Plateau or Recomposition?
53 yo male, start 220 lb now 185 lb in 5 months. 2.5 mg only no change First 3 months lost 30 lb Last 2 lost 5 lb
My goals: Healthy recomp Avoid looking deflated/flat Avoid exceedingly loose skin Become athletic feeling and looking
Former recreational athlete (reviving athlete): endurance sports like running and tri, weight training back in the day.
Kept fueling like an athlete in 30s and 40s. But became sedentary-ish thanks to work and kids and well I’m the problem really but getting fat happened.
Since starting Zepbound: Running: 2-4 miles daily with the odd long run (6-8 miles). Occasional 5 k races.
Last 2 months:
Lifting: full body circuit 2-3 times per week replacing run days when I lift.
Increased focus on recomposition. More deliberate fueling with protein focus. Eating more, but still very clean.
I look more muscular (slightly) and get compliments from people who know me
Zepbound still highly effective at moderating hunger and food noise. Makes it easy for me to make deliberate food choices and limit intake. I’m not honestly sure if higher dosage would help more with hunger - it’s mostly controlled.
Daily scale readings now much more erratic with sharp peaks and valleys: Amplitude: plus minus 2 lb from mean every 4-5 days Loss trend mostly flat maybe slightly downward
I am more than ok with slow progress! My doc is against increasing Zep yet and I’m mostly ok with that because I’m concerned about under-fueling muscle and recomposition.
But I wonder if I’m in a plateau that won’t break.
Questions: have others been here/done that? What next? Are the fluctuations normal? Do I just wait out the weight loss trend? Do I focus on further calorie cutting? Other tips?
Thank you!!
To clarify: 5-6 so I'm still plenty chunky. Id like to be around 150-160 - I was once much lower but would rather be realistic and more muscular/stronger.
I think the reason I'm not losing much weight is that I'm maintaining or adding muscle and my deficit is way lower because I'm trying to fuel stength and runs.
My central question is how much calorie restriction can I take before hurting these other goals?