I track my calories and weight, at calorie deficit, but not losing fat or weight, but losing muscle mass

[hopelesslysaved]

I have a question about what I am doing wrong.

I am 6' 1" in height, and currently 223lbs. My TDEE without workout is 2300 calories and with workout 2700 calories. Some sites even show more than this. I have been eating an average of 2000 calories a day and working 4 times a week, at least 30 minutes of weight lifting. I use the Cronometer for everything I eat and keep track of my weight and calories in a spreadsheet. Also, do a low-carb diet. Keep it below 35-40 grams net carb daily. Sometimes even below 20. I was 221lbs 2 weeks ago(Also I was 220 lbs 3 months ago. But then went back up to 230 even though I was still at deficit, then added a workout about 2 months ago), but even when I am in a calorie deficit, I gain some weight. What I am doing wrong? One of my daily meals is a protein shake with 80-100 grams of protein and has 5 gr of creatine. And my scale shows me I lose more muscle than I lose fat. And even though I have been in a total deficit the last 5 weeks, I am not losing weight and the weight I lose is more of a muscle mass. My workout routine is "Build with Science - Moderate volume workout routine" What I am doing wrong?

Week Stats Sun. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Avg. ∆ TDEE

10-Feb-24 Weight 227.4 227.4 229.1 227.6 227.7 227.8 226.7 227.7 0.27 2085

Cal.            2200    2200    2200    2540    2200    2016    2191    2221

17-Feb-24 Weight 227.3 225.6 224.8 224.8 224.8 224.8 224.1 225.2 -2.50 2695

Cal.            2021    1958    1890    2239    1589    2660    2020    2054

24-Feb-24 Weight 224.2 223.9 222.7 221.3 221.3 223.7 222.8 222.8 -2.33 2570

Cal.            1930    1826    732     1600    1750    2600    1900    1763

2-Mar-24 Weight 223.8 225 225.2 225.1 223.1 223.5 224 224.2 1.40 2205

Cal.            2450    2270    2500    1600    2340    2600    1500    2180

9-Mar-24 Weight 222.8 223.5 223 223.0 -1.20 2385

Cal.            2000    825     1900                                    1761

 

[disguisedlamb]

@hopelesslysaved First thing first, scales that track muscles, fat, bone and water weight are not often accurate (here is a great scientific paper which goes over this). Why am I telling you this?Because it means you should not be worrying so much about that. Additionally sites also are not fully accurate with telling us how many calories we need for weight loss/maintenance/ weight gain. It is a good starting point, but it does not factor in your intensity in training, how your body handles macros etc.

Moving on, looking the rest of your post, I have alot of questions
1. What is your training like and how often? I feel like a caloric intake of 2000 at your height is a little low (to give you an idea, I am 5'6 and weighing roughly 148lbs and I am cutting on 2800 from 3500 as of right now. Deep into my cut, I won't go any lower than 2300 calories. This is so I can still train optimally and I usually get the results I prefer).
2. How many meals are you having a day? You made it sound like it was one meal. This may be a factor in the weight retention (your body is focused on this as being your only source of energy and may be retaining what it can)
3. Is your total protein only 100g max?? I would strongly suggest aiming for your body weight for your protein goals per day. This will help with hunger, help build muscles etc.
4. How much water are you drinking? Fun fact: creatine can cause water retention! So you seeing the scale go up can be caused by creatine. This can be combated with making sure you are drinking enough water and being mindful of your sodium intake (higher the intake of salt couples with creatine and not enough water will be detrimental)
5. What is your diet like and why are you going so low on carbs for? That low of a carb intake (except in a few medical cases) is quite low. Usually optimal carb intake for an average individual is between 100-150gs for weight loss

This is all to say: don't worry about your scale(it's definitely wrong), focus on eating to properly fuel yourself to workout (which should be more than 2000 cals I believe), and focus on how your clothes fit, how your lifts are and body measurements (like with a measuring tape).

 

[hopelesslysaved]

@disguisedlamb 1- What is your training like and how often?: I do 4 times a week, and some weeks, 5times. It is a program from "Build with Science - Jeremy Ethier" website. It is a moderate workout program. Day 1 for the upper body, day 2 for the lower body. Then day 3 is a break, then day 3 and day 4 is a similar program with some of the exercises swapped with different ones. The whole thing in the below link. Intensity is slowly getting higher, but I do all the workouts at home. I got a bench, powerblocks adjustable dumbbells, adjustable kettlebells, and resistance bands, and I just bought a functional machine to do rows, pulls, pushes, etc, building it now. Eventually, I will start to go to gym.

My workout program: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17UKSx8pIno8gozxG\_hjXiOewOwLH9Ah1/view?usp=sharing

My highest day is 2300. I used to get it even less 1800-1900. But, after switching to this program, I started get a lot more hungrier.

2- What you say makes sense since I am a lot more hungrier lately. I try to cut my cravings with sugar-free gum or eating seaweed snacks, and I got 150 calorie keto bars that I eat if I am craving hard. I eat usually 2-3 meals. One of them is a fully loaded protein shake(casein and wheat mixed) with 3 scoops of protein, Callogens, 2tbls spoon peanut butter or almond butter or peanut butter powder, and some type of healthy stuff mixed that I bought and mixed them all (like acai powder, chai seeds, flaxseeds, matcha powder, superfood blend etc... - labels here ->

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m47eKp95nXh0KVzkQy1Vvz_ljjAWG_j0/view?usp=sharing

Then my other meals would be like eggs and bacon, grilled cheese and bacon, cheeseburgers, chicken tights, chicken breast, and sometimes fish. I add broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, cabbage, or mixed vegetables from the frozen section. I need to up the vegetables I eat a bit.

