How Low Can I Drop Calories?

Nutrition
1

I’m getting frustrated now that my diet progress has slowed to a crawl. I’m starting my 11th week on my CKD, and while the first 6 or 7 yielded a nice 1.5 - 2 lbs. of weight loss (nearly all fat), the last 3 to 4 have been excruciatingly slow…if anything I’ve ramped up my workouts and morning cardio, but my weight has dropped only a half pound / week, sometimes even less, even a slight weight gain. I am, however, looking a little better in the mirror week to week, so I’m not overly concerned…just upset my progress has stalled.

I’m already down to 2,050 calories (weight: 196, bf% around 13 - 14%).

I’m a little wary of dropping my calories much more – I started eating around 2,900 calories / day at the start of my CKD and have been dropping around 150 - 200 / week…but I’ve been around 2,000 / day for last week or two, and in my previous experience anything below 2,000 and I start losing muscle mass noticeably…any tips? How low can i reasonably drop calories?

2

[quote]domino66 wrote:
I am, however, looking a little better in the mirror week to week[/quote]

That says it all. Ditch the scale, if you get to a point where you’re not looking better then revisit what you’re doing.

BTW- you say you ramped up your cardio, hopefully not too much since that can have a negative impact on metabolism.

3

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
domino66 wrote:
I am, however, looking a little better in the mirror week to week

That says it all. Ditch the scale, if you get to a point where you’re not looking better then revisit what you’re doing.

BTW- you say you ramped up your cardio, hopefully not too much since that can have a negative impact on metabolism.[/quote]

Also I prefer to actually up my calories while cutting once my progress stalls. I usually start out around 3000 cals and up it 100 or 200 if I stall out.