Frustrating plateau that I can't break through, been really challenging on my mental health. Need some help.

25/M 5'8 SW: 296lbs CW: 230 GW: 175

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while but finally need to make a post. I've encountered a plateau and it's been the absolute hardest challenge I've faced so far in my weight loss journey. For some background I started about 3 years ago at 296. Over a long journey of losing weight by using intermittent fasting
(typically OMAD, and if I'm being honest some days I ate severely under my calories at sometimes 1,200 or fewer), I made it down to 190 lbs. I stayed between 190-200lbs and was able to maintain that window for quite some time (a little over a year) before deciding that I wanted to bulk up a bit with the gym. I had been lifting on and off since I started losing weight but I wanted to get into it seriously. This was around August 2019. over the course of the next year and a half, between irresponsible decisions and laziness, I slowly creeped up back to around 230lbs (about October 2020). Since then I have been intently trying to lose weight and absolutely nothing I try is helping me. It's getting to a point where I am unfortunately losing hope and I'm not sure what else I can do. I'll list what I've done below.

So I'm 25, M, 230lbs currently. Most places I look (online calculators, MFP, etc.) put my maintenance calories at about 2,900 as I go to the gym 4-5 times a week.

When I initially tried to be responsible with my eating again, I tried to keep my calories under 2,500. This didn't work after over a month, I had been still gaining weight, so I decided to lower my calories to around 2,000. After several weeks of doing this as well, I was still seeing no progress. It seems like I would lose 2-3lbs and then immediately put it back on with the slightest break from the diet (one night out, one cheat meal). I obviously understand how rapidly your weight can change from day to day, but when I say I would put it back on I mean the trend of my weight was creeping up. I reigned in the discipline and still saw no change.

Currently, I am eating around 1,600 calories and am **still** seeing no changes. I've been eating under 2,000 calories on a consistent basis for a few weeks, with little to no cheat meals, and I'm seeing absolutely no progress. Throughout all of this I am counting my macros as well and making sure I get enough protein, I've tried low/no carb, a 40/40/20 carb/pro/fat split, very low sodium, etc. I lift pretty intensely when I go to the gym and I've even added minimum 15 mins of cardio at the beginning or end of each lifting session. I've been doing this last paragraph for about 6 weeks and my weight is not moving at all. I fluctuate between 232 and 228 with no movement at all.

I'm not sure what else I can be doing wrong. I know on a base level losing weight is burning more calories than you consume, and there is absolutely no way I am not burning 1600 calories daily between an average workday plus going to the gym. I have no idea what else to do. I eat chicken and rice most days, very little added to it (as in no dressing, not a lot of oil, weighed portioned servings) and my weight won't move at all, and then I will mentally take a break and have a cheat meal (by no means a large extravagant meal, I might literally get like a bowl from chipotle or 2 items from taco bell) and my weight simply goes and stays up. I keep progressively downing my calories but if I go any lower than 1,600 I simply won't have the energy to workout and get through the day.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance

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