Body Fat just won't come off anymore...

[thatjeepkid]

I'm new here, and semi-new to the serious training scene. It's hard to find reliable info on this type of stuff, but I figured that you guys would have some reliable experience and/or insight. I'm a junior in college, 6'2" and 180. I've never been big, nor small...just pretty average, and average sucks. I packed on the pounds my freshman year, tipped the scales at 220. Went on a serious cut and lost about 60 pounds; was fairly trim, but lost a lot of muscle too. Over the past year or so, I kinda got out of training for various reason, but this year I decided to hit the gym hard. It's been about 3 months now, and I took off a good bit of fat (down to about 9% now) as well as recovered a lot of mass that I had lost.
Here's my issue: I really want to get cut, down to like 5-6% BF, but I can't seem to lose any more. I tried upping cardio (was doing over 90 mins per day) but I just lost muscle mass. Tried really restricting my diet, but my workout intensity suffered. Nothing seems to really work.
Now I know I'm not a veteran of the sport by any means, but it just seems to me that there's something I'm overlooking. I know some of you are proponents of the cardio=devil philosophy, and I'm game to try that to bulk up for sure, but my primary concern is first off losing the rest of this fat.
Being in college and working a job, I dont have too much flexibility in my training times or eating habits, but i try to eat every ~3 hours, put down about 2-3 protein shakes a day, and have started using some caffeine/tea supplements as well as NO/caffeine. Near as I can tell, my diet breaks down to about 50% carbs, 40% protein, 10% fat. I lift most every day and run/cycle beforehand for about 30 mins. Chest/tri's, back/bi's, legs/shoulders, repeat in that pattern, usually taking one day a week off for total recovery.
Is this good/bad? Anything that screams out 'don't do that you idiot!' or that I clearly need to change? What diet changes should I consider? My goals by May are to put on about 10-15 pounds of muscle, as well as drop my fat % a few more percentage points. Is this even doable?
Thanks for reading through all this and any criticism,
Ben

[OCCFan023]

My goals by May are to put on about 10-15 pounds of muscle, as well as drop my fat % a few more percentage points. Is this even doable?
Thanks for reading through all this and any criticism,
Ben

Um my biggest suggestion would be to choose a side, either cut or bulk. Putting on 10-15 pounds of musle and drop bf % is the dream, but very hard expecially when you dont have optimal time and a perfect diet. I think you should focus on one goal (cut now, bulk later or vice versa). Once you have a goal you can focus in on a diet that will accomplish your goals (espeically if you cutting 60% carbs is alot).

[thatjeepkid]

Well initially I was set on getting to my desired bf%, but I've kinda plateau'ed and gotten stuck at this situation. After the cut, I intend to bulk up slowly to retain the low fat level while adding in the lean mass. That's not as important to me at this stage as the cut is, so in that sense, I've picked my side. I apologize if that wasn't really clear in my original post.
So knowing that, is there anything you can suggest diet/training/supplement wise to help break the plateau and take off the last bit of fat?

[OCCFan023]

I think first you should post a typical day of how you eat, and this way we can see where your at and help you reconstruct it to fit your goals. To get that lat bf% off your gonna have to be really dedicated and get a set diet down, diet is the biggest thing and probably what your overlooking.

post your diet and that will be step 1 in getting your goal!

[thatjeepkid]

usually get up at 830-845, take a 25g protein shake with skim milk
on the way out the door at 9-915 i have an apple or 2 pieces of rye/wheat toast
also pop some ripped fuel (220 mg caffeine w/ EGCG)
noonish i have a turkey or tuna sandwich on wheat with some veggies, no condiments
3pm i have another protein shake with skim milk and 2nd dose of caffeine/egcg, just started a regimen of Nitric Oxide from MHP that i take at this time as well.
530 ill have another shake or a protein bar, depending on whats available
6-730 i'm at the gym.
when i get back home its about 8pm, i usually make chicken and rice, or rice and beans, some form of carbs for recovery as well as a protein source.
before bed at about 1030 ill have a shake or some form of protein like a can of tuna.

This is just based off of the fact that i understood that carbs after about 1pm were bad for cutting periods, but they were ok as recovery food. I down about 1-1.5 gallons of water daily, and try to eat on 3hr intervals, but with varying class times, labs, work, etc its never 100% accurate. I'm also not a great cook, so most meals are simple and low-ingredient. Meats are grilled, veggies and/or fruits are usually raw for snacks, and rice/pasta is a college staple. All my shakes are mixed with skim milk. Everything in general is lean/low fat.

[OCCFan023]

diet looks pretty solid to me. The only suggestion I would make is try and limit carb sources on the meals other than breakfast and pre and post workout. I would suggest trying ot have oatmeal with your shake in the morning (also is it possible to have some whole food like egg whites instead of the shake, whole foods will help bump your metabolism for the day). Also at lunch maybe try having a salad with some healthy fats (almonds or olive oil or flaax seed caps) with your chicken or tuna... And I would suggest cutting out the protein bar before working out, especially if your doing cardio, bars are great for bulking and maintaining (once in a while) but on a cut I would try to cut them out (unless its an emergency). 9% is pretty low so its gonna take some hard work to get down to 5-6% but with hard work and really sticking to a clean diet you will see it happen.


Overall if there is anything you change I would just suggest switching the meal 1 shake to whole foods (like egg whites and oatmeal) instead of whey and skim milk

[berserker]

Plateaus are your body's way of telling you it's adapted to what you are throwing at it. Time for a change.

You might try a timed ketogenic diet (low CHO, except adding carbs pre- and post-workout), a cyclic ketogenic diet (Dinoiii has a revised version of Body Opus defined in the articles section which he used to cut from 9% to 6%).

[dinoiii]

Rapid-Fire points:

1. 10% of the diet from fat is too LOW! while this may sound counterintuitive, long-gone is the day and age where the mantra of fat making you fat reigns supreme.

2. Cardio is the devil! ;) Ok, so perhaps not in full-fledged horns and all. If you really plan proper omission of "cardio" (read: aerobic hamster-wheel activity), the true way to do it is with careful planning of anaerobic activity. One thing I may try if I were you is to NOT couple the workouts the way you do. Chest/Tris for instance overtrains tris (assuming the prototypical workouts of the average gym-goer for both body parts). Back/Bis for instance overtrains bis (same assumptions made). Re-organize into antagonistic training - Chest/Back, Bis/Tris and you could even stand to have back + chest on their own days due to necessary volume requirements with these two particular larger muscle groups.

3. While cardio is the devil, pasta (for the average, non-exogenous using college student) is very much the evil sister (hmmm, I wonder). Omit pasta and go sparingly on rice.

4. Add nuts (with omission of cashews due to macrnutrient profile)....in order of top 3:
A. walnuts
B. pecans
C. almonds
for various reasons I have listed in previous threads.

5. what kind of bread are you using for your sandwhich - and are you using prototypical luncheon meat???

While many people aren't truly capable of going the low-carb or even cyclic route in the diet realm....a more favorable macronutrient profile should benefit your goals.

Good luck.

Will continue to follow this thread and watch what you choose.

[TheKoos]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 9% pretty cut allready and won't 5-6% be VERY hard to maintain?

[dinoiii]

Hey Koos, what's up...



9% looks different on different people (not kidding). Some may actually even get to 6% and still not look "cut."



Is it hard to maintain? Y-E-S you are 100% correct. Unfortunately, such is life in body composition without exogenous aid.