beefnewton
VIP Member
- Nov 11, 2022
- 1,269
- 1,462
I've been in deficit (overall) for over a year. Fat loss stalled for a long time the lower body fat I've gotten. I'm around 13% at the moment. I kind of got off track for a while having increased my calories too much, tricking myself into believing I needed them (which was 2300 calories per day). At 2100 calories per day and the macro spread of around 40/40/20, I lose fat slowly with minimal muscle loss. In fact, my last scan actually showed an increase of muscle. So I feel like I'm pretty close to straddling that line where I can lose fat, yet gain (some small amount) of muscle. Until about six months ago, scans kept showing a marked loss in muscle every time, at which point I increased my protein. Once I did that, the trend stopped. Adding more protein reversed the trend to a (small) net positive. I'd love to be able to gain more strength but currently not willing to release my progress on fat loss. Really want to get down to 8-10%. I have no legitimate reason other than I just want to... it's somewhat of a bucket-list type goal. I also have plastic surgery coming up in April to deal with all of this excess skin that just isn't tightening up around my core and want to be pretty damn close to as lean as I'm going to get in order to minimize the amount of lipo. Again, another bucket-list type goal. It's vanity, plain and simple. Never been able to feel good about my body until this past year. Have made a lot of progress. Always wanted to be able to go to a water park, the beach, or the pool and not feel embarrassed, and I was finally able to do that this year. I'm not a strong guy. I used to say "hard gainer" or whatever, but truth be told, I didn't know what I was doing, and I now realize I've been starved for protein every single time. Once I get down to a PBF where I feel like "ok, this is enough," my coach has said we can start adding calories back but to be prepared to let go of some of that fear of gaining some fat back.