Am I in a weight loss plateau or am I just doing something wrong?

[LMPM1987]

I’m 37 years old, 6 feet tall, male and I’ve been weight lifting 4 times a week on a proper program, I do 15-18 thousand steps a day 7 days a week and following high protein diet (180g protein, 2000-2100 calories a day) for 8 months. I’ve lost about 65 pounds in total and have about 25 pounds left to go. I’m very strict and weigh all my food and calculate every detail including the oils, dressings… all of it. The weight loss has slowed over the last 2-3 months which I get is normal as I lose more weight but in the last 6 weeks I haven’t lost any weight at all and gained about 2 pounds according to my home scale. What can I do differently or do I just have to hold out till it starts moving again?

[Oliverlogan263]

Dang dude, losing 65 pounds already is seriously impressive! That's something to be really proud of. Don't be too hard on yourself if things have slowed down a bit now - your body is probably just adjusting to maintaining rather than losing at this point.

A couple things that might help get things moving again:
- Double check your calorie counting is on point. Are you 100% sure you're not underestimating here and there? Even a few small errors could add up.

- How's your hydration/sodium levels? Sometimes holding onto water weight can mask fat loss. Upping water intake and reducing sodium a bit may help "whoosh" that off.

- Have you tried just lowering calories a touch more? Like down to 1800-2000 and see if that kickstarts things. Don't do it for too long though.

- Are you lifting really heavy? Throwing in some new PR challenges could build more muscle and boost your metabolism long-term.

Don't stress if it takes another month to really start seeing the scale budge again. You've come so far already! Just fine-tune things and trust the process. You've got this, dude! Let me know if those suggestions help at all.

[TommyMountainFigure]

There is plenty you can do..

Drop to 1500 calories a day, eat your main meal in the morning and lightest meal., such as fruit at night

The oils and dressings? I assume you eat steaks.. Can you do so without oils/ dressings? Grilled steak doesn't need oil for example.

[LMPM1987]

I’ve been at 1500 calories before but my workouts suffer a lot and my NEAT movements reduce automatically regardless of how much I try to keep moving and my sleep suffers too. As for oils and dressings I was using that more as an example to say I’m really careful to track all my calories without overlooking anything I put in my body. I also don’t eat much red meat I tend to have more white meat, fish and seafood. I use oil minimally. In salads I’ll use lime juice or 0% plain Greek yogurt. My biggest meal is usually lunch. I try to eat 4 times a day, my dinner is usually on the small side. I don’t eat after 7pm and I’m in bed by 11. I wake up around 7am and have my first meal around 10am. I also drink 1 gallon (3.8L) of water daily, and I don’t drink alcohol.

[TommyMountainFigure]

Hmmmm. There really isn't much wrong then with the food side...

the 15000-18000 steps.. Is that mainly at walking pace?
The weights you're training with.. could you explain a typical workout?

[LMPM1987]

I’d say 65-75% of the steps are quick walking or “walking with intention” like when you’re busy with work and need to move quickly and the other 25-35% is usually done in my after dinner jog that lasts about an hour or so. I was doing 18-22k steps a day for about 7 weeks but it became too time consuming and again I noticed a dip in my weight lifting ability and workout quality.

As for my weights I lift 4 times a week. I usually do 4 sets of 12 per exercise with the final sets usually going to failure or 1 rir and I’ll take a 1-2 minute break between sets. In that time I might just sit and rest but most of the time I’ll walk around a little on the rest periods. I do 5-6 exercises per workout. I go full range of motion and focus on my technique and mind muscle connection as much as possible. I do mostly compound movements except for a few isolation lifts like curls and flys. I make sure to track everything and work on progressive overload consistently… but when I’m in too deep of a calorie deficit I can’t keep up and the weight and reps drop unfortunately. I’m also not an ego lifter lol I lift the most I can safely and correctly without having to throw the weights around and add the unnecessary strain and risk.

I’ll try to reduce calories to 1800 for a week or 2 and see how I feel but this whole situation is stressing me out lol

[LMPM1987]

Oh and the workout lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes more or less depending which day it is and how energetic I feel going in.

[TommyMountainFigure]

No no.. Now I know your regime, I think I can advise you differently.

Keep with the same calorie intake, my guess is you are gradually converting your weight into muscle mass. To keep losing weight, I would suggest some of those steps you do a day, substituting a few thousand of them for some form of cardio!
That will burn your calorie intake, and reduce your weight whilst still building muscle mass.

[LMPM1987]

Hmm alright I’ll definitely do that. Thanks so much for your time and advice. Much appreciated!

[TommyMountainFigure]

You should start to notice the difference in around 2 to 3 weeks.

[TommyMountainFigure]

You're very welcome and good luck.

[TommyMountainFigure]

Thank you very much for MHO