Diet duration

My current diet began April 22. So today makes 5 months. I was careless June and parts of July and made no progress during that period.

I went from 182lbs to 158lbs. I’m about 6ft tall and current calorie intake is 1613.

Lifts went from

Squat 290 × 4 rpe 8 to 275 × 3
Bench 160 × 8 rpe 8 to 155 × 7/6
DL 335 × 4 rpe 8 to 325 × 4

I was following the beginner template when I started my diet and I continued to do so throughout the diet (phase 1 on repeat). My main goal was to maintain weight on the bar.

I’ve began to stall recently so it’s time to either make an adjustment or end the diet all together. I’m fairly lean everywhere except for the stubborn fat around my mid section and thighs.

Should I keep dieting until I’m as lean as possible before adding calories or is continuing a deficit after 5 months detrimental?

I don’t mean to speak for Jordan or Austin but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with continuing to cut if that’s what you want to do. I’m pretty sure 1613 calories is too low though, maybe try around 2200 - 2300.

Jose,

Sounds like the programming could use some adjustments based on your response to it. I also think your energy intake is too low even for weight loss, as I think it would produce rapid weight loss and we don’t really want that unless the benefits > risks.

I think if you’re 6’ and 158, weight loss would probably not be my priority. Rather, increasing muscle mass and strength would be my primary goal if I was in your shoes.

That said, you can diet for however long you need to provided the benefits > risks based on your preferences.

-Jordan

Yea I think 2-3 weeks would be fine and the surplus doesn’t need to be large.

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