I've been cutting for almost 5 months. My goal was to make it to around 160. When i started i was kinda newbish in thinking i could do this by october. Right now, im losing at a rate of around 1lb every other week and sometimes less.

I feel like im fighting an uphill battle with genetics. My family is all pretty much very overweight on both sides. They dont eat to great, sure, but i feel like i am at a disposition. Is it possible that my goals my be being severely hindered by genetics?

I doubt it. You might have to be smarter about your training and nutrition however.

im not sure how much smarter i can be. With the exception of a cheat meal on saturdays im sticking strictly to my macronutrient ratio of 40/30/30 pro/fat/carb and eating 2300-2400 calories. cardio is 5-7 days a week and i just started a full-body 3 days a week changed over from a push/pull split.

I'm not like demotivated or anything and im not going to give up. I just want to make sure my expectations arent too high. It just seems like all this work should be doing something more. But i literally havent changed weight or BF% in the last month. I thought i had broke the plateau, but it seems it was a fluke, and i gained the 1lb that i lost back. I'm not obsessive about weight you know, i just want to feel like im making progress and i dont.

No worris, genetics may play a small role, but if you're doing everything right (like you are) then just keep at it. Keep in mind you haven't fully evaluated from the new full body you're doing. I would give it AT LEAST 8 weeks, more would be better, to evaluate everything completely.

so you think the difference between a push/pull split and a fullbody WO could be the one thing i needed to topple fat loss in the right direction, instead of straddling the fence and frustrating the heck out of me

Are you doing HIIT?

How is your carb intake? What kind of carbs and usuall times?

yes i do HIIT at least 3 times a week.

carbs are as follows
M1 : Oatmeal
M2 : no carbs
M3 : whole wheat wrap
M4 : apple
PWO : shake has about 14g with milk
M5 : peice of whole wheat bread or brown rice
M6 : no carbs

Cut out all breads/rice for veggies and only eat carbs for your first 3 meals. The only exception post workout.

Not a big fan of milk either it spikes insulin too much.

so i should swap out M2 and M4 and choose a different carb for M3? The bread in M5 is techincally post workout correct?

Maybe, actually i don't see much protein in your diet.

Bread is fine post workout.

Some simple suggestions:
-35-45g of protein in every meal
- Eat starchy carbs post workout only, MAYBE for breakfest (oats, breads, pototas, rice, pasta etc)
- Avoid carbs besides veggies later in the day.

The reason to avoid starchy carbs is due to insulin sensivity. You don't want big spikes in insulin to get lean and/or stay lean. Insulin will store fat in the wrong situations and if its too high.

that wasnt my diet. that was just my carbs. my diet is as follows

M1: oatmeal and shake
M2: peanuts or almonds
M3: grilled chicken wrap
M4: apple
PWO: shake
M5: grilled chicken salad or fish, veggie, and slice of bread
M6: cottage cheese

The problem is that 5 months of straight dieting is going to innevitably lead to a reduction of your RMR. 1 cheat meal per week is not going to stop that. I don't have anyone that is looking toi lose fat go longer than about 3-5 weeks straight without at least a weekend long refeed period, if not taking an entire week off at maintainence to reset.

Your body doesn't want to lose weight, and it makes adaptations to hypocaloric intake (insulin sensitivity, thyroid hormone output, leptin release, etc, etc) to combat weight loss. You have to periodically "reset" yourself in order to continue to lose. Increased protein can help, but there's really no reason to go much more than 1-1.25 grams/pound bodyweight. Conversely, while low carb can have an affect on weight loss, with the amount of exercise that you're doing, I see no reason for it (way too much, IMO).

The more you try to cut away, the more your body will respond to slow this down. I would suggest slowly increasing your calories back to maintainence (by about 10% daily increases in calories) and staying there for about a week. Your goal is not to gain weight in this time, but a pound or two is no big deal. You can do this during your next overcompensation period (and if you're not taking back-off weeks, you really should be), and then dropping cals back down by maybe 300-400/day. Lift heavy with reduced volume, with periodized fluctuations in intake and volume/intensity.

For more information, you can look at my article in this month's Men's Fitness on how to adapt your workouts for your goals, or Alwyn Cosgrove's "Human Inferno" article:

http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/101

Good luck!

In the morning/mid afternoon, is when you want your starchy carbs (breads and such). After your workout though, you want to keep your carbs to vegetables and fiberous carbs. Also, I would eat some fruit with your post workout too. That will help refuel you from your workout. Also, I don't think your morning meals are big enough to really kickstart your metabolism. You need your EFA's in the morning as well as your Amino Acids.

Fruit, In general, is not a good choice PWO...although there are some fruits with different amounts in them, the majority of sugar is in the form of fructose, which is directly stored in the liver and is not stored as glycogen during digestion and absorption.

this makes sense. i think ill try this. Maybe this weekend ill bump up the cals a little, and stay at maintenence for the next week. Then cut them back down.

Cause as you can see by my sig, i lost a lot of weight quick then it just died off. Is this an attempt to simulate those same conditions of when i first started?