170 cm, 70 Kg 57, years old.
The ideal weight for my parameters is 54Kg - 72 Kg
I've like to get to the lower end of my ideal weight but if not at least 62 Kg. I want lean muscle, not bulky muscles.
I've cut bread and processed sugars. I'm sure that I'm in a caloric deficit. Eating more raw fruits and fibrous food like beans, more fish and less meat and fats. I sleep well. I drink a lot of water. No pop or coffee. Very little milk.
For snacks about 1/2 cup mixed nuts and one or two stalks of celery with a spoon of light ranch (25 calories per spoon)
I'm following my regular daily exercise routine, I go to the rock climbing gym Three times per week for two hours. I bike everywhere. After exercise in the morning I replace breakfast with a protein supplement.
I started mid July at +74 Kg which is the same weight I've had for years.
The first four weeks I lost 4 Kg. The only change, since then, the only change has been to increase exercise.
For the past week the weight has fluctuated between 69.2 to 69.8.
Is it normal for weight to plateau? Is it the increase of muscle mass which may be balancing other weight loss? Should I be more patient?
If you're doing a recomposition (burn fat and build muscle) then yeah, you are losing fat but gaining muscle so the scale can be misleading. Body fat % or pant size become better indicators. You may see what is referred to as a "whoosh" where every few weeks you seem to drop a few Kg over night (water weight).
When I am doing a recomp I tend to do weigh-ins every 2-4 weeks. When cutting I'll do it weekly.
Have you done any tracking? It is a pain to do all the time but worth maybe doing it for a week just to be sure. I struggle with knowing when I am full and can easily put myself over on something high calorie like nuts.
If no progress for a few months, lab testing may be worth it. Thyroid issues can impact weight gain and loss.
Finally there are medications like GLP-1 (expensive in some areas) that mess with insulin production and the hunger signals in your brain that have been known to be effective.
I haven't done tracking on a day today, but every now and then I've checked the calories in the food I eat and the calories burnt in the exercise I do. For example, I exercises in the morning for 20 mins (200 cal) had protein shake (250 cal) went for lunch at a friend's house: she served Chinese pork noodles (400 Cal) and apple crumb (400 cal). We swam for an hour. I biked 11 km each way (600 cal). I went to the rock climbing gym for two hours (400-600 cal). I ate 1/2 cup of nuts (350 Cal) and a celery stalk (6 cal) 1 hour before bed.
So, if we consider my BMR of 1,483 cal/day plus the exercise (say 1,000 cal) I needed to eat 2,483 cal to break even.
But I ate no more than 1,500 cal. Even if I underestimated, I didn't eat more than 1,500 cal.
That means a 1,000 cals calory deficit.
That's an example of a day where I ate more than usual because of the visit but exercised as usual.
Am I counting correctly?
When cutting I don't factor in burned calories as extra calories I can eat.
When doing heavy lifting trying to build muscle and bulk up I'll add some extra calories. I don't do this often anymore.
My normal is more of a leangains style where on high activity days I'll eat at 10% deficit up to maintenance, and on low activity days I'll eat a 20% deficit.