Sorry for the wall of text, but here's my story for anyone interested.
tl;dr below.
Here are a few recent progress pictures
SW:472 CW:254 GW:190
I've been hovering between 245 and 255 for about 9 months now. I cannot seem to break this plateau. I'm certain it has to do with diet but I'm not sure what else I can do to cut calories without sacrificing performance in the gym.
At the beginning of my weightloss I was 23 years old and almost 475lbs.(Also a pack a day smoker and a Diet Coke Addict) I was consuming around 7-9k calories a day and I had never exercised a day in my life. What kicked off my weight loss was my Doctor. He very bluntly, said if I kept going without making a change I would "without any doubt" be dead before I ever saw the age 25. I spent about a week sulking and comforting my hurt feelings with food until I decided it was time. I signed up for weight loss surgery and got on a meal plan through the hospital. I was supposed to lose 10% of my body weight and attend all the classes and I'd be approved. It was a 3-month program that I ended up attending twice. (I missed too many classes due to work and school the first time around to be approved) At the end of the 6 months, I had crushed the goal of 10% and I had lost 85lbs (18%) I realized that I didn't want to permanently alter my body with surgery... I knew I now had what it took and I could do this on my own.
Dieting alone took me from Feb 2013-Nov 2017. I went from 472lbs down to 310lbs just through diet modification and CICO. [Diet modification being making everything I ate, no fast food, no packaged food, lots of greens, animal protein, and only drinking water and black coffee] Early 2014 I switch from smoking tobacco to vaping and by mid-2016 I was off all forms of nicotine/tobacco.
In November 2017 I started going to the gym. I had done a ton of research and learned that in order to do anything at the gym you first needed to build your cardio baseline/endurance. I started with 15-20 minutes on the treadmill at 3.0mph to just get used to physical activity. I committed to the gym 5 days a week. In the beginning, 20 minutes on the treadmill would have me sweating and huffing and puffing with my heart rate at about 175. In 6 months (April 2018) I had built up to climbing 100 flights of stairs on the stair mill and riding 12 miles on the stationary bike in 60 minutes without getting my heart rate above 155. At this point, I felt I had built my cardio endurance enough and I hired a trainer to build a workout. I was a total n00b when it came to lifting. I had done a ton of research knew I wanted to recomposition my body with strength training. This included changing up my CICO to include hitting new macros. I explained to the trainer what I wanted to accomplish and what I had already and we came up a full body split to be run 6 days a week for a month that would then transition into a 5 day rolling PPL (Push Pull Legs) routine with 1 day of HITT and 1 day of LISS training. Following this plan, I've completely changed the composition of my body. I now have arm muscles instead of flab, my stomach has flattened out, I no longer have cankles, there is unflexed definition in my quads, shoulders, and claves. My back/sides no longer have rolls. When I flex you can see the muscle and definition in my biceps, triceps, traps, and back. I was able to go from 310lbs down to 245lbs at my lowest in Nov 2018 with this workout and diet which I'm currently still running. Staying within my calories is sometimes still a challenge, but I always track and never seem to go too far over.
HERES MY PROBLEM:
I've hit a point where I have become pretty comfortable in my routine. I keep adding weight and I know I'm getting stronger but I keep gaining and losing the same 8-10lbs of fat and have been since Nov 2018. I'm getting married in Early September 2019 and was hoping to by to my goal by then. I know that dream is out the window now, but I'd like to get as close as I can and I need your help and encouragement to stick to my plan until then. I'm meeting with my trainer to switch up my workout and I'm going to be reducing my caloric intake about 150 (2200 -> 2050) P:40%/C:35%/F:25 to see if it helps any. (I'm burning about 750 calories 5 days a week in my workout so I can't go much lower without feeling out of gas constantly) I'm also going to increase my water from 102oz a day to 152oz a day. I first assumed it was just me replacing muscle with fat. Which it could still be but I've done a few body scans that show I'm gaining muscle and replacing fat. I have 102.2lbs of Skeletal Muscle Mass and 81.3lbs of fat and that fat number is what is fluctuating. The muscle slowly creeps up (~1.5-2lbs a month) but the fat seems to be fluctuating/going up. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Hopefully, the shift in the workout and the change in diet will help me start losing again and get off this train of losing and regaining the same 10 lbs of fat over and over.
This sub has given me SO much over the years, and I love coming on here reading and commenting on all of your fantastic progress. This time I just need a little help to get over this hump and onto the next chapter, maintenance.
tl;dr after 6 years of loss I've hit a plateau. I'm getting married in 3 months and want to be closer to my goal. I'm making a few changes but also looking for tips/encouragement from people who have struggled with breaking plateaus.
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