What should I do when I hit fat loss plateau?

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.

How long have you been consuming 1700 Cal and how close do you think you’ve been to that for that period of time? I think everyone should be meeting or exceeding the physical activity guidelines for aerobic training unless otherwise contraindicated, which I don’t think you are. I’d aim for starting at ~ 3x/wk at 20 to 25 min of steady state cardio and bumping that up to 35 to 40 min over 6 to 8 weeks.

-Jordan

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Thanks Doc for your reply,

i have been at 1700 Cal for the last 4 weeks, and the time I’ve consumed more than 1700 Cal, averagely, twice a week with around 300 Cal each time (averagely). I might’ve eaten more than 300 Cal last week as I felt overwhelmed when sticking to that low calories but no change in fat loss.

Jin_D,

Thanks for the reply. I’d estimate you’re eating more in the neighborhood of 2400 to 2500 Calories on average over the course of 2 to 3 weeks. I’d be aiming for 2200 on a day to day basis in an effort to improve adherence and consistency. I’d also do the conditioning described above.

-Jordan

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