Diet is plateauing.. Cut 250 or 500?

[Baby_Hulk]

I started dieting 6 weeks ago by lowering my intake by 500 calories. I plateaued about 2 weeks ago, after having lost about 8-10 pounds (both water and fat).

I'm probably eating at maintenance now, but I wanna continue this diet and continue losing weight.

Should I cut out 250 cals/day? Or 500?

I'm happy w my rate of fat loss so far and strength hasn't moved much, so I don't wanna deviate from what has worked. I'm just thinking that maybe when I cut 500 the first time, that I wasn't at maintenance.. Maybe I was at 250 above maintenance, and the 500 less put me at 250 below maintence? (I thought i was at maintenence tho) Like I said I'm happy w the strength I've maintained, so I don't wanna cut too drastically and lose too much.

What do you guys think?

[JayRong]

if your losing weight then continue doing what your doing. If weight loss stalled, cut 100-200 cal off.

[Baby_Hulk]

if your losing weight then continue doing what your doing. If weight loss stalled, cut 100-200 cal off.

How come when people are advised to lose weight, they start with minus 250-500/day, but if they stall, only minus an extra 100-200 off?

Takes more of an impetus to start a diet than to continue it?

[Shandlar]

How come when people are advised to lose weight, they start with minus 250-500/day, but if they stall, only minus an extra 100-200 off?

Takes more of an impetus to start a diet than to continue it?

Because your TDEE wont go down by over 500 kcals/day from before you started dieting no matter how lean you get. If you keep up your same activity level that you had when you figured out your TDEE prior to the diet then tracked your cals perfectly at a 500 deficit you're going to have a couple short term plateaus as you drop the weight, but the fats still coming off.

Water weight variance is upwards of 3% daily. That can be a 5 pound swing for you. You are only losing 1 pound a week in fat. This variance tends to cause a pause and woosh type of pattern if you weigh yourself every single day.

Weigh your food, trust your math, and the weight loss will happen. TDEE will start to drop over time, but it really is only 100-300 kcals over a 10-16 week cut, so a small adjustment of 100-200 a day once or maybe twice over the course of a 3 month cut is all you should need if you properly tracked your TDEE before you started.

[Complex89]

I started dieting 6 weeks ago by lowering my intake by 500 calories. I plateaued about 2 weeks ago, after having lost about 8-10 pounds (both water and fat).

I'm probably eating at maintenance now, but I wanna continue this diet and continue losing weight.

Should I cut out 250 cals/day? Or 500?

I'm happy w my rate of fat loss so far and strength hasn't moved much, so I don't wanna deviate from what has worked. I'm just thinking that maybe when I cut 500 the first time, that I wasn't at maintenance.. Maybe I was at 250 above maintenance, and the 500 less put me at 250 below maintence? (I thought i was at maintenence tho) Like I said I'm happy w the strength I've maintained, so I don't wanna cut too drastically and lose too much.

What do you guys think?

The question here is, has your weight loss plateaued.... or simply slowed down?
There's no way you should have to lower you calorie intake after only losing about what, 4 to 5 lbs of fat...?
Are you measuring your servings accurately? I mean using a scale for solid foods and condiments. And measuring cups/spoons for free forming liquids. Thats a mistake damn near everyone makes. And are you having cheat meals/days? Those can screw you over. Especially if you're not tracking them.

But if it turns out that you do have to cut calories, I agree with the other 2 posters. Just lower it by about 200 kcals.

[lVlaKaVeLi]

Cut 100kcal and introduce a little cardio if you want.

[Miakiah]

The question here is, has your weight loss plateaued.... or simply slowed down?
There's no way you should have to lower you calorie intake after only losing about what, 4 to 5 lbs of fat...?

I think when people are on their first cut they lose so many lbs the first few weeks that when it gets to a steady rate they don't realize it and freak out because they think they are stalling. OP I would use Hacker's Diet Online (it's free, google it) to record your weight. It helps see through the daily ups and downs. If it turns out you are in fact not losing then cut more.