Carb Nite Plateau

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  • #454300

    Mark Jenkins
    Participant

    Hi Guys

    I’ve been on carb nite for about 10 weeks now and I seem to have hit a wall! I’m male and 23 years old.

    I’ve been monitoring my weight and body fat using the scales I have which measure body fat. I’m aware that these may not be completely accurate but mainly use them to make sure I’m going in the right direction.

    I started at 195 pounds and 20.2% body fat and over the first 8 weeks I dropped to 180 pounds and 17.8% body fat but have made no progress over the past 2 weeks.

    The first week that I didn’t lose any fat I thought I’d overeaten on my carb nite because (as always) my weight and fat reading went up the day after but then didnt reduce at the rate it usually does. I reduced the carb intake the next week and didn’t have as big an increase in weight but still haven’t managed to drop below the 180 pounds and 17.8% body fat mark.

    I try to make sure I eat enough fat on ULC days and suplement with MCT but I’m still not making any progress.

    I’m also following the Shockwave Protocol and have been weight training for the past 4 years.

    Hopefully someone can give me some pointers and let me know if I’m going wrong anywhere. I have included my daily routine below.

    Thanks for any help or advice you guys have!

    06.00 – Get up and have black coffee
    07.00 – Gym for about 1 hour
    09.00 – Post workout shake (20g whey isolate, 10g MCT, 5g leucine, 5g creatine)
    11.00 – Coffee with 10g MCT
    13.00 – Lunch (1 can tuna or 1 chicken breats, cheese, salad, olive oil)
    15.00 – Snack (Handful of almonds or brazil nuts or some meat such as ham)
    18.00 – Dinner (Chicken, steak or fish cooked in coconut oil with broccoli, brussel sprouts or asparagus and butter)
    21.00 – Snack (only if I’m hungry. Nuts or meat)

    Carb Nite will start with a couple of cookies or something about 4pm, main meal with sweet potatoes, rice or pizza at 6pm and then something later like a couple of pastries or some pie.

    • This topic was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Mark Jenkins.
    #454313

    Makoto Tomizawa
    Participant

    First of all, awesome progress in 8 weeks!
    What are your macros like on ULC days? Obiously your TDEE is going to change as you lose weight.
    How about managing stress? Could be inflammation. Could be a long-ass water retention. It can be a lot of different things, but for start, I’d look at your overall calories for the week.

    Training Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vuwHRdBaPVILxxLhXly_N1Ys66Hcwk4j-bM7nvKSLrI/edit?usp=sharing

    #454317

    Mark Jenkins
    Participant

    Thanks for the reply! I really appreciate it.

    I haven’t really been tracking calories, I didn’t think I had to?

    Ive been eating to control hunger and making sure I get about 0.5g of fat per 1g of protein as Kiefer recommended in one of his videos.

    I dont think it’s stress related although I only started the creatine recently which could increase my water retention I think? But Kiefer also heavily recommends creatine…

    What do you think?

    #454556

    Makoto Tomizawa
    Participant

    I know Kiefer says that calorie counting isn’t needed, but there’s still no question to how energy surplus/deficit results in mass gain/loss. It’s especially easy to overeat on an ULC plan, so having a rough estimate of your calorie expenditure and how much you’re eating is probably important. At least counting how much of what macros you’re getting would be good.

    0.5 g fat for every 1 g of protein is fine, as long as you’re eating enough and not feeling like crap. Do you have any idea on how much protein/fats you’re getting?

    Creatine is good, especially since you’re lifting. It might cause some water retention, but if you’re regularly taking them it shouldn’t be an issue. I was talking more about cortisol/stress related water retention or stall in fat loss. Are you getting enough sleep?

    Some people stall on nuts/cheese. Maybe you could try taking one of those things out and see if it changes anything? Just a thought.

    Training Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vuwHRdBaPVILxxLhXly_N1Ys66Hcwk4j-bM7nvKSLrI/edit?usp=sharing

    #454559

    Brandon D Christ
    Participant

    Creatine can actually add up to 5 lbs of water weight. That being said, I actually think you’ve been progressing quite well. You can determine your calorie intake and make adjustments as needed like what MT mentioned.

    I would be careful with nuts. They are very easy to overeat.

    #454560

    Robert Haas
    Participant

    I agree on tracking macros & total calories just to see where you are at. @23 you should be gaining muscle if your training is on point and adding little or losing fat if your macros are right if that is your goal. Cardio seams to be taboo around here but when I hit a plateau, HIIT training a few days a week works very well for me.
    If all else fails I’d switch up to CBL. Enzymes fuel metabolism, food fuels enzymes. Maybe you aren’t eating enough for your activity level. Check the training journals. Quite a few have figured that out.

    The eyes can't see what the mind doesn't understand.

    #454561

    Mark Jenkins
    Participant

    Thanks for all of the info guys!

    I’ve worked out macros for a typical day and it works out about 180g Protein, 110g Fat and 14g Carbs.

    Now that I’ve worked that out it seems a bit low? Could it be that I’m not eating enough? I’m training fairly hard 5 days a week and doing 2 40min HIIT sessions.

    Thoughts?

    #454596

    Brandon D Christ
    Participant

    You need to determine you caloric load for Carb Nite because that matters as well. Right now, you are just above 9 calories per pound, which is low, but you may be making up a good bit of calories on Carb Nite.

    I’ve always felt 10 calories per pound is good for fat loss until you get to around 15%. At that point you will need to eat more since the fat loss will be slower and you don’t have the excess stored energy (body fat) anymore.

    Then again, with the amount of training you are doing, you may need more.

    #454819

    Robert Haas
    Participant

    Two 40 minute HIIT sessions? IMO that’s a bit much. Try 20 minutes at a higher intensity. What I do is 1 minute all out as fast and hard as I can go, then rest for two minutes…repeat. As I progress I’ll go 2 minutes all out the 1 minute rest. By rest I mean at a slow pace to bring heart rate back down. At the end of 20 minutes you should be depleted enough. The problem with going longer is at some point you start building up high levels of cortisol and then you burn off that hard gained muscle you are working for. The excessive time doing cardio has a counter productive effect on metabolism as well.

    The eyes can't see what the mind doesn't understand.

    #455500

    Mark Jenkins
    Participant

    I’m just using the suggested HIIT cycles in the Shockwave Protocol. 4min30sec low intensity then 30sec full intensity for 6 cycles and a 5 min cool down.

    Had another carb nite last night so I’ll see if I make any progress this week.

    I really appreciate all of the advice on here. I got way more responses than I expected so thank you.

    I’ll post back in a couple of days and see if I’ve made any progress.

    Thanks again guys!

    #473942

    Anonymous
    Inactive

    What are macros?

    #475957

    Abraham
    Guest

    From what I understand from Kiefer; if you are doing carbnite to drop body-fat and platou-ing then simply make sure you are eating more fats then proteins. This was explained in a couple of bodyio articles

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