Weight loss advice - diminished returns with HIIT

[ThomasAG]

Hi guys,

Looking for a bit of advice from someone experienced.

So in August 2009 I was 96kg (22.2kg BF) and decided to lose some weight.

This is what I've been doing:

HIIT - Running on treadmill (3-4 times a week)
Doing it on a treadmill so I can monitor my performance. Always try to best myself each time. I do 1min flat out, 2min jog per cycle. Started with 3 cycles on a low incline up to 6 cycles. Now i'm running on a high incline at 5 cycles.

Diet
Try to eat a minimum of 4 meals a day. Sometimes I hit 5 or 6. I am for 60% protein, 30% carbs, 10% fat. Typical day is:

Breakfast: Small bowl of cereal, 2 eggs & Black coffee
Mid: Small salad and 100g ham/chicken
Lunch: Small salad, 150g ham/chicken, slice of wholemeal bread
Mid: Couple of eggs (or protein shake) and an apple
Supper: Small bowl of stew or other low-fat hot meal.

My goal: Get to 10% body fat before growing muscle (i.e. I'll start weigth trianing when I can SEE my 6-pack).

My progress: 96kg(23% BF) -> 86kg (18% BF) in 3 months.

My question(s)! (Hope you can help):

Is it actually possible for me to get to 10% body fat the way i'm going now?
I'm just wondering how long its going to be before I start getting diminished returns. Is it the case that if my body burns more than it uses I'll manage to get below 10% BF? or will the food im eating and the exercise im doing likely take me to a certain point and then maintain that weight only.

Many Thanks,

Andrew

 

[stroutman81]

Couple of comments:

1. Depending on your conditioning and ability, 3-4 sessions of HIIT per week could be overkill. True HIIT is very intense on your body, systemically. I suppose if you're not lifting weights you'll be fine. But you might want to vary intensity a bit.

2. Your diet seems pretty lacking. Two servings of veggies per day just isn't great. Try bumping up your fibrous veggie intake a bit.

3. Basing macronutrient intake off of percentages can be misleading. For example, you want to be shooting for .8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (lbm if you're carrying a lot of fat). Using percentages doesn't tell you if you're meeting that target or not as 60% of 2000 is much different than 60% of 4000.

4. If you don't change the stress you place on your body, sure you'll stall. For instance... calorie maintenance (the point where you eat as many calories as your body expends) can be reasonably estimated at 14-16 calories per pound. So if you start out by eating 12 calories per pound (in order to establish a deficit), this might lead to a 25 lbs weight loss over some period of time.

Suppose you were 200 lbs.

When you started, 15 calories per pound was 3000.

Now that you've lost a decent chunk of weight, 15 calories per pound is 2600ish calories.

This should make it evident that if you don't adjust your intake as you lose weight, you'll eventually turn what was eventually a calorie deficit into calorie maintenance.

Follow that?

5. Waiting to lift weights until after you lose fat is flawed thinking. Read the stickies to figure out why. For starters though, resistance training provides a strong stimulus to preserve lean tissue while you diet. Remember, you're not doing this to lose weight. You're doing this to look and feel better and that takes a balanced approach.