[quote]rbpowerhouse wrote:
IMO, if you can train without missing a beat (no missed workouts, get enough sleep) - you can keep gaining (or at least maintain strength) while dieting. When I began dieting and swapped out my carbs - I lost strength-endurance till I got “fat adapted” and then I quickly regained my strength and even kept upping poundage on most lifts RIGHT UNTIL they closed down the gym I train at for all of December 2008. [/quote]
When you were still gaining strength how high were your calories? I don’t feel it was the low carb that caused my strength loss/plateau, but rather just such low calories in general.
For those reading who think strength should just be maintained, do you have a real problem with strength gains not coming? I have to say in the past when I (stupidly) didn’t focus on strength much I just did what I would do in the gym while cutting and didn’t notice a change in strength but now that its how I meausre progress in workouts I’ve had weeks of some exercises just not budging at all it began seriously pissing me off. Again, maybe it would be more tolerable for someone seeing noticeable weekly changes in the mirror getting leaner and was already big but for me at this point I was/am seriously getting annoyed with most exercises not going anywhere.
I dont really have much to add to this conversation that would really be of any benefit to anyone, but I will say it is a good read.
I have yet to modify food intake other than what was already sort of clean, so my way to drop has been through the incorporation of steady state cardio- and this is the way I prefer to drop weight anyway.
Main reason for posting tho- pumped340, whats the name of the dude in your avatar?
i’ve recently started cutting - 1800 calories a day and to be frank, i feel like absolute shit. My nutrition is sound so im assumming its either because A)i’ve been having some shitty sleep or B)what im doing in the gym. The sleep thing normally doesnt effect me so im pretty sure its how im lifting. While on a cut, how are you guys lifting? Heavy on everything like not much different than when trying to gain? Or only heavy on the core lifts? Anything would be apprecciated…
It seems to be a lot more mental than anything also. I read an article on Elite FTS in which the author wrote of a bodybuilder, who when he was dieting for his first show, actually got a bit stronger as he was completely oblivious to the notion that you’re SUPPOSED to lose strength when cutting up.
He just trained at the same high intensity with the same heavy weights that he used when bulking.
Ronnie is the posterboy for this, with his amazing video of deadlifting 800 coming right up to the show
[quote]michaellongo14 wrote:
i’ve recently started cutting - 1800 calories a day and to be frank, i feel like absolute shit. My nutrition is sound so im assumming its either because A)i’ve been having some shitty sleep or B)what im doing in the gym. The sleep thing normally doesnt effect me so im pretty sure its how im lifting. While on a cut, how are you guys lifting? Heavy on everything like not much different than when trying to gain? Or only heavy on the core lifts? Anything would be apprecciated…[/quote]
You probably feel like shit because you are only eating 1800cals a day yet your profile states you are 190lbs.
I recall that even though I was cutting I always heard from a big guy that during cutting I might even want to add weight to the bar to put my body under such a pressure what eventually triggers it to keep on the invaluable muscle. Thus I decided to get a bit better every time, nonetheless I ate very little, but I emphasized the peri-workout period for ingesting carbs.
Just keep up your good mood, try to think positive, I think that’s the most crucial factor for maintaining strength. ^^
You probably feel like shit because you are only eating 1800cals a day yet your profile states you are 190lbs.[/quote]
Yeah you’re probably right. The only thing is i felt like shit the first week but now, im still eating the same calories(with the same ratios) and i feel like i did before i started cutting. would you still reccomend me bumping up the calories even if i feel fine?
You probably feel like shit because you are only eating 1800cals a day yet your profile states you are 190lbs.
Yeah you’re probably right. The only thing is i felt like shit the first week but now, im still eating the same calories(with the same ratios) and i feel like i did before i started cutting. would you still reccomend me bumping up the calories even if i feel fine?[/quote]
You likely feel fine now because your body dropped enough muscle to compensate for the lack of food you were giving it.
That means your metabolism has slowed down…and no offense, but if your body is now truly adjusted to only 1800cals a day, you will gain fat faster than ever if you go back to how you were eating before.
That is WHY you don’t starve yourself to diet down. Dieting for bodybuilding is not the same as the dieting housewives do.
