Fat Loss Plateau

JulioLee17 · May 2016

Hey guys! I've recently been on a mission to drop to 10% body fat. Currently, I'm at 163lbs with around 12.5-13% body fat - this has come with exactly 4 months of a overall clean diet and 4xs/week weight lifting.

Recently, I've seemingly ran into that dreaded "plateau" everyone has always talked about. I've been fluctuating in between 160-163lbs for about two weeks.

I'm not sure if I should cut calories some more (I'm at around 1750 a day)?Increase cardio (I do about 2 days of HIIT/week)? Or play around with my macros (I try to do 40/40/20 protein/fat/carbs)?

Any advice on what you guys have done to push past your fat loss plateaus would really help. Thank you!

hiyomi · May 2016

Usually plateaus are not really considered plateaus unless its been about 3 months and you have seen no change. Maybe try changing up your cardio a bit, and mixing around what you eat. I had a 2 month stall on my weight loss, and even though it sucked, I kept changing things until I finally started losing again. For me it was eating more calories and getting 30 mins of daily exercise!

pcpop7 · May 2016

My one tip that helped me when I stalled was to tighten up my loggiing.

I've been through this a couple times on cut /bulk/cut and as soon as I get close to my BF and weight target the loss seems to flatten out.

What I have learnt is it is all me, I loosen up on my very accurate logging, I slip in extra snacks without logging cause I didn't log that couple miles walk so it will be ok mindset.

What I do know is once I have words with myself, and start logging accurately again, weighing everything, then the loss continues down to my goal.

terbusha · May 2016

I wouldn't eat less. ~1800 should be as low as you get. I would start by upping the intensity in your workouts. Are you pushing hard in workouts 6 times/week? Really make sure that you're logging everything you eat, accurately and honestly.

I hit a plateau when I got to about that bf% while eating 1800 cal/day. I actually broke it by bumping up to 2000 cal/day. You might try that too.

SezxyStef · May 2016

Zatikk wrote: »

JulioLee17 wrote: »

Hey guys! I've recently been on a mission to drop to 10% body fat. Currently, I'm at 163lbs with around 12.5-13% body fat - this has come with exactly 4 months of a overall clean diet and 4xs/week weight lifting.

Recently, I've seemingly ran into that dreaded "plateau" everyone has always talked about. I've been fluctuating in between 160-163lbs for about two weeks.

I'm not sure if I should cut calories some more (I'm at around 1750 a day)?Increase cardio (I do about 2 days of HIIT/week)? Or play around with my macros (I try to do 40/40/20 protein/fat/carbs)?

Any advice on what you guys have done to push past your fat loss plateaus would really help. Thank you!

Great job on the consistency, that's awesome! But you should keep in mind that if you're weightlifting there's a great chance you're building muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat so I would recommend not checking out the scale too often. Try taking measurements of your arms, waist, hips, thighs, calves, etc. Track your progress that way and I'm sure seeing the changes that way may also help keep you motivated and striving for more challenges vs just comparing your progress with a scale. You got this, you've come so far. Keep it up lad!

no.

just because you lift weights doesn't mean you are building muscle.

I've been lifting for 3 years and I have yet to build any appreciable muscle...

esp if OP is in a calorie deficit he is not building muscle since he doesn't fall into the categories of "new to lifting", "obese" or "teenage boy with lots of testosterone".

you need a calorie surplus and follow a progressive load lifting program to build muscle.

And to nitpick a bit more 1lb of muscle is the same weight as 1lb of fat...just takes up less space.

VintageFeline · May 2016

Two weeks isn't a plateau, 6-8 weeks is. And a plateau isn't really a thing either, it's eating more than you think/need to lose weight.

So I wouldn't worry yet and just make sure your logging is as accurate as it can be by weighing all solids, measuring all liquids and cross checking the entries you are using.

justincooper405 · May 2016

Sometimes lifters will hit a lifting plateau... make sure you a mixing up your lifting and progressively increasing your weights.

Keep your rest times minimal in-between sets and maybe add in super sets.

I like light super sets... for example if I'm working on my chest I like to bench press as heavy as I can with being able to do 8 to 10 reps ... no rest straight in push ups, as many as you can do with keeping form ..... no rest and a straight in dumbbell Flys.

But all in all sounds like your on the right path and hitting your goal is attainable. 10 % requires serious dedication

BinaryFu · May 2016

6-13% is a perfect range for professional athletes (although some feel they perform better at 15%) so is there an actual *reason* you want to hit 10% or is it more just bragging rights?

MalcolmX1983 · May 2016

BinaryFu wrote: »

6-13% is a perfect range for professional athletes (although some feel they perform better at 15%) so is there an actual *reason* you want to hit 10% or is it more just bragging rights?

Summer.

RoxieDawn · May 2016

hiyomi wrote: »

Usually plateaus are not really considered plateaus unless its been about 3 months and you have seen no change. Maybe try changing up your cardio a bit, and mixing around what you eat. I had a 2 month stall on my weight loss, and even though it sucked, I kept changing things until I finally started losing again. For me it was eating more calories and getting 30 mins of daily exercise!

