I think from what you’ve said its going to hinge a lot on getting enough carbs, especially for performance in the gym. You’re on the same calories as I am - but you still cycle a ton every day I believe so effectively you’re on much less - so I’d suggest along the lines of protein 190 grams/carbs 300 grams/fats 55 grams. I think that would probably do the trick.
Probably being aggressive about carbs peri-workout as well may help, so along the lines of getting 150 grams in that pre-during-post period on training days and making sure to hit that 310 gram total on rest days.
I’d also drop your TM down a little for the next cycle and maybe do planned jokers weekly instead of PR sets. I did that this cycle and it feels pretty good. So fives week you cap your 85% at five, then do five at 95%; threes week your 90% capped at three, and do another three at 100%; 531 week just do one at 95% and then one at 100%. That way you’re still getting that little extra but don’t have to do higher reps.
Thanks for the mention, I certainly dont consider myself an expert but it seems like maybe you are dug in a bit too deep too early?
You definitely dont want to just go into “not eating mode.” Not only is this a bit drastic, but it leaves you no where to go when that stops working, along with just flat out being unnecessary. The mantra should always be to eat as much as possible while still losing fat, not as little as possible.
I would find a way to track how much food you are eating and cut it back systematically. This can be done by calorie/macro counting or simply eating similar meals on a daily basis and then removing “something” … like going from 4 eggs to 3 eggs, or removing a slice of bread, or going from a full avocado to 1/2, or 1/2lb of beef to 1/3, etc…
When you consider you have 4-6 meals a day depending on your habits, and each meal has the oppotunity to be made smaller by 1-3 ways its easy to find ways to cut stuff out without really “counting” anything. This does require a bit of rigidity though, but
What do you mean have a hard time getting 2500 kcal per day? That’s not a lot of food at all. Losing more than a pound and a half per week is OK. I lost two pounds per week for several weeks for my show, but I am unsure if you just want to get lean or shredded? They are actually worlds apart. Most weight losses are fine if one maintains muscle and performs the same. But like I said, if you are headed to to shredded, your performance will suffer no matter what. I don’t mean you’ll be lifting so much less, but you certainly won’t be able to perform for the same number of reps as when lean or chubby.
Protein shouldn’t be lowered much, no matter what you do. So if you set protein at 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, there’s no need to change that amount except on a refeed/high carb day.
Regarding fat: again, this depends on what kind of macronutrient setup you want. If you want to do low carb at the end of a cut to get the last few pounds off, the rest of the non-protein calories have to come from somewhere, and that leaves you with only fat to work with.
Hitting you protein amount, hitting your caloric amount, following a macro setup, they’re all important. Actually, its not really a matter of hitting anything by the end of the day. I think the word hitting means the person is setting out to meet a macro amount by the end of the day which might be winged. If you’re going about it in the most rigid way possible, your diet for the week is all mapped out on paper for you to follow, which makes it something that is to be followed, not something that is aimed for by the day’s end.
Yep, I know. Somehow my appetite just shuts down and I get into mentally not being hungry. I’m trying to lose just fat and am worried that I am losing LBM because either my calories are too low and my protein isn’t high enough. I think you answered my question with this
and this.
I think planning rather than “hitting macros” is what I need in order to avoid getting into a “not eating” mindset.
Have you ever tried basically exercising yourself to the point of hunger? Like add in a conditioning workout or something. If I ever wanted to up my appetite, I’d just squat more/do more conditioning.
I’m actually cutting so the lack of hunger isn’t a bad thing. I just get into a bat shit crazy mind set where I feel like eating nothing is good, and I have to fight that.
But, I’ve learned that it’s okay to lose more than a pound a week, but it’s important to get protein and carbs…and to plan my food rather than just trying to hit macros as I go.
Better nutrition today thanks to the Christmas buffet at work. The PR comes with a caveat - I’ve done better, just not at that weight, just glad I got my five.
I was up a few pounds today, just water weight - I was a bit dehydrated last week.
100%. Adequate protein and carbs are essential, and remember that it’s always best to have a slow and steady approach. 1-2 pounds a week is totally fine, but remember gym performance should always be priority, which means fueling yourself adequately which can’t be done if you’re not eating. Definitely best to have a food plan rather than trying to make it happen as you go throughout the day, but just make sure that you’ll be able to get it consistently.
Lifted fasted at four this morning. Previous PR at 160 was 11 - I was probably bouncing that and lifting my ass, so I’m not getting as weak as it seems, but I am getting weak, at least fasted.
Rode twelve miles today - three to the gym in 34 degrees at 3:30 this morning, a little bat shit cray cray.
Off work for ten days for the holidays. DOMS today from DL’s, so off tomorrow, and on Christmas because the gym is closed, so will finish 5’s with squats on Monday. Pretty sure I’m going to reset the TM for 3’s.
No shit. It’s the fasting. You’re not getting weak, you’re just depleted. I guarantee if you ate a couple of pizzas and six donuts for dinner, had some oats and eggs for breakfast and took a cab to the gym you’d get 11 or more happily.
The riding isn’t helping either in terms of your energy reserves. Not that you should drop it, just remember it has a significant impact.
LEGS-SQ
5@45, 5@95, 5@135
5@165
5@190
7@215 RPE 9
3X10@135 BBB - cut short due to achy knee
LEG EXT 4X12, LEG CURLS, 4X12, CRUNCHES 4X25 SS WITH VACUUMS 4X4@10, HAMMER CURLS 50@20 (17,10, 8, 8, 7)
Longest week ever - took eleven days to finish, lol. Tweaked my knee a bit, just annoying more than anything. Had a good ski trip.
Carbed up before the workout today, I think it helped. Seven reps in my plus set is nothing to write home about, but it felt better than the last few weeks. Been off TRT for five plus weeks, think my HPTA may be starting up again. Going to stay off another few weeks and see what happens. I will probably go back on in March, depending on bloods.
BPA 5X30, LATERALS SS WITH TPD’S 4X10, FACE PULLS SS WITH SHRUGS 4X15&5X20.
Easy day, fifty five minutes. Not happy with the plus set. Considering changes in the TM for the next cycle. Cutting weight and increasing TM’s doesn’t work for me. Thinking about lowering the TM and going with true BBB, 5x10@50%, or FSL at 3x8.
Yeah, unless I significantly adjusted TM, which would undermine the work sets, right?
Only in my threes week so I have time to figure it out. My concern is the 3x8 of FSL isn’t enough volume for hypertrophy, which is obvs problematic in a deficit, so I just gotta clarify what my priorities are. Like I said, I have another two weeks to think about it.
Pretty much. Why not split the difference and do 5x5-8 FSL. I did that for something like five cycles. It usually works out that you do 5x7-8 in week one, 5x6-7 in week two and 5x5-6 in week three. It’s pretty decent volume and you can always tack on something like 50 total reps of single leg work after.
LEG EXTENSIONS, LEG CURLS 4X10, CRUNCHES SS WITH VACUUMS, 4X25, 16X10
Not thrilled with the plus set, again, but happy I was able to get all of the FSL reps - I usually do 4x10@50% so this was a bit of a stretch for me today and it was probably a RPE 7 - probably should have AMRAPed my final set.
About an hour, post shoveling snow, so not bad. Plus, worked out about 3:30 on maybe 500 calories, lol, no wonder I only got four on the plus, duh! The calories were mostly pre-workout carbs though, so, there is that.