NO on 165 is probably reasonably likely at this point. I think it's going to be pretty close, and I'm faced with the choice of whether or not to come off creatine for a few weeks, which I believe could be the deciding factor, but I'm currently leaning heavily against doing so, as it would make my weight measurements more or less useless in the first few weeks of the ensuing bulk, which almost certainly isn't worth the extra milestone.

@NBAP Amazing job on hitting 170 already.

Adding a new failure condition for the last stint to help keep me disciplined: if I record a two-week average that is a net weight gain, then I'll wrap up early.

I've put a YES limit order at 90% for 170 lbs.

Where are you aiming to stop?

@voodoo July 1st! I think it's unlikely that I hit a weight so low before that point that I decide to stop pre-emptively. My best assessment currently is that I think 170 is very likely, 165 is probably more likely than not, and 160 probably won't happen before July 1st.

Great job! Very nice and steady descent.

Things are still going well but I won't be surprised if the scale doesn't drop for a week or two. My weight is up today after a couple days off the diet, and I'll probably have at least another couple of similar days over the coming weekends.

Had a significant drop this week. The big change was that I upped my number of daily steps (17k average daily steps compared to 8.5k average daily steps the week before), but I also increased my food intake to make sure my deficit never exceeded my calculated maximum allowable deficit (around 1200 kcals deficit, currently). I suspect that part of the large swing can just be attributed to last week's weight being inflated; I'm going to try to keep the high step count this week to get a better idea of what the actual resulting rate of weight loss is.

@NBAP What’s wrong with a calorie deficit below 1200 a day? You may feel fine and still maintain muscle mass at 800-900 (my personal experience, not a recommendation)

@Mattfr Nothing’s wrong with going slower. I’m just trying to go at a reasonably aggressive pace for a bit, and then I’ll slow down to a smaller deficit of around 500 kcals/d.

Congrats on the first milestone!

@voodoo Thanks! Stay tuned for more to come!

Progress has been stalled for several weeks, owing mostly to a couple of days per week of overeating which caused my weight to jump up and take a few days to come back down. I'm currently weighing in below 190 lbs (189 this morning), and have no plans for large meals in the next couple of weeks. So barring an unplanned deviation, I would say that 190 lbs is pretty likely to resolve YES within the next 2 weeks.

Please share your diet and workout/activity. Good luck! It’s totally worth it :)

@Mattfr Currently, I'm aiming to lose approximately 1% of my body weight per week. I eat mostly the same stuff every day. I get a lot of protein in the form of liquid calories (protein shakes and EAAs). I have some fibre cereal daily, as well as about 40 g of protein from seitan. Also, I have some pumpkin seeds daily as a snack. Recently I've started adding either oat bran or boiled potatoes for satiety. In the future, if satiety gets even harder or if I need to drop my calories lower, I'll add in riced cauliflower and broccoli.

I do resistance training 3-4 times per week, typically in the form of gym sessions that last 45-60 minutes, comprising several sets each of 3-4 compound lifts (from squat/leg press, RDLs, bench press, shoulder press, rows, lat pulldowns).

I do 2-3 cardio sessions per week, where I get on a stationary bike and keep my heart rate in the 120-140 BPM zone for 30 minutes. I might increase this gradually over time.

I get around 7000 steps on an average weekday (in the winter, at least; will be more in the spring), and significantly less on most weekend days.

All told, I'm usually eating around 1800-2200 kcals per day, and I burn somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2800-3200 kcals on a typical day.

@NBAP Geez, great program! How did you even get to 194lbs in the first place? What’s your body fat%?

@NBAP You got this. I’m the same height and probably older. 175-180 is easy to maintain, lower than that takes work but if you stick to your plan you got it.

@Mattfr My weight has fluctuated a lot as an adult. In university, I ballooned up to 265. Lost 90 lbs to get down to 175 (just through diet and exercise). Weight came back on over several years, getting back up to 250 or so. A few years ago I got back on track and got down to 170. Fell off the wagon over Christmas break in 2021 and got back up in the 195-205 range, where I've hovered since.

Hard to know my exact body fat percentage. I've got a fair amount of fat on my lower abdomen (no abs in sight), but my last DXA scan (when I was at 180 lbs) put me at 17.5% body fat, which was lower than I expected at the time. Additionally, I always measure as surprisingly lean on callipers, so maybe I'm just inclined to overestimate.

@NBAP Awesome. My take on it that given your height and your body fat, it’ll start getting much harder around 165-160 and you may plateau there unless you cut more calories. I think you’ll get there though! Pls keep us updated on any changes to your diet and workouts. Good luck :)

@Mattfr I’m not sure 160 is healthy for that height honestly.

@voodoo In terms of BMI, it's still well within the healthy range, so I'm not worried about health problems. But if I start feeling that I can't go lower without losing a lot of muscle, I won't go any further.

@voodoo I’m 5’10 and aiming for 155 myself, currently 16.9% body fat. I am down 20 lbs since Thanksgiving and I feel great :) To me, a healthy weight is a matter of how anyone and their bodies feel. I agree 150 would become a bit low. As long as enough muscle stays (which with all the protein intake and workouts indicated above should be the case), i don’t see anything wrong with aiming for 160 here.

Good luck!