And in breaking news, contrary to popular belief, ciabatta is a type of bread, not a a workout method. News at 11. Hey what’s up guys, it’s Scott. I just wanted to do a really quick check in today because I’m a little bit frustrated and I need your help. I’ve been super diligent about my nutrition this week, counting my calories and I even started working out. A couple of you had recommended that I try this new exercise routine called ciabatta. Ciabatta. Tabata. Tabata. So anyway, I have been doing Tabata exercises in the mornings and really feeling it throughout the day by the way, so thanks for that. I’ve also been really keeping track of my calories. I’ve been keeping them at around the 1500-1600 calorie range for the day which for a guy my size is pretty significantly small. I’ve limited my carbs most days so I’m staying around the 50-60 gram mark.
Not cutting it out completely but still keeping it within that range. I’m doing all these things that in the past have really helped me to lose weight and for some reason in the last couple of days, I have just stalled. There are a couple of things that might be contributing to it. The first thing is that I think it might just be a scale calibration issue. Normally my scale is pretty consistent. I’ll step on it 3 times and I’ll get the same value 3 times, but in the past couple of days I’ll step on it one time and get one value and then I’ll step on it another time and get a value that is like 3 pounds higher and then step on it a third time and get a value that is like a pound and a half lower. It’s really, really tough because I don’t know what to trust. I don’t know if the floor in my bathroom is just not level or if the scale is kind of on the fritz, but I think it’s safe to say that I have effectively stalled.
I haven’t really seen any weight loss in the past couple of days even though I am feeling better in general and I know that all of the inputs are right on. I know that plateauing is a natural part of weight loss and it’s to be expected, but I’m a little bit concerned because when I have plateaued in the past it was after a longer period of time and it was after a more significant amount of weight loss so this is definitely the earliest plateau that I have ever experienced and I’m not quite sure how to break through it.
There are a couple of things that I have been researching on the interwebs that might be able to help. The first solution that I’ve come across is something called calorie cycling, which as I understand it is just being a little more liberal with your calorie intake for a day so that your body doesn’t go into starvation mode. I’m also ready the 4 Hour Body. So Tim Ferris is a proponent of just complete and total debauchery for one day a week, which I don’t know if I’m comfortable doing, but same kind of principal. You know your body gets confused into thinking that you’re not in starvation mode but it’s the same kind of thinking. Basically you vary up your calorie intake for a limited period of time so your body doesn’t go into full fledged starvation mode.
The other advice I have gotten on the internet is completely contradictory – it’s on the other side of the equation. It’s something called interval fasting where for a period of about 24-36 hours you just don’t eat solid food at all. This is also supposed to reset your body so you kind of just bust through the plateau. So there’s a guy on YouTube by the name of John Calvo who went from super, super obese to actually being a pretty normal weight now and he used interval fasting or intermittent fasting as a way to kind of break through those plateaus. Obviously that one is a little bit harder to do, but if it’s effective, I am willing to try it. I know there are a lot of people who will say, don’t even look at the scale just go by the way your clothes fit. Go by the way you feel, but the problem with those things is that my OCD brain just cannot get myself to celebrate in those things. It’s going to be a while before my clothes start fitting any better, and to be honest I don’t know if my jeans are more comfortable because I have work them a couple of times without washing them or because I have actually lost some weight.
I definitely need a metric that is quantitative that can take on a daily or every other day basis that really gives me some sort of sense of how I’m performing and I feel like weight is the best way to accomplish that. Now that being said I am going to start doing things like taking measurements and measuring total inches lost on maybe a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly basis. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to see measurable results for that metric because it’s not something that I’ve been consistent about, but I do think that that’s a better metric overall.
Today I think what I’m going to do is ratchet up my calorie intake just a little bit. I’m at the 1500-1600 mark right now. My Fitness pay is saying that I should shoot for low 2000’s like 2100, something along those lines. Maybe I’ll push it to closer to 2000 and see what happens for today. That’s my plan for the day. If you guys have any other suggestions, please leave me a comment. I’d really love to know especially if you have any kind of research to back your opinion or your observation. That’s really good because the academic in me just wants to review all of that. If this is your first time watching one of these videos and you want to see if I’m able to power through this plateau in the future, go ahead and subscribe and you’ll get updates every time I post a new video. That’s it. I’ll read over the comments and hopefully I’ll have some positive results to share with you guys on my weight loss check in on Monday.
Alright, thanks guys. .
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