Thoughts on calorie intake - cutting

[KCMakaveli]

Hello everybody,

Stats:
Male
Age 34
Weight 185lbs
BF 11-12%
Traning experience is on and off for 10 years (in and out of shape)

Currently doing 100mg test eod and 50mg anavar ed. (I have only 2 cycles experience 8-9 years ago)

Training program : lower - upper - rest - lower - upper - cardio - rest. Repeat.

Im doing 2450 calories ed - 40/40/20

But im stalling on fatloss and im not really getting the results i was expecting. My thoughts is that im actually running too low calories? Im feeling smashed and worn out after 2 training days in a row and the 1 rest day before hitting the gym again dosent always feel enough.
Im not talking about muscle soreness, but just worn the fuck out in my entire system.
My bloods are good. High t and good e2, high t3 and t4.

If anyone in here is near my stats, what is your cutting calories on cycle?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Bump back up to maintenance calories for about a week and then start reducing again. That usually helps for me.

Also, personally I like doing calorie cycling on a cut, so like in your example weekly calories would equal out to 2450, but on lifting days they'd be slightly higher and on cardio only or rest days slightly lower. Keeps my gym performance up a little bit.

 

[KCMakaveli]

Bump back up to maintenance calories for about a week and then start reducing again. That usually helps for me.

Also, personally I like doing calorie cycling on a cut, so like in your example weekly calories would equal out to 2450, but on lifting days they'd be slightly higher and on cardio only or rest days slightly lower. Keeps my gym performance up a little bit.

Thanks, i been considering calorie cycling, im just not really sure about my maintance. Tdee calculators tell me its betweem 2600 and 3300 ed, and its very hard to find by using my weight, as i tend to hold water very easy, and my weight can bounce up and down i water difference every day.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Thanks, i been considering calorie cycling, im just not really sure about my maintance. Tdee calculators tell me its betweem 2600 and 3300 ed, and its very hard to find by using my weight, as i tend to hold water very easy, and my weight can bounce up and down i water difference every day.

I'd just consider those TDEE calculators a starting place. You need to track trends over longer periods time and figure out where you really are to have a more accurate number than those can give you.

 

[KCMakaveli]

Ill try bumping up to 3k calories a day for a week and just gotta live with the water and bloat. So im gonna see what happends. If i find out i can cut on 3k calories im gonna love it. I love high calorie protein/oat/fruit shakes

 

[S317]

How much weight have you lost and how long have you been dieting? Sounds like you’re not recovering from your workouts what’s the intensity and volume like?
If I hit the gym more than 3-4 days a week I can’t recover so some weeks I’ll do 3 and then others I’ll do 4.

 

[KCMakaveli]

How much weight have you lost and how long have you been dieting? Sounds like you’re not recovering from your workouts what’s the intensity and volume like?
If I hit the gym more than 3-4 days a week I can’t recover so some weeks I’ll do 3 and then others I’ll do 4.

Yes exactly, its like i dont recover, but im on the juice and also fairly fit. I should be able to do 4 workouts per week and recover. I think its my calories is low and making me stall.

I been on diet for 8 weeks and i actually gained weight, but as i started testosterone and anavar, the weight is no indicating so much, it could be muscles, water, fat ect.. But im looking in the mirror and it dont look like the fat loss has been present at all.

 

[Gbro]

The mirror is unreliable. Are you taking measurements? If your waist is getting smaller and your chest is getting bigger, that's data you can use.

 

[Ritchboy]

Thanks, i been considering calorie cycling, im just not really sure about my maintance. Tdee calculators tell me its betweem 2600 and 3300 ed, and its very hard to find by using my weight, as i tend to hold water very easy, and my weight can bounce up and down i water difference every day.

I'm guessing from my experience...get those 2450 calories multiply by 7(which is the whole week) and use the number what u get and divide them however u pls leaving protein always the same.just manipulate ur carbs and fats...making sure it totals out of what u were given for the 7 days...

Example: 2450*7/week= 17,150kcalories taken the whole week.

Now split those 17,150
Into the desired macros
Example
Monday
200 gm protein
150gm carbs
60 gm carbs.
Tuesday.
200gm protein
300gm carbs
70 gm protein

Wend
200gm protein
120gm carbs
50gm fat.
Etc.

Something like that just make sure all ur macros meet at the end of the week those 17,150kcals leave protein alone and well I also recommend fats alone as well if anything tweak a little bit.carbs manipulate for sure since ur carb cycling.this is good to manipulate because u can pretty much manipulate ur weight as well.beauty of carb cycling.

U can always budget out ur kcals for 6 days and well it's not really a refeed on the 7th day but higher carbs let's say u ate less carbs for 6 days cus u were making a budget to eat out on the 7th day which will be ur higher carb day.
Ex.200gm carbs
150gmcarbs
150 gm carbs
200 gm carbs
200gm carbs
150gm carbs
7day 700gm of carbs.
Toataling ur 17,150kcals/weekly still

Remember this just an example.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I'm guessing from my experience...get those 2450 calories multiply by 7(which is the whole week) and use the number what u get and divide them however u pls leaving protein always the same.just manipulate ur carbs and fats...making sure it totals out of what u were given for the 7 days...

Example: 2450*7/week= 17,150kcalories taken the whole week.

Now split those 17,150
Into the desired macros
Example
Monday
200 gm protein
150gm carbs
60 gm carbs.
Tuesday.
200gm protein
300gm carbs
70 gm protein

Wend
200gm protein
120gm carbs
50gm fat.
Etc.

