Can't gain or lose weight - should I eat more?

[Sven7]

I did a cycle a while back where I put on a really decent amount of weight, like 30+ pounds. After which I attempted to bulk but could barely put on a few pounds in a couple months time. At least I didn't lose any gains though.

Now I'm looking to cut some fat. I started a mild cycle a few weeks ago. 250mg test E a week +40 mg anavar ED. The anavar I started 1.5 weeks after the test E, and it's been about 3 weeks of the var. I even did an EC stack for the first week and have been doing mild cardio.

I eat in a very large deficit, only eating about 1200-2200 calories a day when my maintenance is supposedly 4k+, and when I was failing at bulking I was eating 5.5k pretty consistently. My diet consists of mostly protein, a decent amount of fat, and hardly any carbs. I eat protein shakes, chicken breast, tuna, and snack on cottage or provolone cheese. Most of my carbs come from the milk and vegetables.

I have not lost a single pound, but my strength has skyrocketed back up to the height of my last cycle fairly quickly. The only thing I can think of is that the bloat from the test E is countering any actual fat weight loss in terms of pounds on the scale.

Should I revamp my diet, and maybe even begin to eat a bit more? I seem to defy the laws of nature.

[--->>405<<---]

Hey sven.. Like the name

First how much do u weigh and wats ur bf%?? How did u arrive at 4000cals for maintenance? If ur trying to drop bf id suggest more aggressive than "mild cardio" ...

Eatn between 1200-2000 cals is a pretty big range ... Chek out the sticky at the top on cutting and lets have ur stats..age, weight, height, bf%

Also post ur current diet with total cals and macros as well as ur workout schedule...

[jypoll]

you need to work on your math on this one,
as said above 1200-2000 is a large range,
and even if you eat 2000 a day at 4000+ maintenance your losing 1lb every 2 days. on top of that i dont think your body would allow you to function on a 2000+ daily deficit.

[Sven7]

The 'supposed' 4000 maintenance came from a nutrition class where we calculated the normal expenditure by weight/height. I'm 6'2 180 pounds, 23 years old. As for BF %, I have no idea. I can slightly see some upper abs, but I disproportionately keep more fat on my stomach, the rest of my body is pretty lean. In fact, I've got a slight pinchable pouch right below my belly button that drops off completely after that.

yesterday I had-
2 protein shakes, so 540 calories of milk + 240 calories protein powder.
2 chicken breasts = about 300 calories
Can of chicken noodle soup that I put the chicken into - 250 calories
provolone slice - 90
broccoli - ???
= 1420

other days I occasionally have a re-feed meal where I eat a larger portion of food with a decent amount of carbs.

I have a fairly standard 6 day split. Back, chest, shoulders+traps, legs, arms, off day, repeat.

[--->>405<<---]

At 180lbs and 4% bf working a demNding physical job and exercising hard 6-7 days/week ur tdee would only be 3610 calories.. Therefore i think its fairly obvious about ur maintenance cals...

At 10% tdee = 3000cals

At 15% tdee = 2900cals

At 18% tdee = 2815cals... just to give u an idea..

I can tell ur trying to make the rite food choices but ur going about it the wrong way.. To be most efficient/effective u have to get ur bf% .. this number will get u to ur tdee which will get u to ur desired deficit..

If u wanna cut fat and get results and learn how to eat properly to get ur body to react the way u want it to with a certain amt of predictability GO GET UR BF% DUN

Ur diet should look someth like this:

Meal1: lean protein(food not powder)
Complex carb

Meal2:lean pro
Complex carb
Green veg

Workout

Meal3: (PWO):
2scoops whey
Complex carb

Meal4:lean pro
Veggie

Meal5:lean pro
Veggie

Meal6:lean pro(i like lowfat cottage cheese here some do casein shake)
Fat(if applicable) like natty PB

Carbs oats,yam,brn rice only..... Notice carbs in meal 1, pre w/o, PWO only...

Protein in all 6 meals..

Additional fat only if necessary..

These r general guidelines .. NOW GET UR BF% SO U CAN HAVE SPECIFIC ONES

[Sven7]

Looking through some example pics online, I'm somewhere between 12-15% bf.

