How to break through fat-loss plateau (going under 12-13% BF)

[kekeli]

@loida as i have told others, thats a horrible idea.

you should not just keep dropping calories when you have already gone sub 2000/day, as it can have very bad health consequences.

second, you might already be in a deficit. Just because you are in a deficit does not mean you will automatically lose fat. Yes you are in an energy deficit and your body must do something, but your body has many options other than simply burning fat reserves.

at higher body fats your body will always pick burn fat stores that it stored for the sole point of potential future energy use, but as you start to get lower thats not the case, as your body fat has many uses other than just energy storage.

so when you drop lower and lower in %bf your body might start to prefer other options, lowering metabolism, lower resting heart rate, reducing muscle mass, lowering tissue and cellular repair, even larger deficits can have even worse effects like worsening your immune system or lowering bine density

 

[loida]

@kekeli Metabolism can only lower a small bit and the damages you consider only occur sub 8% bf.

Sorry, you need to eat less.

 

[biancaho]

@kekeli Don’t over complicate. If you are Stuck , time to start adding in some cardio.

If you already are, add some more or work the dog more. You get the idea where

 

[sisbarn70]

@kekeli Have you tried carb cycling?

 

[kekeli]

@sisbarn70 i've never really heard about it too much,

have you used it, with success?

 

[sisbarn70]

@kekeli That’s how most bodybuilders get in shape for competitions. Maybe think about hiring a coach to do your diet

 

[isa4031]

@kekeli Do you really need to drop below 12%? Maybe you don't have enough muscle in the first place? Just guessing here, no hard feelings.

 

[kekeli]

@isa4031 need? of course not no one needs to

muscle wise, i'v been training for over a decade now, sure maybe if i really optimize training and diet, sleep, nutrition etc i could add a bit more on, but thats a maybe for a definite in terms of difficulty to achieve

especially as another few pounds of muscle would be less noticeable than a slight fat reduction especially in more core area

 

[heatherstache2933]

@kekeli You seem to be putting in a fair amount of due diligence and also seem to just be genuinely curious and looking for answers. That being said, why you're getting downvoted so much is confusing to me. I'd recommend seeking someone who has a genuine willingness to help others learn about nutrition and reaching personal goals. Internet nutrition zealots are the fucking worst. Most of them could stand to learn about the Dunning-Kruger Effect...

 

[belove]

@kekeli I'd say your metabolism has slowed right down and your new maintenance is 2000 calories, in my opinion you have two options:
1-Lean bulk, up your calories by 200 and make sure your performing progressive overload aiming for an increase in weight of around 2lbs a month or 0.5lbs a week when that slows and your not gaining your metabolism has increased, so add another 200 calories on Do this slowly for about 3 months you should see your metabolism come back to more normal levels then it's much easier to cut cus you only need a deficit from say 2500 calories, your going to slightly increase body fat percentage, but it's much easier to keep muscle when cutting so long as your eating 1-1.2g protein per lb of bw, it's important to take this slowly and only add on 2lbs a month to reduce fat loss while increasing metabolism so that your jobs easier when you do cut out those final pounds.

2-track everything, unfortunately you need to be more precise with your tracking, weigh yourself everyday and record your steps everyday, and everything you eat, you want to be eating 1-1.2g protein per lb of bodyweight and 20-25% of your calories need to be from fats for hormones to remain good, now if your walking 10,000 steps a day (be it from cardio, actually walking or gym) that's your activity level and if your eating 2000cals and walking 10,000 steps and not losing weight your maintenance is 2000cals + 10,000 steps worth of activity ( you can just download a step tracker on your phone which are pretty reliable) to get down to lower bf% you need to be in a deficit and unfortunately you aren't currently so you need to increase those steps or reduce your calories, I personally will bring calories down to 1700 when getting to the end of a cut, you can get your nutrition in at 1700 but you have to be much more strict with what you eat: fortified cereals with greek yoghurt, egg fried rice with vegetables, salads, potatoes, chicken and vegetables, protein shakes are all staple meals low in calories that you can change up the vegetables to make sure your getting your micronutrients for 1700 calories, this means your probably not going to get any nice treat foods or very rarely but that's the case with cutting.

That's just my opinion hopefully useful.

 

[dawn16]

@kekeli Completely ignore what you burn and focus solely on intake. 2,000 is luxurious.

 

[theartguy58]

@kekeli I usually do a refeed day once a week back at maintenance calories to prevent my metabolism slowing down

 

[stars1100]

@kekeli Hi mate,

I used to compete, and I’m a mesomorph. I find it easy to put on bulk and it a pain in the arse to shred up.
I swear by the cyclic Keto diet, although those in the Keto community would crucify me if I even speak of loading.

Remember Keto isn’t high protein, and; your daily calories from high fat, moderate protein and low carb should still be in deficit to your total expenditure.

