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TyMan14

TyMan14

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What's up guys

I know I've started a few threads on this already, but everything I've done so far isn't really working the way i intended.

I've been cutting for 2.5 months now, and lost a few pounds of water, and realistically probably 2-3 pounds of fat. I've been pretty much turning my gears. Long story short, got some bloodwork, my test and free test were pretty low, and I'm now running a 300mg per day epiandro cycle.

I'm currently sitting at 2600 calories, which is lower than I've been in years, and my weight is staying stagnant. I tried carb cycling for about 3 weeks, and no difference. Just flatten out a bit then fill back out. Minimal weight change. I just ran the 3 main formulas for BMR calculations, averaged them, multiplied them by a 1.5 moderate activity factor, and came up with a maintenance of roughly 3295 cals per day. Now this should put me at a 700 calorie deficit, dropping 1.5 pounds per week. This is clearly not the case at all. So it's back to the drawing board.

I'm planning on bumping my calories back up to around 3200 to get close to maintenance, and eating there for a week. From there, dropping slowly until weight loss starts. I'm just afraid of going up and then staying stagnant again, getting back down to the 2600 I'm at now, and absolutely nothing changing. I'm getting extremely frustrated as dieting down to 11-12% bodyfat used to be a breeze for me. When I was 200 at about 11% bodyfat a few years ago, I never went under 2700 calories. Now 100 calories lower I can't drop any weight weighing in at 228-230 depending on water intake and whatnot.

Do you think that raising calories and sort of "resetting" things so to speak would be the answer here? I also don't want to waste a cycle, albeit very mild, and not see any progress. I have clen on hand as well, and was waiting to get done with classes to use it because I have a script for a 25mg adderall xr that I take daily. I am stopping the adderall for a bit as I am now out of school. It seems like the adderall has actually kept me from dropping weight (first cut while using it), which is really ironic. I know my calorie intake has been on point. I track it pretty meticulously.

Training is a 5 day split with lots of supersets/dropsets. Usually 20-25 sets per workout. I do a chest/back/shoulders/arms/legs split with cardio on off days. I also do either tabata, or 15 minutes of stepmill post workout on lifting days. The 5 day split has always worked well for me which is why I am choosing to run it again.

So as of now, the plan is to raise calories up to 3200 for a week and slowly start dropping them back down as progress stalls. Is there any other suggestions you guys might have? Thanks!
 
john.patterson

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Hey man, solid post. First off, I wouldn't base your maintenance calories on what a calculator tells you. If you're currently eating 2600 calories and not losing weight, chances are that your maintenance might not be as high as it used to be. When I was a teenager my maintenance was significantly higher as well.

There are a lot of factors that can impact your maintenance calorie intake, and dieting/restricting calories can have a big impact. I think adding 700 calories per day that quickly would be extreme and would probably result in some weight/fat gain. If you've been dieting for a while and eating lower calories you shouldn't just jump back to the number an online calc is giving you. I would take the slower approach and gradually add in 100-200 calories each week and see how your body responds. If you jump right to 3200 you will be essentially creating a 700 calorie surplus to what your body is currently running on - I would take the slow and controlled approach
 
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What's up guys

I know I've started a few threads on this already, but everything I've done so far isn't really working the way i intended.

I've been cutting for 2.5 months now, and lost a few pounds of water, and realistically probably 2-3 pounds of fat. I've been pretty much turning my gears. Long story short, got some bloodwork, my test and free test were pretty low, and I'm now running a 300mg per day epiandro cycle.

I'm currently sitting at 2600 calories, which is lower than I've been in years, and my weight is staying stagnant. I tried carb cycling for about 3 weeks, and no difference. Just flatten out a bit then fill back out. Minimal weight change. I just ran the 3 main formulas for BMR calculations, averaged them, multiplied them by a 1.5 moderate activity factor, and came up with a maintenance of roughly 3295 cals per day. Now this should put me at a 700 calorie deficit, dropping 1.5 pounds per week. This is clearly not the case at all. So it's back to the drawing board.

