Mini lean bulk to breakthrough 6-8 week long weight loss plateau

Like the title says. A little background, I’m 5’10 male that weighed 220 September 1 2025, I got down to about 170lbs as of May 2026. Since then I’ve been bouncing between 167-170 pounds for the last few months and can’t seem to break below 166.5 pounds. So all in all, I’ve been at a deficit for about 11 months, give or take a cheat/re-feed day here and there.

As far as fitness and diet, I’m eating 1600-1900 calories, I do 1 hour long boxing cardio classes 4-5 times a week, and like 3 times a week. The calorie numbers are NOT including expenditure during cardio and lift days so it’s possible on those days I’m getting as low as 1300 calories after cardio calories are accounted for

The question I pose now is what if I did a mini bulk for about 2-3 weeks to build some lean muscle mass as well reset any metabolism slow downs. Then I would resume cutting and try to eventually hit my goal weight of 150. My maintenance is about 2300 calories, so I would aim to eat 26-2800 calories for a 2-3 week period

Has anyone done this, and did it help your plateau? Would I just be better off eating at maintenance for a few weeks then going back to cutting? My thinking is, if I’m going to put eat extra calories, I might as well go extra hard lifting and turn some of it into muscle mass. Can any significant amount of muscle even be put on in a 3 week bulk or will it mostly be fat?

If anyone could provide personal experience, that would be great. It’s been real demoralizing cutting hard these past two months of summer time, and putting in a lot of work in the boxing gym/cardio and not seeing any scale progress.

submitted by /u/WillingnessNo9531
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/RA24zVC

Will I end up skinny fat with my current routine?

I’m 5’2, 61-61.5 kg rn. As females we tend to have higher body fat percentage and since I’ve started losing weight I’ve been worried about looking fat regardless of losing the weight. Cus skinny fat exists. Unfortunately.

Now I’m a student and I don’t get much time in a week to spend my time exercising at home, let alone going to the gym.. although I do have a stationary bike and I use that thrice a week for about 20 minutes. Aside from that I walk about 7k steps everyday. On days I’m more active I get about 10k.

I don’t do strength training and that’s what u need to build muscle/tone up no? I also just eat in a deficit without focusing on getting every macros nutrition and what not right because I really haven’t got the time to nitpick and recheck everything 🥲. I’m so disappointed in myself for it but it’s really tough being a student, living alone, focusing on studies, on weight loss all at once. So the best I can do right now is just eat whatever I have at home and eat around 1200 calories to be exact.

Most of the time I don’t even go close to my protein goal because I live in a region where carb/fat rich stuffs r our main source of food, not protein rich ones.

At this rate, I might lose the weight but still end up looking fat and soft no?

submitted by /u/Final_Cut8617
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/vSsIxRf

What is the realistic timeline and how can I improve?

I am 26 F. Around late April, I decided to take care of my weight. At that point, I weighed around 84 kg. I started weight training for 1 hour 3 days a week using a PT. Slowly started being in deficit. But it was never perfect because of every weekend bingeing. Once I started noticing small changes and definitions, I started to walk on treadmill daily for around 3km on incline at 4km/h.

Now I weigh 79.8 kg. I have decided to maximum avoid outside food since I don't know how to control myself. For the past few years, life has been really tough for me and my family - multiple deaths, health issues, job loss, mental traumas, housing issues, and so on. The only way I knew how to cope up with this was by eating food from outside. So, 5 days a week, I used to eat clean but would consume chocolates around 800cal 3 - 4 nights a week, 2 medium pizzas ( fast food joints ) during the weekend, and soft drinks with it.

Now I'm trying to do strength training 6 days a week, treadmill incline walking for 3km at 4km/h, trying to eat 1500 kcal or less per day. Also avoiding junk food and sweets altogether.

I'm aiming for around 55 - 56 kg. What is the realistic timeline ? Also what can be done to improve my weight loss journey?

Honestly, seeing improvements in my body and weight loss progress is bringing me some joy in my life, but I don't want to set unrealistic timelines that would disappoint me. Any advice and support is appreciated ❤️

submitted by /u/DreamLoveHope14
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/52pyS8Y

50 lbs gone. Not linear, but it works!!

SW: 180 lbs (81.6 kg) CW: 129.4 lbs (58.7 kg). I am 5'3" (160 cm) and 32F. I lost most of the weight December 2023-October 2024, going from 180 to 132 in about 10 months eating 1400-1500 calories a day and prioritizing protein. I was vegetarian at this time so I supplemented protein a lot. I was also rock climbing and walking, as well as lifting maybe 3 times a week.

