I’m 5’7, down 28 lb since January, but the scale has sat at 172.0–173.5 for six weeks. I lift 3x/week, walk 8–10k steps, and log 1,500–1,650 cal most days. Waist is down another 1.5 cm, but strength stalled on squats. Fasting glucose 92, A1c 5.4, LDL 112—last draw was 5.7, 128, glucose 99.
Do I need a diet break, more cardio, or is this just the annoying middle of a cut? What data would you track to tell the difference?
Waist down + lifts stalled screams recomp to me.
Six weeks isn't really that long a window if measurements are actually moving. Month four is where the scale tends to get stubborn — seems like a lot of people hit that wall around the same point, and it's usually nothing dramatic, just water, sleep, training load, whatever's going on that week.
Tape measure and how clothes fit are more honest than the number on the floor anyway.
A1c 5.4 and waist down? I’d trust the tape over the scale. What’s your average intake vs weekends?
Weekends are my leak. Fri-Sun I can add 1,200 cal without noticing.
That weekend leak is real. I broke a 5-week stall by logging Saturday only—my 'maintenance' Sundays were 800 over.
I had a similar 6-week stall at 174. What finally moved me was adding 2k steps daily and dropping 100 cal from my usual breakfast, but honestly the first change was patience. I was losing inches while weight held.
If strength is stalling, a planned maintenance week might help recovery. I wouldn’t add cardio and cut calories at the same time—that’s how I burned out and binged.
Track waist, weekly average weight, sleep, and gym performance for two weeks before changing anything.
The don't add cardio and cut at once point is huge. I did both and my sleep went to garbage.
Sleep is my missing metric. Under 6 hrs and I retain water like a sponge.
Water retention is wild. Sodium and cycle timing can swing me 3 lb in a day.
If A1c dropepd from 5.7 to 5.4, something is working. Scale is just one noisy signal.
The squat stall is interesting—are you eating enough protein? I stalled like that when my gym performance dipped, bumped protein and weights came back.
Six weeks in the same 1.5-lb window screams water and stress to me, not fat regain. When I was stuck at 168 for five weeks, my waist dropped 2 cm while the scale didn’t budge; the whoosh came after I actually slept 7+ hours instead of 6.
Track sleep, sodium, and stress for a week before you change anything. A salty Friday can hide 2–3 lb of water.
Are you weighing daily or just a few times a week? If you only see 172.0–173.5, you could be missing the 171.2 whoosh after a rest day.
I log morning weight, waist at navel, and a 7-day average; my last 6-week stall showed a flat average for 18 days before it dropped 1.8 lb in four mornings. The average and the tape told the truth before the daily number did.
Weekends are the sneaky one for me—my 'most days' 1,500–1,650 became a 2,300 Saturday and 2,100 Sunday, and that extra 1,200-ish quietly erased my deficit. I tracked Friday dinner through Sunday night for two weeks and found oils, bites, and drinks added 300–400/day on top of what I logged.
If your weekends are actually clean and the weekday log is tight, I wouldn't eat more yet; I'd hold calories and add one 30-minute walk on your two non-lifting days. Your waist is still shrinking and squat strength often lags in a cut, so that's recomp-ish, not necessarily a reason to bulk.
I'd also check if you're actually eating back exercise calories, because 8–10k steps plus 3 lifts can make 1,550 feel lower than it is.
Waist down, scale flat, squats stuck? That’s not a stalled cut, that’s a recomp with bad PR.
My sleep is the tell: under 6.5 hrs for a week and my morning weight jumps 1.5 lb even at same cals.
Check your cooking oils and bites—I found 180 hidden cals a day that way, scale moved in 10 days.
Hold cals steady and tack on a 20-min easy walk after dinner for 2 weeks. Boring, but a 5-week flat tends to give it up around then.
Don't add cardio yet—six weeks flat with gym performance dropping usually means recovery debt, not a need for a deeper deficit. I'd track sleep hours, hunger 1–10, session RPE, and monthly photos.
If sleep is under 7 and RPE is climbing, I'd eat at maintenance for 10–14 days, keep lifting, then drop 100–150 cals. My last flat broke after a maintenance week and a 3 lb whoosh.
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