I'm planning on bumping my calories back up to around 3200 to get close to maintenance, and eating there for a week. From there, dropping slowly until weight loss starts. I'm just afraid of going up and then staying stagnant again, getting back down to the 2600 I'm at now, and absolutely nothing changing. I'm getting extremely frustrated as dieting down to 11-12% bodyfat used to be a breeze for me. When I was 200 at about 11% bodyfat a few years ago, I never went under 2700 calories. Now 100 calories lower I can't drop any weight weighing in at 228-230 depending on water intake and whatnot.

Do you think that raising calories and sort of "resetting" things so to speak would be the answer here? I also don't want to waste a cycle, albeit very mild, and not see any progress. I have clen on hand as well, and was waiting to get done with classes to use it because I have a script for a 25mg adderall xr that I take daily. I am stopping the adderall for a bit as I am now out of school. It seems like the adderall has actually kept me from dropping weight (first cut while using it), which is really ironic. I know my calorie intake has been on point. I track it pretty meticulously.

Training is a 5 day split with lots of supersets/dropsets. Usually 20-25 sets per workout. I do a chest/back/shoulders/arms/legs split with cardio on off days. I also do either tabata, or 15 minutes of stepmill post workout on lifting days. The 5 day split has always worked well for me which is why I am choosing to run it again.

So as of now, the plan is to raise calories up to 3200 for a week and slowly start dropping them back down as progress stalls. Is there any other suggestions you guys might have? Thanks!
Stop....
Go see an endo who has the scope of practice to fix this.
Cutting while you have a problem with testosterone is a red flag.
If your numbers were below number you need to seek professional services not someone on a message board. There could be testosterone problems, hormone problems, pituitary gland problems. something wrong with your thyroid etc...
 
JAMES1980

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Stop....
Go see an endo who has the scope of practice to fix this.
Cutting while you have a problem with testosterone is a red flag.
If your numbers were below number you need to seek professional services not someone on a message board. There could be testosterone problems, hormone problems, pituitary gland problems. something wrong with your thyroid etc...
Agreed.
 
Georgiepecker

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I mean anytime you DONT lose weight you just aren't at a high enough deficit....unless you have rare problems with hormones, etc (rare)
 
TyMan14

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Stop....
Go see an endo who has the scope of practice to fix this.
Cutting while you have a problem with testosterone is a red flag.
If your numbers were below number you need to seek professional services not someone on a message board. There could be testosterone problems, hormone problems, pituitary gland problems. something wrong with your thyroid etc...
That's just it. I've had the blood work done, and my doc did nothing because I was in "normal" ranges, but I'm a younger guy and my test was at 400 with a free test of 7. Thyroid hormones came out perfect. Liver enzymes, triglycerides, etc were all perfect. Estrogen was low coming in at 14.

ITs not that big of a testosterone problem, but for someone in the early 20's it's enough to really change things up.
 
TyMan14

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Hey man, solid post. First off, I wouldn't base your maintenance calories on what a calculator tells you. If you're currently eating 2600 calories and not losing weight, chances are that your maintenance might not be as high as it used to be. When I was a teenager my maintenance was significantly higher as well.

There are a lot of factors that can impact your maintenance calorie intake, and dieting/restricting calories can have a big impact. I think adding 700 calories per day that quickly would be extreme and would probably result in some weight/fat gain. If you've been dieting for a while and eating lower calories you shouldn't just jump back to the number an online calc is giving you. I would take the slower approach and gradually add in 100-200 calories each week and see how your body responds. If you jump right to 3200 you will be essentially creating a 700 calorie surplus to what your body is currently running on - I would take the slow and controlled approach
Appreciate it man! I'll bump up a bit slower over the coming weeks here to see what happens. I know one time a few years ago I started getting pretty low calorie and then I stopped losing weight. Raised calories, and boom I was back in business. So let's hope it pans out this time too!
 
