Thread: Not sure what im doing wrong...

Hi lads, been cutting for 4 weeks now.

Was 85kg @ 20% fat and now currently 82.6kg @ 19.2% ???

So i've lossed apparently 1.3kg of muscle over 4 weeks and hardly lost any fat. This is the first time i've tried to cut properly, im eating very well. sticking to my diet (although i am finding weekends hard), not using cardio yet as the diet is still making me lose weight slowly. My training hasnt slipped in any way.

Im getting very upset because ive tried to do the best i can this time and im not seeing good results. any words of advice? Anyone been in the same boat?

Post your meals up. Lets check out what your eating :)

Possibly dropped your cals too quickly?

How are you measuring your bf%?

Diet is:

7am: Oats with milk / 30g proflex & teaspoon flax seed oil

10am: 195g Tuna with Salad

12:30pm: 100g chicken w/ 1 cup cooked rice

3pm: 30g proflex and milk

PWO shake: 30g proflex and milk

8pm: 200g steak and veges (sweet potato / brocolli etc)

Scottie, been using the scales - it might not be correct that i started with 20%, but it doesnt matter really - just wanted to see the difference in figures aftetr 4 weeks.

Originally Posted by Eldubb

Diet is:

7am: Oats with milk / 30g proflex & teaspoon flax seed oil - What serving of Oats?

10am: 195g Tuna with Salad - any oil or dressing?, could add some nuts

12:30pm: 100g chicken w/ 1 cup cooked rice Bump up to 200 grams and add some greens

3pm: 30g proflex and milk - maybe add some real food, chicken/rice/nuts

PWO shake: 30g proflex and milk - any carbs in that shake?, any pwo glutamine?

8pm: 200g steak and veges (sweet potato / brocolli etc)

Where is your next meal?!, 10pm - 1030pm eg cottage cheese, eggs etc

Scottie, been using the scales - it might not be correct that i started with 20%, but it doesnt matter really - just wanted to see the difference in figures aftetr 4 weeks.

What supps are you taking, vitamins etc

I would change 3pm meal to something solid.. You cant live of shakes for 7 hours..

Agree with this... ^^^^
Something more solid would do you good for the 3pm meal...

Ao for the scales, they're useless mate... You'll find that they will be all over the place and hardly something you can rely on to keep your spirits up...
If you're eating enough protein and you're still only loosing 500g or slightly more per week then you won't be loosing too much, if any, muscle...
Stick at it mate, looks like you're on the right track..

For the morning, what type of milk are you having with your oats? Have Non fat milk. So it should look like this;

7 am – Oats, no fat milk, 30g of Proflex, and Flax seed oil

10am – Is good;
Tuna with Salad

12:30pm – Do what Ljk23 said - and add some flax seed oil;
200 Grams of chicken, Vegies, and Flax seed oil

Meal 4 – Just like what Ljk23 said;
Brown rice, Vegies, and some type of protein (Chicken, turkey, steak etc)

Meal 5 – PWO shake – chuck in some oats, and use non fat milk

Meal 6 – Is good;
200 grams of Steak, Vegies, and sweet potato

Have a Meal 7 – Before bed. – Cottage cheese, a few boiled eggs, and some Flax seed oil

lads, thanks for the feedback but dont forget im on a cut...my maintain level is around 2400 calories per day and this diet im on is roughly 1800 calories so i thought it was ok. Im not losing weight too quickly - so to add more protein / carbs to my diet i dont think i would lose anything to be honest.

I use skim milk. 3pm i could have a homemade protein bar with oats, hows that sound. no meal after dinner as it was the first meal to go after i wasnt losing any weight.

Supplements i think might be a factor as i dont take......anything.....

scottie, you sure the scales are crazy? I thought they were out but always consistent with body fat readings...

Have something similar to your 12.30 meal at 3pm... You will burn the carbs during your workout anyway, so it shouldn't worry you too much...
You post workout shake should be with water... IMO almost all dairy should be cut out when cutting...
If you want to go down the supps path, nothing more than a good mutli-vitamin and protein powder is necessary at this stage for you...

Scales will be relitively accurate for taking weight measurements, but bf% is another story... I've used some in the past that have said 17% at first and then a few hours later after some meals and fluid intake they say 22%....
Only way to get accurate bf% measurements is thorugh something like a dexa scan or bodpod scan...
Alternitavely, calipers can be a good way to track progress, so long as you have the same calipers and the same person doing the readings each time you test...

I'd say ur bf measurements are likely wrong. not saying this diet cannot be improved, but cutting from 20% to 15% should be a piece of cake with no LBM loss even on an avg diet

Originally Posted by Eldubb

Diet is:

7am: Oats with milk / 30g proflex & teaspoon flax seed oil

10am: 195g Tuna with Salad

12:30pm: 100g chicken w/ 1 cup cooked rice

3pm: 30g proflex and milk

PWO shake: 30g proflex and milk

8pm: 200g steak and veges (sweet potato / brocolli etc)

Scottie, been using the scales - it might not be correct that i started with 20%, but it doesnt matter really - just wanted to see the difference in figures aftetr 4 weeks.

Ok, i'll make some adjustments to the diet and buy some calipers. I hope the body fat% reading is wrong....

Originally Posted by Eldubb

So i've lossed apparently 1.3kg of muscle over 4 weeks and hardly lost any fat.

Was there a considerable change in the carbs you were eating? If you dropped your carbs than the loss could/should be fluid.

Get rid of the flax seed oil, it's no good. A better choice for EFAs would be fish oil and almonds.

Buy the callipers if you want, but personally I think you should save your cash and just use the mirror. Even with callipers if you don't measure the exact same spot for each measurement than new readings won't be an exact reflection of change compared to previous readings - the readings will also be influenced by fluid retention (to a degree).

Originally Posted by Shame

Was there a considerable change in the carbs you were eating? If you dropped your carbs than the loss could/should be fluid.

Get rid of the flax seed oil, it's no good. A better choice for EFAs would be fish oil and almonds.

Buy the callipers if you want, but personally I think you should save your cash and just use the mirror. Even with callipers if you don't measure the exact same spot for each measurement than new readings won't be an exact reflection of change compared to previous readings - the readings will also be influenced by fluid retention (to a degree).

Yeh im sure ive dropped a bit of fluid, I'll be glad to be rid of flax seed...swallowing that stuff every day isnt nice. just its cheaper than buying fish oil and almonds...