My reverse road to success?

[yovwmon]

Hi everyone,

I have a lot going through my head right now, so I put my fingers to the keyboard and hopefully I make sense of everything.

My situation:
I am 29yrs old, 210lbs, 5’11”, and around 25%bf. I eat clean 80% of the time, but refuse to give up everything, I’m not trying to compete, I just want to loose the belly. I normally eat around 2500 per day, and try to keep the carb intake around 30%. Over the last six months I have become very frustrated, no matter what I do I can’t stop packing on the fat.

My motivation returned a few months ago when I came across the NROL program. This book is amazing, it’s packed with new exercises and a great diet plan, and it seemed like the answer to my fat loss dilemma. I started with the Break In Program & Metabolic Overdrive and didn’t loose anything. Went to Fat Loss II, still nothing, but I got stronger and bigger. I am now working Fat Loss III and still haven’t lost a pound. I’m not taking a shot at the book this is by far the best program I have ever done, it’s me, my body is stubborn as hell.

My goal from day one has always been fat loss, I don’t want to be ripped to shreds, I just want to live like a normal person that works-out and looks good. I have been taking a lot of supplements (creatine, ephedrine, caffeine, No-Xplode, Muscle Milk, ON Whey Protein) that I don’t care to do the rest of my life, nor do I think I should need them to obtain my goals.

It’s really hard for me to grasp what I see in the mirror after doing all the above. I have a financial investment, a time investment, and emotional investment in all of this and I’m not seeing the returns I hoped for. Not to mention the amount of funny looks and pain Alwyn’s program inflicts.

I don’t want to be so conservative that I don’t eat anything containing sugar. I don’t want to be that guy that never has a casual drink, or doesn’t have a hotdog at the July 4th BBQ. There’s people that eat whatever they want and DON’T do squat, but somehow stay lean and muscular.

With that said, I’ve been thinking, maybe it’s not time to loose all this fat. Yes, I know 25%bf is way more than I want to be at, but maybe my body isn’t ready to loose it. Maybe my natural weight is closer to 205lbs, and maybe my goal to be 185ish is unrealistic. Maybe I should focus more on building muscle, enough to put me at 190ish without the fat, and maybe this will automatically eliminate the fat. Like I said above, I just want to look like someone that works-out as much as I do. I have done everything I can to modify my lifestyle and I couldn’t imagine doing much more.

I could really use some direction, because this road is taking me nowhere.

[EdChap]

If you're training hard and resting properly but still not getting results you need to sort out your diet.

In the end you have to make the choice between that casual drink and the body you want. No one will ever think less of you for having a glass of water instead of a beer, is having a chicken breast and vegetables so much worse than a chicken burger and fries?

[drs]

I've never done New Rules of Lifting but I trust it's a good workout given the source. Could you put anymore cardio into the regimen?

Look at the food and the timing and see if you can skim off 300-500 calories a day.

Post a day of activity and food and perhaps we could offer more advice.

[OldGuy]

List your diet, in detail.

[Lost Dog]

You don't have to give up those things for life. Shoot for 90% compliance.

Use fitday.com for a few days, then let us see it.

[Frank.S]

Cut out all the crap until you reach your goals. Then go from there IMO. Yes its going to be hard, but if you want it that badly it will happen.

Id try a new training plan and diet if your not getting results. Throw in cardio 5x a week too if you arnt already.

The supplements arnt neccesary (protien powder may be depending on diet).

[Lost Dog]

What Frank said. I've been stable at a certain weight for a long time and eaten junk periodically, but when trying to lose, I had to give it up for a while.

[mikez98072]

I lost 8 lbs over 5 months. I would eat fairly clean. I cut out sugar, but the real trick was to delete alcohol from my diet monday thru friday. I would only drink on the weekends. That really helped. I lost 2 inches in the waist and 4% body fat. I was also 25% body fat.

[GG300]

QUOTE"I don’t want to be so conservative that I don’t eat anything containing sugar. I don’t want to be that guy that never has a casual drink, or doesn’t have a hotdog at the July 4th BBQ. There’s people that eat whatever they want and DON’T do squat, but somehow stay lean and muscular."

It is definetly not easy to watch other people munch away on crap and drink anything they want and never gain a pound. You and I are not those people we have to approach eating and drinking with all the enthusiasm that you are approaching your workouts with. It is hard but the end result is definetely worth it. One suggestion I would make is that if you have not been measuring or weighing portions to try that. As I got closer to my weight loss goal I started to stall out as well that was when I started to check my portion size carefully. I was amazed at how many calories I was really eating when I was guessing at my portions. It is more work but I was eating at least an extra 500 cals a day before I started measuring and weighing things out. Good Luck and stay away from the processed stuff. You may want to check your supplements with someone that has a better take on that as well.

[gobbla]

do you keep a food log?