Trouble Cutting Weight

I’m a 26 year old male 6’2 223 lbs looking to become a Tactical Athlete. My running has caused me to develop posterior shin splints in both legs and now I’m stuck rowing, walking and swimming. I try to stay around 2000 calories a day. Protein: 220 grams/Carbs: 124 grams/Fats:66 grams. I can get down to 217 but it seems over these past 6 months I’ve traded fat for muscle and I’m trying to get down to 200 lbs to get light and faster. Calisthenics and cardio are the only workouts I’m doing. Any advice on how to break past the plateau of 217 and be able to lose weight and continue with my training?

Yeah, track your calories correctly. There is no way you are eating 2000 calories and having trouble breaking 217 lbs.

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I started all of this at 234. I was able to track my macros daily and eventually was able to get to 217. Averaging 2000 calories a day. Then my weight lost stopped.

You’ve written “I try to stay around 2000 calories” and “average 2000 calories a day”, and both of these tend to be phrases one uses when they’re not actually eating 2000 calories a day.

How often are you eating 2000 calories a day? And what method are you using to measure food?

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Is this for a job? Is there a weight you have to be at and skills or a selection you have to nail? Is there a deadline?

I’m training to get a contract in Special Forces. I’m six months out. I have started taking the P.A.S.T. test. Hoping by losing weight I can decrease the impact on my knees and improve my pull ups.

I’m using Macros+ and some days it’s 2100 others it’s 1900. I always check my food for meal prep.

That is how you track food. How are you measuring how much food you are eating?

I would focus on getting your run decent (your long runs will be 5-7 miles) and your rucking great. You can train these concurrently. It’s also a great calorie burn.

If SF is really your goal I’d stress less about specific macros, and just eat nutritious meals without garbage food. The new thing is to pretend we don’t know what “good” food is and there’s no such thing as “junk” food, but we know better.

Get your endurance great and get used to sucking. Rucking will also do that. You have 3 main variables you can progress here: weight, speed, distance. Frequency is a variable as well, but will be based on the first three. I wouldn’t run with kit on - it feels like you’re a badass, but it takes a toll and I don’t think the payoff is worth it.

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Thank you. My runs are my worst event. I’m trying to switch my runs to in the morning after my legs heal. Maybe even switch to trail running for awhile to lessen the impact.

I’m dividing my meal up by serving size on the package. I may need a scale.

You absolutely need a scale. Issues of fat loss almost always boil down to incorrect measurements (at least when one utilizes a calorie counting mechanism).

Also, eating pre-packaged food is going to make things difficult. You still have no quality control over there, and there’s going to be margins of error deemed acceptable by the FDA/manufacturer but NOT by you.

Don’t put your fat in someone else’s hands: cook your own food and measure it.

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In absence of a scale, measuring cups and spoons work fine. You have to keep things level though. If there is any quesion, I underestimate with ingredients, instead of overestimating, ie going over level. This will usually keep you out of trouble.

I have definitely observed the opposite of this conclusion. Seen many trainees end up on the wrong side of calorie counts. Those are good for liquids, but tend to suck for solid foods.

I can cram a TON of ground beef into 1 cup if I wedge and squeeze it, OR I can barely get any if the chunks are big and I keep it loose.

Scales are so cheap these days.

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On a related note, I seriously don’t understand how you guys can use cups and in general volume-based measuring units. That has got to be so imprecise and specific-food-dependent that I don’t understand why not everybody uses grams (or ounces, or pounds, or whatever is mass-based rather than volume-).

Anyway, I second the importance of a scale. A certain degree of consistency and precision is required to lose a good amount of weight, and being able to tell exactly how much you’re eating is crucial in that regard.

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Do you have any muscle mass? Your body will adapt to the cardio and become more efficient. Which means you have to up the output or cut calories more.

This is why I think the context is important, though. He is too heavy for what he wants to do, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also hard to do everything at once. I’d focus on getting his cardio great, and just develop good eating habits. If he wants an 18X contract, he’s going to Infantry basic first anyway - he’s going to lose the weight; however, he can lose his contract if he’s not crushing the PT test and is annoying to his drill sergeants… so get that right first.

Just my opinion, obviously, and I don’t disagree with anyone’s points on cutting weight - I just think the goal is a little different in reality than in the title.

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Definately good points. I dont have anything against the scale. It just works for me, but that maybe because I tend to go on the cautious side and if i’m 100 calories under because of it then I know i’m still near my target.

if it works for you, no need to change anything. The advice was given to someone whose methods aren’t working for them. I don’t measure anything at all and I get away with it. Everyone is different.

Yeah, same. Never relied on measurements in my life. Seems unsustainable to me, and can result in situations like this when you become too dependent on a fixed number.