so one and a half week ago i reached 79.6 kg and since then i haven’t been able to get under that number.
its been jumping between 79.6 and 80 kg staying at 79.7 these last three days
i think my maintenance at this moment is 3000-3100, i eat from 2300-2400. so enough a deficit to be able to weigh under 79.6 in one and a half week time, so i think i am on a plateau.
to bust this plateau i am thinking of eating 2800-maintenance calories for a week, to sort of " reset " my system. i don’t have a timeframe i need to reach low bodyfat levels so i feel ok even if i " waste " a week.
what is you opinion/experience of this approach?
at this moment i have been cutting for 6 weeks and thinking i want to get down to 74-75.
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
6 weeks isn’t typically enough to warrant a diet break.
Increase cardio and/or reduce calories (via carbs) to continue to lose fat.
Don’t be a pussy. [/quote]
well i can just eat less sure, but i have gained strength the last 6 weeks and i want to continue doing so.
Which means that if i have the choice between having to wait an exstra week before i reach 10% bodyfat and keep on making strength progress in the gym, or eating less and not making progress/loosing strength. the choice is clear, but is it really so? thats why i am asking what are you peoples experiences when taking a week off cutting.
I am currently trying to cut to single digit bf and had a similar situation over the past couple of weeks being stuck at the same weight. Even though I could see slow but steady progress in my leanness, I’d like to get there a little quicker. My maintenance calories are 2,700, I’ve been eating very clean, between 2000-2300 depending on the training day. Yesterday I did a MAG-10 Pulse Fast, dropped 3 lbs and now under 160 for the first time in a few weeks.
I’ve done 4 Pulse Fasts over the past month and a half or so, and every time it really creates a fat loss surge, especially if you have a great training session the next day. I’d highly recommend one, you won’t lose any strength gains from one day of fasting.
A pulse fast will allow also you to keep your current calories and nutrition on all other days. Throw in a pulse fast once per week on an off day, followed by a training day, should be all set!
Your maintenance level is variable. If you are eating 2300-2400 and your weight isn’t changing, your maintenance isn’t 3000-3100, it’s 2300-2400.
You can either do something to increase your maintenance (add in volume, conditioning, cardio, complexes, tabata sets. standing at work, est.) or you can drop more calories.
been reading up on this topic since i made the thread, here is what i found for anyone wondering about the same as me
basically when someone is in a calorie deficit and weight doesn’t budge or maybe increase it is simply water weight masking the true fat loss. This is true even if you don’t look different. because the mechanics of it is that once triglycerides are cleared from a fat cell it will temporarily be filled with water. This water can stay there for days or weeks so its only a waiting game.
on the topic of taking a diet break
he recommends people with a lot of fat to loose and no competition or any very specific timefram to loose it by, to take 2 weeks break from cut. of course this isn’t really applicable to me since i don’t have a lot of fat to loose and i doubt in total i will need more than 12 maybe 14 weeks.
still there is something else i am wondering, the first 5.5 weeks i was making steady strength progress felt good and had no real problem with hunger pain, but for the last 1.5 weeks i have stopped progressing or lost strength and its more difficult to go as long between meals. i am wondering if this is the body adjusting to me being in a calorie deficit, and that if i just eat like normal for one week it would reset back and allow me to spend the last 6-7 weeks or so left of my cut, gaining strength and feeling good?
[quote]buildsomemuscle wrote:
still there is something else i am wondering, the first 5.5 weeks i was making steady strength progress felt good and had no real problem with hunger pain, but for the last 1.5 weeks i have stopped progressing or lost strength and its more difficult to go as long between meals. i am wondering if this is the body adjusting to me being in a calorie deficit, and that if i just eat like normal for one week it would reset back and allow me to spend the last 6-7 weeks or so left of my cut, gaining strength and feeling good?
opinions?[/quote]
The mind is a powerful tool once it is given goals to direct it. It sounds like you had a goal but somewhere along the way you convinced yourself you need a week off. Although physically you probably don’t need a break you can take one and put your mind at ease. I would assume that after the break you will have more motivation and feel better but can hardly speculate of strength gains.
[quote]buildsomemuscle wrote:
been reading up on this topic since i made the thread, here is what i found for anyone wondering about the same as me
basically when someone is in a calorie deficit and weight doesn’t budge or maybe increase it is simply water weight masking the true fat loss. This is true even if you don’t look different. because the mechanics of it is that once triglycerides are cleared from a fat cell it will temporarily be filled with water. This water can stay there for days or weeks so its only a waiting game.
on the topic of taking a diet break
he recommends people with a lot of fat to loose and no competition or any very specific timefram to loose it by, to take 2 weeks break from cut. of course this isn’t really applicable to me since i don’t have a lot of fat to loose and i doubt in total i will need more than 12 maybe 14 weeks.
still there is something else i am wondering, the first 5.5 weeks i was making steady strength progress felt good and had no real problem with hunger pain, but for the last 1.5 weeks i have stopped progressing or lost strength and its more difficult to go as long between meals. i am wondering if this is the body adjusting to me being in a calorie deficit, and that if i just eat like normal for one week it would reset back and allow me to spend the last 6-7 weeks or so left of my cut, gaining strength and feeling good?
opinions?[/quote]
You have 4 simple suggestions above this post. Try one and see what happens. It’s normal to lose a bit of strength while on a cut if you’ve been in this iron game for some time now. My suggestion would be to keep your calories the same and up up your activity levels slightly and see what happens. Take a short fasted morning walk, add a couple sets here and there to your workouts or add a couple 15-20 min. cardio sessions per week after your workouts.
I never liked the idea of dropping calories unless your absolutely sure your at a standstill because it starts to play with your metabolism in not such a good way. Layne Norton has some great stuff out there you might want to look into. Good Luck and keep that metabolism rolling!
You had a lot of great comments and suggestions in this thread so far. I will add two things:
(1) Fat loss, like any physical change (muscle growth, strength gains, speed improvement, etc.) normally occur in spurts. You might have very fast progress for a short period than the progress seemingly stops… only to pick up a few weeks after. Those who succeed in reaching their goals are those who stick to the plan the longest.
(2) While at some point you will have to adopt a strategy to lose more fat, being too drastic too soon is a big problem: first because you risk losing muscle, which will make you look worse and make it harder to lose more fat (muscle burns fat). Second because the body adapts to everything… if you get drastic and your body adapts, what left is it to do?