Took a "maintenance break" and gained back up to 139 from October 2024 to June 2025 😬 and got back down to 131 in October 2025. Gained again to 135 from October 2025-June 2026. Stayed active throughout with lifting, yoga, pilates, and a lot of walking (10k+ a day)

I work in special education for a public school district and have definitely noticed a gain/loss pattern that I'm determined to break this year lol

This morning, I saw 129.4 on the scale. Breaking 130 lbs has felt IMPOSSIBLE for the last couple of years. I attribute it to getting my ADHD, food noise, and comfort eating under control, as well as learning more about nutrition, and separating food from emotions. Now that I'm at a healthy weight, using a food scale to measure everything is crucial. I eat the same meals often. I have a go-to grocery list to lessen decision fatigue even when I haven't meal prepped because I'll always know what to make. I aim for 120+ g of protein a day and now usually stay between 1200-1400 calories of whole foods with little to no snacking. I'm still getting about 8-10k steps a day now that it's summer but my activity has gone way down this month because I'm finishing university (late, i know) and taking teacher certification exams. Weight loss in this range has been slow but steady, especially when compared to losing 6-9 lbs a month back when I was class 1 obese lol

Aiming to get serious in the gym again in August after taking my last exam and planning on slowly increasing my intake a bit once I get more active again. My original goal was to get to 120lbs but I mostly want to lower my body fat %. Using the navy formula I'm estimating it to be around 27% right now and I'd like to get to the 22-24% range. (Apparently can't get a Dexa right now because I have healing piercings I can't take out??? I haven't asked about glass retainers yet.)

Just wanted to celebrate myself. I worked hard!! It's not always smooth sailing but it's possible!!

submitted by /u/chikoritaaaaaaa
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/mMxVUYD

NSV *kinda*

I'm down just over 50lbs. My husband has not made much comment on my progress. I asked him not to because he doesn't celebrate me in a way I feel celebrated.

He started off kinda making comments like "of course you're going with the vegetarian omelette" or "are you sure you can eat that?"

These comments are well-meaning and supportive, but I was and am still feeling insecure about sharing my weight loss with anyone. I don't want excess commentary on my choices from family and close friends.

Anyways, tonight when we were having our adult time, my husband went to grab my thighs. They've always been his favorite part of my body. *Cue pause* and barely audible "wtf??"

I was like "what's wrong?"

And he said "Well I guess I just hadn't realized how your body has changed. There's a lot less to grab than there used to be" (MASSIVE EYE ROLL to this bc I haven't dropped any pants sizes)

I was torn between feeling flattered and self conscious. I told him when I started that I'll likely wind up with loose skin and he said he would love me no matter what. Anyways, there's my kinda sorta NSV for today!

submitted by /u/Idkhowtoredditplzhlp
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/QN5rLlC

Loose skin after loosing 60 pounds and I don’t feel good about how I look.

I don’t know what to do but it bothers me that I have loose skin on my arms, legs and stomach. Standing up I look good, but then when I lay/sit down I look fat still. My thighs and calves have always been larger parts of my body, it’s mainly just muscle when I touch them, but they jiggle from the fat loss surrounding the muscle and I don’t like that, my muscle on my calves look big, kinda loose and it looks odd because I have small ankles. My breast are much smaller now, but they’re long and you have see folds from the loose skin.

I started this journey back in November October, I still want to loose about 40 more pounds overall before starting to maintain. But I don’t know, there’s apart of me that feels regretful for gaining all that weight when I know, I was young and didn’t really get much of a say in my diet, plus experiencing traumatic experiences in my childhood and teenage years, your body will hold onto fat to feel a sense of safety.

Now that I’m older, I can eat clean, I mainly do walking as my work out of choice, that’s how I lost the weight. I’ve been practicing yoga everyday recently because I want to become an instructor. I just feel dysmorphic in a way that my body is a reminder of my past self, I’m going to have to carry all of that with me physically as a reminder of all the things I’ve been through. I’m in my mid twenties, I want to feel young again after having to be the adult my whole life, I’m slowly getting that spark back in time. I would like to look lean and tone. I want to have a strong back. I want to be confident in a bikini and not conscious about my body. I feel that my confidence is growing as I lose the weight, but as I get closer to my goal weight, I feel like I’m at that stage of weight loss where you think that you look fatter than you actually are, until you look in the mirror one day and say “huh I look different” you know?

I’ve been overweight my whole life and this is the result of that, my weight currently is probably the lowest I’ve ever been since maybe 15/16. I don’t want to get surgery, because I don’t want the scarring. Non-invasive methods won’t work as well as going under the knife, and might go in the opposite direction of what you’re looking for. I heard that using copper peptides, skin tightening creams with retinoids can help, plus red light therapy, but that can only do so much when you’ve been overweight your whole life. I also think as I go closer to my goal it intensifies my relationship with beauty which I’ve always struggled with.

submitted by /u/Asleep-Praline-5087
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/u9cb0r5

What Do I Do?

Back in 2023, I started my weight loss journey at 213 pounds (5'3/159 cm). I fasted, counted calories, and walked 10k steps a day and a year later I was at 154 and very close to being out of the overweight category. The thing is, I started being quite unhealthy in the way that I lost weight and it wasn't sustainable. I slowly gained back like 30lbs over a year. Then I went off to college and came back and now im 225lb at 5'3. I gained quite a bit more than your average freshman 15. My clothes dont fit anymore and I cant seem to regain my consistency with weight loss. I really love fashion so it hurts every time I try and wear something cute I could slip right into in the past that now wont even come up my thighs. I have ADHD and some other mental illnesses and its hard not to stay in the bed all day over the summer when my work and whatnot are all on zoom. Because of my ADHD I also tend to eat out of boredom.

Sidenote: I used to have a fitbit and I lost it and never bought another, and I wonder if a fitness watch would help me to move more. Has it helped you?

What would you do in my situation? I did it in the past but why is it so hard now?

submitted by /u/k4tsuk1z
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/fn07otl