Weightloss seems stagnant despite much efforts

Question

I've been following a random weightloss/fitness plan since January 1st and it seemed to be working. I started with 236 lbs and by the first week of February, my weight fluctuated around 215 lbs. I also lost about 6 inches off my waist. My weight goal is 175 lbs.

Previous Regimen

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs and a juice blend (I blend them myself: a tablespoon scoop of whey protein, spinach, grapes, strawberry, and blueberries with orange juice) on M/W/F, cereal (the ones with fiber and raisins) on Tue/Thur. Weekend breakfast revolves around these as well. Eating breakfast was not a daily activity until I started the program.
Lunch: This varies, but it revolves around brown rice or sandwiches. While the calorie content isn't always known (for the rice), I try to keep it under 600 calories.
Dinner: It varies around salad (romaine, raisins, lettuce, honey mustard sauce with about one tablespoon of cooked chicken) or brown rice / cereal; small portions used as well.
Snacks: Apples and nuts; I'm usually not hungry. I indulged in some hamburgers twice in that period.

Exercise: 30 - 45 mins of Insanity videos every week morning. On weekends, I played (sometimes) tennis, soccer, or dumbbell lifting (25 lbs each) and crunches for about an hour or two.

I followed that program until about 3 weeks when I heard about Strong Lift and read about being fit and strong. By this time, I had already lost 20 pounds.

My current regimen

Diet is still the same (with minor adjustment such as eating chicken wraps for lunch/dinner or skipping dinner when full).

Exercise: This has significantly improved.
On weekdays, I start the day with 3 exercises for 15 mins: pushups, v-rollups, chair dips. Then, I have a 30 mins Insanity workout (Insanity Abs and P90X Abs on Mondays/Fridays, any other cardio on other days).
In the evenings,

• On Mon/Wed/Fri, I do 3X5 weight-squat, deadlift, and bench press (current weight is 90 lbs). Then, I perform some non-traditional workouts such as pushing heavy items (about 80-100 lbs) for about 15-20 mins and abs strengthening workout (lying on the ground, putting two 70 lbs on my stomach for about 5-10 mins). Basically, I try to do as much strength exercises as possible for about an hour and half.
• Tue/Thur are for cardio; Insanity videos and P90X are used; I add abs workout to the mix sometimes.
• Saturday is a free-for-all when I try to do as much of everything as possible
• Sunday's a free day when I don't have to workout; however, I might do some bicep or abs workout if I want
• I also carry a 35lbs dumbbell to work that I lift during traffic; I perform some crunches on my desk whenever possible, and even some more pushups.

My goal isn't to lose weight anymore; it's to have an athlete's body: strong, fast, and flexible.

I'm seeing more changes to my body as it's becoming more taut; I'm having more energy to do daily activities and such. However, it seems that it's not reflecting on the scales. Since the time I started the new regimen, I've only lost about 3lbs and about 0.5 inches (in 3 weeks!). It's a little depressing because I still want the scales to go down.

I seemed to lose more weight when I wasn't doing heavy exercises than now.

Am I doing something wrong that's reducing the amount of weight lost? Body exhaustion? Is there any reason my body would be trying to conserve its fat?

BTW, I don't really feel exhausted at night; body soreness usually lasts for a few mins.

I believe I'm exercising and eating right; however, the scales have stopped showing the results and although I'm looking and feeling better, I'm still not seeing as much result as I would have loved (I still have some pouch that's got to go).

Answer 1

You are doing a *&$%@-ton of exercise and barely eating anything. Where's the protein? Where's the rest and recovery to let your body change in response to the many stimuli that you're giving it?

But more importantly, be aware: you can't focus on scale weight while you're doing strength work. Muscle weighs more than fat.

You seem to be throwing everything at the wall and hoping something will stick. Maybe you feel like you need to do it all today, right now? You don't. You can do fewer things, focus on them, do them harder and heavier. Doing more things means you can't go as hard, heavy, or intense with the things that are really productive.

I would try doing less. Pick a few things--StrongLifts plus daily Insanity maybe?--and just do those. Stop lifting dumbbells in your car. Stop doing weird odd-object stuff after your lifting session. Stop preceding your Insanity workouts with calisthenics. Drop all these extras and try to do a better job at the fundamentals: hard, heavy lifting (squat, bench, deadlift, pull-ups) and hard, intense cardio.