Question about Deloading for the First Time and Dieting

[LG18]

Hi,
Back again after my thread about cutting/recomp two weeks ago. I’ve slashed my calories and continued at around maintenance. Weight has stayed essentially the same over the last 14 days. Each day has averaged out around 2500. I say average because I’ve upped to 2700 on training days to account for the extra calorie burn, and shot for 2500 on rest days. Obviously I don’t know how many calories I burn training and then walking to the gym and back, but every calorie is tracked (I assume it’s a minimum of 200 calories burned on workout days).

I’ve kept my training the same: high volume full body three days a week. I’ve also realised that I’ve been doing this for over a year now. Most of my training has always been pretty much to RPE 9 or to failure, which having read more about it probably wasn’t the best idea.

That said, although it’s been intense, I’ve progressed well over the last year – but I haven’t really had a break. I’ve been aware of deloads and how they work, but because they were never recommended for ‘beginners’, I’ve always presumed I wasn’t lifting enough weight to accumulate any substantial fatigue. Having thought about it, though, I’ve definitely accumulated about a 1.5 years with pretty much no scheduled breaks; and while I don’t consider myself intermediate really, I think the weights I’m lifting are starting to get into that category.

While I never felt fatigued during the bulk where I was on 3700 cals, the same volume and intensity now that I’m at maintenance I suspect might be taking its tole. I’ve dropped a couple of reps on some exercises but then progressed on others during the the two weeks, but I seem to feel sore for a longer duration and the heavy stuff just feels more intense. I don’t have any clear evidence of it yet, but my gut tells me it will be increasingly difficult to progress from here on.

So it makes sense to me to do a deload for this week and resume as usual after.
I’d appreciate some advice/reassurance regarding my plan so far as calories for the next several months go, however. There seemed to be an even split in my last thread between those who thought I should cut vs stay at the same weight and recomp.

I’ve been doing some research into recomping, and there seem to be a few definitions. The first is simply staying at the exact same weight and losing fat and gaining muscle, while the other is being in a very slight deficit to gradually lose fat, but still having enough energy both through the diet and from burning fat to fuel some muscle and strength adaptations.

I think I’d rather do the latter. Seeing the slightly faster rate of fat loss would motivate me more, I think. So my plan is to stay at maintenance for the next week and deload, and then cut calories down to 2300 and watch the scales to see if I’m losing anything.

Does this seem like a good approach? to go straight back to the same workout as usual after the deload and into a small deficit? And is a week long enough? I’m basically trying to set myself up for being in a strong place to lift intensely while having significantly less calories than I was used to on the bulk – it’s just how to go about it.

Thanks!

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

Adding some much needed context for you buddy.

Considering a Mini-Cut But Could Use Some Advice

Thanks for all the replies – appreciate the volume of responses already. I’ve actually been into lifting since 2014, but I kept stopping and starting. Made a relatively big transformation doing 5x5 back in the day and went from 120lbs to 145lbs with only very marginal changes in hip and waist measurements. I certainly didn’t look fatter after that weight gain because I was already under weight. After that I just wasn’t consistent. I’d keep picking the sport up and then stopping and just pretty…

@LG18

@LG18

I’ve been aware of deloads and how they work, but because they were never recommended for ‘beginners’, I’ve always presumed I wasn’t lifting enough weight to accumulate any substantial fatigue. Having thought about it, though, I’ve definitely accumulated about a 1.5 years with pretty much no scheduled breaks; and while I don’t consider myself intermediate really, I think the weights I’m lifting are starting to get into that category.

Deload if you need it, don’t if you don’t. Worst case scenario, you take it slow for a week and lose 0 progress.

@LG18

my plan is to stay at maintenance for the next week and deload, and then cut calories down to 2300 and watch the scales to see if I’m losing anything.

Does this seem like a good approach?

Sounds solid to me. Nothing crazy or groundbreaking - so everything is as it should be.

@LG18

is a week long enough?

Only if you need it to be a week. Chances are that you don’t actually need a deload. When folks need a deload - they tend to KNOW they need a deload, because their whole body feels worn the fuck out. If this isn’t you, then it probably doesn’t apply. Still, whether needed or not, the mental reprieve can be nice and is not very costly.

Recomping is a hot subject with lots of opinions, most of which are going to be based on the experiences of the individual speaking on it. It can work well for those who are untrained/detrained, over-fat, or have just started taking AAS - but only for a short period. Just know when to recognize that you are not progressing, and adjust accordingly.

[LG18]

@Andrewgen_Receptors

Adding some much needed context for you buddy.

Thanks for that!
Just to clarify for anyone else reading: I’m currently 172lbs at 5’9, and the pictures above are my most recent ones.

@Andrewgen_Receptors

Only if you need it to be a week. Chances are that you don’t actually need a deload. When folks need a deload - they tend to KNOW they need a deload, because their whole body feels worn the fuck out. If this isn’t you, then it probably doesn’t apply. Still, whether needed or not, the mental reprieve can be nice and is not very costly.

Recomping is a hot subject with lots of opinions, most of which are going to be based on the experiences of the individual speaking on it. It can work well for those who are untrained/detrained, over-fat, or have just started taking AAS - but only for a short period. Just know when to recognize that you are not progressing, and adjust accordingly.

As I say, I’ve definitely noticed some lifts be a little weaker which has to be due to the calorie hit I’m guessing. For example, I was doing DB Shoulder press at 27.5kg for 8,8,8,6, and seemed to have lost a couple of reps there to make it 8,7,7,6.
Same with DB chest press, where I was on the verge of going up a weight with the 40kg dumbbells at three sets for 8,8,7, but now I’m back to only a single set of eight, a set of seven, and a set of six.

Then other lifts in the same category, like weighted dips, I seem to have gone up with the reps and still progressed.

Not really sure what’s going on there as I won’t have lost muscle because I haven’t lost any weight. Perhaps it’s just the general lower amounts of available energy.

I suppose my thinking with the deload is that if I go on a slow deficit where I intend to also get a little stronger, I’m going to be doing this for a while. Even if I don’t necessarily need to now, as you say, it might help to reframe things to mentally slingshot me into the next big block. I’m surely going to need it eventually, so perhaps this way I’ll be able to lose fat for say, 12 weeks, without having to deload or have a break in the middle, and then have to mess about finding maintainence calories and then go back to the deficit again.

I’ve been watching a lot of Mike Isratel’s videos, and he discusses deloads as an inevitability after about 12 weeks of hard training. I’ve been at this for over a year now, so I’m thinking, “Maybe I should be having a break about now”. Then again, while his advice is really good, perhaps is better suited to those advanced trainees – those that are lifting so heavy that 12 weeks is enough to beat them up completely. I don’t feel totally drained like that as you mentioned and always have drive to train.

I guess I don’t really know how fast I should be progressing at this point, either. Before I was going up a rep or two most weeks on some exercises, and the same but over about a month for certain ones. Presses, for example, I progressed more slowly on, but they were certainly going up.

To drop back a couple of reps on those presses makes me worry slightly, I guess. I sort of took it as a sign that a break might be beneficial. Cheers!