Plateau 10 weeks into a cut

[travisscottt]

Hi! I'm about 5'10, ~20% BF. Over past 9 weeks I cut down at an avg. rate of 1.5lbs per week to get to 180lbs down from 193-195ish (~25% BF).

I've stalled out at 180lbs for the past week though despite having good sleep, increased exercise relative to baseline, and I followed my diet of 1700-1800kcals per day. I was hoping to keep cutting down to 175lbs and enter a maintenance phase after 12 weeks of cutting but feeling a bit discouraged now.

Any advice would be appreciated even if its just to tell me to lock in, and cut even deeper lol.

 

[Resolve10]

You are just 5lbs from your goal?

You have been at the same calories or they've been tapered down as you've been losing weight?

Congrats on the success so far. I'd keep a couple things in mind. You've been cutting for a decent bit, it is understandable to be a little fatigued both mentally and physically, so keep that in mind with how you feel about continuing.

One week is nothing, honestly I'd be surprised if you had consistently lost every single week. I wouldn't get too worried if it stalls for a week.

Personally I'd keep going for one more week. Then depending on that you have a few options. If you are still stalled you can either:

1) Keep going by either increasing activity or decreasing intake slightly to try and keep pushing to your goal of 175.

2) Just stop at 180 take some time in maintenance, drop some fatigue, feel better, then come back with new energy and goals when ready.

3) Take a short break at 180 either at or a little above maintenance then commit to a shorter cut to get you to 175 before what sounds like a longer time at or above maintenance calories.

No answer is better than another. Choose what sounds best based on what you think you can commit to and based on how fatigued you currently feel. Cutting pretty much always sucks, but also don't dig yourself into a massive hole if you plan to continue more cutting in the near(ish) future.

 

[Smont]

I agree with everything above. And From personal experience,when I stall out, I usually need to make a initial drastic change for a few days to get the process started. If I've been very strict and no cheating for a long time I might take a planned cheat day. On the opposite side I might take a day where I just eat 1 meal like a steak and eggs meal and keep my calories at like 1200 for 2 or 3 days. Then I go back to slightly below whatever my initial calories were when I stalled. I don't have any fancy explanation I just do these things and that drastic change for a short period of time seems to kick things into gear for me. And sometimes I just need a break. You could also throw a curve ball in with a fat burner or something of that nature. And sometimes you just gotta move more and eat less thill the scale starts moving again.

Pick your poison lol.

And your doing a good job , that's a solid rate of progress for a pretty extended period of time. Im usually scratching my head by week 5