Dare I ask where the disconnect is?

[FierceRedBelt]

5'6--198lbs--20%+ bf--haven't restricted calories in over a year

Cut my kcals from 2500-4000kcal/day (Gained approximately 22lbs in the last 14 months) to 1800-2200kcal/day. At 187lbs I was at 16% bf and I've definitely put on fat mass with out much lean muscle. My activity level is fairly low with 2 hit sessions, 2 [fairly poor, and at home] lifting days and two three mile jogs per week; otherwise, I'm sitting behind a computer 14+ hours a day.

I lost approximately 4lbs of water weight within three days of lowering my carbohydrate intake and I haven't budged since. It's been 20 days of fairly miserable eating and I have nothing to show for it except fairly poor workouts and mental fog.

Yesterday:
Morning- Protien Shake, Green Vegetable, Berries blended--30g Protein, 25g carb
Post Cardio- 4 Eggs, Green Vegetable - 24g Protein, 10g carb
Evening- Chicken thigh (2), Green Vegetable- 48g Protein, 15g carb
Snack- Cottage Cheese- 25g Protein, 8g Carb

Approx: 1900kcal

I've been measuring things the the last 10 days precisely; Could it be the calories for these foods and similar are falsely reported? Frankly I'm ready to binge on some sushi and accept my lifetime membership to a Sumo club.

 

[INTERL0PER]

That was all Greek to me.

Thank god for my naturally skinny ass (so... genes and metabolism?) because I could never be fucked with being so concerned with my diet.

I eat good food. I eat when I'm hungry. I snack when I'm bored. I train four times a week.

I'm 6'3", hover between 76-80kg and have been for like 10 years.

 

[Deleted member 429137]

5'6--198lbs--20%+ bf--haven't restricted calories in over a year

Cut my kcals from 2500-4000kcal/day (Gained approximately 22lbs in the last 14 months) to 1800-2200kcal/day. At 187lbs I was at 16% bf and I've definitely put on fat mass with out much lean muscle. My activity level is fairly low with 2 hit sessions, 2 [fairly poor, and at home] lifting days and two three mile jogs per week; otherwise, I'm sitting behind a computer 14+ hours a day.

I lost approximately 4lbs of water weight within three days of lowering my carbohydrate intake and I haven't budged since. It's been 20 days of fairly miserable eating and I have nothing to show for it except fairly poor workouts and mental fog.

Yesterday:
Morning- Protien Shake, Green Vegetable, Berries blended--30g Protein, 25g carb
Post Cardio- 4 Eggs, Green Vegetable - 24g Protein, 10g carb
Evening- Chicken thigh (2), Green Vegetable- 48g Protein, 15g carb
Snack- Cottage Cheese- 25g Protein, 8g Carb

Approx: 1900kcal

I've been measuring things the the last 10 days precisely; Could it be the calories for these foods and similar are falsely reported? Frankly I'm ready to binge on some sushi and accept my lifetime membership to a Sumo club.

You've only really been dieting properly for ten days. 1-2lbs of fat lost a week is what you're aiming for AND there's a delayed effect (the efforts you put in this week will show up next week, or the week after that).

How did you arrive at your caloric target? It may be too low given your activity.

 

[golvmopp]

I cut for seven months with varying intensity last year and you're bitching after three days? GLHF

Slow and steady wins the race

 

[apizur**]

Yeah you're just panicking for some odd reason. Stick with it.

If you don't mind, I know we're in f15... but let's have a look at your workout regimen.

Also, let us know your goals. It just sounds like you're trying to shred.

 

[Misfit1]

Get your thyroid checked.

 

[FierceRedBelt]

Yeah you're just panicking for some odd reason. Stick with it.

If you don't mind, I know we're in f15... but let's have a look at your workout regimen.

Also, let us know your goals. It just sounds like you're trying to shred.

My only goal is to be less of a fat bastard.

Spoiler

-1 Tabata Sprint Session per week- Murders me every single time.

Spoiler

I can't complete the four minutes at max effort. TBH.

-1 other high intensity cardio session that leaves invalid in sub-10 minutes. (Burbies, light weight thrusters, swimming)

-One normal lift day- (2-5 warm up sets on every lift) Deadlift 2x5 (but I don't have enough weight to max), 5x5 Squat (but I have the press the weight first so I'm squatting no where near my max) , 3x5 max bench, 3x5 max over head press.

-Curlin for the ladies' day silliness day- 8x10 assorted bicep, triceps, shoulder raises, rows and lunges until failure. 100x more fun the normal day tbh.

-Twice a week I'll jog for approx a half hour and get 3 miles in per session. I don't push myself to improve my time*

 

[Deleted member 429137]

What's your BMR? How many calories do you estimate you burn during each session. I think you may be eating too little.

Your beach day is excessive and cutting into your progress, imo. It would make more sense if you had a surplus of calories and better recovery.

Your lifting is imbalanced. Squat and deadlift on the same day?


I would do

Day 1

Squat 2x10
Bench 2x5
Row 2x5
Shoulders beach work

Day 2

Deadlift 2x5
Press 2x5
Pull-ups/pull-downs 2x5
biceps 2x10
triceps 2x10

If you're in a deep caloric surplus, you're really lifting to maintain strength and muscle. If you gain, bonus, but not the goal. Your recovery ability is diminished in a cut, so train appropriately.

I think you should be eating more calories.

I'm six feet tall and when I'm losing weight I can't dip below 3000cals very often or things go badly.

 

[Ayin]

That was all Greek to me.

