Calorie deficit - how much?

[CheckMyPecs]

After a muscle bulking cycle, I spend a few weeks in calorie deficit to burn any superfluous fat I may have acquired in the process. I usually aim for a calorie deficit of 200 kcal/day. I know it's very little, but I want to avoid burning muscle at all costs.

What calorie deficit do you aim for when cutting weight?

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

perhaps "Form & Fitness" is the appropriate section for such questions??

 

[kwikki]

You'll be fine on 500

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

perhaps "Form & Fitness" is the appropriate section for such questions??

I missed it.

 

[carolina]

the slower, the better. 200 kcal sounds good.

have you consider doing a recomp?

 

[kwikki]

200k a day. It'll take 18 days to lose a pound of flab.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

the slower, the better. 200 kcal sounds good.

have you consider doing a recomp?

From what I've heard and read, you can only pull off a recomp if you have fantastic genetics (I don't), when you're a newbie (I'm not) or using PEDs. So no.

 

[carolina]

you can pull it off, it's just harder, it will take more time. you also need to do the recomp at the right weight for your height.

either way, it's hard to suggest a deficit without knowing your current stats. maybe you can have a higher deficit, maybe not. some people suggest just eating less 10% of maintenance calories.

 

[ray j willings]

After a muscle bulking cycle, I spend a few weeks in calorie deficit to burn any superfluous fat I may have acquired in the process. I usually aim for a calorie deficit of 200 kcal/day. I know it's very little, but I want to avoid burning muscle at all costs.

What calorie deficit do you aim for when cutting weight?

How do you know you have put muscle on? If you have gained fat which from your post you seemed to have then the whole process has been a waste of time.
Getting fat , putting weight on does not make your muscles bigger,body builders used to try this in the off season to try and gain size but show weight was still the same, so no benefit at all except getting a bit fatter. You should try putting on pure muscle which is not easy unless you are jacked up or have very good genetics. Best way to build muscle [apart from steroids] is definitely intermittent fasting has it helps release Growth hormone
Once you go calorie deficit you burn muscle as well. Pointless.
I would go intermittent fasting for a few weeks . Don't eat your first meal till 2pm earliest and stop eating at 10pm the latest. Get you full intake of calories but eat well and not junk. If your doing endurance exercise the next day then make sure you get enough carbs in. If you eat plenty of veg you will get sufficient amount of protein. I have a protein drink every day. Its not easy building muscle natty style.

 

[carolina]

intermittent fasting has no benefit whatsoever. it's just an eating schedule.

you seem to be a bit confuse on how things work. it's impossible to gain only muscle, you will always gain a bit of fat while bulking, (considering you're not using PEDs of course).

what generaly happens is people tend to bulk on to many calories and there is a limit to the amount of muscle a person can build during a period of time. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/)

a good way of knowing if you're gainning muscle is your performance at the gym. just make sure you're progressive overloadind every time. if you're bulking and your lifts don't increase, then you're doing something wrong.

and you also don't need a protein drink every day, what you need is to consume around 0.8-1 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight. if you can achieve this with real food, there is no need for protein shakes.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

How do you know you have put muscle on? If you have gained fat which from your post you seemed to have then the whole process has been a waste of time.

I know I've put muscle on because, on those parts of my body where fat doesn't like to accumulate (and therefore, you can see the results directly), you can see the muscles have grown a lot.

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

intermittent fasting has no benefit whatsoever. it's just an eating schedule.

you seem to be a bit confuse on how things work. it's impossible to gain only muscle, you will always gain a bit of fat while bulking, (considering you're not using PEDs of course).

what generaly happens is people tend to bulk on to many calories and there is a limit to the amount of muscle a person can build during a period of time. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/)

a good way of knowing if you're gainning muscle is your performance at the gym. just make sure you're progressive overloadind every time. if you're bulking and your lifts don't increase, then you're doing something wrong.

and you also don't need a protein drink every day, what you need is to consume around 0.8-1 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight. if you can achieve this with real food, there is no need for protein shakes.

