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Eating under maintainence question

Jungnaut

Jungnaut

YOLO Kunce
If you are eating and training to lose fat but maintain muscle is there a certain % of calories under maintenance that you should eat?

Say my maintainence is 3000, if I now go under by 200 cal would I lose my gainz or will I still be able to make progress and lose fat so I can pop out some ripper abs?? :confused:
 
When I am dieting my cals will drop to 1200-1500 - and even on some days around the 1000 below mark - with this I still maintain lean bodymass - everyone is different and their bodies react differently to calorie intake, the sort of training they are doing etc etc....

I would suggest if you maintenance is 3000 - as you said drop it 200 and work your way down or add more cardio as the weeks go on - depends on how you want to burn/make up those extra calories - some people say cardio will burn more muscle - I don't really agree with that unless your doing major long distance stuff - so adding in 30-40 mins of brisk walking per day will make a big difference and from my experience get you in better condition than if you were to just drop cals and do no cardio....
 
I cycle my calories.

if my BMR is 3500, I will consume 2000-2500 one week, with cardio and weights on top, then I will up it a little the next week, or have a big re feed day.
 
I am not an avid believer in the -500 per day, I reckon it can go lower. Most people at the 500 are also doing some physical activity on top of that but as stated by most, everyone is different
 
OP, unless you do something drastic, no you won't get bigger while cutting calories.

you may "look better", but physically, unless your on "supps" you can't really grow and cut and get strong... unless you're getting newbie gains. If you been constantly lifting along time, no.

if you took a break, and got fat, and have that muscle memory, hells yeah you can cut and grow.
but thats totally different, you already layed that foundation down with lots and lots of hard work.
 
I just reckon that over the past 12 months with hardly any cardio my conditioning is off and I can do with more muscle definition. So I should drop some bf% but still want to make (reasonable) strength gains. Might be a bit too much to ask, but I have went down to -800 for a couple of days before + took Garcinia Cambogia + done high intensity cardio, and felt like absolute shit so that's why it never took off in my training regimen lol.

Maybe I should try just one thing at a time and add more on top each week? eg drop cals 200-400 next week, add cardio the week after, supplements the next, etc etc??
 
never done cardio really. dig deep in diet, rest and some serious weight lifting.

by serious i mean take it serious. put effort in it, don't play around and talk to friends, take it serious like a job!
 
I did exactly this mid last year. Check my training diary to see what I did step by step.

Basically I dropped my calories by 10%; all from carbs. This meant my protein macro went up. Then after 4-6 weeks repeat by reducing by another 10%, first from carbs, then fats if carbs are nearly all gone.

Also increase your BCAAs to keep your body anabolic during rest.
 
Yes, good point about the BCAA's, I forgot about factoring that in if I am gonna be reducing carbs.
 
Honestly BCAA are maybe going to add 1% to your diet/training and plenty of cash out of your wallet - if your diet has enough protein you don't need a BCAA product.....

People who haven't dieted before I strongly suggest keeping it simple - start at X Calories, work your way day, have a "re-feed" every 7-10 days, add some cardio in, try and keep weights as heavy as possible for as long as possible....
 
I have always used BCAA, but for different reasons.

A decent mix that tastes good is low calorie, and keeps me satisfied between meals and reduces cravings.

they apparently help with insulin sensitivity (I can't confirm this) and mentally allows me to lower the calories down a bit further knowing I have a bit more leucine circulating.

If if you have the ability to eat lowered calories on the right macros without any struggle, then they won't really be a huge benefit.

my head gets in the way when I diet.....
 
Rugby88 said:
When I am dieting my cals will drop to 1200-1500 - and even on some days around the 1000 below mark - with this I still maintain lean bodymass - everyone is different and their bodies react differently to calorie intake, the sort of training they are doing etc etc....

I would suggest if you maintenance is 3000 - as you said drop it 200 and work your way down or add more cardio as the weeks go on - depends on how you want to burn/make up those extra calories - some people say cardio will burn more muscle - I don't really agree with that unless your doing major long distance stuff - so adding in 30-40 mins of brisk walking per day will make a big difference and from my experience get you in better condition than if you were to just drop cals and do no cardio....
Click to expand...

I could never cut weight until i actually listened to my body and dropped down to 1800 cals, Thats will alot of training so probably net around 1300 to 1500 and it works fine, Still lifting and no issues
 
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