Stuck on a plateau for almost a year

The_Mathematician
The_Mathematician Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So it’s been 3+ years since my weight loss journey started getting out of a major depression and having lost 75 lbs. I’m 36 yrs, 6’2 tall, 205lbs, 33 waist, and I’m not fat but I’m not where I want to be. For the past year I’ve tried to dip below 200 to get to 190 (my goal) but I’ve been stuck fluctuating between 200 to 215. At times during the year I gave up with the fat burn regimen (calorie cycling, cardio, low carbs, etc...) and stuck to more strength training than cardio with a 2200-2400 average daily calorie intake. Anything lower makes me nearly hyper glycemic unless I cut my activity levels down. According to all the calculators I’ve tried, my maintenance is estimated at 2900 calories a day. My wife thinks I look like a meathead but I’m not cut like I want to be. I have subcutaneous fat on the back of my hips that’s been there since I was 27 (since I got a measly corporate desk job). However since I started my new lifestyle 3 years ago, I’m logging everything (keeping sugars in safe ranges, sodium levels low). Primary doctor is happy w my health. Since the Coronavirus epidemic started, I’ve got back in a running regimen since gyms are closed and I’m doing calisthenics 2-3 times a week. I’m a little limited in what I can do bc of a bad knee from cross country days but i can do anything that doesn’t engage my knees the way lunges put strain on them. Anyway I’m ready to try getting down to 190, but I’m not sure how to do this without losing lots of muscle mass. Full on Keto diets are pretty much out of the question, as they’re not sustainable in my household. The slimmest/cut I’ve ever been was when I was on a vegan diet in college for 6 months but I was pretty miserable energy wise. I’m really not sure how to beat my genetics. My activity level is through the roof. My immediate family is all 300+ lbs (diabetics) and I will never let myself get that way. I just don’t know how to beat this plateau. If the gyms open back up, my body will just gain muscle quick but it’ll be fatty muscle despite whatever diet I’m one (I’ve tried various overly strict diets and done my fair share of misery). The time I did have a personal trainer, he couldn’t figure it out. I arguably had more endurance and strength than many of his clients, breezing through many of the workouts we carved out but my midsection always looked like I had a four pack until the tiny amount of fat covered the last section. It’s annoying to think I put in double the work as others and I’ll never beat the poor draw from the gene pool. If your advice is drop calories even more, what can I do about the energy levels? I’m back in college getting another degree (engineering this time) and I need all the brain focus I can drum up. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    Try a consult with a nutritionist or dietician. If you've been logging with any amount of precision (i.e. not skipping entire days), they'll likely appreciate an overview of your MFP data...or you giving them a summary analysis.

    Also, with physical trainers, you need to find the right person for you. Kepp trying to find the one for you (even possible during self isolation thanks to video conferencing).

    Not all of them will be unable to figure out how to help you recomp (since this is kinda like fundamental knowledge for them 🤔) as long as you're nutrition aligns with what you tell a trainer you're eating.
  • The_Mathematician
    The_Mathematician Posts: 8 Member
    harper16 wrote: »
    You can't spot reduce where you lose weight. But, to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you haven't lost any weight in a year you havent plateaued, you are maintaining. With how much you'd like to lose healthy weight loss is .5 lbs a week.

    I’m quite aware spot reducing is impossible. And no offense, but I didn’t lose 75lbs magically without knowing the fundamentals. I’d imagine maintaining my weight for a few years now demonstrates my goals were long term, not short term. I realize many folks who use diets and exercise programs as semi-annual fads need reminded of the basics, but I’m far from any of those types of people. I’m at 15% body fat and I’m trying to get to 12-13%. Fundamentals always remain in play, but there are other factors in play. I just can’t afford a Hollywood grade personal trainer to figure out how to shred these last few pounds.
  • The_Mathematician
    The_Mathematician Posts: 8 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    How are you tracking your calories? 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