Have to disagree "first time we have disagreed" Intermittent fasting works really well in releasing , maximising growth hormone etc. There have been loads of studies done. Its a great way to go to build natural muscle.
Don't see it has a diet though ,you must eat.
I personally have a protein drink after a ride or lifting. I find it helps, especially after a ride.

 

[ray j willings]

How do you know you have put muscle on? If you have gained fat which from your post you seemed to have then the whole process has been a waste of time.

I know I've put muscle on because, on those parts of my body where fat doesn't like to accumulate (and therefore, you can see the results directly), you can see the muscles have grown a lot.

That's great.Just be careful then not to lose your gains. Make sure your pushing the same weight/same strength and back of the cals slowly or just up the cardi work.
Nice one.

 

[carolina]

Re: Re:

intermittent fasting has no benefit whatsoever. it's just an eating schedule.

you seem to be a bit confuse on how things work. it's impossible to gain only muscle, you will always gain a bit of fat while bulking, (considering you're not using PEDs of course).

what generaly happens is people tend to bulk on to many calories and there is a limit to the amount of muscle a person can build during a period of time. (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/)

a good way of knowing if you're gainning muscle is your performance at the gym. just make sure you're progressive overloadind every time. if you're bulking and your lifts don't increase, then you're doing something wrong.

and you also don't need a protein drink every day, what you need is to consume around 0.8-1 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight. if you can achieve this with real food, there is no need for protein shakes.

Have to disagree "first time we have disagreed" Intermittent fasting works really well in releasing , maximising growth hormone etc. There have been loads of studies done. Its a great way to go to build natural muscle.
Don't see it has a diet though ,you must eat.
I personally have a protein drink after a ride or lifting. I find it helps, especially after a ride.

suggesting intermittent fasting as a way of not gainning so much fat makes no sense whatsoever. if you're bulking on to many calories you will gain a bunch of fat, regardless of when your eating. to build muscle you just need a good trainning plan and to eat a bit more then your maintenance calories. eating these calories in a 4, 6 or 8 hour window is the same has eating them through your normal day.

people usually use intermittent fasting because they are not hungry when they wake up and like having bigger meals.

the advantages you're refering to are so small, that you can't even notice the impact. it's the type of thing that only matters to professional athletes and even them would have a hard time noticing any difference.

 

[ray j willings]

I'm not in any way trying to lose weight I never diet but this seems to have good benefits and I'm going to give it a go and see what happens .

Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting


Fasting is historically commonplace as it has been a part of spiritual practice for millennia. But modern science has confirmed there are many good reasons for fasting, including the following:
•Normalizing your insulin and leptin sensitivity, and boosting mitochondrial energy efficiency: One of the primary mechanisms that makes intermittent fasting so beneficial for health is related to its impact on your insulin sensitivity.

While sugar is a source of energy for your body, it also promotes insulin resistance when consumed in the amounts found in our modern processed junk food diets. Insulin resistance, in turn, is a primary driver of chronic disease—from heart disease to cancer.

Intermittent fasting helps reset your body to use fat as its primary fuel, and mounting evidence confirms that when your body becomes adapted to burning FAT instead of sugar as its primary fuel, you dramatically reduce your risk of chronic disease
•Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as "the hunger hormone"
•Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production: Research has shown fasting can raise HGH by as much as 1,300 percent in women, and 2,000 percent in men,2 which plays an important part in health, fitness, and slowing the aging process. HGH is also a fat-burning hormone, which helps explain why fasting is so effective for weight loss
•Lowering triglyceride levels and improving other biomarkers of disease
•Reducing oxidative stress: Fasting decreases the accumulation of oxidative radicals in the cell, and thereby prevents oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids associated with aging and disease

There's also plenty of research showing that fasting has a beneficial impact on longevity in animals. There are a number of mechanisms contributing to this effect. Normalizing insulin sensitivity is a major one, but fasting also inhibits the mTOR pathway, which plays an important part in driving the aging process.

Intermittent fasting is by far the most effective way I know of to shed unwanted fat and eliminate your sugar cravings. Since most of us are carrying excess fat we just can't seem to burn, this is a really important benefit. When sugar is not needed as a primary fuel, your body will also not crave it as much when your sugar stores run low.

