+ 3 Why multiple data points are important during a cut
Figured this month was a pretty good example of why I don't like judging progress off scale weight alone.
If I looked strictly at the scale, August would look pretty underwhelming. I'm 241.4 this morning, and the monthly weight trend is only about 0.8 lb down. Most of the month I was just bouncing around 241–244, with a low of 239.8. On paper, not exactly a huge month of weight loss.
But the other data tells a much different story.
My body fat reading trended down about 2.3% over the month. I obviously don't take the absolute number from a smart scale as gospel, but when I'm weighing under similar conditions every morning, I do think the trend is useful. My waist has also continued moving down and is at 44.05" this morning. And, more importantly, I think the difference in the monthly progress pictures is pretty obvious, especially through my stomach/waist.
So despite barely moving the scale, I'd call this a pretty good month. This is exactly why I try to look at scale weight, waist measurements, body composition trends, and pictures together instead of freaking out over any one number.
I also included the May 1 vs. today collage just for the bigger-picture comparison. My waist was 47.55" on May 1 and is 44.05" today, so that's 3.5" gone from the waist so far.
Still plenty of fat to lose, especially around the lower stomach/love handles, but things are definitely moving in the right direction. Monthly accountability post complete lol
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Great post.
This is something a lot of people don’t understand. They count on the scale for changes instead of overall composition and never consider lean mass (some added muscle tissue, water, glycogen, slowed digestion) when the scale stagnates.
The scale not moving convinces a lot of people they “just can’t lose weight”. Unfortunately a lot of these people get caught up in fad weight loss diets and techniques instead of actually learning the true mechanics behind weight loss/gain.
You’re doing it right with the smart scale. Don’t look at absolute number but the trend. As long as you control all other variables in how/when you test, then you can absolutely trust the % drop in bf it gives. That’s how anyone should be using these smart scales.
I share a similar story. I started at 246 lbs in April and have gotten down to 210. Tracking progress with a Hume scale moving from 40% bf down to 23.4% as of this mornings readings. GLP’s and testosterone were a game changer for me
Have you heard about Reta?
Yeah boss big ups for you putting yourself out there and cateloging everything. That's a hard part that most ppl done do. But as raven said have you ever heard of retatrutide or Tirzaetide I believe in my opinion you would greatly benefit by using one of them and are you on trt on any other enhancement? I would definitely get your test and estrogen done a whole blood work panel prolly be best and definitely think about getting on reta my friend at 5ft 10 255lbs on trt 200mgs a week just finished 16 weeks.of reta at 3mgs a week he is 206 now 49lbs 4 months no change I anything just continued cardio daily workout 5 days a week and trt 200lgs a week. Good luck brotha I wish you the best
See my response to TeaBody below. I’m already on reta and some other stuff, just didn’t want to type the whole thing out again lol.
I did think things would move a little quicker once I got on reta, but progress has still been pretty consistent, just slower than I expected. I’ve had labs done regularly too. Estrogen has been in check the last couple months and test/free test are where I’d expect them, so I’m pretty confident the compounds are legit.
Diet is pretty dialed in. I weigh pretty much everything and log it all in MyFitnessPal. Currently around 1900 calories, 214p/53f/143c.
Weights 4 days a week and cardio 5 days a week, usually 50-60 mins a day. About half of that is in the morning fasted. Just sticking with it and letting it come off.
Are you cutting weight all natural? Or using enhancements?
Are you eating at a daily calorie deficit?
Enhancements. I’ve been titrating things up over the course of the cut rather than starting everything high. I have plenty of past experience with this stuff, but with my higher body-fat percentage and being older now, I wanted to start low, assess sides, and not overdo it. I started around 100 mg test cyp/week in April, then around mid-May was at 200 mg test + 100 mg primo/week. Currently I’m at 375 mg test / 300 mg primo per week.
Reta started at 1 mg/week and I gradually titrated that up starting in June. I’m currently at 4 mg/week. I honestly thought the rate of loss might pick up a little more once I got on reta, but it really hasn’t been dramatically faster. I also had a thyroid panel done a couple weeks ago. TSH was 1.71, free T3 was 3.8 and in range, free T4 was high at 1.70, and reverse T3 was pretty damn high at 34. Those results are also in some of my past posted pics.
And yes, definitely eating in a calorie deficit. Current macros are roughly 214g protein, 53g fat, and 143g carbs, so right around 1,900 calories/day. I recently dropped that from 2,050/day. I weigh basically all of my food and log everything in MyFitnessPal. TDEE calculators that account for body-fat percentage generally put my maintenance somewhere around 2,500–2,700 calories. At the start of September I’m planning to go back up to maintenance calories for about 5 days, then resume the cut.
Overall I’m down from about 267 to around 240, and my scale’s body-fat estimate has gone from roughly 47% to around 36%, so the trend has definitely been moving in the right direction even if it hasn’t been as fast as I expected.
I also started tbol about a week and a half ago. Planning to run that through the end of September, then I’m dropping everything back down and going to 150 mg/week TRT only for a couple months.
Hey brotha your doing great first thing keep it up and things will keep getting better 1 I know how you feel about the thyroid I have a genetic thyroid condition that has my hormones all messed up and on levothyroxine 200 mcg a day and 2nd bro my boy who lost the 49 pounds in 4 months it's like 3 lbs a week but he started reta like you 1mg but he didn't start really losing the weight till he was taking 3mg a week his test at 200mg a week was just over 1000 at 206 unfortunately that much weight loss he lost some strength and muscle mass so he plans to keep the trt dose bring the reta down to 1mg a week and add masteron to start 200mg a week he also takes the peptide glow70 for injury prevention. I'd keep what ur doing some bigger guys I no take 6mg reta a week but I'm not telling u to do that but my buddy did say even at 4mg a week he still had cravings once inna while so your not alone my friend. Stay strong
Thanks for the positivity. I was definitely expecting faster results, but I am not in my 20s anymore lol. My goal was not to just do a drastic cut either. I didn't want to do the whole skinny fat thing lol. I wanted to take it slower. I was also starting from a pretty bad spot. Heavily drinking every weekend, like 12-18 beers or hard seltzers Friday and Saturday each. Diet was non-existant. I completely cut out all drinking since April. I have just come to to conclusion that maybe its just going to be a little slower than I thought it was going to be. I am fine with that. Lipids, A1c, Apob, etc are all excellent now even with the gear involved. I was borderline pre-diabetic and lipds were a mess. It was a now or never thing. Kinda sad since I was pretty into bodybuilding, nutrition, gear for years when I was younger. Let the excuse of life, kids, etc get in the way of that.
You’ve accomplished something to be proud of man! Give it hell until you’re truly content with what you see in the mirror! This month has been stagnant for me as well, I’ve chalked it up to my increased test dose saturating after a few weeks.