Need advice WRT yoyo weight loss and bulking.

[burtonator]

Would really appreciate some help here.

I am having some problems with yoyo dieting / weight loss. I *think* I kind of
understand what is going on but I wanted some feedback.

I'm 34, SWM, 6'0" , 165-170 lbs.

My training program is starting strength. Mon/Wed/Fri. I do hack squats
instead of real squats though as my gym has EVERYTHING except a squat rack (long
****ing story).

I've made pretty solid progress on incline press, chinups,
pullups,... interestingly enough my standard bench press is kind of stalled.
Not sure why. Need to oook into that.

Here's a detailed graph of my weight loss:

http://spreadsheets8.google.com/ccc?...Q&hl=en#gid=45

Here's what I looked like three weeks ago (if it matters):

http://i.imgur.com/biHAL.jpg

This is what I was like about 164... I'm 170 now. I was 166/167 a few days ago
as I'm currently holding onto some extra water (annoying).

You can see from my graph that once I got down to my target weight, I've had a
MAJOR problem keeping it stable.

I'm not sure why. My primary hypothesis is that I was diagnosed with an iron
anemia and my body was craving iron. This really FORCED me to crave carbs and
it happened like 3-4 times.

I have since added red meat to my diet and I think I've solved this for the most
part. Yesterday I felt some cravings come on but I think I've kept it at bay
and I want to eat near maintenance but low carb for like the next 2-7 days.

The cravings weren't too bad. No where NEAR what they were like in the past.
Thank god...

I would be REALLY happy if I can get down to my target weight (like 162-164 now
and <10% body fat) in like 2-4 weeks.

It might be a good idea to put that on hold. Maybe this is just a stupid goal
since I am fixated on that becuase I used to be a fat guy.

I think that instead focusing on eating around maintenance to rebuild my
metabolism, hormone levels, sex drive, etc would be a good thing.

Maybe doing this for 2-4 weeks.

This isn't a loss... in that time I'm going to see an improvement in muscle and
at the gym. I can then cut down a bit later.

I don't really want to go into a BULK phase though. I want to generally
maintain my current weight.

I'm thinking that after I do maintenance period that I'm going to go
intermittent fasting. I guess I could do IF while ON maintenance but this might
be a bit unorthodox ... maybe not.

Thoughts? Does this sound like a decent plan?

[StacksItRich]

When you go low carb, your body depletes like 4-5 pounds of water it holds. When you then eat a big carb meal or w/e like 60+ carbs you then get back all the water than you had dropped.

It's not actual weight loss of that 4-5 pounds. You might actually be at your real weight of 170. If you wanted to drop more weight, you probably know how. Just -500 calories below maintenance and work out.

Just what I think anyways. I know in the past when I did keto. I would drop like 5 pounds the first 2-3 days. Last week I started keto again and I lost 7 pounds in a week, 4-5 being the water.

[burtonator]

When you go low carb, your body depletes like 4-5 pounds of water it holds. When you then eat a big carb meal or w/e like 60+ carbs you then get back all the water than you had dropped.

It's not actual weight loss of that 4-5 pounds. You might actually be at your real weight of 170. If you wanted to drop more weight, you probably know how. Just -500 calories below maintenance and work out.

Just what I think anyways. I know in the past when I did keto. I would drop like 5 pounds the first 2-3 days. Last week I started keto again and I lost 7 pounds in a week, 4-5 being the water.

yup.... this is a bit different though. This isn't in muscle.. this is in fat... I guess your body could dry your FAT out but I just always thought it was glycogen.

[burtonator]

I also forgot to include my diet/macros.

Everything is weighed and logged - religiously.

70g fat... 150g protein... 35g fiber (I keep fiber as a goal so I can avoid constipation).