Not three months. Three to four weeks tops. I would not change anything for another week (tighten up logging and exercise calorie burns to assure you are within the calories per day) before you freak out on needing major changes.

Getting down to 10% body fat is a very aggressive body fat percentage that most of us will never even consider in our lifetimes. But should there be a lifter here that has gotten there, I hope they respond to your question.

I have not checked to see if your diary is open. But this is where diet becomes major major in lowering BF%.

Without looking at the diary, I would probably cut carbs down more, and up protein to min 1 gr per body weight if not already. I would def increase the intensity of the cardio workouts and separate those workouts from the lifting for example, if you have to do it one day, place them as far apart in the day as you can. You may not be building any muscle while in a deficit to cut this BF percentage down, so just keep lifting heavy and eat the protein to prevent any mass losses while you try to attempt the final stages of the cut.

And muscle does not weight more than fat. I just do not understand how this gets translated as a fact (newbie)..

BinaryFu · May 2016

RoxieDawn wrote: »

And muscle does not weight more than fat. I just do not understand how this gets translated as a fact (newbie)..

I have no idea where that viscous rumor started that fat weighs more than muscle. Might be because it's true.

I do however, agree that 10% body fat is very aggressive. At the level the OP is at, most people just focus on building the muscle and sculpting and if any fat is going to be shed, it'll happen along the way.

At the point he's at, fat loss should not even be a focus anymore.

justincooper405 · May 2016

BinaryFu wrote: »

RoxieDawn wrote: »

And muscle does not weight more than fat. I just do not understand how this gets translated as a fact (newbie)..

I have no idea where that viscous rumor started that fat weighs more than muscle. Might be because it's true.

I do however, agree that 10% body fat is very aggressive. At the level the OP is at, most people just focus on building the muscle and sculpting and if any fat is going to be shed, it'll happen along the way.

At the point he's at, fat loss should not even be a focus anymore.

Great visual

SezxyStef · May 2016

BinaryFu wrote: »

RoxieDawn wrote: »

And muscle does not weight more than fat. I just do not understand how this gets translated as a fact (newbie)..

I have no idea where that viscous rumor started that fat weighs more than muscle. Might be because it's true.

I do however, agree that 10% body fat is very aggressive. At the level the OP is at, most people just focus on building the muscle and sculpting and if any fat is going to be shed, it'll happen along the way.

At the point he's at, fat loss should not even be a focus anymore.

not to nit pick but they both weigh 5lbs...fat just takes up more space...volume wise fat is "bigger"

JulioLee17 · May 2016

I appreciate all of you guy's input! Please feel free to friend me, I can always use some accountability

Mavrick_RN · May 2016

As long as we're nit picking (muscle does NOT weigh more than fat) How vicious is a "viscious" rumor.

A better visual to illustrate the point would be to compare an equal volume of muscle and fat. A cup of muscle will weigh more than a cup of fat.

The great visual presented just makes the point that 5 pounds = 5 pounds.

joncooper1980 · May 2016

BinaryFu wrote: »

I have no idea where that viscous rumor started that fat weighs more than muscle. Might be because it's true.

I do however, agree that 10% body fat is very aggressive. At the level the OP is at, most people just focus on building the muscle and sculpting and if any fat is going to be shed, it'll happen along the way.

At the point he's at, fat loss should not even be a focus anymore.

Did you look at the photo you linked? Both weigh the same.

10% is not "very aggressive". That comment makes no sense. Getting to 10% physiologically isn't different to getting to 15%. The laws of thermodynamics work the same in all instances. How you go about getting to 10% can be "aggressive" if you are striving to do so in too short a space of time.

Building muscle and "sculpting" dont happen at the same time. Build muscle in a calorie surplus. Sculpting (or the equally inaccurate term "toning" - in truth both are misnomers) are when you work on revealing the muscle by shedding fat, which requires a calorie deficit.

Fat loss should definitely be a focus if he is striving to get to 10% BF. It takes dedication, commitment and hard work but is totally achievable without any miracle of science and can be maintained very easily.

OP - I would tighten up your logging to make sure you aren't consuming any "hidden" calories. It is unlikely that you need to reduce them beyond 1750. If you do need to create a bigger deficit, do so through increased cardio. How long do your HIIT sessions last? For me to get to 10% BF (I'm 186cm and was at 10% at approx 79kgs) I ate 1850-1950cal per day but I was doing 4-5 lots of 20 minute HIIT cardio sessions along with 3 days of Lifting (Generally a variation of a push/pull/legs program).

Maintaining your muscle mass is essential at this point. Make sure you are eating at least 1.2g of protein per lb of body weight. More if you can and lift heavy in the gym. Don't go high reps/light weight. focus on lifting in the 4-6 rep range (meaning you are reaching failure within 4-6 reps) Keep your fats down to 0.2g per lb and get the rest from carbs to fuel your weight sessions.

If your schedule allows it you could also consider doing your cardio sessions first thing in the morning to allow you to train in a fasted state. Note that this only applies to your cardio sessions. You dont want to be lifting in a fasted state.

Fat Loss Plateau

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