What are your guys starting point and what are your lowest calorie intake when dieting?
Im asking this as after i lost a good amount muscle and gained some fat?
Height 185 cm
Long story short.
Before my gf got pregnant i used steroids and weighted in at 94 kg and was pretty lean 9-10 bf
Cutting on 2800 cal ed
I stopped training for 6 months and gained alot of fat and lost muscle start point 95.1 kg and estimated bf at 18-19%
Im now hitting gym hard for 8 week almost got to around 14% at 88kg at 2100 cal thats really low at my bf in my opinion.
I upped my cal Now back up at 90.8
And i just dosent seem to hit a plateuâŠ
What is everybody else cal intake while cutting because i dont want to low it again to 2100 kcal because then i know to get down to 10% again i have to eat around 1800 when im at the end of cut?
you stopped 6 months from training, i dont think you need to cut cals at 1800 to see result and become leaner. Just eat clean and train for now. bodyfat wonât leave in 1 month you should know it.
I know the fat loss wont happend in a month but im concern i have to drop to many cals to get very lean again right now my body will only allow me to drop weight/fat at the 2200 cal range an that is not very much when i still have long way to go
If you need to drop to, let say, 1800kcal, what will you do? Not cut?
Life can suck, but if you have a low metabolism youâll have to deal with it. I remimber seeing in article of John Meadow, i think, in which he was saying his on-season would end at something like 1500-1600kcalâŠ
I know dieting can be hard and cals will drop eventually.
I just think its becuase i was used to be able to cut on higher cals before quiting gym and diet for some time so it have been a couple of years since i last cutted on so low cal.
Low metabolism is caused by chronic dieting. This is the dark side of contest-style bodybuilding diets, where folks are content to maintain a significant energy deficit for long periods, e.g. 12-18 weeks. This will indeed tank your metabolism, thyroid, etc.
Also, this is usually coupled with a diet comprised of frequent small eating episodes - moderate protein, low fat, low to moderate carbs - where insulin is continually spiked throughout the day making it actually more difficult to tap into adipose tissue, leaving you exposed to lean tissue loss, not to mention feeling hungry and like crap.
It is little wonder that natural competitors shed significant amounts of LBM using such a strategy.
I get that adipose tissue would be more easily tapped into with less frequent eating but would LBM be somehow more spared just because insulin isnât as elevated? And wouldnât elevated insulin be muscle-sparing?
Yes, in principle it is. However, in the extreme low energy environment we are discussing, chronically elevated insulin means you are reliant on âfoodâ for energy (most of the time, at least) not the stored body fat which is a much more ample source of energy. Further, fat mobilisation means elevated BHB levels and BHB is extremely muscle sparing.
So, you drop to 1500 kcals and that works for a bit but as your total energy expenditure declines (which it will fairly quickly) you then stall, not to mention feel like crap due to the hormonal environment you have created for yourself. So, what now? Drop to 1300? Add in some more cardio? This was one of the key findings of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, where subjects ate a low kcal high carb diet. Their TEE tanked. They experienced a host of symptoms, including muscle loss, which seems to logically follow given the circumstances. Similar studies have replicated this effect and also shown the opposite occurs when subjects are given a calories surplus, i.e. their TEE actually increases.
I donât know about @jskrabac, but I have to get down to around 1800kcal (gets me to around 190 at 5â10â) and Iâm hungry as hell. I seem to get the courage to do it about once every two years. I spend the rest of the time between acceptable (~205) and chubby (~215), so I donât feel like poo poo like @JamesBrawn007 pointed out.
You and @mertdawg both seem to subscribe to insulin-dependent theories of energy balance, promote sustainable âpain-freeâ dieting, and I think youâre both pretty sharp. Any suggestions on where to go to learn more?
I was pretty hungry, but honestly I was hungrier when I got back up to 2200+ post-cut. I think because I was leaner, so less in reserves lol. I guess it never got to an unbearable stage, but Iâm just used to it. Iâm always hungry, regardless of my caloric intake.