As mentioned above, the other mechanisms that makes fasting so effective for weight loss is the fact that it provokes the secretion of HGH—a fat-burning hormone that has many well-recognized "anti-aging" health and fitness benefits.

Last but not least, intermittent fasting has also been identified as a potent ally for the prevention and perhaps even treatment of dementia. First, ketones are released as a byproduct of burning fat, and ketones (not glucose) are actually the preferred fuel for your brain.

In addition to that, intermittent fasting boosts production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons, and triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health. It also protects your brain cells from changes associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Research by Dr. Mark Mattson, a senior investigator for the National Institute on Aging, suggests that alternate-day fasting (restricting your meal on fasting days to about 600 calories), can boost BDNF by anywhere from 50 to 400 percent, depending on the brain region

 

[carolina]

again, intermittent fasting is just an eating schedule. what defines if you lose or gain weight/fat is the amount of calories you're eating. there is nothing magical about IF. if you think you're going to lose more fat just because you're on IF, you're wrong. what matters is the calories.

I do IF one or two times a week, in the days I don't train, because I'm not hungry in the morning and I prefer to have a bigger dinner.

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

again, intermittent fasting is just an eating schedule. what defines if you lose or gain weight/fat is the amount of calories you're eating. there is nothing magical about IF. if you think you're going to lose more fat just because you're on IF, you're wrong. what matters is the calories.

I do IF one or two times a week, in the days I don't train, because I'm not hungry in the morning and I prefer to have a bigger dinner.

I'm not trying to lose fat etc etc I'm more interested in the Growth Hormone effects etc.
I am interested to see if the effects are going to be significant. Most people use IF as a way to lose weight I'm more interested to see how the effects feel on on me both physically and mentally.
Its had some good results. I started yesterday and plan on a 3 month run.
To early obviously to tell any effects but I will let you know how it goes.

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

found this article in my daily morning Newspaper (online) read.......may be of interest to all you Protein Shake takers / drinkers: - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11625813

 

[carolina]

a really bad article. stopped reading after they this:

If you're missing the half-hour gap to replenish protein after exercising, then you may as well not be having it at all. It's a very key time for you to have the protein powder to make sure it's actually being used by your body.

protein timming is highly irrelevant: http://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5

most people don't understand what protein powders are for and the person who wrote that "article" is also clueless. so much broscience...

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

found this article in my daily morning Newspaper (online) read.......may be of interest to all you Protein Shake takers / drinkers: - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11625813

Every thing makes you fat and it gives you cancer gives you alzheimers and it errrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[lenric]

When cutting I usually don't pay too much attention to the calories. I simply focus on increasing my workout intensity (and volume also).
I'm a simple guy, I like to eat. As long as I'm decreasing my fat mass and keeping the weights I'm hitting on, it's all good.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

When cutting I usually don't pay too much attention to the calories. I simply focus on increasing my workout intensity (and volume also).
I'm a simple guy, I like to eat. As long as I'm decreasing my fat mass and keeping the weights I'm hitting on, it's all good.

In summer I have trouble increasing my muscle training intensity due to living in hot southern Portugal. The gym's got air conditioning, but I often train at home. That's why I turn to cardio to lose fat.

 

[CoachFergie]

Not concerned about muscle and using a Fitbit to estimate cals in cals out aimed for 500 a day and have lost 22kg so far (yes should not have that much to lose but long story). Using the Fitbit scales it would suggest I did lose about 10kg of muscle. Not concerned as can climb hills these days. First thing I do in terms of quality of diet is look at protein intake. Between 1.2-1.6gr per kg per day. Looking at the literature the suggestion when losing weight is to increase this to 2.2gr to maintain lean mass.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

I've managed to spare muscle so far, but only losing fat at an exasperatingly slow pace of 500 g a month. Slow and steady...

 

[CoachFergie]

Yeah, losing 22kg for me happened over winter last year and then when summer hit despite riding a lot more I lost no more weight. Now we are back into a southern hemisphere winter the weight is starting to come down again as my daily and weekly schedule is more constant. Slow and steady is the only way to go!