Dieting as a Powerlifter

[quote]fish_burps wrote:
If no one else is gonna say it then I will…

Seriously? You’re a powerlifter, you weigh 185, and you want to cut??? Unless you’re 5’0" then 185 is SMALL! You don’t look short in your avatar, so I’d say you could carry 200 lbs easy and be fairly lean, say, 15% body fat. And if you ever want to be strong, you’ll need to weigh AT LEAST 200 lbs.

If you think that you’re too fat at 185 lbs then it’s because you’re not strong enough. So get stronger. You should be benching 300, squatting 400, and deadlifting 500. Raw. Plenty of people have achieved those numbers, there’s no reason you can’t too. I’d bet that nearly everyone who can do 300-400-500 at 200 lbs or under is fairly lean and has some muscle to show for it.

Honestly, you’re overthinking shit big time. You don’t need to be worrying about carb intolerance. You don’t need to be messing around with special exercises. Lift hard, lift heavy, get stronger, get bigger. Eat mostly quality food, not garbage. Besides, if you’re going to cut you have to have something to cut down to in the first place…[/quote]

I totally respect your opinion on this but: I started lifting at 125 pounds. That’s 60 pounds in a bit over a year of training. Needless to say I’m getting fat, and losing some chub shouldn’t set me back real far. I plan on making my way to 190-195ish after I lose said chub, and then cut weigh to make 181 weightclass next school year. I’m not looking to get ripped either, but having a spare tire when you’re 16 isn’t okay.

BTW in my avatar I was 150 pounds. Then my senior year I want to make 198 reletively lean. I’ve gotten fat, I want to be unfat without losing too much muscle, so I can go back to building as much strength as I possibly can, without being the one fat kid in highschool with average lifting numbers. realisticly I could probably lose all the weight in about 2 months, which isn’t very long in the scheme of things. Mind you I don’t want ot lose weight, in fact I dread it. I don’t want to lose a single pound I force fed myself into gaining. But all this hard work to look fat all summer and never taking my shirt off due to being ashamed isn’t okay with me.

Note: when I said carb intolerance, I meant when I eat high carb, I break out (acne). I don’t really know too much about how it affects me and how tolerant I am as far as fat gain.

Thank you to everyone offering advice, even if you’re telling me not to do it. Shows we are here to help each other, and there is a decent amount of comeraderie here, unlike some of the other forums. I really appreciate it guys.

Just keep it really fucking simple. Pick a plan, sort out numbers, meals, timing etc and stick to it.

It really is so simple. But it’s not easy.

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Just keep it really fucking simple. Pick a plan, sort out numbers, meals, timing etc and stick to it.

It really is so simple. But it’s not easy.[/quote]

Thanks hanley. I’ll get on it. I’ll be starting next week due to needing to go grocery shopping.

I would say to cut out most/all the processed/junk food, add maybe 1-2 30 min cardio sessions, and go for a 30-60 min walk 2-3 times a week. When this stops working, just take away 500 kcals/day away(making sure to be getting at least 5 meals a day, and getting some protein in with each meal). Then when that stops working add in a few more walks and 1 more cardio session, or some other GPP (extra assistance work, sled/prowler, etc). This should get you pretty close to where you want to be, and doesnt really take that much effort or discipline. Also, you should be able to at least maintain, if not continue to gain strength.

Good thread, I’m in pretty much the same spot as you, I need to drop about 10 lbs but I want to keep my strength.

I have competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting and it seems rotating carbs allows you to actually get leaner and stronger at the same time.

There is an article as well

No matter how you look at it you will loose strength dieting. Sure you can hit PR’s in the squat, dead and bench during your diet and after it.

But the PR’s would have been even better if you increased bodyweight or just maintained current weight. So in reality you will loose strength. To some people it’s worth it, to some people it’s not.

I’ve recently dropped from 245 back down to 220 over the course of 3.5 - 4 months. I didn’t do much in terms of cardio, flag football on the weekends, some running around w/ clients, but I seriously cleaned up my diet and began carb cycling. I’ve seen a gain in my squat and pull, but my bench def went down and has since come back up.

Just feel it out, some people 10lbs is nothing, for me that last 10lbs made a big difference in my bench, but as for my other lifts i think losing the weight helped. It was just getting in my way, and not really helping my leverages. That and every time I tied my chucks i thought I was gonna black out.