    Haven’t been using a scale. Very similar to the second article where I’ve used measuring cups for everything, logging absolutely everything for 3+ years. Only missed one day, and I’m dead honest about what I put in my body. Often times, even though this might sabotage my anabolic growth, I incorporated more cardio into days where I feared exceeding my calorie deficit. I train about 5-6 days a week. However I’ve been told living in a pure calorie deficit the whole time isn’t full proof due to the way our bodies metabolic energy conservation systems work. The catalyst that’s always worked for me until now was changing things up, shocking my system to ensure my metabolism didn’t get comfortable. I’ll definitely consider the food scale though. It’s just really difficult to figure out when I’ve have a larger energy expenditure from workout activities and what’s needed to compensate for it in terms of refueling. (I run 10K routes sometimes)



  • The_Mathematician
    The_Mathematician Posts: 8 Member
    edited May 2020
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    The fundamentals are: if you maintain the same weight for a year, you aren't in a calorie deficit. To lose weight, you'll need to get back into a deficit.

    To be clear, as part of different diet cycling regimens throughout the year, I went into calorie deficits (between 1700-1800 calories a day) for 12 straight week sprints. 3 separate sprints throughout the year. That doesn’t include variances in increased activity levels that probably required more refueling. I feared I my body was going in energy conservation mode during this time. I could’ve also been engaging in overtraining. I don’t consider 15% body fat with an athletic build to be an untrained novice, it’s just not my final goal. I’ve also gained significant muscle mass throughout the year.

    With all due respect, there’s more often than not more to the story with some folks than assuming calorie deficits is the only pitfall. I appreciate your advice but was hoping for something beyond the canned approach “eat less” advice. That might work w folks who don’t incorporate competitive level exercise into their lifestyles. And I’m not opposed to going back into a larger calorie deficit again, but I’m trying to avoid catabolic effects from exercise and allowing the body to go into starvation mode.
  • The_Mathematician
    The_Mathematician Posts: 8 Member
    cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »
    Short and sweet advice from me: you’ve been eating at maintenance if you aren’t losing or gaining weight.

    Weigh everything on a scale not using cups. You’re eating more than you think.

    I know this. And thank you for your response, I do appreciate the replies from folks. The food scale is certainly worth a try (nothing to lose). I’ll go low carb, high protein, high fiber again and I’m sure I’ll lose weight. But I’m still wondering how to combat catabolic effects of losing muscle. I guess I’m not being totally clear in my overall objective behind my questions. (Sorry it took me this long to figure that out) My body build loses muscle quick in the areas I worked the hardest to build. (Chest never shrinks but my arms get tiny, quads turn to chicken legs). I know we all lose some lean mass on calorie restrictive diets but I’m trying to minimize this because I just think I have this jacked up metabolism that purposely breaks down muscle fiber before it decides to go after fat stores, or immediate conversion of carbs that I ingest. I’m thinking a dietician is really my next course of action though. At least I have the data to review now thanks to MFP.

    Was just hoping someone else could relate to my situation and had any suggestions for retaining lean mass while maintaining good energy levels and not resorting to keto diets.

  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    The_Mathematician wrote: »
    cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »
    Short and sweet advice from me: you’ve been eating at maintenance if you aren’t losing or gaining weight.

    Weigh everything on a scale not using cups. You’re eating more than you think.

    I know this. And thank you for your response, I do appreciate the replies from folks. The food scale is certainly worth a try (nothing to lose). I’ll go low carb, high protein, high fiber again and I’m sure I’ll lose weight. But I’m still wondering how to combat catabolic effects of losing muscle. I guess I’m not being totally clear in my overall objective behind my questions. (Sorry it took me this long to figure that out) My body build loses muscle quick in the areas I worked the hardest to build. (Chest never shrinks but my arms get tiny, quads turn to chicken legs). I know we all lose some lean mass on calorie restrictive diets but I’m trying to minimize this because I just think I have this jacked up metabolism that purposely breaks down muscle fiber before it decides to go after fat stores, or immediate conversion of carbs that I ingest. I’m thinking a dietician is really my next course of action though. At least I have the data to review now thanks to MFP.

