It happens to pretty much everyone. When you start dieting down, you’ll look worse before you look better.
Losing muscle glycogen, water and even fat makes you look smaller and at first you don’t lose enough fat to look lean… so you just look smaller and flatter.
When you diet down you also tend to consume less electrolytes (mostly sodium and potassium) which also makes you look flatter, reduces performance in the gym as well as the magnitude of your pump.
It’s a MINDFU*K!!!
That’s where a lot of guys stop trying to get lean. But trust the process, when you reach that point you are just a few weeks from looking better and better
Oh… and take plenty of electrolytes to stay fuller. Creatine can help too.