I've been stuck at the same weight (164) and BF% (14) for the last month, despite a 1000 calorie deficit. My maintenance is at 2550 right now. Is 1550 too low of a calorie intake?

Should maybe I bring it up to 1800 to loose weight?

(Additional details: 6' tall, 20 y/o, I'd like to cut off some of the winter bulk for the summer time. I would have kept on bulking before, but I couldn't fit in my pants anymore . my goal is around 9-10% BF)

Welcome to my world.....

I don't really know what to tell ya. I too have my calories down and I exercise like a fiend.....it's as if my body has adapted and become more efficient to the point where I've also hit an equilibrium.

From my experience, eating a bit more will not cause your body to loose weight. I suppose the theory goes that when your body gets enough, it figures it doesn't need to store the fat and it lets it go. I don't buy that; more is never less when it comes to calories.

If you're like me, you probably have a little (healthy) snack here and a little snack here. Maybe your portions have gradually increased and there's always the possibility that you're sleep-eating (getting out of bed, walking to the kitchen and polishing-off a gallon of ice-cream...or just hitting the dog food).

My hunch is that our bodies find a place where they want to be and busting below that is really tough. Take a hard & long inventory of just how many calories you're eating...you may be surprised where a couple hundred are slipping past the count. Beyond that, mix-up your exercise and maybe fluctuate your caloric intake....if you subscribe to the notion behind this theory. On the whole, I'm still an advocate of calories-in vs. calories-out...and all the games, mixing and variables just account for a small fraction of change.

Find what works for you, but NEVER stop complaining!!!!

Hehe I hope you don't mind me laughing at the fact that you couldn't fit in your pants anymore. You have not been at a 1000 calorie deficit and maintained the same weight - you may be sneaking in treats/high calorie sweets or not counting your calories properly.

A 1000 calorie deficit is considered starvation and a 500 calorie deficit is considered healthy. You need to exercise either weights/Cardio/HIIT together with a caloric deficit to lose weight.

I dunno. I've heard about your body going into starvation mode if it doesn't get enough calories, which I understand won't get you anywhere.

I've also read that a man should never go below 1800 calories.

I don't want to go below a 1000 calorie deficit, I really don't want to loose any of the muscle I've worked to hard to get. I dunno. Maybe I"ll go a week at 1200 cals and see what my BF% scale says.

When I was loosing weight last year I was down to 1200 calories/day, but than again I was only doing cardio, and had next to no muscle mass as it was.

I hope you are not confusing a calorie deficit of 500 to mean you should eat only 500 calories a day. If you need 2500 calories as your maintenance level, eating 2000 calories created a 500 caloric deficit. Eating 1500 or 1200 calories as you propose/have done is suicidal as anything above a 500 caloric deficit is unhealthy.

I think the basic rule is 20% less then your BMR....

20% not 2%

Yeah, 20%.....that's what I wrote.

(caught the mistake myself too), 'sup Amp?

I can assure you I am pretty good with calorie counting, I am always +/- 150 calories per day on my set amount. And I know what deficits are. If maintenance is 2500, and I eat 1500, than that's a 1000 calorie deficit. I have been on a 1000 calorie deficit for two months. The first month I lost 3% body fat (according to electronic scale). Doing the same thing this month has lead to no change in weight or body fat %.

What do you suggest I do? How would you explain my situation?



(If it makes a difference I do have a bit of a hypoactive tyroid, I've been tested a few times, and I'm good enough to not need medication, but I'm on the high end of normal.)

Instead of lowering calories, increase volume of exercise.

I would take a week off the diet and eat normally.

Once you get done doing that start to lower your calories and increase exercise.

It's a pretty standard plateau busting technique.

You mean 20% below your ' maintenance level ' of calories don't you ?

BMR is just the largest component of what contributes to your overall ' maintenance level ' of calories.

Yep, thanks for the clarification.

Hey whats up bsl?

Anyway to the OP, i agree with Realworksucks, you should try and eat over maintenance for a day or two by a little bit, and then go back to cutting calories. Your body is probably used to being in that deficit, so it needs some change.

Well it worked! I droped to 12.5% just by eating at maintenance this week. I guess I must have been not eating enough after all. I'll try and keep it between 1800 and 2000 and I'll see how my body does in the next few weeks.