hey y'all, I have a question about calorie deficits for weight loss. According to the internet (which is always right), starvation mode is a myth. Apparently there is no point at which a calorie deficit becomes counter productive. I have to disagree. If a person doesn't eat enough, they wont have the energy to work out to their full ability.
So I guess what I'm wondering is how big of a calorie deficit should I aim for to lose some extra body fat while working out? Right now TDEE is about 2600. calorie intake is about 1800. I've been feeling pretty gassed in the last week or so. I plan to up carbs, because I know macros are a little unbalanced. I should be at 2000 calories a day after adjustments.
Is a 600 calorie deficit too high? Do I need to add more food? I'm just looking to cut 5-7lbs to lean out and keep muscle. I'm 5'10" and currently at 172lbs. I'd like to get to 165, but I'm not so worried about the scale as feeling and looking leaner. Any thoughts?
Leaning out/Calorie Deficit
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
-
OfficeGirl
- STARTING OUT
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 11:04 am
- Location: Colorado, USA
Re: Leaning out/Calorie Deficit
Don't worry too much about this, as it is true that you need to cut 500 calories a day, to lose 1lb of fat a week, though muscle building can have a positive metabolic effect.
You also don't need to go bazurk on the cardio or training and do stuff like 3 hour workouts every day, but one way people can reduce fat, is to cut around 10g carbs from every meal and replace the calories with fat.
You maintain calories, but create an energy deficit from carbs that fat is supposed to supply, as fat is a secondary energy source.
However you are thinking of increasing carbs, so that might be out as an option, unless you just increased your calories a bit mostly with fat, say by 200-400 a day and see how that goes.
You would have four possible options here.
1. You increase calories in each meal slightly.
2. Increase calories in alternate meals.
3. Have the calories in the first 3 meals of the day when your metabolism is most peaked.
4. Have some of the calories for breakfast and the rest in the meals before and directly after your workouts, so that's 3 meals where you increase calories
In all cases meals increased would have an equal increase in calories.
To me starvation mode is not a myth and I've seen people on here and elsewhere, claiming they eat healthily and don't lose or stop losing weight, or even put weight back on and every time, I expect to see people describing a daily meal plan that has around 1,200 or less calories, so when I read it, it pretty much always is the case, because healthy food still needs to be consumed in adequate amounts.
You also don't need to go bazurk on the cardio or training and do stuff like 3 hour workouts every day, but one way people can reduce fat, is to cut around 10g carbs from every meal and replace the calories with fat.
You maintain calories, but create an energy deficit from carbs that fat is supposed to supply, as fat is a secondary energy source.
However you are thinking of increasing carbs, so that might be out as an option, unless you just increased your calories a bit mostly with fat, say by 200-400 a day and see how that goes.
You would have four possible options here.
1. You increase calories in each meal slightly.
2. Increase calories in alternate meals.
3. Have the calories in the first 3 meals of the day when your metabolism is most peaked.
4. Have some of the calories for breakfast and the rest in the meals before and directly after your workouts, so that's 3 meals where you increase calories
In all cases meals increased would have an equal increase in calories.
To me starvation mode is not a myth and I've seen people on here and elsewhere, claiming they eat healthily and don't lose or stop losing weight, or even put weight back on and every time, I expect to see people describing a daily meal plan that has around 1,200 or less calories, so when I read it, it pretty much always is the case, because healthy food still needs to be consumed in adequate amounts.