Hi Doc,
I’m 33 years old male, 5’9 (174cm), my body weight used to be at 74 -75kg, bodyfat 15%, TDEE around 2300 kcal (macro 30% Protein, 40% Carb and 30%Fat). Unfortunately, there was a time I got injured and couldn’t hit the gym, plus I was suffering some healthy issue so I stress-ate a lot and became 84kg in a short period of time (in less than 10 months).
I have got back to training for the last 3 months in calories deficit and I’m at around 80kg now, ~19% BF. My total is higher than before for all Squat, Deadlift and Bench. I aim to get down to the range of 12-15% BF slowly to keep my strength, then maintaining before bulking. The issue is that I have been struggling to lose weight at the TDEE of 1700 kcal (183gram Protein, 120gr Carb, 55gr Fat). I lift 5 times a week, and I didn’t do any cardio of any form. My medical history: I was off my antidepressant (paroxetine) after 10 years been on it, and still take Lisdexamfetamine 30mg daily for my ADHD.
So the question is, should I keep reducing my TDEE, because intuitively, I feel under 1700 would be too low even for my BMR? Or should I add cardio (will be LISS cardio) to my routine? Or any other advice or any thing I might have wrongly calculated? Thank you.