Also, I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on tuesday, so I'm probably going to have to be on a protein shake diet for at least 2 days. My cals are gonna be weak those days. What's too much of a deficit going to mean? Is it going to eat more muscle or just not burn as many calories?

[jypoll]

your body is going to burn the same amount of calories regardless of what you eat, because it needs to ensure your survival, so if you marcos are off or you are at too much of a deficit it will start cutting into your muscle.

[--->>405<<---]

Looking through some example pics online, I'm somewhere between 12-15% bf.

Also, I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on tuesday, so I'm probably going to have to be on a protein shake diet for at least 2 days. My cals are gonna be weak those days. What's too much of a deficit going to mean? Is it going to eat more muscle or just not burn as many calories?

ok sven lets go with 15%bf.. that puts ur bmr at 1869 and ur tdee at 2900cals/day if u work out 5days/week.. if i were u id start at 2000cals/day

40/40/20 gives u:
200g protein
200g carbs
44g fat

if i were u id run:
300Pro
100Carb
44Fat

split ur protein in 6 meals
split ur carbs into 3 meals: meal1, pre w/o, pwo

limit carbs to what i posted above (except fibrous green veggies:broc,asparagus,spinach, etc..)

keep all ur protein lean:chik breast, 96%ff ground beef, fish, canned tuna, egg whites, etc...

eliminate all canned or processed food..

post a sample diet modeling the one i gave u above with carbs in the meals i suggested hitting those macros and calories..

i suggest in the mean time u get ur bf% dun so u can be sure of its accuracy plus ur gonna wanna monitor it from here on out to keep track of ur progress.. this way ull know if adjustments need to be made

CARDIO:ur gonna wanna do it 5-6days/week .. i suggest am fasted(take 10g bcaa before) 45 minutes..

u do all this and u should see the fat coming off...

[jypoll]

ok sven lets go with 15%bf.. that puts ur bmr at 1869 and ur tdee at 2900cals/day if u work out 5days/week.. if i were u id start at 2000cals/day

40/40/20 gives u:
200g protein
200g carbs
44g fat

if i were u id run:
300Pro
100Carb
44Fat

split ur protein in 6 meals
split ur carbs into 3 meals: meal1, pre w/o, pwo

limit carbs to what i posted above (except fibrous green veggies:broc,asparagus,spinach, etc..)

keep all ur protein lean:chik breast, 96%ff ground beef, fish, canned tuna, egg whites, etc...

eliminate all canned or processed food..

post a sample diet modeling the one i gave u above with carbs in the meals i suggested hitting those macros and calories..

i suggest in the mean time u get ur bf% dun so u can be sure of its accuracy plus ur gonna wanna monitor it from here on out to keep track of ur progress.. this way ull know if adjustments need to be made

CARDIO:ur gonna wanna do it 5-6days/week .. i suggest am fasted(take 10g bcaa before) 45 minutes..

u do all this and u should see the fat coming off...

im at about the same stats and that is pretty much the same diet expect 250protein and 150 carbs,
same meals and timing, and i am losing about 1.5lbs-2lbs a week

[--->>405<<---]

im at about the same stats and that is pretty much the same diet expect 250protein and 150 carbs,
same meals and timing, and i am losing about 1.5lbs-2lbs a week

yeh its almost duplicate to my current diet.. except i have about 55g fat and 305 protein.. carbs 100g.. had great results.. still dropping fat at 17weeks...

[gbrice75]

yesterday I had-
2 protein shakes, so 540 calories of milk + 240 calories protein powder.
2 chicken breasts = about 300 calories
Can of chicken noodle soup that I put the chicken into - 250 calories
provolone slice - 90
broccoli - ???
= 1420

No offense, but this diet stinks!!! You obviously won't see any gains with a diet like this, so I won't even go into that - at 1420 calories you're obviously not trying to add muscle. As for not losing weight - depending on what your TDEE really is (and if it's truly 4000, you need to rethink what you're doing ASAP), you could very well have caused a 'shutdown'... i.e. an extremely slowed metabolism. How long have you been eating this way?

A sudden huge bump in calories is not the answer - you'll likely put on bodyfat. A gradual increase is the way to go... a couple hundred calories per week until you're at a target number - either a bit under or a bit over maintenance, depending on the primary goal.