dead end in losing weight, asking for help

[ttiger]

Im hoping some of you have been in my situation, so I can get some decent help. I've been dieting for 6 months and I have lost 40 pounds, but I've lost significant stregth. I started off at a little over 285 in mid-March. I benched 320, and squatted 600. My goal was to achieve muscular defination; I wanted to get to 10% bf. I've lost track of all the diets Ive been on, but they included 2000 cals/day, low carb, and vegan. I have no idea why I am not completely shredded now. I am very active. I skateboard, swim, run, weightlift, and my diets have always excluded milk and sweets. I dont even remember the last time I ate something like pizza or anything sweet(besides fruit). I never eat fast food or junk food, even while not cutting. Before I started cutting, people always thought I was crazy for eating nothing but healthy food all the time. Anytime I start to lose weight, I quickly plateau and even though I increase activity, I stay at the same weight. What the heck is wrong with me. I'm discouraged because Ive lost wayy too much stregth and mass. Im just wasting my time at the gym. I went from benching 225 about 15 times to barely 4 times. Can someone please help? How can I lose 20 more pounds and gain some stregth in the process?

[SwoleCat]

You should pick a goal of either losing fat OR gaining muscle, one focus or the other.

Then, check out the relative "IMPORTANT" post atop the page for a good general guide.

~SC~

[diponyou]

man u need to start dinkin some fat freee milk,eatin some chicken and steak,and not try to eat like a 100 pound girl.your lost strength is most likely due to the fact that your body is malnurished and u jus aint getting the rite amount of protein along with other things.i dunno,thats jus what i think.

[*Narkissos*]

man u need to start dinkin some fat freee milk,eatin some chicken and steak,and not try to eat like a 100 pound girl.your lost strength is most likely due to the fact that your body is malnurished and u jus aint getting the rite amount of protein along with other things.i dunno,thats jus what i think.

lol @ 'not try to eat like a 100 pound girl'

But I agree.

You lost strength due to haphazard eating regimes.

What you need to do now is, as SC highlighted, decide what direction want to take your physique (whether bulk or cut) and get on a diet to facilitate said choice.

[*Narkissos*]

p.s. avoid fad diets.

You highlighted above that you've tried diet fads (vegan; 2k kcals per day; etc.)

Fads are just that...fads!

Here today...gone tomorrow...resurfacing when we're old and gray ...then disappearing again.

Physique building/reshaping/maintenance is a long-term project... fads are short term 'fixes'.

There's no room for short-term fixes in a long-term project.

[mrpower]

By eating low calories your body goes into starvation mode and hoards fat I'm going through that myself I was getting 2000 cals per day and couldn't understand why my fat wasn't coming off!! Eat good clean things keep your protein high and your metabolism will kick in, what I did by eating so little is slow my metabolism way down, give it a try what have you to lose at this point??

[SMYL_GR8]

The vegan thing is disastrous. IMHO, you can't get ALL your protein from soy, milk and whey shakes.

[SwoleCat]

Vegan and bodybuilding are oxymorons!!!!!

~SC~