Recomp or Cut more? Where to go from here.

[SuperBane]

I've been cutting at about 2400 calories.
My weight is stable around 240 has not changed, static.
high protein moderate fat low carb diet.

I'm down from 265 pretty much from March to May. The weight has been steady at 240 carb'd up or 237 no carbs ever since.

No cardio. Honestly I haven't had the time.

I'm probably around 14% BF
Can't see my ab's but a shadow of them.
Seperation appears elsewhere all along my body

I hold fat in the bottom of my pecs, ab's, hips, upper thighs.

I feel like if I drop ten more pounds of fat. Just fat. My ab's would pop.

The part where im stuck is I do not desire to lose anymore muscle mass / size.
At 229 last year I looked ok to your average person(I'm tall) but I felt tiny.

I've been reading about carb backloading. Opinions?
I can not carb cycle. I could calorie cycle. meaning removing X amounts of food, Yet I can't keep changing things everyday.
My schedule does not allow for such things.

I started ECA today after a "pop tart ice cream I wish I was a powerlifter, fat boy binge"

 

[MPMC]

I don't understand why so many people feel that you need to cut carbs in order to burn fat. I eat carbs while cutting and bulking. It's just that you wan to eat the right amount of the right carbs, at the right time. You're probably slowing your fatloss down by cutting too many carbs out. Just my opinion as I know we all respond differently to certain thing. I find that a low fat diet works more for cutting than anything else. I typically do 50%protein 40%carbs 10% fat and I stay very lean year round. I'm also doing cardio for 25-30 min fasted 5-6 times a week though and have a pretty physical job.

 

[SuperBane]

I tried that before. That moderate carb approach did not work all too well for me. Not at all.

What is the logic on the lack of carbs slowing fat loss? Metabolism slowing down perhaps?

It is possible that is why I started thinking of carb backloading.

When I was trying to cut eating rice oatmeal etc I was gaining.

If all else fails I will give it a shot again I suppose.

Thanks

 

[1bigun11]

Twenty-five pounds in two months is a big weight loss. I find with myself that I hit plateaus, then stick there for awhile, then make rapid progress again for a bit, then plateau again. Maybe that is what is going on. Maybe your body is just taking a minute to get used to you at 240 vs. 265, and then will start cooperating with you again after that.

Quick question: When you were eating rice and oatmeal and gaining weight, were you gaining muscle mass? Could you tell if you were also getting stronger? Could your body be telling you, "Feed me dammit I am ready to grow!"

 

[uphillclimb]

Quick question: When you were eating rice and oatmeal and gaining weight, were you gaining muscle mass? Could you tell if you were also getting stronger? Could your body be telling you, "Feed me dammit I am ready to grow!"

My thoughts here^^^

curious to what your take is on this OP.

 

[SuperBane]

Honestly strength always goes up when I eat carbs.
I'm always watery and lethargic when I do low gi carbs Brown rice Greek yogurt.

You would think if it was the muscles screaming feed me and weight was going up then fat gain would be minimal right? Yet this wasn't really the case. I was gaining fat which lead me mentally to say **** a diet and eat whatever. Up to 265. I felt strong and solid at this weight but was carrying just too much fat.

The way my body seems to react with carbs has me interested in carb backloafing ...

I don't know. I'm short on time. Let me collect my thoughts and I will explain it a bit better later

 

[woodswise]

Sounds to me like you're impatient, which makes me wonder how consistent you are with your diet.

Are you measuring and logging everything you eat? It is easy to lose the first 10, 20 and even 30 lbs when you are in the mid teens for %bodyfat. But to take it further and lower than that it takes serious discipline and sticking with a well planned diet. Also, lowering your Kcals as you go along.

And yes, when you lose fat you will lose some muscle (maybe even 1 lb muscle for every 2 lbs fat you lose) but you can counter that somewhat by continuing to keep your training heavy and intense and having an occasional re-feed day (maybe once per month or so).

IMO you should decide whether your goal at the moment is to lose fat or put on muscle, then go for it and don't worry about losing too much muscle, so long as you aren't starving yourself, or gaining too much fat if you are gaining 1 to 2 lbs of bodyweight per week and are below 18% bf.

 

[MPMC]

Yeah bro I'm thinking adding in a refeed meal would probably help kick your metabolism in gear. Are you having a cheat/refeed meal at all throughout the week? I normally have something small midweek like a burger and fries and then give myself a few hours on Saturday nights to eat whatever. At 14% though, I'd keep it at one cheat meal weekly and MAYBE slightly higher carbs pre and post wo midweek one day.

The he only way you're going to know for sure is to stick to the same exact meals in the same order for a couple weeks and track your progress with a log and pics if possible. Then adjust accordingly from there with minor changes. I typically will only go as high as 100 calories when making changes to my diet.

 

[SuperBane]

Impatient? Perhaps, But I am consistent.


My diet is


6 hen eggs
1/2 cup of egg beaters


8oz chicken breast
1/4 cup of almonds


80z 93/7 ground beef
1 - 2 cups of aspharagus


2 teaspoons of Carlson fish oil


2 shakes, 1 in the a.m. / 1 in the p.m.
Each shake has 3 scoops of ON 100% Whey
+ 2 Tablespoons of Natty peanut butter.


Cals - 2440
Carbs - 38g
Fat - 107g
Pro - 307g


Once a week I will change out last meal of the day for a "chipotle bowl"


When I get tired of Aspharagus I switch to green beans.


The only deviations apart from the holiday's binge are the Clear american flavored waters and no carb no cal monster energy drinks.


I've been following this since March. Pretty simple and straight forward for me.


I appreciate the replies.
I'm going to try to add in some cardio days.

 

[Docd187123]

Bane,

your carbs are very low, almost keto low and your dietary fats make up less than half your intake of calories. One issue you maybe running into is gluconeogenesis and your body is converting some of the protein into glucose for energy needs. Consider dropping some of the protein intake and in reading dietary fats and/or carbs.

 

[MPMC]

Carbs are way too low imo. I usually stay between 80-100 g.

 

[woodswise]

Bane,

your carbs are very low, almost keto low and your dietary fats make up less than half your intake of calories. One issue you maybe running into is gluconeogenesis and your body is converting some of the protein into glucose for energy needs. Consider dropping some of the protein intake and in reading dietary fats and/or carbs.

Carbs are way too low imo. I usually stay between 80-100 g.

If he is on a ketogenic diet (which he is) his carbs are not too low. They are about right, or even too high. If anything is too low it is his fats.

I think he has not cut Kcals enough. OP: I would continue to cut Kcals another 200Kcals per day for a couple weeks and even further if weight loss does not start up. I have my Kcals down to 1800 per day and I am losing 1 lb of weight per week.

I also agree with the occasional refeed day, but not once per week because that will take him out of ketogenesis and it will take another few days to get back in. On ketogenic diet re-feeds with carbs should be once per month or fewer, IMO.