Hit a body fat loss plateau . Need Help plz

[Fancyhuh101]

Hi guys so I'm 35 y.o , weight 219lb ATM. Trying to reach 208lb . A few months back I weighed 246lb . So ive been dropping down .I'm about 5' 7" and have trained for 8+ years . 2 years ago before covid I was 208lb and was very lean . Maybe around 7% body fat I'd guess. But I've reached a plateau now for the past 2 week . I just wont go under 219lb . Calories are super low ..I count them meticulously . They are about 1400 per day total. This was working... very steady drop in weight until now . But now for the past 2 weeks nothing. My question is , anyone know why ?

Could my calories be too low ? I work painting, up and down ladders all day fairly active and then train 1h 30 mins every night 5 days a week . I'm very active . Do I need more calories ? Do I need cheat meal days ? Should I refeed? Or am I just eating too little ? Help greatly appreciated

[SuffolkPunch]

Do you have daily weigh ins for the last 2 weeks or more?

You could still be losing weight just with some water retention to make it unclear.

[faithbrah]

two weeks is not a plateau

[Fancyhuh101]

Do you have daily weigh ins for the last 2 weeks or more?

You could still be losing weight just with some water retention to make it unclear.

I do have daily weigh ins . Morning and night just to see what goes on with everything . Weight has been on a steady drop down until then . Very strict diet . More strict then I have ever been on . More strict then I was on when I got here last time which was more just winging it . Now for the last 2 weeks weight in morning is just staying at 219lb and 218lb . Feeling very tired as well . Feel like with this little calories and such high energy expenditure i should be coming down alot more

[Fancyhuh101]

Ive never done a proper cut or know how . I dont compete . So getting lean is just for me and seeing what i can achieve and makes me feel good . So ive never counted calories for weeks and then incrementally slowly dropped them. I have always "winged it " cutting a meal or 2 out randomly and just lose weight . Not the best approach i know now . This time about 6 weeks ago I was eating and counting 2600 cal , couple weeks later i dropped them 2000cal . Now I'm near 1500 cal . In a matter of a month and half . . I should have dropped my calories more slowly and gradually week after week in about 300-500 cal deficit increments i know now . But i dropped calories too quickly and drastically . In a video i watched this guy mentioned I may have now trapped myself . That I cut calories so fast my body is now starving and could have juiced more weight loss potential eating more calories and have stalled the process , messed up this year's cut , trapped myself and now need to start over, gain the weight back and need to start the entire cut over. Is this true ?

[SuffolkPunch]

If you want, you could post the numbers here and I can run a line of best fit analysis. Just post a column of raw number, no commas or symbols - past 3 weeks would be best

BTW 'starvation mode' is not a real thing. Even if you have to end a cut before you wanted to, it's not wasted time unless you eat too much afterwards and put fat back on.

[residesinAZ]

Starvation mode or dropping too fast isn't a thing, the TV show Survivor demonstrates that, everyone loses weight the whole time. Its recommended to ease into a deficit for sustainability, but if you can drop and hold that calorie # without relapsing, that'll get it done faster.
If you still have the body in your avatar and are at 1500, your body could just be retaining water. Spend a weekend drinking coffee and tons of water, pissing your brains out and see if the scale moves by the morning.

[Tommy W.]

I do have daily weigh ins . Morning and night just to see what goes on with everything . Weight has been on a steady drop down until then . Very strict diet . More strict then I have ever been on . More strict then I was on when I got here last time which was more just winging it . Now for the last 2 weeks weight in morning is just staying at 219lb and 218lb . Feeling very tired as well . Feel like with this little calories and such high energy expenditure i should be coming down alot more

if you’re truly at 1,400 every day then it’s water retention. Also make sure the low calories arent compromising your NEAT..

[Fancyhuh101]

If you want, you could post the numbers here and I can run a line of best fit analysis. Just post a column of raw number, no commas or symbols - past 3 weeks would be best

BTW 'starvation mode' is not a real thing. Even if you have to end a cut before you wanted to, it's not wasted time unless you eat too much afterwards and put fat back on.

I appreciate this man ! By numbers you mean post my weight from everyday for the past few weeks ?

[Fancyhuh101]

Starvation mode or dropping too fast isn't a thing, the TV show Survivor demonstrates that, everyone loses weight the whole time. Its recommended to ease into a deficit for sustainability, but if you can drop and hold that calorie # without relapsing, that'll get it done faster.
If you still have the body in your avatar and are at 1500, your body could just be retaining water. Spend a weekend drinking coffee and tons of water, pissing your brains out and see if the scale moves by the morning.

Not a bad idea . Some weird instinct inside of me first told me I may be retaining alot of water . In that picture I was 208 . Right now I'm around 218lb . Little more puffy . Trying to get back to that

[Fancyhuh101]

If the weight is water retention , what would be a good way to get rid if it ?

[Tommy W.]

If the weight is water retention , what would be a good way to get rid if it ?

bump up calories for a week.

[SuffolkPunch]

I appreciate this man ! By numbers you mean post my weight from everyday for the past few weeks ?

Yes

[Fancyhuh101]

bump up calories for a week.

So guys this is actually incredible . The past 3 days I have bunped up to 2000 cals per day , and magically for the first time in 3 weeks I dropped to 215.5 lb this morning . What does this imply exactly ? Does it mean I was retaining water because I was eating too little and body was in some type of shock? Or was my body in some type of preservation mode trying ro reduce weight loss and slow itself down ? I'm in shock today. Massive learning experience

[Tommy W.]

So guys this is actually incredible . The past 3 days I have bunped up to 2000 cals per day , and magically for the first time in 3 weeks I dropped to 215.5 lb this morning . What does this imply exactly ? Does it mean I was retaining water because I was eating too little and body was in some type of shock? Or was my body in some type of preservation mode trying ro reduce weight loss and slow itself down ? I'm in shock today. Massive learning experience

Your homeostatic system was trying to balance out the weightloss by retaining water. You can tell when this it happening (water release) because you pee more.

[Fancyhuh101]

Your homeostatic system was trying to balance out the weightloss by retaining water. You can tell when this it happening (water release) because you pee more.

And that is something I did notice . My physique looked more bloated then it did before . Less lean . And also I started going to the bathroom less frequent . Now the past night or two things seem back to normal . Pretty Incredible stuff . And the extra food is super welcome hahaha !

[SuffolkPunch]

Fat cells can retain water to replace the lost fat. This seems to be made worse due to the stress of calorie restriction. Increasing calories relieves the stress and you are more likely to drop the water. You will have to resume your calorie deficit unless you are content to lose weight more slowly. At least you know what's going on now though.