Weight Loss Halted but still on ~1K deficit

[GinZen]

I started doing something about my diet and weight at 182 pounds. im about 5"8.5 tall and 18 years old.
After 2 months of cardio and "healthier" eating i got down to about 166 pounds.
Then at the start of december got in the gym, im currently following All Pro's beginner workout 3x a week and got serious about my calories weighing everything and estimated via various calculators for my maintenance to be around 2400 calories.
so i'm sitting at 160 at the moment and really want to shed another 10 or so pounds of fat to get to 12ish% since i guesstimate it to be ~18% currently.
For the last few weeks my average calories has been about 1400 calories sometimes 200 maximum higher on workout days since i rarely get cravings for sugary food and dont have too large a cheat meal maybe 1 times a week max but it fits my calories and macros.

Diet overview: 1400 calories 145 protein 100 carbs 50 fats.

its something like that but i have over 1gram per lean body mass pound and am on a good deficit and it doesnt seem to severe since my fatx31.4 is ~940 so it seems reasonable with someone with my level of fat.

The problem only arose just over a week ago i seem to be fluctuating between 160-160.8 for the last 10 days. this is very aggravating since i cannot tell if this is working or if my fat cells are (all of a sudden) beginning to hold water before emptying or something to do with my calorie intake is causing a BMR spike.

I know i should not worry and continue with what im doing but the scale is playing mind games with me and the mirror isnt really consoling me. At my progress i should expect a 1.5lb loss a week minimum near to 1% of my fat which contains about 1.65lbs possibly per percent but either im paranoid or that hasnt happened in the last two weeks.

Thanks for reading i hope you can help me out somehow.

[likeag6]

So there are quite a few reasons you may not be losing weight or are seeing slow weight loss.

The first is that your assumption of 2400 as a maintenance number is probably way too high. I am at 185, that's my estimated number. At 160, odds are, you're not at that (plus I don't see any cardio in your plan, odds are you are not that active). So, that number, is inaccurate, a more realistic number is going to be 1800-2000 ish.

The second is that your diet overview is probably not in line with your real diet. Food does not always come in easily measurable or calorie countable form and many people underestimate or bias the data to favor themselves. If you don't have a spreadsheet tracking absolutely everything you have had, odds are, you don't have a good baseline estimate. Beyond that, even in a good estimate, there's about a plus or minus (usually plus) amount of calories that are uncounted. This is because even in processed foods, the concentrations of ingredients can vary heavily (i.e. if you were eating doritos, serving size 24 chips, if you're eating all statistically large chips, your calorie count will be higher than advertised. So the second problem is your method of counting and rose-colored glasses.

The third is going to be that you may still be getting some gains in muscle mass that are counter-acting the weight loss. This extra retained weight is good, but not particularly scale or mirror visible at times.

The first two are the best explanations with the third being plausible but less likely.

[azxangeles]

Thats the hardest part i been there before. Try eating more good fats like egg yolks, nuts like almonds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, peanut butter with every meal. Your body is not gonna burn stored fat unless its getting good fats at every sitting keep it coming 5-12g of good fats every meal. You could also increase your protein and keep your carbs at 50g for a few days. Try a short high intensity workout in the morning or after your weight training workout for 4-15 minutes heres some tips that helped me out

These are tips that i learned during my first 9 months of cutting in the beginning i was doing the opposite of what i am doing now i was burning muscle instead of fat.

1. Start doing high intesity cardio this will speed up your metabolism for the entire day

2. Start lifting weights. Weight training builds muscle and muscle burns fat.

3. Drink only water. 0 calories and cleans out your system.

4. Eat every 2 to 3 hours this keeps your metabolism running and helps you burn more fat. Never starve yourself or let yourself get hungry


5. Drink ice cold water after 1 hour of eating this cools down your body and your metabolism stays on to warm your body back up.

6. Do less cardio between 4-15 minutes. To much cardio burns muscle you want to burn fat not muscle.

7. Do 4-15 minutes of high intesity cardio no more than 2 times a day. Go hard if you are not crying your not going hard enough .

8. Eat 20g-30g of protein per meal minimum.

9. Eat good fats, almonds, cashews, peanuts, egg yolks, peanut butter , tuna, fish and flaxseed oil are excellent choices

10. Do cardio right after weight training. You are already in the fat burning zone do 5 more minutes of high intensity to burn some more.

11. Try one or two 0 carb days in the week.

12. Eat only protein, and good fats at night.

13. Stay active.Walk around dont just sit all day

14. Have a cheat day. This should be during the day eat whatever but dont over eat. Never cheat on your days off. You wont be able to burn it off.

15. Rest well. Sleeping and taking 1 or 2 days rest is a must.

16. When weight training try supersets with little rest burns more calories

17. Eat grapefruits

18. 1 apple a day

19. Drink green tea

20. Eat whole grains, oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potataoes, whole wheat bread

[cbrent1]

4. Eat every 2 to 3 hours this keeps your metabolism running and helps you burn more fat. Never starve yourself or let yourself get hungry




More of just a personal preference rather than a fact. You can lose equal weight eating 6 meals a day or eating 1-2; calories in vs. calories out.

Many people do IF or Warrior Diet and have lost a lot of weight.

[samwise777]

I totally feel you. I have lost 3 pounds now it seems like I am gaining weight which is frustrating because I am working out 3 times a day. Two cardio sessions which add up to over an hour and weight session for at least an hour. I am doing HIIT and taking in only 1400 cal as well. 130 pro, 75 carbs, 40 fat. bah.... Don't know what else I can do.

[activeseven]

estimated via various calculators for my maintenance to be around 2400 calories.

This doesn't look right to me, I've got 4 inches and about 60 lbs on you and that is practically my caloric maintenance number.
Try this formula: BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM)Where LBM = [total weight (kg) x (100 - bodyfat %)]/100

Note: that in that forumula your weight is in KG, not lbs.

[GinZen]

Thanks for the replies i only just noticed them, i forgot to check back on this thread since i was over that little plateau before i saw any replies

I'm now down to 150 and nearly done with my cut (i think) and ready for a clean bulk, it was just a strange period where i weighed myself nearly everyday (mistake I have learn't not to do or even trust that damned scale) and the weight was the same for about 2 weeks.
But all of a sudden i weighed myself and i had dropped about 2.5 pounds all of a sudden and could see myself abit of difference in the mirror, I think i was just freaking out since my linear weight loss suddenly stopped from a mini plateau which has since been annihilated.
So from then its been nice and steady and i have been losing fine at about 1600 calories with my lifts going up.