Also I am looking to get close to contest ready. Not quite as dried out but between 4-6% bodyfat would be wonderful.
[quote]darraghoconaill wrote:
LiquidMercury wrote:
Calculated BMR at around 3700 calories. I am just shocked that I’m not losing any weight, whether it’s muscle or fat or water with that large of a calorie deficit. I truly must have absolutely killed me metabolism. I’m going to bring calories up to aronud 2800-3000.
i have to admit i also don’t understand why you weren’t losing weight be it muscle or fat, i always thought it was calories in vs out in terms of general weight loss… maybe someone could explain this further?[/quote]
It’s not that simple. Your body isn’t that stupid. If you start taking in calories so low that your body feels it is starving, it will slow down your metabolic rate making fat loss that much more difficult. Why? Because your body is interested in your survival, not how you look. To do this, it would rather lose muscle mass and store anything it can as fat to keep you alive.
Losing body fat is more like tricking your body than simply trying to live out a basic math equation. You have to provide it enough fuel to maintain muscle mass much greater than average while eating few enough calories to promote a drop in body fat.
Losing body fat is also done in stages as your body will decrease its metabolism over the course of a diet no matter what you do. That is why dieting for extended periods of time (unless you are hugely obese) is detrimental to the progress of a bodybuilder.
If you start dieting on calories that are too low, you will have no recourse once your metabolism slows down.
I had to explain this to a guy I know at the gym (ex-college football player who still weighs a very muscular 265lbs) when he started dieting by doing 1 full hour of cardio everyday and noticed his strength dropping. What is he going to do in 2 months when his metabolism slows down more? Move up to 2 hours? He isn’t trying to get contest ready and he isn’t that fat to begin with (maybe around 18-20%).
Well took in 3k calories today, mainly because I overslept and didn’t get up early for a full day of eating. Tomorrow I’ll get up to 3700 or so and stick with that for next 2 weeks as advised by prof X and then will see where I am and where I need to go. Bummer cause I was lookin forward to bein ripped on my last spring break as I go to the real world come may. Oh well, I’d rather still have my strength and muscle then do things wrong. Thanks for all the help and feel free to look at my log to see the progress.
I’m going to stick with EDT and still going to have lacrosse practice 5-6 times a week so still have plenty of demand on my body so hopefully won’t just bloat back up.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
darraghoconaill wrote:
LiquidMercury wrote:
Calculated BMR at around 3700 calories. I am just shocked that I’m not losing any weight, whether it’s muscle or fat or water with that large of a calorie deficit. I truly must have absolutely killed me metabolism. I’m going to bring calories up to aronud 2800-3000.
i have to admit i also don’t understand why you weren’t losing weight be it muscle or fat, i always thought it was calories in vs out in terms of general weight loss… maybe someone could explain this further?
It’s not that simple. Your body isn’t that stupid. If you start taking in calories so low that your body feels it is starving, it will slow down your metabolic rate making fat loss that much more difficult. Why? Because your body is interested in your survival, not how you look. To do this, it would rather lose muscle mass and store anything it can as fat to keep you alive.
Losing body fat is more like tricking your body than simply trying to live out a basic math equation. You have to provide it enough fuel to maintain muscle mass much greater than average while eating few enough calories to promote a drop in body fat.
Losing body fat is also done in stages as your body will decrease its metabolism over the course of a diet no matter what you do. That is why dieting for extended periods of time (unless you are hugely obese) is detrimental to the progress of a bodybuilder.
If you start dieting on calories that are too low, you will have no recourse once your metabolism slows down.
I had to explain this to a guy I know at the gym (ex-college football player who still weighs a very muscular 265lbs) when he started dieting by doing 1 full hour of cardio everyday and noticed his strength dropping. What is he going to do in 2 months when his metabolism slows down more? Move up to 2 hours? He isn’t trying to get contest ready and he isn’t that fat to begin with (maybe around 18-20%).
[/quote]
That was a very cool explanation.
[quote]bmitch wrote:
Professor X wrote:
darraghoconaill wrote:
LiquidMercury wrote:
Calculated BMR at around 3700 calories. I am just shocked that I’m not losing any weight, whether it’s muscle or fat or water with that large of a calorie deficit. I truly must have absolutely killed me metabolism. I’m going to bring calories up to aronud 2800-3000.
i have to admit i also don’t understand why you weren’t losing weight be it muscle or fat, i always thought it was calories in vs out in terms of general weight loss… maybe someone could explain this further?
