Just can't seem to lose weight

[caelorum]

So here's my story. Back in November, i wanted to start seriously working out and putting on mass. I started a 3x a week full body workout. Squats, bench, rows, all that. Ended up eating around 4000 calories, overdoing it, and gaining 20 pounds in a little over a month.
After posting in the forums asking if I should keep bulking, or cut down to like 10% and then slow bulk, I recieved veerrrry many responses saying I was too heavy and should start cutting.

So starting january 1st, I lowered my calories down to about 2300(My maintinence is around 2800 at 215 lbs) and have been continuing to do that for over 2 months now. I've been using an app to track calories, protein, carbs, and fat. Been doing around 190g of protein (harder than I though), 120g carbs, and 80g of fat per day.
Right now I'm sitting at 211 after almost 3 months of this diet and exercise.

I'm really sick of my weights not going up because I'm a beginner and the numbers really help confidence. i just want to get down to about 11-12% bodyfat so i can slowly bulk from there. But it's just going NOWHERE.

Stats January 1st:
215 lbs. 23% bf.



Stats as of today.
211 lbs. 21% bf.


My routine is 3x a week. Squats, bench, barbell rows, OH press, deadlifts, curls, and calf raises. With some decline situps at the end. I don't do cardio. Didn't think I needed to at 2300 cals.
Besides my birthday over the weekend, I've been very strict. Monitoring every meal, trying very hard to hit high protein. Stick under 2300.

Example diet:
Morning 4 eggs, 4 sausage links. 2 whole grain waffles. Peanut butter. orange juice. Milk
Lunch: 8 oz chicken, green beans and carrots.
Dinner: chicken/fish 8-10 oz. Mixed vegetables.
Snacks: 2 scoops protein. 2 protein bars. (granola bars. Like peanuts and chocolate. 10g protein each)
nearly 7 bottles of water a day.

My weights at the gym have gone up since the cut, but most exercises in very little increments. Squats went from 180 to 200. But they are getting incredibly hard. Bench hasn't moved and actually seems to be getting harder. Deadlifts and OH press went up, but i can tell they are getting harder.


I don't know If I should lower down to like 2000 cals and keep going from there, or add in like a p90 plyometrics or something on my off days. But nothing seems to work. I would think after 2 months I would see MUCH better progress than this. If anyone has some advice its really appreciated.

[LordWolF]

Sup bro first thing first, are you using a food scale to know what you are actually eating? is good that you are keeping progress using a app, but sometimes we say we are doing something and we actually don't. Remember you can use 0.60g or 0.80g Of protein per body weight, since i started doing that is a lot easy to get my protein check, 190, seems a lil bit high. Can you please post your age? just to check your TDEE.

Trust me loosing weigh takes time, i thought it was easy but is not, it takes patience and time to achieve your goals, the 3x routine is great keep doing it, the main focus now is what you are eating. I think thats the main reason you are not losing weigh.

[caelorum]

Sup bro first thing first, are you using a food scale to know what you are actually eating? is good that you are keeping progress using a app, but sometimes we say we are doing something and we actually don't. Remember you can use 0.60g or 0.80g Of protein per body weight, since i started doing that is a lot easy to get my protein check, 190, seems a lil bit high. Can you please post your age? just to check your TDEE.

Trust me loosing weigh takes time, i thought it was easy but is not, it takes patience and time to achieve your goals, the 3x routine is great keep doing it, the main focus now is what you are eating. I think thats the main reason you are not losing weigh.

Yeah I use a digital scale now to weight out my meats like chicken and fish. I posted an example diet in my original post. But it's basically just a big breakfast, (4 eggs, 2 waffles, 4 sausages, oj, pb, and milk) adding up to like 800-900 cals. Then the rest of the day is just straight chicken, veges, and some granola bar snacks for protein.

I use myfitnesspal to track it all calorie wise. Idk how accurate it is, but according to labels on food it gets pretty close. I.E 8 oz chicken = 260 cals, 52g protein.

I'm 21 btw.

[LordWolF]

OK excellent from what i see i suggest to drop cals to 2000 and your macros should be like this:

Carbs159.8 prot126.6 fat95 Fiber42 - 53

You can see that you are getting less protein. But still is going to help you on your muscles, if you can eat those 190g everyday no problem then, but is going to be a lot cheaper for you, since protein is the most expensive macro to get.