I agree with px that you shouldn’t jump to very low calories right away. However, I doubt you dropped so much muscle that your metabolism would slow down that much. It may have slowed down but your body can do that without losing muscle. Also if you have gone from higher carbs to lower carbs that often takes a week or 2 to get used to where people feel like shit at first and then their body adapts to using more fat as fuel and they feel great/better.
thank you… both of you. i did cut alot of carbs but ill still bump the calories up. if i weigh 190 - 195, 5’11", probably 15% body fat, how man cal’s would you reccomend? ill admit, this being the first time im trying to cut systematically, im lost in the “calorie” department
i went to a nutritionist and he told me my resting metabolic rate was about 2200. the only problem is idk how many calories im burning through the day/week while training and other activity. i used the harris-benedict formula and came up with just under 3000 calories. im naturally fat also, i was 270 lbs 2 years ago, so im feel like i should go a little under that. how’s that for a place to start?
FWIW, everytime I dieted and this happened to me, I just immediately raised my intake (usually to the calculated/estimated BMR level) adding calories/carbs mostly in the 2 hours after lifting while forcing myself to “add weight to the bar”, and I was able to regain a good amount of strength (in all lifts) AND resume losing weight (and then drop intake from that new level to keep losing weight).
[quote]Professor X wrote:
That means your metabolism has slowed down…and no offense, but if your body is now truly adjusted to only 1800cals a day, you will gain fat faster than ever if you go back to how you were eating before.
[/quote]
[quote]MODOK wrote:
Nothing really changes if you are doing it right. Like the sex machine said, if you are losing strength, you aren’t recovering (eating enough). When you get down to close to contest shape ( 5%) you might lose a little strength just because you are so exhausted.
When you get down there, its hard to sleep, think, stand up without getting dizzy, or at least it is for me. But thats the last few days of a CONTEST prep. Cutting to 7 or 8% you should be strong and feel good. If you aren’t, you are doing something wrong.[/quote]
You mentioned your naturally “fat”, I’m the same way. Out of curiosity how did you cut to get so lean regarding diet breakdown, amount/type of cardio, and workouts?
[quote]MODOK wrote:
michaellongo14 wrote:
i went to a nutritionist and he told me my resting metabolic rate was about 2200. the only problem is idk how many calories im burning through the day/week while training and other activity. i used the harris-benedict formula and came up with just under 3000 calories. im naturally fat also, i was 270 lbs 2 years ago, so im feel like i should go a little under that. how’s that for a place to start?
I’d start at 3000. Its probably going to be wrong, as it would be a miracle if you could guess it on the first try, but no worries, you will find it through experimentation. Don’t be surprised if it ends up eventually being much higher than you thought it would be. You can eat a LOT of good foods without gaining weight in relation to junk.[/quote]
michaellongo just so you know you will likely gain weight when jumping to 3000 just from the sudden higher calories. Don’t freak out, you should get used to that relatively quickly as well and then can start cutting for a higher calorie point.
michaellongo just so you know you will likely gain weight when jumping to 3000 just from the sudden higher calories. Don’t freak out, you should get used to that relatively quickly as well and then can start cutting for a higher calorie point.[/quote]
So do you think i should jump right to 3000 or should i work my way up gradually, say over the course of a week?
michaellongo just so you know you will likely gain weight when jumping to 3000 just from the sudden higher calories. Don’t freak out, you should get used to that relatively quickly as well and then can start cutting for a higher calorie point.
So do you think i should jump right to 3000 or should i work my way up gradually, say over the course of a week?
[/quote]
In the grand scheme of things it isn’t going to matter. Just do the damn thing.
michaellongo just so you know you will likely gain weight when jumping to 3000 just from the sudden higher calories. Don’t freak out, you should get used to that relatively quickly as well and then can start cutting for a higher calorie point.
So do you think i should jump right to 3000 or should i work my way up gradually, say over the course of a week?
In the grand scheme of things it isn’t going to matter. Just do the damn thing.[/quote]
i already have gone to 3000. i simply wanted an opinion
anyways, my bench went down - as expected b/c the low calories. i’ve been doing 5x5’s for my core lifts… think it’d be wise to lower the reps per set to 8x3?
I’ve been cutting pretty hard for a few weeks now and I’m still hitting new PRs. As long as I carb cycle every 4-5 days and eat every few hours, I feel fine. The HOT-ROX really helps too.