Fat loss stall for a week

[apc93]

I’ve been on a cut for the last 5 weeks with a steady loss of 1.5 pounds per week. The first 4 weeks I was eating about 1800 cals 135 p 225 c 45 f (I’m a 26 year old 5’4 female by the way. Starting weight 149). About 8 days ago I lowered my calories to around 1450 120p 140c 35f and since have seen no change in weight at all. It’s been either 141.4 or 141.8 every single morning except this morning it went up to 142.4 after a pretty heavy leg day yesterday. I lift 6 days a week and since starting my cut have been doing 20 mins of cardio 3 days per week after my lift (incline walk) and then 30 mins of cardio the other 3 times per week (StairMaster). I’m assuming my weight hasn’t changed due to water retention as it’s impossible that I’m not losing fat currently but I can’t figure out why I’m retaining water or if that’s what’s going on. I drink 1.5-2 gallons of water a day, I’m not eating anything high in sodium or that I don’t normally eat, I don’t take creatine etc. Also, I am 100% certain my calories are correct. I weigh every single thing that goes into my mouth aside from water. Does anyone have any ideas as to why the weight isn’t moving down? I’m assuming I’m going to whoosh eventually but it’s frustrating.

[spradish]

As an adult female you should know that your body has constant water weight fluctuations due to ever shifting hormones. If you are not aware of this, it is time for you to learn about the body that you will be hauling around for the next 50+ years, if you are fortunate. You may want to start here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3154522/

Also, why did you drop your calories if you were losing 1.5 lbs per week? You were already losing 1.5 lbs/wk, which is a fairly fast clip at your size. Dropping them lower likely has also caused your NEAT to decrease.

[apc93]

Definitely not hormones. I track my cycle religiously and am 7 days from the last day of my period. I never retain water at this stage in my cycle and also take a hormone balancing supplement but thanks anyways.

[apc93]

Trying to lose closer to 2 pounds per week as I am cutting for a 2 week trip to Greece so I have a time frame that I want to stick to. That’s why I dropped my calories. I doubt I have caused my neat to decrease in 8 days.

[Tommy W.]

Trying to lose closer to 2 pounds per week as I am cutting for a 2 week trip to Greece so I have a time frame that I want to stick to. That’s why I dropped my calories. I doubt I have caused my neat to decrease in 8 days.

Homeostasis is making you hold water to compensate for rapid fatloss.

[lift4life2020]

Don’t stress .. it’s happened to me also but after a week it starts changing again ... it is probably water weight or hormones ... but stick to the course and if it doesn’t change in 2 weeks cut calories

[spradish]

Definitely not hormones. I track my cycle religiously and am 7 days from the last day of my period. I never retain water at this stage in my cycle and also take a hormone balancing supplement but thanks anyways.

7 days after the last day of your period puts you at or around day 14, which is the approximate midpoint of a woman's cycle, which means you're around the point of ovulation, which is where there is often a water weight peak. You say that you never retain water and yet your weight is steady while eating in a deficit, which indicates that you are retaining water. As for a hormone balancing supplement, what exactly are you talking about? Women's hormones don't fluctuate due to being unbalanced. They fluctuate due to normal female biology.

[apc93]

Perhaps you didn’t read what I said correctly. I didn’t say I never retain water I said that I do not retain water at this stage of my cycle due to ovulation. I usually retain about a pound beginning 3 days before my period and lose that the day after my period ends. Clearly I am retaining water currently as I indicated in my original post however I do not believe it is from hormones as I personally do not retain water during ovulation. I track my weight every single day and have throughout my last cut, my growing season and now through this cut and I have never retained water at any other time due to ovulation so it just doesn’t seem likely that it is because of that. It’s awesome that you don’t suffer from hormonal imbalances however they are very real for many women, myself included, and can be controlled with a DIM supplement.

[spradish]

It’s awesome that you don’t suffer from hormonal imbalances however they are very real for many women, myself included, and can be controlled with a DIM supplement.

Do you have an actual medical diagnosis? Because most of what people believe about DIM is horse****e. It doesn't reduce total estrogen, which seems to be the big draw.

In the end, though, this is much ado about nothing. You dropped calories for no apparent reason and you're impatient. Different day, same garbage from this forum.

[Luclin999]

Perhaps you didn’t read what I said correctly. I didn’t say I never retain water I said that I do not retain water at this stage of my cycle due to ovulation.

You are also not usually in a significant calorie deficit at this point in your cycle so frankly your previous experience is less relevant as your body is in a different physiological state than it is accustomed to.

Most people (both men and women) tend to retain a bit of excess water at varying points in time during a sustained calorie deficit. It is part of the body's process to induce the fat cells to take on extra water to compensate for the loss of the glycogen which has been drawn from those cells to help them retain their current size in the expectation that your deficit is short term and that soon you will return to a calorie surplus at which time the added water in those cells would once again be swapped out for glycogen.

It can take days and sometimes weeks for your cells to "give up" waiting for that expected calorie surplus and release the excess water.

This is why stalls during weight loss are fairly common and (if you really are maintaining a daily calorie deficit) usually temporary.