Weight loss seems to have stopped - advice please

Jamesb2405

So since December until now i have been exercising and reduced my calorie intake to 15,000 a week (my TDEE is 17,600), to decrease my body fat and build muscle (consuming 1g protein per lbs of body weight). I have gone from 12st 8ibs to 10st 10ibs and appear to have built muscle that i never had before, also the fat lose showing muscles i didn't know i had. However as it has now been 4 months i feel like things have come to a real slow or stop. I want to continue dropping my body fat %, while building muscle if possible. As currently based on pictures and what my scales and calipers are telling me i'm around 15% ish.

Any advice on how to progress from here would be a real help, thanks in advance!

tinkerbellang83

As you get closer to goal the weight loss is slower.

You say it seems like it has stopped, has it actually stopped or just slowed down?

Silentpadna

You've lost 26 pounds in about 16 weeks. You weigh 150 pounds now (if my math is right).

Not sure what the problem is. At 15% body fat, you should expect it to be a much slower process.

And you should want it to be a much slower process too.

How tall are you? How old are you? Also understand that at that size and relatively low body fat level, it is not going to be likely that you'll build muscle in the deficit that you use.

Expectations and patience are the biggest advice I can give you, but it's a bit incomplete without more information.

What does your exercise consist of? Are you strength training? If so, how (i.e. what type of program)?

sijomial

It's totally normal for weight loss to slow, would be strange if it didn't.
Your effective calorie deficit is reducing as you get lighter. Which is it - slowed or stopped?

As regards building muscle first thing I would look at is your training, is your volume and intensity still appropriate for where you are now?

Dilvish

Change your exercise routine. The body adapts and doesn't work as hard as it should anymore because it's used to the routine. If you haven't already done so, add swimming (laps) to the mix. It's great exercise for toning muscles and works muscle groups you thought you never had.

Jamesb2405

Silentpadna wrote: »

You've lost 26 pounds in about 16 weeks. You weigh 150 pounds now (if my math is right).

Not sure what the problem is. At 15% body fat, you should expect it to be a much slower process.

And you should want it to be a much slower process too.

How tall are you? How old are you? Also understand that at that size and relatively low body fat level, it is not going to be likely that you'll build muscle in the deficit that you use.

Expectations and patience are the biggest advice I can give you, but it's a bit incomplete without more information.

What does your exercise consist of? Are you strength training? If so, how (i.e. what type of program)?

So I'm just about maintaining on those numbers, I'm wondering if I should go onto the tdee of 17,600 for a few weeks and see what happens.

I'm only 5ft 6 and 28 years old, I've dabbled in weights in the past but 2 months of continuous gyming was all. I feel like I've really found my stride this time as I sorted my diet out aswell.

For training I'm doing a lower/upper split, I'll do upper 2x and lower 1x and rotate it the next week. With each upper lower having 2 different workouts. So in a sense a/b/a then b/a/b, I hope that makes sense.

quiksylver296

Do you use a food scale?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1

Jamesb2405

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Do you use a food scale?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1

Yea I weigh everything in the scales, a permanent feature on the bench 😂

AnnPT77

Dilvish wrote: »

Change your exercise routine. The body adapts and doesn't work as hard as it should anymore because it's used to the routine. If you haven't already done so, add swimming (laps) to the mix. It's great exercise for toning muscles and works muscle groups you thought you never had.

The bolded is completely untrue. It's true that as we lose weight, we burn somewhat fewer calories when doing an activity that involves moving our body through space, simply because it's less work to move a lighter body.

Other than that, and some truly minor increases in efficiency through increased skill, we burn roughly the same number of calories doing the same activity at the same pace for the same duration.

It just feels easier as we get fitter: That's deceptive (and it's kinda the definition of "get fitter" ). Our heart rate monitor may claim we burned fewer calories, because our heart is stronger and can pump more blood per beat: That's a limitation in how some heart rate monitors estimate calories.

In actual practice, as people get fitter, they are capable of burning more exercise calories doing the same activity, because it becomes easier to do the same activity for the same time at at higher intensity (run faster so farther, for example) or at the same intensity for a longer duration (like walk for 3 miles instead of 1 mile at 3mph). Many do this.

If people get bored with their workouts, and start skipping them or doing them at lower intensity, they should change up their activities. If they want to increase different types of fitness or learn new skills, they may want to do something new. Otherwise, from a weight loss standpoint, there's no point in changing. (Obviously, strength training challenge needs to increase over time to keep building strength/muscle, but that's not about weight loss per se.)

If weight loss has stopped/slowed without an activity decrease, the issue is on the intake side of things, as others have said.

sijomial

aes1219 wrote: »

Okay I'm really confused. If you truly are 15% body fat why would you want to lose more weight?? Women athletes have 14-20% body fat, so if you are 15% body fat you have the body fat of elite athletes. And how did you get down to 15% body fat because I need your secrets. I work out (running, rock climbing, weight lifting) qnd I don't think I've ever been close to 15% body fat.

I am currently 5'5 138 lbs and probably around 23-25% of body fat and I am pretty muscular. You just have a lot of muscle on yoh to be that low of body fat.

@aes1219

Because OP is male not female - 15% for a male is athletic, it's not very lean.

Maxxitt

I'd stop looking for scale #s to drop and continue your training with the focus on progressive weight loading and sufficient nutrition to support your training. That might mean increasing calories a bit.