Plateu for 2 weeks, 11 weeks into a cut. Significant Caloric reduction + fasting has not made a change. Tips? (long post yall, sorry)

Hi folks!

So, I've been cutting since roughly 23rd of May, starting at 256 lbs, ~28-29% body fat (I presume), to currently 216 lbs, at about 19%.

The time frame is extremely short for such a change, but it has not been difficult at all, more of a mental torture (which I can easily sustain). I've experienced plateus through this, but usually after a week they break, or I blast through them by an extended fast (48-60h) or a refeed.

Well, I've been hovering between 216-217.5 for the past 2 weeks. Since then, I've done numerous extended fasts, upped my cardio significantly and upped my calories slightly to not create a more drastic deficit. Due to current heat wave, my sleep has really suffered (from 6-8 h a day, to 3-4 if I'm lucky) and I started retaining a fair bit of water (I guess increased cortisol...)

With this in mind, I've not changed my training regime (Actually upped it, I always train 6 days a week, calisthenics + now back in the gym as of yesterday + started running 3 miles every second day), and kept my caloric intake within 1500-1800 range throughout this whole cut.

My diet consists of high protein, high fat and low-moderate carb intake (depending on training).

So, I'm confused. 2 weeks is nothing in the long run, however - significant caloric deficit (I've fasted ~ 170 hours in the past 2 weeks while training full time - no i did not loose strength/mass, actually increased my strength on all lifts) created through fasting + dieting has held my weight the same.

A lot of people commented that I look visibly leaner, also I noticed vascularity increase in my forearms, so I guess my bf is dropping, so I tend to agree with them, but I simply do not understand why the weight is standing still. I know I cant grow muscle mass, I'm eating far too less to be able to build muscle...

My thoughts were - up my calories to eat at maintenance or reverse diet for couple weeks.... However - if I can avoid this, I would, as I can function and train just fine on 1500-1800 calories...

Any tips? Before anyone says ''You're eating too much'' - no. I'm not. My diet is TIGHT. My workouts are even tighter. My sleep sucked, but last couple days it has significantly improved, back to 6-7 hours a day.

I think I know the answer to this, but I'd like to hear some inputs too!

Should I ride this out and expect to have a sudden drop, or do something about it?

submitted by /u/TheSenPanda
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/i8wnc7/plateu_for_2_weeks_11_weeks_into_a_cut/