I am 162lbs 5’3 30% bodyfat. My goal is to get to 150lbs as fast as I can so I can recomp at a lower bodyfat percent. I am just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to lose fat faster when you have a low TDEE due to their size. My maintenance is around 2400-2600. I am walking 10k steps a day, doing 30-45 minutes zone 2 twice a week.
Options I have considered:
Eat 1700 calories every day. Basically just protein (160g) and fat (70g) with trace carbs
Eat 2400 calories one day and 900 calories the next day. Might make it more flexible on the 2400 days but will probably make my workouts suck on the 900 days
Crank up the zone 2 cardio, while only dropping to 2000 calories a day. Maybe get one of those walking pads so I can walk at my desk. To me this seems like the most favorable option and probably the most sustainable considering once I get to 150lbs my TDEE will be only 2250 calories if I don’t increase activity
Just accept that I will have to cut slower due to my size (and appetite) and just cut at 2000 calories for a long time
I’m just wondering if any other smaller people have experience cutting and what worked for them.
My zone 2 is 10 incline 2mph. I always keep it at 2mph because that’s my comfortable walking pace and I adjust the incline to make it harder or easier. The walking pad treadmill probably won’t get me to zone 2 but if I can get an extra 10k steps in per day that’s an extra 300-400 calories
Mainly for vanity reasons but also the fact that in my head losing slower isn’t as satisfying even though it would probably lead to more sustainable fat loss. I guess I could cut just 0.75 - 1lbs a week for 12-16 weeks.
I have tried losing fat before and I have noticed that around the 6 week mark of a straight deficit period I start losing muscle. So my plan is to implement deload weeks paired with maintenance. Either every 4th week or every 6th week, not sure yet.
The last time I tried to lose weight it went ok until around the 6 week mark and then all of a sudden I had to lower the weight on everything. So I figure it is lack of recovery due to diet catching up to me
What could be the reason then? What happened was I lost strength which knocked me out of the 6-12 rep range so I lowered weight and then I started just losing muscle. Lost weight but looked worse and got way weaker and it was a snowball effect.
My diet is basically completely optimized. But when you have only a 2400 TDEE and cut below that, it’s a lot harder to fit in the fat and protein you need plus carbs for training plus micronutrients from vegetables. Oh and fiber which primarily comes from carb sources.
Your performance drops are the result of electrolyte imbalance and carbohydrate depletion.
Muscle is gained and lost in grams per day. Put bluntly: you don’t have enough muscle for “muscle loss” to be impacting you at only 6 weeks of fat loss. You’re simply employing a poor nutrition strategy. Most likely: too aggressive, paired with too much training, in an attempt to speed up the process.
As you’ve observed: your own instincts work against you in the pursuit of physical transformation. Most likely, you’re going to need to do the things you don’t want to do to achieve the results you DO want to have.
Stan Efferding has this exactly spelled out for many athletes of many calories levels, to include below this, in the book “The Vertical Diet 3.0”. I’d consider picking that up.
That’s what I eat, there is some variation obviously but that’s the gist of it. If I see my weight going up I reduce carbs from the oatmeal or the sweet potatoes for a few days.
