Since September of 2023 to now I’ve went from 320 lbs to 215 lbs.
I’m about 6 ft 5in tall. I’ve also been lifting the whole time through this as well.
I’m fairly lean at this point, but wouldn’t mind being a little leaner. But my question is, since I’ve been in a cut/deficit for over a year now, does my metabolism need some time to stabilize? Like has a cut this long likely slowed my metabolism ?
Thanks guys.
Studies that tried this say “no”, or at least “not as much as you think”.
Dropping 105lbs slowed your metabolism for sure.
If you’re done with your cut, you should very slowly increase calories back into your diet. Maybe 200cals more per day, entirely carbs. Do that for a week, then add another 200cals, then another. If you start getting fat again, then you’ve added too many cals.
The point is to slowly adjust your metabolism upwards and allowing your body/activity level to adjust with it.
Keep your daily activity up
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Thanks.
Yeah, I’m currently lifting 5 days a week, and doing sled pulls the other 2.
no.
However, the number of calories it takes to exist at 215 is very different than at 320.
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yeah, that makes sense.
I keep my protein at around 225-250g a day, but still feel hungry most of the time.
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what are the other macros?
drinking enough water?
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Yeah, I drink a lot of water. One of the things I do when Im hungry and don’t need to eat anymore is just drink another bottle of water.
My diet is mostly lean beef, eggs, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, some fruit/berries. Not sure of my exact fats, but fairly low on carbs.
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Veggies are cool. A whole plate of broccoli is like 120cals. A plate of anything else is usually 800+
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yeah, I like carrots pretty well. They are super low calorie.
Holy cow, man - congrats!!!
Like the other gents said, it’s not some magical thing that’s happened to your metabolism, but you’re fueling a smaller machine now.
I like the slow increase (I won’t even call it a reverse diet) in your case. It will take some careful experimentation to find your new maintenance, and you don’t want to kill your confidence with a bunch of unexpected weight gain. Your food choices look great and adding veggies you like is always an easy way to fill your belly for essentially no calories. I’d keep eating the same things and just add a little more - don’t fix what isn’t broken.
What’s the goal and game plan from here? You mentioned you’d like to be a little leaner; are you intending to hold your weight for a bit and then get back into a deficit?
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Congrats, that’s a big effort. Have you had any diet breaks at all where you’ve eaten maintenance for a couple of weeks? It’s also worth noting that what dropped the first 100lbs might need altering to get rid of the last lbs you want to lose
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Thanks guys. The only diet breaks I’ve took is on weekends I eat quite a bit more.
I’m just wondering at this point, maybe I would be better off to do maintenance or maybe a lean bulk to increase muscle for awhile and then try to cut some more fat? The idea being that more muscle would help me with getting leaner.
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