Plateau for 4 months...

[xEGx]

Ok, here's the deal. I started at 242 on January 2011, and managed to lose 40lbs., but since September I've been stuck at 202lbs.

When I first started cutting, I used several online calculators/formulas to estimate my TDEE/deficit and every single one was telling me the same thing, eat between 2200-2700cals per day. Here's lies the problem, on the weeks that I ate the recommended calories, I lost no weight.
So, I decided to lower them to 1800, and the fat started melting right off my body. Then in September my fat loss stalled. I figured it was the dreaded plateau, so I ate at maintenance for a couple of weeks, then started cutting again at 1800. I lost nothing!
I repeated the same process for a couple of months with no success.

It's now been 1 month since I started doing intermittent fasting with no success either.
I'm currently alternating between 2100 on non-workout days and 2700 on workout days, I figured I might as well gain some muscle while I figure out what the hell is going on.

Could it be that I have a naturally slow metabolism and it's now time to go below 1800cals?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my stats:

Starting weight - 242
Current weight 202
Starting body fat % - 28
Current body fat % - 20

Weight training - Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays
Medium intensity steady state cardio - Tuesdays/ Thursdays/Saturday/Sunday

Macros - 40/40/20 on workout days & 20/40/40 on non-workout days.

[dahlsteinm]

Okay, I may not be the person to be answering this since I just posted kind of the same thing. That being said, I have found increasing my cardio and switching my work outs up is helping. Instead of constantly lifting heavy, I have found higher rep ranges with slightly lighter weights is helping as well.
Have you invested in a heart rate monitor? It might give u a better indication of how many calories u are burning with ur work outs...also aps like my fitness pal and lose it are easy and help keep track of your intake and deficit.

[RugbyTank]

Your body eventually becomes efficient: Meaning if you feed yourself less the body will eventually learn to live with less calories = a lower metabolism.

Cutting calories wont help you, so do the following possible things:
1. Alotta people will be scared of this one, try eating more calories by more i mean 100-200 more until this methods words.
if you start gaining weight(not much) then that also means your body will also be ready to lose weight .
(Not meaning carbs + salt for water retention weight i mean legit maybe 1-2 weeks of solid weight gain)
2. Take a stimulant
Alot of people opt for this, nothing wrong with this per se unless you're prone to being stimulant sensitive, just remember to be safe.

Our bodies are extremely smart(adaptive) and don't necessarily like to fall for the same tricks twice in a row.

[acefidgecygag]

Right now skimmed the posting! Good job cinamuse wikispaces com/Movies+on+the+Internet+at+cinamuseCinAmuse?

[TelusLob]

Ok, here's the deal. I started at 242 on January 2011, and managed to lose 40lbs., but since September I've been stuck at 202lbs.

When I first started cutting, I used several online calculators/formulas to estimate my TDEE/deficit and every single one was telling me the same thing, eat between 2200-2700cals per day. Here's lies the problem, on the weeks that I ate the recommended calories, I lost no weight.
So, I decided to lower them to 1800, and the fat started melting right off my body. Then in September my fat loss stalled. I figured it was the dreaded plateau, so I ate at maintenance for a couple of weeks, then started cutting again at 1800. I lost nothing!
I repeated the same process for a couple of months with no success.

It's now been 1 month since I started doing intermittent fasting with no success either.
I'm currently alternating between 2100 on non-workout days and 2700 on workout days, I figured I might as well gain some muscle while I figure out what the hell is going on.

Could it be that I have a naturally slow metabolism and it's now time to go below 1800cals?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my stats:

Starting weight - 242
Current weight 202
Starting body fat % - 28
Current body fat % - 20

Weight training - Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays
Medium intensity steady state cardio - Tuesdays/ Thursdays/Saturday/Sunday

Macros - 40/40/20 on workout days & 20/40/40 on non-workout days.

My guess is you're consuming more calories than you think. You should be able to lose off 1800 calories at your size easily.

Do you weigh all foods? Solids with a scale (down to grams) and liquids via measuring cups? Do you routinely eat foods where you cannot name 100% of the ingredients? Do you log every single bit of food? Do you double check every macro to ensure they add up to the calorie values?

[josephs477]

Agreed. Get a Small scale for 5 bucks at walmart and start weighing everything everything you eat. Another indicator for me when I'm eating to much is pooping daily. When I poop; IF I poop it's usually a few tiny rabbit turds.

As someone who's lost around 120 pounds - the BEST advice I can give you would be...

KETOSIS. Check it out.

[mrivera11]

My guess is you're consuming more calories than you think. You should be able to lose off 1800 calories at your size easily.

Do you weigh all foods? Solids with a scale (down to grams) and liquids via measuring cups? Do you routinely eat foods where you cannot name 100% of the ingredients? Do you log every single bit of food? Do you double check every macro to ensure they add up to the calorie values?

Very solid advice (srs).

I would suggest the same, 1,800 kcals and weigh EVERYTHING.

[xEGx]

Thanks for your advice.

I weighted myself this morning and I am now 199lbs. That's a 2-3lbs drop. Finally.

I do weigh every single thing that I eat, which is the reason I was so confused.
For the last 2 days, I've been eating at around 1800cals, but I doubt I dropped those 2 lbs. in just two days, so I attribute it to Leangains intermittent fasting I did for the first 3 weeks of this month. I'm going try to stay at 1800cals for the next two weeks and see how that goes.

Anyways, I think I've got this figured out finally.

[mrivera11]

Thanks for your advice.

I weighted myself this morning and I am now 199lbs. That's a 2-3lbs drop. Finally.

I do weigh every single thing that I eat, which is the reason I was so confused.
For the last 2 days, I've been eating at around 1800cals, but I doubt I dropped those 2 lbs. in just two days, so I attribute it to Leangains intermittent fasting I did for the first 3 weeks of this month. I'm going try to stay at 1800cals for the next two weeks and see how that goes.

Anyways, I think I've got this figured out finally.

If you want to understand what just happened, you could read this:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

I think the above fits your case, if not, it is still a good read.