why are my calories so low??

[zmag7723]

Background info:
I'm 27 male, 5'8-5'9, 86kg, been lifting since i was 20 however realized the last year that i have been lifting no where near absolute failure and as such have made the most amount of muscle and gains that i ever have in the last year. However i've been trying to cut for the last 5 months i managed to go down from 94kg to 86kg, however im dieting on 1500 calories and not losing weight, is this normal??? The reason i ask is i've done a cut before and managed to get down to 70kg dieting on 1800-2200 calories, yet now at a much higher weight im seeing no change in the scale while im on 1500 calories. I know there is no way around this and the only way to lose fat is calorie deficit, so i need to go lower, im just trying to shed some light on what's happening?. For reference my bodyfat has dropped to about 17% rough estimate.

[MusculewJuice]

Background info:
I'm 27 male, 5'8-5'9, 86kg, been lifting since i was 20 however realized the last year that i have been lifting no where near absolute failure and as such have made the most amount of muscle and gains that i ever have in the last year. However i've been trying to cut for the last 5 months i managed to go down from 94kg to 86kg, however im dieting on 1500 calories and not losing weight, is this normal??? The reason i ask is i've done a cut before and managed to get down to 70kg dieting on 1800-2200 calories, yet now at a much higher weight im seeing no change in the scale while im on 1500 calories. I know there is no way around this and the only way to lose fat is calorie deficit, so i need to go lower, im just trying to shed some light on what's happening?. For reference my bodyfat has dropped to about 17% rough estimate.

Are you losing more calories than you are consuming?

[zmag7723]

I mean if my weight has been sitting at 86kg then my guess is i hit a plateau at 1500 calories, so im definitely not in a calorie deficit at 1500 calories and need to go lower, however it seems strange to me coz 1500 is such a low number already to not be losing weight which is my original question, why am i not in a calorie deficit at 1500??

[xsquid99]

I mean if my weight has been sitting at 86kg then my guess is i hit a plateau at 1500 calories, so im definitely not in a calorie deficit at 1500 calories and need to go lower, however it seems strange to me coz 1500 is such a low number already to not be losing weight which is my original question, why am i not in a calorie deficit at 1500??

Occam's Razor points towards you not really eating 1500 calories.

You might think you're eating 1500 calories, and you might be on some days, but I guarantee that at 86kg you're not maintaining that weight on a true and consistent 1500 calories a day every single day.

Are you a very inactive person? Or are you getting at least 8-10K steps a day + 2-3 cardio sessions per week + 3-5 strength training sessions per week?

[EiFit91]

Background info:
I'm 27 male, 5'8-5'9, 86kg, been lifting since i was 20 however realized the last year that i have been lifting no where near absolute failure and as such have made the most amount of muscle and gains that i ever have in the last year. However i've been trying to cut for the last 5 months i managed to go down from 94kg to 86kg, however im dieting on 1500 calories and not losing weight, is this normal??? The reason i ask is i've done a cut before and managed to get down to 70kg dieting on 1800-2200 calories, yet now at a much higher weight im seeing no change in the scale while im on 1500 calories. I know there is no way around this and the only way to lose fat is calorie deficit, so i need to go lower, im just trying to shed some light on what's happening?. For reference my bodyfat has dropped to about 17% rough estimate.

As xsquid said you will not maintain your weight on 1500 a day at your weight.

For this type of post typically either i) you are miscounting calories and are eating more than you think or ii) you are miscalculating your weight loss for instance by focusing on single data points instead of the overall trend of your weight loss over time, i.e. you are losing weight but you misinerpret your own data

If you are feeling like complete and utter **** I'd say explanation ii) is more likely, if not then i) is more likely. Or it could be a combination of the two, i.e. you are losing weight but the deficit is not as large as you think due to miscounting and random weight fluctuations over the short term makes it seem like you aren't losing weight

[zmag7723]

ok that makes sense, i have changed my weight lifting to about 2x a week in the last 5 months due to work commitments, i work a desk job as well so also quite inactive as well. However i don't think the issue is counting calories, i've counted calories before and managed to consistently lose weight, i log and mesure everything including measuring protein powder. I'll definitely keep going until i reach my goal, possibly increase cardio and see how i go from there. cheers for the advice.

[Horizon92]

ok that makes sense, i have changed my weight lifting to about 2x a week in the last 5 months due to work commitments, i work a desk job as well so also quite inactive as well. However i don't think the issue is counting calories, i've counted calories before and managed to consistently lose weight, i log and mesure everything including measuring protein powder. I'll definitely keep going until i reach my goal, possibly increase cardio and see how i go from there. cheers for the advice.

Understand that your scale weight is influenced by a lot of factors like level of hydration, amount of sleep, toilet routine/cycle, training, carb and salt intake and so on. It can take as much as 3-4 weeks for fat loss to actually show up on the scale. I've been there myself. Several months into a cut the weight completely stopped moving seemingly out of nowhere. I stuck to my plan and after about 3 weeks, I got a big woosh effect and the scale started moving in the right direction after that.

At your height and weight, no amount of adaptation would make you burn less than 1500 kcal unless you were 100% sedentary, and even that would be a stretch. Its likely your maintenance calories, assuming a reasonably sedentary lifestyle would be in the low 2000s. I.e., you will still lose weight at a solid rate at 1500 kcal.

The reality is that either 1) you are still losing weight, its just not showing up on the scale because of water fluctuations in your body. This is why using measurements on top of scale weight is a good idea.
or 2) you are not losing weight because your average calories per day for the period is not in fact 1500kcal. Lets be real, most people aren't even close to 100% consistent. They skip counting some sauces, or they have some cheat days here and there where they aren't fully aware of what they are eating, or don't count the difference into the average intake across the entire period. If we assume that you have been one hundred percent accountable, and there have been zero screw ups at all on your end - it could still be that food labels are lying to you. As you probably know, food labels are not always correct. The more processed a food is, the more likely it is the caloric contents on the food labels are just flat out wrong - and by a big margin. If you suspect this might be the case, try only eating basic food like meat, rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, grains etc. You can more readily trust the label on these types of foods. Oh and it should go without saying, if you are at any point forced to do estimations, you can just assume that they've been totally wrong. Typically people will estimate calories in a restaurant meal and easily miss it by several hundreds or even thousands of calories.

Remember, keeping track of both caloric intake and caloric expenditure is per now an imperfect system. We cannot know for sure for a long list of reasons. But what we can do is be CONSISTENT both in terms of counting what we put in and what we expend. Once you've found consistency, you can assess the data from the scale, measurements and even pictures you've taken and make an informed decision on your next move - be it lower caloric intake, up expenditure or vice versa.

[SandraDorothy]

It sounds like you're experiencing some frustration with your current cutting phase. It's important to remember that weight loss can be influenced by various factors, and individual experiences can differ. Let's address a few potential reasons for your situation:

Adaptation: As you've been lifting for several years, your body might have adapted to your previous diet and exercise routines. This can sometimes result in a reduced response to the same caloric deficit that worked for you before.

Metabolic Rate: Your metabolic rate can change over time due to factors like age, muscle mass, and activity level. With more muscle mass, your body's calorie requirements may have increased.

Plateau: It's common to hit weight loss plateaus, where your progress slows down despite your efforts. Your body might be resisting further weight loss due to hormonal and metabolic adaptations.

Caloric Intake Accuracy: Ensure that you're accurately tracking your calorie intake and portion sizes. Sometimes, hidden calories or inaccuracies can affect your overall caloric deficit.