This was discussed the other day in another thread at least in parts. What calorie level were you consuming prior to this new diet ? Did you just suddenly begin this new regime ? Was you energy expenditure about the same. What do you weigh and approx what percentage fat are you ?
[quote]maveric wrote:
My body fat is between 10 and 15 percent and the only supplements I am taking are protein, creatine, vitamins, fats, and glutamine. [/quote]
What happened is you dropped your calories too low.You went from eating 5,000 calories a day to eating 3,000 calories a day,in a short time too! That means you dropped 2,000 calories! Thats a catabolic diet right there bud.I don’t care how much protein you’re eating,dropping 2,000 calories like that will make you lose muscle.And I’m sure you weren’t eating 2,000 above your maintenance level because that would mostly be all fat.Lets say your maintenance level is 4,000 calories(I’m sure you were only eating 500-1,000 above your maintenance level,right?).
So you started eating 5,000 calories.lets say during your bulk phase you gained 10 pounds of muscle.Since each pound of muscle burns 50 calories,your metabolism raised and you now burn 500 extra calories.That means your maintenance is 4,500 calories a day.So you went from eating 5,000 cal a day to eating 3,000 a day.That means to lose weight without any muscle loss you should,when dieting,consume around 4,000 calories -3,500 calories.
Try to eat 3,500 calories.If you still feel weak,then go up to 4,000.
Hope this helps,Poe.
Oh,and make sure you’re getting enough fruits and vegetables in your diet(Like mommy said).I once made the mistake of using “vitamin supplements” as my main source of vitamins.
[quote]maveric wrote:
Thanks, that makes alot of sense. It seems to me that my body will adapt eventually. Would I then be able to cut the calories further? [/quote]
It depends if you’ve gained a substantial amount of muscle.If I where you,I would add 50 calories for every pound I gained to my maintenance level.This should give you a good estimate of where your new maintenance level is.However,I would never cut more than 1,000 calories below my maintenance level.
[quote]maveric wrote:
Well most of my carbs come from fuit and vegetables. Because I don’t like to eat cooked vegies I drink a lot of V8.
Thanks for your advice, I upped the cals and have been feeling a lot better.[/quote]
Great to hear that you’re feeling better.
No problem.If you need any help feel free to pm me.
Nbutka might be right.If your blood sugar is low you should up your carb intake.Eat more brown rice and oats or something.I used to eat ( and still do) about 8 servings of fruit a day and my blood sugar was still low,so I started eating more complex carbs like brown rice ,oatmeal,whole wheat pasta(hey,I was bulking,lol),and I felt a lot better.
Hope this helps,Poe.