Am I eating too little, too much. Slowed fat loss/gains

[Syder]

Hey guys,

I’m 19 years old, currently weighing about 189lbs (small fluctuations of +/-1 here and there), I’m 6’1, and what have an estimated BF% of 23% or so. I have a few questions regarding my current weight status; I’ve already lost about 17lbs and have made some very good muscle gains considering my sometimes hectic schedule of being a full time student and working part time.
My current nutrition plan is a rather lax plan from most and has worked thus far, but I’m looking to make improvements. Lax in the sense that as long as it’s a clean food (little to no processing, whole grain, fits caloric and macro nutrient goals,etc). I very rarely go over my caloric intake for the day and my macros are hit relatively accurately with only a small margin of error depending on what my day was like.

I have a calculated my maintenance calories to be about 1900 and as I am trying to burn off a lot of fat I am eating at a deficit. My deficit is relatively high and I may catch some flak for this but it’s a 20% deficit on consumed calories (I eat 1500 calories a day filling a 40p/40c/20f macro breakdown). This is the way I lost the 17lbs however the losses, and muscle gains have ceased. I’ve been at 189lbs for ~2 weeks now.

My major concern is now that because I have put on lean muscle eating at this much of a deficit is not only stifling my gains and my body is storing calories as fat still because my intake is too low. The obvious answer would be “Hey dummy, just eat at maintenance” , well yes that was an answer that I thought appropriate too, but whenever I consume calories at maintenance I gain back at least 2-3lbs in a very short period of time. There is no way that this is in any way lean mass gains because of the short period of time in which it’s gained back.

Additional info:

Work out 6 days a week, general bro splits with 10-20minutes of cardio for warm ups. Hit abs with almost every workout
Supplement stack includes; Multi-vit (Orange Triad), whey protein, C4 preworkout, L-Carnitine, CLA, currently giving Glutamine and BCAA’s a chance (Most likely won’t reorder).

TL;DR Made some nice losses/gains eating at a deficit. Gains/losses have stopped. Don’t know what to change.

Thanks,
Syder

[Mdenatale]

Too little.

No way you maintenance calories are 1900. That sounds more like your deficit intake. Also, don't simply do macro ratios. Calculate the actual grams based on your stats.

Read this stickie: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703981 and study it carefully

Then read it again.

Then read it once more just to be sure.

[Rman2013]

The 2-3 pounds of quick weight gain is water weight so just watch your salt. At 1,800 calories you should be able to lose weight at 2-3 pounds a week clip. Dont rush it because you can end up slowing your metabolism , your doing good so far just bump your calories up a bit.

[JoSmoBN]

Hey guys,

I’m 19 years old, currently weighing about 189lbs (small fluctuations of +/-1 here and there), I’m 6’1, and what have an estimated BF% of 23% or so. I have a few questions regarding my current weight status; I’ve already lost about 17lbs and have made some very good muscle gains considering my sometimes hectic schedule of being a full time student and working part time.
My current nutrition plan is a rather lax plan from most and has worked thus far, but I’m looking to make improvements. Lax in the sense that as long as it’s a clean food (little to no processing, whole grain, fits caloric and macro nutrient goals,etc). I very rarely go over my caloric intake for the day and my macros are hit relatively accurately with only a small margin of error depending on what my day was like.

I have a calculated my maintenance calories to be about 1900 and as I am trying to burn off a lot of fat I am eating at a deficit. My deficit is relatively high and I may catch some flak for this but it’s a 20% deficit on consumed calories (I eat 1500 calories a day filling a 40p/40c/20f macro breakdown). This is the way I lost the 17lbs however the losses, and muscle gains have ceased. I’ve been at 189lbs for ~2 weeks now.

My major concern is now that because I have put on lean muscle eating at this much of a deficit is not only stifling my gains and my body is storing calories as fat still because my intake is too low. The obvious answer would be “Hey dummy, just eat at maintenance” , well yes that was an answer that I thought appropriate too, but whenever I consume calories at maintenance I gain back at least 2-3lbs in a very short period of time. There is no way that this is in any way lean mass gains because of the short period of time in which it’s gained back.

Additional info:

Work out 6 days a week, general bro splits with 10-20minutes of cardio for warm ups. Hit abs with almost every workout
Supplement stack includes; Multi-vit (Orange Triad), whey protein, C4 preworkout, L-Carnitine, CLA, currently giving Glutamine and BCAA’s a chance (Most likely won’t reorder).

TL;DR Made some nice losses/gains eating at a deficit. Gains/losses have stopped. Don’t know what to change.

Thanks,
Syder

I can tell you now, 1900 is not your maintenance intake. I'm 6' and weigh about 180 and I need around 2700 for maintenance.