I know that this is not a typical weight loss program, but it was highly recommended by personal trainers at my gym and I love powerlifting. I also came in with the intent of simply maintaining strength/muscle during cut.
I have been doing Wendler’s 5/3/1 for about 4 months, combined with Crossfit workouts for cardio. I have been eating about 1800 calories a day, most of the time 50/30/20 Pro/Fat/Carb diet, mostly meat and vegetables, no grains besides occasional rice. I have a refeed/cheat day once a week where I don’t count calories, but I’m not going crazy either. Considering I am eating so little calories during the week, it’s not a big deal. I tend to eat 3 meals, usually over an 8-10 hour period.
I am only 5’'8 and I started out 6 months ago at around 315lbs, am now down to about 265ish, but I have really been stuck here for about 8 weeks. I seem to be still losing fat, as I am getting compliments about looking slimmer, and I can definitely notice it, but my weight has been stuck. I am still progressing in my lifts (besides OHP, training max started too high based on a really good day), and I typically get 6-7 reps on 5+ sets and 5-6 on 3+ sets.
The biggest issue is my lack of progress on the scale, I seem to be still gaining some muscle, maybe still “newbie gains” since I am still around 25% BF. I have been seeming to gain about 5 lbs over the 3 progressive weeks feeling worse as they go on, then lose 5 lbs and feel amazing during the deload week.
Any suggestions to get the scale moving again in the right direction?
Congratulations on the weight loss my man! But really… why do you care what the scale says? You can see the results and so can other people, and you’re getting stronger on top of it. That’s a killer combo. I wouldn’t change what you’re doing as long as you’re progressing like this. 1800 calories is pretty low for a 265lb guy, and since you’re already doing weight training and cardio, I’d say you’re doing just about everything you can. I wouldn’t go much lower (if at all) with your calories, and this:
Tells me that you’ve reached a certain limit. You probably can’t handle more work than you’re currently doing at this amount of calories. The thing to do now is continue working hard, like you’ve been doing, and give it more time. 50lbs in 6 months is pretty insane, so congrats again!
I forgot to mention why I actually started all this, I was laid off from a job I loved and I am working in a 3rd shift job that I am not a fan of. I have always wanted to join the military and have been too out of shape to do so, and I finally made the decision to do actually put in the work.
Give yourself a few weeks of a little bit (that would be not a lot heh) more food and allow your body to stablise on your new weight then get back on the wagon.
I would do like a 3 week cycle of eating at maintenance, so add 500-1000 calories of clean carbs and then get back on it. That’s a long time to diet down so that might help bring your metabolism back up a little bit. Or you could try to lose the cheat day but that’s no fun. 1800 calories is not a lot for your size so I wouldn’t want to bring that any lower if you don’t have to for a while.
You might be in need of more calories and a break from dieting. I had my resting metabolic rate tested and I found that I was eating 1500 less than what I should have been just for maintenance. I upped my calories and weight started coming off again. Check out the nutrition templates from RP Strength.
At 265 and 25% BF (if that’s accurate), your lean body mass is about 198, which is a lot for someone 5’8", unless you’ve gotten really muscular (congrats if you have). You might want to get it measured if you haven’t already, or get one of the scales that do it.
I don’t know what branch of the military you are aiming for, but the Army has a maximum weight requirement for 5’8" of 170 lbs for male recruits 17-20 y.o., and 174 for 21-27, and so on. People who are over this because they carry a lot of muscle can take an alternate test that purports to allow for the added muscle mass but it is a pretty widely ridiculed test using a tape measure - measurements of the neck and waist are used with a chart to see if you meet the standard.
Don’t know how other branches do it. You may want to talk to a recruiter to put together a strategy. The recruiter is evaluated on how successfully he recruits so they might be able to help a lot.
Speaking for myself, I find that weight loss will stall for a few weeks, then drop suddenly. Stick with it and you will get there.
You might try measuring your waist every week and tracking that. It may be that you are gaining enough muscle to offset the fat loss, which is a marvelous thing if you can do it.
If you are on a low-carb diet I have found that sometimes when fat loss stalls, adding carbs back in for a little while and then when I go back on the diet I will drop below the plateau. I don’t do low-carb anymore though.
Thanks for the advice, it seems everyone agrees that I should eat some more.
I have always been a thick guy, had dense muscles, so 265 doesn’t look like a lot on me. People underestimate my weight by 30-50lbs all the time. My BS/BP/DL are 470/290/505. I hadn’t started bench pressing until about 6 months ago, so its a major work in progress.
When I started (being serious and intentional about weight loss) in November had a 56/54/44 in chest/stomach/waist at 315lbs, and a little bigger when I was at 335 in college. I’ve always been big but somewhat athletic; I was 245lbs at 15 years old and playing football. I am an endomorph to the point where I can gain weight by looking at food…
I am actually looking at the Navy specifically, trying to get into their nuclear program. The 25% bf came from the Navy bf calculation you alluded to earlier, at a 20" neck and 45" stomach, I think thats about 25%. I am trying to get down to a 40" stomach, since I figure I’ll be at a 18" neck by then. If I can get the measurements and pass the PT tests, the recruiter said I will be fine. When I first saw him, he asked me a bunch of questions about my health, but he told me to come back to him at 250lb to start something official.
I’m assuming that clean carbs to add would be rice and potatoes, corn and maybe some oats. I stay away from wheat and beans because I don’t digest them well.