given adequate fuel. This fat always goes to the waist first. To avoid this fat storage learn what fuel (calories) your body requires to provide the energy for a day. Eat to this level or slightly below and your body will stop storing excess calories because it "knows" the fuel will always be provided.

My impression is you don't really know the calorific value of or the type of food you're eating. You spoke of a "balanced meal." What does this mean? A friend, well qualified in these areas, took one look at my food diary and said "You're like many people, you think you're eating a good diet." I was, she told me so, but I was eating the wrong foods in unknown quantities to feed my daily activity. Once I understood this and put it in to practice I achieved gradual weight loss and find it easy to maintain - provided I limit alcohol and confectionery!! Understanding the value to your body of the calories you're giving it is key to weight loss and maintaining it.

You may be eating too much processed food, easily done with three children and probably always pushed for time.

On the basis of your post if you shift 4-5lbs you will see the body shape you want.

Last thing. You don't mention fluids. Hunger is often actually thirst. Make sure you drink two or three litres of water daily.
 
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cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
im same height and about the same weight , 30 waist but the wrong side of 50 :sad:
I have a manual job so im probably carrying more muscle and i cycle commute 10 miles each way then today will be a club ride 50 + , on top of that i do a couple of bodyweight sessions a week press ups, pul ups. abs legs etc .
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
Sounds from @cyberknight like I need to up my exercise to drop 2inches off my waist.

@Gazjacko and @PaulSB very informative posts and a lot to think about. Thank you.
heres todays photo of me mid frame skin headas you can see i could do with losing a bit as the last few weeks have been very stressful so i have been hitting the cake and booze as a comfort im afraid to say and only commuting .im more happy around 150 llbs
1594557891743.png
 

curzons246

Veteran
Location
derbyshire
"Careful of your exercise levels on the fasting days". I'd be really interested on your advice re my diet on exercise days. My wife and I are doing the blood sugar 8 week diet. The effects are really exciting. Her blood sugar control has not been as good in 20 years and I'm 15lbs lighter all in 28 days. My concern comes on cycling days. I am 61 and now 18st 11 1/4 . I normally cycle 50 miles at 14mph twice a week. Strava says I burn 2000 cals. I fuel this by adding jam to my porridge and eat half a sorren loaf on my ride. Is this the best way to go about it. Cheers Bill.
 
Location
Gatley
I'm around 65kg and its taken some time to get there - I'm now 42; I've had to do it by calorie counting (I know lots of people on here dismiss it, but its the only thing that's worked for me).

What has shocked me is how few calories I actually need; I have a desk job and on days when I don't do any workouts I reckon I only need about 1000 calories - on days when I do workouts (most days) I'm doing 2 - 3 hours of a mix of running, cycling, swimming and strength; and then I can eat 1600-2000 calories and stay at a roughly stable weight.

I've been tracking my weight and calorie intake/expenditure for about 8 years now so have a reasonable picture of what's going on; I've varied my macro nutrients to try low carb but found that it only really had a short term impact (suspect due to water retention) and then I settled down to eating roughly the same number of calories to maintain my weight - although I did/do find that the less carbs I eat the less time I spend feeling hungry (even if I'm eating the same no of calories...)
 
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