I’d advise getting a dexa scan so you know exactly what your lean mass and RMR actually are.

I didn’t do a 5/2 split, I would push it as far as I could before a refeed, roughly 9 days. Load only 8 grams of carbs per Kg of lean body mass per day, over two days.

Replace a lot of your protein with amino acids, that helps keep your numbers lower.

Fasted cardio really shreds you up when your running on ketones. And when you can handle the mental side of things, calories in/calories out keto days will nicely fuck your day.

It’s not a miracle, but you will consistently lose ya 100-150 grams a day. Whilst you won’t be burning on the refeed days, if your smart with it your not putting on fat, just water weight from the glycogen.

A balanced diet is always best, but when that didn’t work for me, this did.

 

[kekeli]

@stars1100 but why even cycle? i'm note even sure thats even keto. as you usually need 48-72 hours for most people to be in ketosis.

i don't think i would need to do it that long 3-4 weeks and like you said 100+ grams a day i could lose 3-4 kilos which would probably be more than enough for me.

are you cycling to combat some symptoms? i've heard of the psychological effects and "keto sickness", what have you actually experienced?

 

[stars1100]

@kekeli It’s only really of use if you are training your ass off. As it says when you look it up on the net, there is very little studies into it, but I know it got me completion ready from 20% down to 6% BF.

I did it because on a fortnightly basis I would see how I looked carb loaded, as I would on the day of the competition.

Think about the day 1-3 or 72 hours, you may not be pissing purple but you are still consuming your stored body fat just the same as fasted cardio or low Gi diets. You get about a week of ketosis and then carb load, and the carb load for me was as much about keeping sane as it was to refeed.

Worked for me, but as I said many people would want to crucify me. I found it gave me what I needed to get through a week and a half of hard training whilst depleting . Many people are die hard SKD fans, loading was just what I did and it took me 3 months to get down. I’m not alone but a lot of people go with the Ketogains SKD these days, bodybuilding.com has some excellent articles on CKD and also the SKD and it well worth the read.

I wouldn’t take my word for it, do some research and find what works best for you.

I have tried many diets on my way, couldn’t handle SKD, low GI didn’t move the weight, low carb didn’t either. Atkins was shit, then I found CKD which I could handle for the 9 days and rinse lather repeat.

I think a good diet is one you can stick to, whilst achieving what you want.

 

[littlelisama]

@kekeli Calculate your true maintanance by doing THIS:

1)

Track your calories for about 1-2 weeks where you eat as you usually do without losing weight. Divide all your calories that you ate during that period by the number of days you tracked your calories.

2) 2-3g protein/kg of your weight (3 is kind of hard but I recommend this as there are theories saying more protein = less muscle loss - check out Brendan Tietz on youtube)

3) Subtract 300 calories from your maintanace - this is your starting point.

4) If you don't lose weight for a week - subtract 100 (recommending this for as little muscle loss as possible) otherwise subtract 150-200 (don't go like -300 because you Will have 0 energy - it is not a sprint to lose weight please understand this).

5) If you don't lose lose weight for a week but don't want to lower the calories - add about 30 min to 60 min of cardio where you jog if this is not possible you walk for like 60 min to 120 min per week. You repeat this process just like step 4 but this the hardest to do in practise.

It is this simple. If you start -1000kcal like you did your body will adapt fast as you go into survival mode and it will be harder to lose weight.

You can do both step 4 and 5 at the same time if you want to. 15 min of cardio per session is not a lot if you think about it.

Remember to train as you usually do. If you get burned - try lowering the volume in your training but not your intensity. You will most likely get weaker so that doesnt mean that lowering the weights is bad. Same RPE as you usually do = same intensity.

When you go below 12% you will feel like shit unless you have the genetics for it. Listen to your body and take breaks from your cut (maintain your weight during your break - don't bulk as your body will be more likely to store fat because you just starved yourself for x weeks). This is true if you are natural. However I don't know what happens if youre on drugs lol.

Good luck.

 

[littlelisama]

If I were you I would stop my cut because 2000kcal is very low. I would instead try to maintain and slowly build up my metabolism by training with heavier weights and by doing compound movements (deadlift, squats ect). Now that my metabolism is better and I can eat more I would start my cut.

I would do this because I take my health before my looks. It is all about long term my friend.

Keep in mind that "maintaining" in this scenario is highering your calories every week because your body will demand more calories. This is very individual so I cannot say "higher x calories/week" - it is something you will have to find out by yourself. Keep in mind that you might gain weight because of all the glycogen/water your muscle will pick up when it finally gets nutrition.

In my own experience I don't feel more fat when I refuel. I feel bigger and leaner (personal opinion tho).

 

[tom9831]

@kekeli Yohombine Hcl