Hi folks,

I'm 28 and male, weighing in at about 69kg and 183cm tall (about 152lbs and 6ft). When I started this cycle of dieting, I guessed myself at 20-22% bodyfat using various methods. If I had to guess now, I'd say between 15 and 18%.

I've been dieting for the past few weeks, eating some 1500 calories (35% protein, 35% fat, 30% carbs). I came from 72.5kg and dropped to this weight in maybe 4-5 weeks. I eat in an 8 hour window according to Lean Gains protocol, but never work out fasted. In fact, I don't do any weightlifting, so not all of LG applies to me.

I'm a very avid rock climber and work out 3 times per week. Rock climbing performance is why I'm doing this for the most part, and mostly the reason I'm not asking this over on /r/leangains (where absolute power and to a certain extent muscle mass seems a goal - a climber never pulls more than bodyweight so that mass is dead weight)

I should add that the BF% I mentioned is a complete guess, and a quite positive one at that, I think. Being a climber, most of my muscle will be in my upper body, and my lower body will carry more fat. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3-5% more in reality, over my entire body.

So that's my background. The problem is that for the past 2-3 weeks or so, I've been pretty stable at my current weight. Without losing weight, it'll be hard to lose more fat though.

My goal is basically getting rid of more body fat (getting that sixpack would be pretty neat, wouldn't it) without worrying about weight itself as a goal. I began this diet thinking that I'll stabilize at a certain weight naturally as I figure out what's optimal for my climbing. That is, once I've reached my goal in terms of body fat.

Given that I'm having trouble losing more weight, how do I best proceed? Do I try something to break through this plateau? Do I try recomp (I've seen +20 / -20% being mentioned)? Other sources say recomp is pointless and doesn't work...

Is it time for me to try a small bulk cycle to then cut again after, perhaps making the caloric deficit bigger and thus allowing me to lose more fat than muscle yet again?

Looking forward to your replies, and apologies if I was rambling. Wasn't sure how best to explain all this.