grgid979's Journal, 04 May 2020

You must be swole if you're cutting at 2100 bro. 

What do you suggest? 

I just saw you're at 164, I'm at 172 from about 189 or so and I'm cutting at 1800-1900 calories. Even lifting with 20-40 minutes of cardio a day I still don't see a loss unless I'm under 1900. It's hard trying to keep the protein up at the same time to reduce the muscle loss. No idea what works for you, but 2100 is pretty much my maintenance right now.  

I was at 2600 and maintaining my weight at ~165. I am not ripped by any stretch of imagination, but cutting calories too much led to muscle loss last time around, so trying something different this time. It will be slower but I’m not in any hurry. 

Wow, you got some kind of metabolism then!! 

PS we're the same height and basically the same age. 

Well I don’t know. Honestly I always felt my metabolism was kind of slow. But then, grass is always greener on the other side I guess. I just know if I eat slightly more than usual, it shows quickly compared to some people I know. In any case it is a struggle. And frankly, I don’t know if this is going to work (500 calorie deficit). In theory it should, but we’ll see. I know last time I cut by 1,000 calories or more I lost a lot of weight but also a lot of muscle. I am trying to not starve myself (not working), but it’s better than what I was doing before. Btw, I lift weights twice a week, and cycle 30 km three times a week. I also box heavy bag once or twice a week for 20 min or so. 2 days of rest per week (doing nothing) I skip breakfast and don’t eat anything after 8 pm at latest. Most of my calories come from protein ~165 to 200 g per day. Honestly, it’s mostly protein shakes, as I could not eat that much meat even if I wanted to. Cheers, 

Just goes to show how different this is for everyone. I lift 4x a week, cycle every day if the weather is nice and if I eat more than 1900 a day I gain. I'm trying for 170g of protien a day, which is hard and I am constantly ravenous. Yesterday I took in just about 2500 calories and gained .2 lbs. Granted I did nothing physical yesterday or Sunday so I'm not surprised. Definitely bring over 40 is having an effect on me with how easy i gain weight now. I weighed 165 most of life, but I'm not wanting to get that skinny again. Problem is I'll probably need to cut that far to get lean enough to see abs, then go on a lean bulk to get up to 175 or so with muscle. I've definitely found that I get much weaker when I'm cutting, hard to lift. I do sleep much better though. 

Yes. Everybody is different. Thus why so challenging. My only regret is that I didn’t start doing this earlier. Now, no matter what I do, I will never have the body I want, given how overweight I was most of my life. 

Oh my I have to input some knowledge. First off your body only needs .5 grams of protein per pound. And with the same belief if you lack in protein for the day your body will use carbohydrates to suffice. Then after everything is “used” your body will then break down the easiest energy source which would be a minuscule percentage of muscle and fat but that’s only if you are exercising aggressively in a state of calorie restriction. Unless you efficiently eat the same food everyday and do the same thing everyday for at least a WEEK with every morning weigh ins , your own weight and data are false. Our bodies use glucose as energy in our muscles , so when those deplete from a workout , you will weigh less in the morning ... , so a weigh in once a week or 3 days etc will be false. That’s why you take the data from all 7 days of morning weigh ins and get the average ; that actually tells you whether you gained or lost weight assuming you were strict with a set calorie consumption throughout the entire week. End of the day it’s always going to be calories In calories out , that is the proven science. Just to conclude , if you find you gained or lost weight after the efficient week of finding your actual metabolism , then you make changes. Everyone’s body is different , but everyone’s body is the same when it comes to how to lose weight. Obviously if you are more muscular you have an easier time because you have a natural higher calorie burn all day aka metabolism vs someone who doesn’t have a lot of lean mass , but the individuals with high amounts of fat and no Muscle just have to go on a harder calorie restriction but I’d recommend gaining some muscle. Also I never understood this whole cutting and bulking because it’s proven to gain muscle in a calorie deficit. If you want some actual truth and some life changing advice from a masters degree in kinesiology #greg doucette on YouTube. Changed my life it can change yours. 

@ reepedge. All valid points and I agree with most of them. I think you stated the problem in your response. Issue is to find what your metabolism is, and the rest then follows logically. The other issue is food choices and accurate tracking, the latter being difficult at best of times as caloric values of foods are often understated. Also, what is different for all is their starting points and their goals. My specific goal is to be an average weight male (140-160 lbs) with average body fat % (14-19). Since I was way off this goal at starting point by some margin, a large caloric deficit (through diet and exercise) or “cutting” was the only way to reach the goal. Building muscle at same time was possible for people like me (though I somewhat failed at it), but the lower your bf % is, the more difficult the process to build muscle in a calorie deficit is as well. I don’t necessarily use the bulking process. For me it’s more a process of calorie deficit phase (to burn fat and maintain muscle), and maintenance phase (a calorie equilibrium to build muscle) as my bf % is still on the high side. As for protein requirements, there’s different theories on that & I personally am sticking to 1g per lb of body weight and maybe slightly over. 

Well to keep this sweet and simple a fair response. Your original mistake was thinking you needed a “fast” method to lose weight , when in reality the slower the better for weight loss. As well bodies are built in the kitchen not the gym , nutritional labels lie no shock there. So do some research and learn how to properly learn them all the resources are all there. Finally counting calories is cool and works but always put in account a 100-300 calorie range of being off. Not all slices of bread are the same , a potato with the same volume could be denser etc etc. Honestly you’re smart , and you can do anything , don’t rush anything 

To add, .5g of protien does nothing to gain muscle or maintain it for me either. .75 to 1g is my own minimum and grgid and I are the same age and height. Grg is cutting shallower than I am, but we're pretty similar otherwise. I'm not a fan of the cut and bulk either, but to honest we all started this in a bulk anyway and not by choice. I see no issue with doing a lean bulk afterwards for muscle gains which is what I'll be doing.