Terrible DXA results, big step back… what to do now?

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
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Hi!

I’m stumped, frankly, what exactly happened in the last four months with regards to my body composition, and I hope you can shed some light on what happened.

I’m male, 35yo, and 1.80m/5’11’’ and in September 2018, I began strength training and eating a «clean» and protein-rich diet, and had accompanying DXA scans (same machine, same operator) to assess my progress.

Here are the DXA values (total weight, fat mass, fat-free mass) and waist circumference (measured according to Jordan’s video):

First scan, middle of September 18
67.6kg, 19.5kg, 48.1kg, 89cm

Second scan, middle of December 18
71.5kg, 17.7kg, 53.8kg, 89cm
+3.9kg, -1.8kg, +5.7kg, 0cm

Third scan, today, end of April 18
76.1kg, 22.5kg, 53.6kg, 93cm
+4.6kg, +4.8kg, -0.2kg, +5cm

What. The hell. Happened? How can I gain so much muscle mass in 3 months and even lose fat, and then LOSE muscle and gain a ton of fat within 4 months? I basically kept my diet the same, perhaps I ate a bit less protein and indulged a bit more in sweets and alcohol.

With regards to strength training:

  1. I did a linear progression with 10% resets on misses.
  2. Between the first two scans I averaged 2.54 workouts per week, and between the second and third scan about 2.1 workouts per week.
  3. After the second scan, I switched from 5x5 on squats, bench and press to 3x5 switched from 5x5 on the BB row and 3x8 on lat pulldown to 2x8, switched from 3x8 to 2x12 on curls and removed planks. But I added DB lateral and front raises.
  4. I noticed that my strength gains stalled a lot in the last two months, which I put down to getting near the end of my linear progression.I can’t imagine how those changes resulted in me losing muscle and gaining so much fat compared to the 3 months prior. Funnily enough, my pants fit almost as well as they did 4 months ago, and I feel like I’ve grown a bigger chest.

So my two questions are:

  1. Why did this happen?
  2. What would you recommend I do now? Reduce calories to achieve slow weight loss (1kg/month) and switch to The Bridge 1.0, with 2-3x cardio per week?
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I think you realized some novice gains between the first scans and saw improvements, but then you decreased training volume and did not follow the principle of progressive overload (according to your report) with your training. It is surprising that you lost muscle mass, though there are errors in the test as well.

I would recommend changing your training, aiming to train more, and then maintain your weight for a month or so to see if your waist goes down. If not, a calorie deficit would be my recommendation until you’re <35"

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Jordan,
Thank you for your response! Would you say The Bridge 1.0 would be a good place to start?

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Yes I think that’s reasonable.

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Thanks ozneil for your comment and link. That makes me feel a bit better. Funnily enough, I feel like I have broader shoulders and look more muscular than 4 months ago. And I got stronger in my main lifts. I need to take a current picture of me and compare it with those I took in September 18 and December 18.

My increased waist circumference is undeniable, but perhaps my second scan overestimated my muscle mass (+1.9kg/4.2lb muscle per month is a lot), while my third underestimated it.

In general, perhaps I should put more trust in waist measurements, e1RMs and photos than in quarterly DXA scans.

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