3- No my total protein minimum 165-170 grams. Sometimes exceed 200 grams.

4- Drinking 2-3 litter of water. If I drink more than this, I am going back and fort to pee all day long. Also I don't eat too salty and Usually I get 100% of needed daily sodium according to cronometer app, but not exceeding it by much, maybe sometimes 120-230%, but sometimes, I end up below it.

4- Drinking 2-3 liters of water. If I drink more than this, I am going back and fort to pee all day long. Also, I don't eat too salty, and Usually, I get 100% of the needed daily sodium according to cronometer app, but not exceeding it by much, maybe sometimes 120-230%, but sometimes, I end up below it.

5- I am doing keto. I used to do 20 gram net carbs. But if you count total carbs, not the net carbs, usually doubles the net carbs amount. I am doing 35-40 grams of net carbs since the workout. But sometimes, I may exceed to 50 grams.

 

[disguisedlamb]

@hopelesslysaved

1. I have heard of this program before, but I have never tried it as it does not match my training goals. From a cursory glance it is a good beginner/intermediate program. How long have you been doing this program for? (Being stagnant in seeing numbers go down on a scale can be normal if you have been not updating your training cycle regularly). If you have been doing this program for a while, it may be best to switch it up to something new (i.e. baby Groot from Meadows, any of the renaissance periodication is great, or even a program from Jeff nepards if you like him). There is no harm in trying a new program and seeing how your body reacts to that.
   
   It looks like you also have a good home gym set up going on and unless you feel you need to go to a public gym for motivation or for specific things, you can get away with buying a rack, barbell and some weight plates and you are set (check out r/homegym for ideas).
2. That is a hell of a protein shake right there. That would definitely be great to start your day off or to hold you over till another larger meal. The other meals are okay (nothing inherently wrong with them), just be mindful that things like bacon, cheese, and some ingredients in burgers (mayo, cheese there, beef patties higher in fats) can lead to bloating and water retention. If you want, I would suggest trying to simplify to a good old bodybuilding diet. You don't have to, but it is a great way to see if something is messing with your digestion and causing you to retain weight. I would still highly recommend upping your calorie intake to at least 2300. (Think of it like this, I am a fraction of your height and weight
3. Okay good. Sorry I was confused when you originally said 100g. I would try to aim for 200g. It would be alot more helpful (this is a slightly older paper but it still is very true about protein intake )
4. Brother, we all suffer that problem with water! My coworkers have joked about how much water I can drink (and don't even get me started on diet pop). I would try to keep your sodium stable throughout but what you are intaking is okay. I guess my follow up question would be what is your alcohol consumption like?
5. I am personally not the biggest fan of keto as personal I find I don't train as well as I like(I find it is a great tool for people with diabetes or with certain gluten I tolerance). Keto can be detrimental to some as you are removing a large energy source from your tools: carbs. How long have you been keto? As silly as it sounds, I would not worry so much about calculating net carbs v. Regular carbs (your body isn't doing the calculation and we all process carbs different (this a great simplified scientific article discussing net carbs)

This is not to say keto is not something you should do, but it may not be right for your body and what you want to accomplish.

 

[mommajulesberry]

@hopelesslysaved those body composition scales can be wrong. how do the pictures compare and how is your strength?

 

[hopelesslysaved]

@mommajulesberry

those body composition scales can be wrong. how do the pictures compare and how is your strength?

My strength is getting better. The reason I started working out is my should kind of got hurt or like mostly overworked when I was preparing to archery torunament in January. I practice like 10 days straight, and in the tournament, ended up shooting for 8 hours. The next thing I know, I couldn't hold the bow more than 15min anymore after that day. So I been working out 7-8 weeks since then, and my shoulders getting back the strength. I didn't go to archery yet, so I don't know how it compares. Also I can lift more without hurting my shoulders now that definitely mean I am doing better. For the bench press, I maxed out the 2x 50lbs adjustable dumbbells, but just got a functional machine to do pulls, pushes, rows and lat pulldowns etc... So, I could the chest press with more weight now. I used to do 4x 45lbs weight + the olympic bar. I think that is another 45. But this was 13 years ago before my kids. I had my packs back than. But I stopped working out about 10 years ago and got a desk job. I went from 10% body fat to 35% body fat 6 months. I went from 180lbs to 263lbs. But I started to have backpains and barely function, so trying to turn things around. I used to go to gym 6 times a week, and also play racquetball 2-3 times. But, my wife was jealues since she wasnt working out, so eventully I stopped going. Also, moving away from a good gym have a lot to do. I used to 5 min from LA fitness. Untill now, any gym near me was terrible. Now, got a good gym Pinnacle fitness, but it is like $90 a month, so I cant justify it at the moment. But maybe, if I lose more wieght, and be able to run again without shaking the whole room, I would go there and start playing rackquetball.

 

[mommajulesberry]

@hopelesslysaved tldr you are getting stronger in a way that makes it highly unlikely you are losing muscle. you used to be more muscular which likely gives you a long runway of being able to continue getting stronger and more muscular much faster than someone without the “muscle memory” effect, even while dieting

 

[hopelesslysaved]

@mommajulesberry

Hopefully, I will get back in shape. I didn't see much change in my appearance 13 years ago until I started playing racquetball. I just want to go below 200 lbs as soon as possible. Then I will start bulking to get stronger. But, it is really hard to cut, lose weight, and make muscle at the same time.

Hopefully, I will get back in shape. I didn't see much change on my appearance 13 years ago until I started playing racquetball. I just want to go below 200 lbs as soon as possible. Then I will start bulking to get stronger. But, it is really hard to cut, lose weight, and make muscle at the same time.

 

[asiaadogma]

@hopelesslysaved You aren’t in a calorie deficit then