It’s not that simple. Your body isn’t that stupid. If you start taking in calories so low that your body feels it is starving, it will slow down your metabolic rate making fat loss that much more difficult. Why? Because your body is interested in your survival, not how you look. To do this, it would rather lose muscle mass and store anything it can as fat to keep you alive.
Losing body fat is more like tricking your body than simply trying to live out a basic math equation. You have to provide it enough fuel to maintain muscle mass much greater than average while eating few enough calories to promote a drop in body fat.
Losing body fat is also done in stages as your body will decrease its metabolism over the course of a diet no matter what you do. That is why dieting for extended periods of time (unless you are hugely obese) is detrimental to the progress of a bodybuilder.
If you start dieting on calories that are too low, you will have no recourse once your metabolism slows down.
I had to explain this to a guy I know at the gym (ex-college football player who still weighs a very muscular 265lbs) when he started dieting by doing 1 full hour of cardio everyday and noticed his strength dropping. What is he going to do in 2 months when his metabolism slows down more? Move up to 2 hours? He isn’t trying to get contest ready and he isn’t that fat to begin with (maybe around 18-20%).
So how long should someone cut for? I was thinking maybe 8-12 weeks? Also can you permanently damage your metabolism if your calories are too low?
[/quote]
Your body is adaptive. While I am sure you could wreck your metabolism just as easily as a fat person could develop “syndrome X”, I am also sure most could reverse the damage given enough time. Your question doesn’t have an exact answer. I personally wouldn’t recommend most people ever diet down for more than 3-4 months at a time unless their goal is to actually lose a lot of muscle mass.
After resetting my metabolism, what would be a good daily intake for calories. I obviously don’t want to kill it again but do want to continue cutting down. I’ve heard as little as 15 calories/body lb would be okay (anabolic diet) which would give me approximately 2900 calories/day to be cutting. Any insight to this?
[quote]LiquidMercury wrote:
After resetting my metabolism, what would be a good daily intake for calories. I obviously don’t want to kill it again but do want to continue cutting down. I’ve heard as little as 15 calories/body lb would be okay (anabolic diet) which would give me approximately 2900 calories/day to be cutting. Any insight to this?[/quote]
About 500 cals below whatever amount is maintaining your body weight.
This is a good discussion here.
[quote]bmitch wrote:
LiquidMercury wrote:
After resetting my metabolism, what would be a good daily intake for calories. I obviously don’t want to kill it again but do want to continue cutting down. I’ve heard as little as 15 calories/body lb would be okay (anabolic diet) which would give me approximately 2900 calories/day to be cutting. Any insight to this?
What did you do to reset your metabolism?[/quote]
Bumped calories up to 3700/day following basic anabolic diet principals to avoid a huge increase in fat while upping calories. Plan on being at this level of calories for 10-14 days.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
This is a good discussion here.[/quote]
Sure is. Can’t believe I’d ever be apart of a discussion that went somewhere positive lol.
Quick question, since I’m resetting my calories, should I drop my cardio some or keep it the same?
Just for anyone who cares new pictures up on my log. I’m back up to 193 so now as lean as I was prior to trying to reset my metabolism. Also carrying around a ton of water weight (my body just holds lots of water)
[quote]LiquidMercury wrote:
Quick question, since I’m resetting my calories, should I drop my cardio some or keep it the same? [/quote]
If you were doing cardio every day, I would not drop it completely. If you were only doing it 3 times a week or something like that, I would base that on strength and energy levels in the gyms. The goal is to allow your body to “rest and grow” for those 2 weeks (obviously while still training heavy).
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you were doing cardio every day, I would not drop it completely. If you were only doing it 3 times a week or something like that, I would base that on strength and energy levels in the gyms. The goal is to allow your body to “rest and grow” for those 2 weeks (obviously while still training heavy).[/quote]
Was doing traditional cardio 3 times a week, had lacrosse practice 5 days a week. Either way my energy levels in the gym have been decent enough I suppose and I’m getting stronger every session it seems. I’ll stick with the traditional cardio 3 times a week and just make sure I get more sleep (not the easiest thing to do as a hopefully graduating college senior).