Thanks QQ, consider the ghee gone!
Better benefit in eating less (@T3hPwnisher can explain it better than me though!), then see how things track, then add in some more LISS/SSC during the week. That’s worked for me well in the past.
I personally have not, at least when my goal was losing fat. I have had time periods where I couldn’t keep my weight up because expenditure was so high, but performance was generally the goal then.
In the practical real-world, I’ve had to focus on the diet and then use the cardio for the little extra, rather than the other way around.
Constrained energy expenditure
"Here we tested a Constrained total energy expenditure model, in which total energy expenditure increases with physical activity at low activity levels but plateaus at higher activity levels as the body adapts to maintain total energy expenditure within a narrow range. We compared total energy expenditure, measured using doubly labeled water, against physical activity, measured using accelerometry, for a large (n = 332) sample of adults living in five populations. After adjusting for body size and composition, total energy expenditure was positively correlated with physical activity, but the relationship was markedly stronger over the lower range of physical activity. For subjects in the upper range of physical activity, total energy expenditure plateaued, supporting a Constrained total energy expenditure model.
Models of energy balance employed in public health should be revised to better reflect the constrained nature of total energy expenditure and the complex effects of physical activity on metabolic physiology.”
Eating less is best.
I used a couple caffeine pills and did fasted incline walks on a treadmill first thing in the morning. I also was at a deficit and haven’t tried it at maintenance, but I think there’s something substantive to it above and beyond just the deficit.
I’m probably something of a chronic undereater, at least when it comes to supporting training. I cut out all LISS a month ago, cut way back on steps, kept lifting, and adjusted calories upward until I started to gain weight.
Now that I have established maintenance, I wonder if I’d just be spinning my wheels in terms of fat loss by adding steps, LISS, etc. BEFORE cutting cals.
The idea of creating a deficit through expenditure wouldn’t have registered with me except that I’ve recently heard Thibs, Gareth Sapstead, and Ryan Humiston talk about it. Then I sank into the YouTube black hole that led me to the idea of G-FLUX. And now I’m back here.
Thanks for the link. If I understand this, researchers compared activity levels and energy expenditure across several populations. In terms of energy expenditure, they found a point of diminishing returns with increased activity.
Honest question: Would you expect the same results if the researchers controlled calories and used increased activity as a short-term intervention?
There have been two instances for me, both times when I’ve run deepwater beginners and intermediate. I unintentionally got significantly leaner, more or less maintained my bodyweight and got a hell of a lot stronger. I had essentially cut out all carbs and ate whatever* and whenever I wanted. The rebound out of that program is where the magic happens though, in my opinion.
*I did stay as close to the list of food Jon Andersen writes in the book, and tried to buy as organic/natural as possible for what it’s worth.
Where do you fall regarding fruit?
So veggies between meals…yesterday I brought a red pepper to work to munch on if I needed it. I ate it - probably could have skipped it as I usually don’t snack between breakfast and lunch. Anyway, my lunch was a salad with deli ham in it, which is a diversion from my no-processed-food intent, but I have to survive, so there it is. But I digress again. Lunch was a salad, and I had to literally choke it down at the end, which has never happened before unless I’ve been eating it day in, day out and I hit a wall, as happens occasionally with prepped foods. But this week I prepped beef veggie soup and had been eating that. I feel like the pepper slammed me into the ate-too-much-of-it wall.
This morning I came down another pound, which puts me a pound over where I was two weeks ago before having a single 2300 kcal day and gaining 3lbs, and 3.8lbs below my T-ransformation starting weight. WTF. One bad day.
Oh. I just did the math. I’m still averaging almost 1400 calories/day, so maybe 1lb/wk is fair. But it’s not what I’m looking for. I’d like to lose 4lbs/wk and don’t see why I shouldn’t. I’m out of town for a 10th birthday party on Sunday (pizza ice cream cake chips). I pulled out of pizza with my work people for tonight because we’ll be going to a hockey game and for drinks after and I’m weak, weak, weak so thought I’d limit temptation.
My life is hard. Workouts are going well, though!
OMG, it just occurred to me…maybe I was full. ~blink~
Funny enough, I’m a big fan of what John Beradi has written about with g-flux
I think creating a calorie deficit with activity and filling it back in with nutrition is a great way to get the most out of a fat loss phase, but I also agree with you in that a “cardio cut” goes poorly in general. I tend to get “stringy” if I attempt that. I like my activity to be low intensity when fat loss is the goal: walking primarily.
I find it useful for getting leaner at a static weight or even growing while not putting on extra fat, I don’t find it useful for losing weight.
I’ve reduced cardio for this transformation effort to reduce hunger and also to give me something to add in later.
Unrelated to that, I’ve been doing a lot of kettlebell swings and am feeling them nicely. I may be working toward the 10k challenge. I may also finally join a gym, move some of my workouts to evening so I won’t be so rushed.
Eating aside, I’m feeling very good.
On the note of the KB swings and things Dan John related, a fantastic strategy would be to open up a workout with those swings and continue it with a walk immediately afterwards. Not a run: just a walk, at a brisk pace. This is a part of Dan John’s “Easy Strength for Fat Loss”, and may answer the mail of keeping hunger at bay but still provide some additional fat burning.
Same. Even with other tweaks this is a great backbone to tack any other approach on to.
So, fruit is tricky - it’s super easy to overdo it. For those trying to lose weight, I have them count it as a carb and limit it to two 1/2-3/4 cup servings per day. Veggies are lower in calories and more people can’t eat enough to do any real damage - fruit is whole other animal!
NO!! That’s much too aggressive! If you lose weight that fast - you’re going to lose muscle. A healthy rate is 0.5-1.5 pounds per week - AVERAGE. So, some weeks you may lose more and others you may lose nothing because your body is adjusting to the loss from the prior weeks. Slow and steady!!! You want to do this the right way!
This mirrors my experiences. When I used to run and run, and then run some more, I was certainly fit and maintained a lower body weight, but I wasn’t nearly as lean and muscular as I am now. Short, hard conditioning paired with walks or leisurely NEPA is far more effective in achieving body composition goals. Plus, I just feel better and more recovered day-to-day.
Swings are awesome. Even without doing something like the 10k challenge, regularly integrating them into training, like doing 100 swings to end a session or using them as part of a circuit, is great. Pick up Pavel’s Simple and Sinister for a great approach and mindset to KB training.
I read through a bunch of bodybuilding competition prep threads in here once upon a time, and this seemed to be the only consistent rule that everyone followed.
In the beginning people might have started a bit more aggressively, but it always ended up there.
Yup! The sad truth is, none of us got fat quickly. It was a slow, gradual, consistent progress. Well, my experience has been “quickly gained, quickly lost, and vice versa”. The solution for losing fat is to SLOW DOWN. When we try to blitz it off with stupid high intensity short bursts, we just burn up all the sugar and protein in our body while the body screams “WTF is going on: is there a war?! We better keep ALL of this fat on our body: that’s going to be precious soon!” When we go out for some leisurely walks and keep the heart rate low, the body relaxes and is willing to part with that fat.
I’m sorry, I assumed everyone would know, I was joking! I should have used a more outrageous number. (Though 4/wk IS crazy for a female my age who whines over every sacrifice, lol.)
Again, I’m sorry to worry you. I really, really would like a safe 2/wk, but I doubt even that is possible given my lifestyle.