See, that’ where you initial estimation doesn’t hold up. If you are 13% and 12% is the upper end of your goal it would mean that you only had to lose 2lbs to be at your goal physique. Even the lower end (10%) it’s still only 5lbs. I’m guessing that you have more than 5lbs to lose.
People just don’t understand body fat. A TRUE 10% is almost shredded. I’ve posted this pic many times in the past. 5 days before taking that picture I was measured at 9.2% body fat.
Few people know what 10% really looks like. Then how the hell can they evaluate what 12, 15, 20% looks like? And more importantly, how can they know how much fat they need to lose to reach their goal if they have no idea what their goal physique is in term of body fat percentages and what percentage there are at. Estimations don’t mean anything.
Dude it’s simple, regardless of what many like to think, the most important thing for fat loss remains establishing a caloric deficit. If your weight/fat is not going down, you aren’t in a deficit anymore. “Yeah but the calculator tells me that my maintenance level is XYZ and I’m consuming a bit less”. Are you losing fat? No? Then you are not in a deficit. Maybe your body has adapted to your current intake, maybe you aren’t eating what you think you are (if they are not measuring, most people estimate their nutrients intake wrong).And a lot of people overestimate how many calories they can eat and lose fat Heck, Paul Carter, who was above 230lbs and carries a ton more muscle than you, dieting down as low as 1600 calories/day and so did Marc Dugdale.
And if I learned one thing is that IIFYM works, to a point. To get really lean (even beach body lean) the quality of the food matters. This applies to the types of carbs (which you have not mentioned, you only talk about amounts). I’ve SEEN people get visual body changes from changing their source of carbs while maintaining the same amount.
From what I’m reading you seem to be winging a lot of this. Which works to lose fat down to a certain level, but won’t work if you want to get to a degree that attracts looks (unless you are naturally lean or have an easy time to get lean already).
So what do you need to do? Well honestly the first thing is too look at food choices. It is likely time to move away from IIFYM, dude, I hate to break it to you, but unless you are on drugs or have awesome genetics, getting lean sucks. I’m not saying that you will need to starve to death, but you can’t have your cake and eat it. You will need to disregard some of the stuff you love to eat.
But since you have not given me any of your food selections, I can’t help.
You could also look to increase your protein level while decreasing carbs a bit. That will reduce your level of “energetic nutrients”.
And again if you aren’t losing fat/weight it’s because your are not in a deficit anymore so you need to create a greater deficit. That can be done either by exercising more or eating less. Both have their pros and cons.
