I’ve been trying to lose weight and improve my physical appearance for a long time. I’ve been largely successful…when I started some 18 months ago, I was 330 and I now weigh in at about 230 on a 6’1" good-sized frame. I figure I want to lose about 20 more lbs or so, maybe 30 (oh, it’d be sweet to weigh 199!). I’m quite physically active, I do cardio (running) about 5 days a week for about 35-40 minutes at a time at a good brisk pace. I eat well and balanced, I avoid worthless simple carbs like white flour and sugar, and I know I get enough protein. Problem is, I seem to have plateaued. I’ve been stagnant for the last month or so at 230, and I’m not sure what I need to do. My diet is spot-on and wired in…I eat regularly, good clean food, and not too much by any means, probably about 2000-2200 calories a day. so I’ve been thinking of upping my cardio to twice a day. Get up at 6:30 and slog out some cardio and then again at around 5:00 when I get home from work. Will I be overdoing it? I know I"m in really good shape, so technically I think I should be able to replenish the glycogen to my muscles during the 8 hours I’m at work…I just want to amp up my metabolism. Any thoughts, anyone? I’d appreciate it!
I know you may not want to hear it, but 30-40 min a day is not all that much. So twice a day for at least 45min a shot or just for a longer period once a day. Your choice.
Bottome line, you’ll need to kick up the cardio and think about dropping the caloric intake to 1800 - 2000 per day.
Actually, as opposed to twice a day cardio, I would keep the once a day cardio and add in every other day weight training. Increase your muscle mass and you’ll burn more calories just from sitting around. Also, you’ll have some nice new muscles to show off. 
Don’t neglect the muscle building. Muscles will give you a higher basal metabolic rate which will cause you to burn more calories in general, even when you’re at rest.
Don’t get too hung up on the scale number. Your body weight is really the least accurate measurement of fat loss. You’d do better to get yourself a tape measure and a set of skin fold calipers. Measure yourself so you can see if your waist is shrinking. Use the calipers and figure out your body fat %. Pay attention to the measurements and body fat % more than the scale number.
Buy a pair of jeans in the size you’d like to be and try them on every week. You may see size progress even when the scale number is static.
Congratulations on losing 100 lbs! That’s mighty impressive and you deserve to be proud.
Do we have before and after pics? I’m currently in need of some weight loss inspiration myself.
I’m going to agree with alice here. I am not a physical trainer, but it may just be that you need a change in routine. I would add in some weight training and possibly switch up the type of cardio you do. Maybe add in some biking or something.
Oh, another thing…
Mix it up. Cross train. Run, bike, racquet sports, even swim. Human bodies are tricky bastards. They adapt and resist change. Ya gotta keep em challenged.
Weight training is good but not the silver bullet. You can maintain good muscle mass by simply lifting your own body weight with pushups, dips and chin-ups. Multiple sets of each. I know lots of people who can bench their own weight and more but can’t do a set of 50 pushups. And don’t neglect your core/abs.
Good luck and well done so far.
Yeah, I’ll add my congratulations as well. 100 lbs. That’s awesome.
Add muscle mass, as already mentioned. Muscle burns calories. It’s why men can manage weight easier than women.
…but before thinking you need to do twice as much, I’d say you might want to just try adding variety. Do morings 1/2 the time and evenings the other half. Spend 30 minutes swimming laps (if you don’t already) and then see how “in shape” you feel.
I can ride a bke 50 miles and not break a sweat, but when it comes to doing something I’m not used to, I get exhausted easily 'cause my body isn’t use to the variety (something I’m working on)… Ok, that’s my thoughts.
Good luck w/ the rest!
I actually started lifting weights at Gold’s two weeks ago (I finally got clearance to do so following a motorcycle accident in February that left me with a shattered arm…but I’m I’ll better now!) …I’ve done a lot of it in the past, so I know what I’m doing in that regard. Sounds like I won’t be doing anything bad in doing it twice a day, so I think thats the road I’m headed. Thanks for all the responses. I unfortunately dont have a before pic (yeah, I pretty much avoided the lens when I was that portly). Thanks again!
As an interesting but related side note, my daughter is working with identical twin sisters who are part of a study on the effectiveness of different types of cardio training. I have no idea who’s studying them or any other details of the study but here’s what I do know:
One sister is doing low intensity endurance training. Jogging.
The other sister is doing high intensity interval training in the form of something they’re calling sprint training.
They’re both eating the same amount and types of food yet the sister doing the high intensity sprint training is losing weight faster.
My daughter has started doing the sprint training with her friend and has started losing weight too. (The sprint training is sprint 50 yards, walk back X 10 then hit the floor for 50 crunches. 3 repetitions of that routine 4 days a week)
Bill Phillips in Body for Life claims that 20 minutes of high intensity interval training is much more effective for fat loss than 40 minutes of low intensity cardio.