    Was just hoping someone else could relate to my situation and had any suggestions for retaining lean mass while maintaining good energy levels and not resorting to keto diets.

    See if there is something here that is useful to you: https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/muscle-loss-single-digit-bf The science in this site is sound (and updated as needed).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,223 Member
    edited May 2020
    Not sure what all the upset is about.

    Your goals are excellent for maintaining your large loss--because you're focusing on further progress.

    Whether you end up letting the search for perfection *kitten up* the pretty darn good you've already achieved is certainly a danger! As you can tell I would be less militant in my pursuit of lower levels of body fat than you are. But we ARE each different with different goals and aspirations! Just, well... there are risks associated with our various pursuits. Motocross has risks... and so does bodybuilding and searching for abs.

    You may be better off bringing up all this in the bodybuilding forum where you're more likely to find people who have walked the walk.

    Your approach of diet + re-feeds + diet breaks seems to be reasonable in terms of attaining your pursuit. Especially when it comes to someone already lean and trying to get leaner.

    In the sticky post section there is an excellent reference thread to re-feeds and diet breaks. The first page and posts cover the most important info in that huge thread. There are also recomposition threads and threads about lean people trying to get leaner, though I think you're a step beyond that level already.

    If you can't afford a Hollywood trainer or a personal consultant then you will have to do the number crunching and estimations yourself.

    Your training program **MAY** have just as much to do with your abs as your eating. Again the MFPeops who train hard may be best at figuring that out with you.
  • JRsLateInLifeMom
    JRsLateInLifeMom Posts: 2,275 Member
    Same here had huge losses now those last stubborn pounds hanging on lol.

    Lost 50-53lbs so far it to-yo daily between that. It will eventually budge if you eat right y exercise.Might want to recalculate see if your at a point where you need to increase or decrease food y exercise.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,124 Member
    The_Mathematician wrote: »
    cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »
    Short and sweet advice from me: you’ve been eating at maintenance if you aren’t losing or gaining weight.

    Weigh everything on a scale not using cups. You’re eating more than you think.

    I know this. And thank you for your response, I do appreciate the replies from folks. The food scale is certainly worth a try (nothing to lose). I’ll go low carb, high protein, high fiber again and I’m sure I’ll lose weight. But I’m still wondering how to combat catabolic effects of losing muscle. I guess I’m not being totally clear in my overall objective behind my questions. (Sorry it took me this long to figure that out) My body build loses muscle quick in the areas I worked the hardest to build. (Chest never shrinks but my arms get tiny, quads turn to chicken legs). I know we all lose some lean mass on calorie restrictive diets but I’m trying to minimize this because I just think I have this jacked up metabolism that purposely breaks down muscle fiber before it decides to go after fat stores, or immediate conversion of carbs that I ingest. I’m thinking a dietician is really my next course of action though. At least I have the data to review now thanks to MFP.

    Was just hoping someone else could relate to my situation and had any suggestions for retaining lean mass while maintaining good energy levels and not resorting to keto diets.

    To minimize muscle loss while dieting:
    1. Keep your protein high. To be sure I have 1g per pound of my weight.

    2. Follow a structured established hypertrophy training programme.

    Those are the basics. I don’t do anything more complicated than that.

    The bodybuilding forum has some very experienced lifters who regularly post d set I you may want to look at some of the threads there.
  • The_Mathematician
    The_Mathematician Posts: 8 Member
    Maxxitt wrote: »
    See if there is something here that is useful to you: https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/muscle-loss-single-digit-bf The science in this site is sound (and updated as needed).

    Thank you for actually reading my comments and chiming in with something other than “eat less”. I just started a new paleo diet a few weeks ago, same 2200 calories day but incorporating more HIIT workouts after strength training exercises. I just dipped below 200 finally, (198 actually) and energy levels are good. I’ll stick to the bodybuilding forums from now on. Your article was a good read btw

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