Thank god for my naturally skinny ass (so... genes and metabolism?) because I could never be fucked with being so concerned with my diet.

I eat good food. I eat when I'm hungry. I snack when I'm bored. I train four times a week.

I'm 6'3", hover between 76-80kg and have been for like 10 years.

Wow, what a completely un-helpful, off topic attempt at bragging(?) with a post. As an aside, you should try eating a bit more, you're hilariously thin.


Fierce, even though it seems like you don't have access to enough weight to make a lot of progress, if you worked on your two lifting days you could still really increase your progress. Come on over to the Strength and Conditioning forum, get a good two day program together, and learn to do a few more lifts correctly. For example, you said that you have to press the weight to squat it, I assume you mean backsquat, so learning how to Frontsquat gives you another very helpful lift.

Cleans, Jerks, Stiff Legged DL's, ect can all be done, and you'll see much more 'beach progress' on a good two day program with good exercise selection than what you're doing now, as well as increases in strength and weightloss.

 

[PUO3]

Shit doesnt happen overnight. Be more patient, workout harder/more.

 

[HockeyBjj]

Thank god for my naturally skinny ass (so... genes and metabolism?) because I could never be fucked with being so concerned with my diet.

No... You just naturally desire to eat less than other people

But to OP, just gotta relax and give it more time. Plateaus are a very common thing when dieting, even if they are the most frustrating thing possible.

If anything, you mention mental fog, I'd say increase the carbs. Give yourself a serving or 2 of complex (oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice, even whole wheat bread or pasta) carbs a day and that will go away. Your weight may be staying there temporarily because your body is holding onto fat since you deprived it of it's natural energy source, and you didn't go drastically low carb to force your body to burn dietary fat as fuel in keto (9/10 would not recommend. It sucks)

1900 cals sounds good, just give yourself a few good carb sources. Right now all I'm seeing is (natural and healthy) sugars from fruit and dairy.

 

[INTERL0PER]

Wow, what a completely un-helpful, off topic attempt at bragging(?) with a post. As an aside, you should try eating a bit more, you're hilariously thin.

Yeah, it does read that way, doesn't it? I didn't intend it to. No one had posted in his thread yet and I was bored so I posted. Didn't mean to be a dick about it and wasn't trying to brag.

And trust me, I eat a LOT. Always have. Not obscene amounts (obviously), but an average day would consist of a large bowl of muesli, 5+ pieces of fruit, several sandwiches, a protein shake (with more fruit) and a large plate of dinner (often beans based mexican style food, or pasta). Plus little snacks throughout the day.

Every guy in my extended family is the same. Tall n skinny. Just the way it is. Dem Dutch genes.

 

[XxanaxX]

Try getting in another 200-250 calories of lean protein of some sort. During that time, go ultra low carb (less than 25-30 grams per day) on non-training days. I started out in a similar situation, man. The weight will be falling off once you get your carbohydrate intake in check. Considering that fact that you are relatively sedentary, based on the 14 hour computer comment, it sounds as though you can restrict your carbs even further.

Give it ago.

 

[apizur**]

My only goal is to be less of a fat bastard.

-1 Tabata Sprint Session per week- Murders me every single time. I can't complete the four minutes at max effort. TBH.

-1 other high intensity cardio session that leaves invalid in sub-10 minutes. (Burbies, light weight thrusters, swimming)

-One normal lift day- (2-5 warm up sets on every lift) Deadlift 2x5 (but I don't have enough weight to max), 5x5 Squat (but I have the press the weight first so I'm squatting no where near my max) , 3x5 max bench, 3x5 max over head press.

-Curlin for the ladies' day silliness day- 8x10 assorted bicep, triceps, shoulder raises, rows and lunges until failure. 100x more fun the normal day tbh.

-Twice a week I'll jog for approx a half hour and get 3 miles in per session. I don't push myself to improve my time*

Oooooooh, you gone and done it now.

Let me tell you the first reason you're regimen isn't working is because it DOESN'T EXIST. Dr. Tabata's research wasn't to coin a particular work/rest ratio of HIIT, it was simply to figure out if, and what facets of, anaerobic and aerobic fitnesses could be developed by doing either one or the other. So be an educated adult and call these "Tabata intervals" what they are... which would be "8 Sets of 20/10 HIIT intervals". Which is also furthermore not a "Tabata workout" because you'd need specifically a fifteen minute workout and something assuring your heart rate didn't drop below a certain rate.
Savvy?

Moving forward...
Your workout is trash, do you even break a sweat on lifting days? I wouldn't, and I look great. Your anaerobic fitness is lacking and a greater anaerobic work capacity could put you into a deeper state of EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption). Do a half hour of LISS 3 times a week, keep the lifting and do 2 workouts of HIIT intervals you can handle... like 15/15s (there's no shame in having a longer rest period than work period if that's where you're at in terms of fitness)

Spoiler

And, respectfully, I'm suspicious you are.

You have a casual bulker's workout. The people in f13 can draw you up a kick ass workout but a better example of one would be:

Monday: Lift day
Tuesday: HIIT 20 min and LISS 130 to 140 BPM for 30 min
Wed: rest
Thur: Lift day
Fri: HIIT 20 min and LISS around 130 to 140 BPM for 30 min
Sat: LISS 160+ BPM for 30 to 45 min in the morning if you have it free.
Sun: Rest

That should get you in and out of the gym or off the street/trail in an hour on conditioning days. The lifting will probably take longer.

Keep diet.