Looking for help programming to solve a fat loss plateau for my Mom (F, 65)?

[yahhuah]

Hi r/fitness30plus. I'm a lifetime nerd for all things strength training, bodybuilding and self-experimentation. However I'm at a loss in programming through a fat loss plateau for my mom, who I believe is bumping up against too-low calories while still showing no scale weight movement after 6 weeks - coming here for help.

Background:

About 6 months ago my mom came to me asking for help in cutting weight sustainably for the first time in her life. We went through a first cut (152 -> 137, assuming 45% BF to 35% BF non-DEXA confirmed), following Renaissance Periodization methodology primarily, to great success!

After a requisite following maintenance period she wanted to go on one more cut to get to a target weight of approximately 125. That is where things stopped behaving as expected to me.

Problem:

After an initial drop from 137 to 133, assuming from glycogen and water weight in week 1, we have gotten to week 6 and her scale weight is still 133. I have tried programming in turning down calories further and turning up step count but nothing seems to be working.

Her maintenance cals were 1700 so I programmed a -550 cal daily deficit (aiming at -0.8% bw loss/week) for a starting caloric intake of 1150, approximately 120g protein. Here is a high level table of nutrition programming:

Week
Cals
Steps
Weight
Exercise Split

-1
1700
10k
137
2 Leg Days, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 1 Zone 2 Cardio Day

0
1150
10k
133
2 Leg Days, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 1 Zone 2 Cardio Day

1
1150
10k
133
2 Leg Days, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 1 Zone 2 Cardio Day

2
1150
11k
133
2 Leg Days, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 1 Zone 2 Cardio Day

3
1100
12k
133
2 Leg Days, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 1 Zone 2 Cardio Day

5
1100
12k
133
2 Leg Days, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 1 Zone 2 Cardio Day

6
1000
12k
(TBD, still mid week)
1 Leg Day, 1 Torso Day, 1 Arm Day, 1 Zone 3 Cardio Day, 2 Zone 2 Cardio Days

Where we stand this week is it is Thursday so shes only been on 1k cals for a few days, and the additional Zone 2 cardio day I have swapped out for a second leg lifting day she was historically doing Fridays.

If this doesn't work I'm not sure what more to do. 1k calories, even for an older woman, seems very low and I am reluctant to cut further.

 

[totalfloor]

@yahhuah Honestly, your mom is cheating on her diet. Rework to something more sustainable.

Or, she is a thermo dynamic anomaly the study of which will inevitably end in Nobel prices in several categories (at least medicine and physics).

 

[yahhuah]

@totalfloor Yeah this may be it. Fluid retention stuff is the only confounding variable I can think of otherwise, but that’s a reach.

 

[totalfloor]

@yahhuah I honestly didn't give fluid weight a second thought.

You haven't started her on creatine or something like that?

 

[yahhuah]

@totalfloor No no creatine, I just know the big convoluting factor with tracking body fat loss through weight is water mostly - from stress, salt, for younger women period, and seemingly innumerable other things.

However it feels like any body water shifts would have settled by 6 weeks in, thats me stretching for a reason.

 

[totalfloor]

@yahhuah

However it feels like any body water shifts would have settled by 6 weeks in, thats me stretching for a reason

Also, I have a hard time imagining that any shift in fluid volume wouldn't be to the negative side. But I'm not exactly qualified to make any guesses, so that's pure intuition.

 

[yahhuah]

@totalfloor This one I know! Fluid retention can definitely go in the opposite direction - under stress of any kind (psychological, exercise, caloric restriction) your body retains extra water for some period. Its part of what makes scale loss so lumpy. Theres basically multiple sine wave functions stacked on top of each other

 

[razel]

@totalfloor Or, more likely, because she’s on an extremely low calorie diet, her NEAT is dropping to compensate.

 

[yahhuah]

@razel NEAT is mostly ambient steps though correct? Which are regulated by a proscribed step count

 

[razel]

@yahhuah No, see my other comment. NEAT is all other activity, and at less than 1200 calorie your mum’s body is resisting the extreme control you are attempting to use.

(Also proscribed means forbidden. You mean prescribed.)

 

[yahhuah]

@razel Lol ty on the vocab actually welcome, prescribed indeed!

 

[yahhuah]

And ah I see that does make sense - ty friend!

 

[olusanya800]

@yahhuah Yea this is ridiculous and aggressive. She needs at least 6 months at maintenance and to seriously reevaluate her goals. Chasing a scale weight is tiring. More muscle and strength are going to benefit her the most at her age. Stop encouraging her to shrink and help her get to her strongest self.

 

[yahhuah]

@olusanya800 I’m not at all encouraging her to shrink. She came up with these goals and I was the one to encourage thinking about body composition. Her rep strength on her lifts hasn’t changed negatively yet.

Where did you get 6 months? My understanding is a maintenance period should be 2/3-1x as long as the preceding cut if doing them in sequence.

 

[olusanya800]

@yahhuah At the very least it should be the same length as the deficit but it sounds like she needs more time. Whats the rush? Also where are you getting the estimates for her body fat %, how tall is she?

 

[yahhuah]

@olusanya800 Yeah fair - I think if we still are stuck after this week its back to maintenance.

The bf estimates are my own (Shes about 5'3"), I've helped a few people mostly with strength training and for people in larger cities I'll have them get a DEXA, though that is not available where my mom is. So guessing from that data.

Fair on an extended maintenance, she was keen to run another cutting cycle so I went with the shorter side of recommended maintenance but will reevaluate that

 

[monkeym24]

@yahhuah How the everliving fuck do I report you for your mom hitting 1150cal

 

[yahhuah]

@monkeym24 I’m here to learn. At 1700 cal she was weighing daily and holding her weight stably for 2.5 months.

My understanding is a reasonable diet is 0.5-1% bw loss/week for up to 10 weeks at a time. Aiming at 0.8% loss from that maintenance weight is a 550 cal deficit or 1150. What am I missing here that is clear to you?

 

[smm]

@yahhuah Eat less. Move more.