We all know that HIIT on REALLY low calories is catabolic. Hence, on the V-diet, calories around 1500-1800, it’s lifting and walking.
So what’s the lower limit on calories before HIIT starts to catabolize muscle tissue?
I ask because I’m trying to plan out the kcals for a 16 week cut with planned progressions (slowly decreasing the amount of calories I consume) and I need a rough floor (for the calories).
We all know that HIIT on REALLY low calories is catabolic. Hence, on the V-Diet, calories around 1500-1800, it’s lifting and walking.
So what’s the lower limit on calories before HIIT starts to catabolize muscle tissue?
I ask because I’m trying to plan out the kcals for a 16 week cut with planned progressions (slowly decreasing the amount of calories I consume) and I need a rough floor (for the calories). [/quote]
Impossible to give a general statement as it depends on too many factors (sex, age, weight/height (FFM), etc).
I would never go below basal metabolic rate when trying to minimize loss of muscle tissue (BMR should be around 2000-2500)
Why post that in the beginner forum? That’s a question for bodybuilders. Beginners have no business playing around with very low calorie diets and you should know better. You’ve been around here long enough.
I’ll play. Are you asking so you can stay above a certain range so you can still do HIIT during your cut? Or do you want a number that when you get there you switch from HIIT to steady state?
More the former than the latter, although I imagine they’d be pretty much the same (i.e. the threshhold for catabolizing muscle is the same threshhold where you’d want to switch from HIIT to steady state.
For the record, I figure it’s about 2000-2200 kcals for a normal, weight-training, 200lb-ish man. I also figured it wouldn’t hurt to get some feedback.
[quote]Otep wrote:
More the former than the latter, although I imagine they’d be pretty much the same (i.e. the threshhold for catabolizing muscle is the same threshhold where you’d want to switch from HIIT to steady state.
For the record, I figure it’s about 2000-2200 kcals for a normal, weight-training, 200lb-ish man. I also figured it wouldn’t hurt to get some feedback.[/quote]
This would be MY suggestion based soley on my gut and a little knowledge. I would do HIIT during maintenence cals or higher to reduce or maintain BF. If you drop below maintenece, I think steady state is the way to go.
You may get more EPOC with the HIIT, but under maintenence, I don’t know if your recovery will be adequate, hence the catabolism. Steady state is proven to burn fat during with not a lot of glycogen being burnt. Plus, not a lot of recovery needed.
Take that for what it’s worth but as always, personal experimentation is always the best. Good luck!