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Everyone is different. If you were not losing at 2600 you could drop more or add more cardio.
Time your carbs (peri-workout) and make the rest of your meals P+F Based and focus on the core of your calories when they matter most and keep insulin sensativity at bay. Still with lower test levels for your age that will be a major factor too on the grand scheme of things.

Your basically doing 5 Days of HIIT and LISS On your off days? So you never have an off day?
You really are doing A LOT of cardio for someone in your position. I personally would go to maintaince for at least 2-3 weeks, and have 1 cheat meal a week. then consider dropping back down. Your body simply may just need some rest if you are doing that much. M
 
TyMan14

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Everyone is different. If you were not losing at 2600 you could drop more or add more cardio.
Time your carbs (peri-workout) and make the rest of your meals P+F Based and focus on the core of your calories when they matter most and keep insulin sensativity at bay. Still with lower test levels for your age that will be a major factor too on the grand scheme of things.

Your basically doing 5 Days of HIIT and LISS On your off days? So you never have an off day?
You really are doing A LOT of cardio for someone in your position. I personally would go to maintaince for at least 2-3 weeks, and have 1 cheat meal a week. then consider dropping back down. Your body simply may just need some rest if you are doing that much. M
Some days post workout I do 15 min LISS. It depends on how exhausting the workout was. Like on back or leg day I'll do some light cardio just to cool down and flush blood around, but if it's like arms or shoulders I'll do some hiit. Today was cardio only and I just did 25 minutes of stepmill. I'm bumping calories up to reassess as you suggest. You've always been super helpful on here and I appreciate it. I'll try to time my meals a bit better as well and drop a bit of cardio. Thank you!
 
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Some days post workout I do 15 min LISS. It depends on how exhausting the workout was. Like on back or leg day I'll do some light cardio just to cool down and flush blood around, but if it's like arms or shoulders I'll do some hiit. Today was cardio only and I just did 25 minutes of stepmill. I'm bumping calories up to reassess as you suggest. You've always been super helpful on here and I appreciate it. I'll try to time my meals a bit better as well and drop a bit of cardio. Thank you!
During your time off you want to keep cardio as low as possible and calories as high as possible. That is the key factor of starting a diet. A LOT of flexibility. Without a set schedule for cardio and a horrible brosplit (which i would toss out the window) its hard to truly make adjustments without everything being set on paper.

I mean I have seen guys that are your size (200+) and never get over 2000-2400 in the offseason at their peak of their bulk. You have a lot of calories you could use to drop and that is probably why you Yo-Yo'd

Using an online tracker or BMR estimator is that.. an estimate.. its nothing true.. You have to fine tune everything off that, your genetics, work ethic, metabolism, volume, cardio etc to find the sweet spot for progress. Don't take it to heart, but its only to be taken with a grain of salt all those online trackers and caloric estimates you see.
 
TyMan14

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During your time off you want to keep cardio as low as possible and calories as high as possible. That is the key factor of starting a diet. A LOT of flexibility. Without a set schedule for cardio and a horrible brosplit (which i would toss out the window) its hard to truly make adjustments without everything being set on paper.

I mean I have seen guys that are your size (200+) and never get over 2000-2400 in the offseason at their peak of their bulk. You have a lot of calories you could use to drop and that is probably why you Yo-Yo'd

Using an online tracker or BMR estimator is that.. an estimate.. its nothing true.. You have to fine tune everything off that, your genetics, work ethic, metabolism, volume, cardio etc to find the sweet spot for progress. Don't take it to heart, but its only to be taken with a grain of salt all those online trackers and caloric estimates you see.
Man that sounds super low especially for a bulk lol.

The brosplit has actually worked better for me personally than any other split, and I enjoy it more. I have done push/pull/lower once a week/twice a week, upper/lower twice a week, bro splits, and power splits and the bro split is what I've found to work. I don't get it either because everything I've read on the other styles show they're superior.
 

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