If you follow that 2000 cal deficit, you should drop weigh, thats what i am doing and is working, but takes time usually loosing 1.5lb per week.

[caelorum]

OK excellent from what i see i suggest to drop cals to 2000 and your macros should be like this:

Carbs159.8 prot126.6 fat95 Fiber42 - 53

You can see that you are getting less protein. But still is going to help you on your muscles, if you can eat those 190g everyday no problem then, but is going to be a lot cheaper for you, since protein is the most expensive macro to get.

If you follow that 2000 cal deficit, you should drop weigh, thats what i am doing and is working, but takes time usually loosing 1.5lb per week.

I guess 2000 cals is the only way then. I would be totally fine with 1.5lb per week, that's a lot more than I'm doing right now. I hit 210 4 weeks ago, and I'm at 211 now. So I need to start dropping this fat.
I want to go back to increasing weight on the bar and gaining mass. This whole cutting thing sucks. Thanks for the advice.
Thing is though, everywhere I go I always see 1g per pound of lean body mass of protein. I really don't want to lose any muscle. I'm only squatting 200 and benching 165 right now for reps, if I go any lower than that it's gonna be a huge self esteem destroyer at the gym.

[LordWolF]

Yes i understand about the 1g protein intake but that was back then, on new studies it has been found that 0.60g to 0.80g is good to build and maintain muscle, i understand that you don't want to go under your weights trust me we are ALL like that cause you feel you are not progressing but... when you are cutting the important thing is to hit it hard even if the weight stays the same, the important thing is getting read of that fat, i haven't manage to up my weighs for like month now, but i don't care, i still have muscle, and have lost fat, but i need to lose more fat, so then we can start a bulk lean, with less fat.

But hit the gym hard and just focus on loosing weigh, remember your body takes time to shift to fat burning mode so drop calories to 2000 and wait 4 weeks and see what happens.

[caelorum]

Yes i understand about the 1g protein intake but that was back then, on new studies it has been found that 0.60g to 0.80g is good to build and maintain muscle, i understand that you don't want to go under your weights trust me we are ALL like that cause you feel you are not progressing but... when you are cutting the important thing is to hit it hard even if the weight stays the same, the important thing is getting read of that fat, i haven't manage to up my weighs for like month now, but i don't care, i still have muscle, and have lost fat, but i need to lose more fat, so then we can start a bulk lean, with less fat.

But hit the gym hard and just focus on loosing weigh, remember your body takes time to shift to fat burning mode so drop calories to 2000 and wait 4 weeks and see what happens.

Ugh 4 weeks. I always thought cutting would be the easy part. Every time i see a progress pic, someone dropped like 15 lbs in 2 months, or like 8% bf. I'm sitting here losing 3 lbs and 2%.

[LordWolF]

Yes I'm afraid so, 4 weeks give it time and you will see man, cutting is hard for me, bulking is easy, for a lot of people is the opposite but just focus on that goal and you will see the progress.

[toddmclain02]

Ugh 4 weeks. I always thought cutting would be the easy part. Every time i see a progress pic, someone dropped like 15 lbs in 2 months, or like 8% bf. I'm sitting here losing 3 lbs and 2%.

At 21, is when I started gaining mad weight.. Weekend binges... Make sure you are taking it easy on the weekends with friends.

As to the protein, eat however much you want to eat. If you look at my past forum posts there are plenty of "studies" that dispute each other. Main reason people say .8g per kg is because they want to be "efficient" with their money. If you can afford to eat 1g per lb go for it, not like its going to hurt you.

[Czyc]

If you aren't making progress then lower cals and/or increase cardio.

Don't take scale weight as the absolute metric for measuring fat loss, as you can be gaining muscle and retaining water which can cause discrepancies. For the most accurate scale weight measurements keep your carb and water consumption pretty much the same day to day and weight yourself at the same time every day (ideally first thing in the morning before breakfast)

[MrM27]

Review your logging. Double and triple check your tracking. If you have only lost 4 lbs in 3 1/2 months then you are eating more than you think you are.

[LordWolF]

Exactly he must be eating more than usual.

[Leankev84]

Keep a check on cheat meals/ days and any alcohol as it's full of calories (they count too) 500 cal deficit 7 days week should see you lose 1lb week.