Something like that just make sure all ur macros meet at the end of the week those 17,150kcals leave protein alone and well I also recommend fats alone as well if anything tweak a little bit.carbs manipulate for sure since ur carb cycling.this is good to manipulate because u can pretty much manipulate ur weight as well.beauty of carb cycling.

U can always budget out ur kcals for 6 days and well it's not really a refeed on the 7th day but higher carbs let's say u ate less carbs for 6 days cus u were making a budget to eat out on the 7th day which will be ur higher carb day.
Ex.200gm carbs
150gmcarbs
150 gm carbs
200 gm carbs
200gm carbs
150gm carbs
7day 700gm of carbs.
Toataling ur 17,150kcals/weekly still

Remember this just an example.

That's exactly what I do.

 

[Ritchboy]

That's exactly what I do.

It's more of a mental thing...making urself think that on one day ur going to eat way more but at then end of the week ur kcals will be the same.but it is useful alot as u can manipulate ur weight throughout the week as well.

 

[S317]

The thing is on 2450 youre not going to crash your metabolism and you’re not going to stall. You should lose weight if it’s low enough and with the gear should be mainly fat providing protein is sufficient. I’ve ran 1500 calories a day before to lose fat as fast as possible for a couple of months and I didn’t stall I just kept losing weight. Honestly I don’t think you need to bump calories up sounds like 2500 might be your maintenance. It’s not unheard of. I can drop calories to 2000 and I’m 5’9 190 and I’ll lose weight continually. I’m in the boat to where I think a lot guys overestimate the amount of calories they actually need.
I always like to use Holocaust survivors as an example. They were literally starved and you know what didn’t happen? Stalling of weight loss. They looked like skeletons. Show me third world countries where people just stop losing weight because they aren’t eating enough. I can gain weight on 3000+ calories a day. I can maintain on around 2500. So I’m going to go on the opposite end of the spectrum and say drop your cake to 2000-2300. It doesn’t sound like you need 3000.
I would never think hey I’m not losing weight on a cut so I need to up my calories.
One thing I do like to implement is a massive shit day every 7-10 days. If I get depleted enough I’ll move to around day 5 and doing this I’ve never stalled.

 

[Ritchboy]

The thing is on 2450 youre not going to crash your metabolism and you’re not going to stall. You should lose weight if it’s low enough and with the gear should be mainly fat providing protein is sufficient. I’ve ran 1500 calories a day before to lose fat as fast as possible for a couple of months and I didn’t stall I just kept losing weight. Honestly I don’t think you need to bump calories up sounds like 2500 might be your maintenance. It’s not unheard of. I can drop calories to 2000 and I’m 5’9 190 and I’ll lose weight continually. I’m in the boat to where I think a lot guys overestimate the amount of calories they actually need.
I always like to use Holocaust survivors as an example. They were literally starved and you know what didn’t happen? Stalling of weight loss. They looked like skeletons. Show me third world countries where people just stop losing weight because they aren’t eating enough. I can gain weight on 3000+ calories a day. I can maintain on around 2500. So I’m going to go on the opposite end of the spectrum and say drop your cake to 2000-2300. It doesn’t sound like you need 3000.
I would never think hey I’m not losing weight on a cut so I need to up my calories.
One thing I do like to implement is a massive shit day every 7-10 days. If I get depleted enough I’ll move to around day 5 and doing this I’ve never stalled.

I'm guessing they never stalled because they were active since the Germans had them working long hours.and lil to no food.my guess.

 

[S317]

I'm guessing they never stalled because they were active since the Germans had them working long hours.and lil to no food.my guess.

Right. So almost like they were burning more calories than they were eating

 

[Ritchboy]

Right. So almost like they were burning more calories than they were eating

He can either keep same calories for a week see if scale moves...or be more active creating a small deficit of his activity.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

It's more of a mental thing...making urself think that on one day ur going to eat way more but at then end of the week ur kcals will be the same.but it is useful alot as u can manipulate ur weight throughout the week as well.

Having those extra carbs on training days helps too. I was doing my carb up the day before my heavy deadlift day and that helped keep my numbers up on that as well.

 

[Ritchboy]

Yeah of course...im currently cutting on 2000kcals a day keeping consistent.no carb cycling.have not lost anything so far.been 2 days so not gonna stress about it... gonna wait till tmrws weight...if I don't drop anything again.ill mid carb cycle.meaning I'll have to cut my kcals at 1900-1950 doing 3 days 300 Cal's steady state cardio... shooting for 12 lbs to lose 1-1.5 lbs per week is good enough

 

[bbrsimon50]

In my case any calorie calculator I've used has greatly over estimated my caloric needs. I have a very sedentary job and in the winter my activity level outside the gym is pretty minimal.
I'm 6"1" and 207 right now. My maintenance calories are exactly 2400 per day. I know lots of guys might consider that too low, and wonder How do I know that? Because i track every bite of food I eat, and I've been eating that many calories for 6 months and I dropped from about 215 and have maintained the weight of right around 205. For me that's the only way to do it. Calorie calculators may give a vague ballpark for somebody just starting out, but much beyond that, my opinion is that they're not much good for anything, in my case anyways.

 

[TheAnabolicStore]

In my case any calorie calculator I've used has greatly over estimated my caloric needs. I have a very sedentary job and in the winter my activity level outside the gym is pretty minimal.
I'm 6"1" and 207 right now. My maintenance calories are exactly 2400 per day. I know lots of guys might consider that too low, and wonder How do I know that? Because i track every bite of food I eat, and I've been eating that many calories for 6 months and I dropped from about 215 and have maintained the weight of right around 205. For me that's the only way to do it. Calorie calculators may give a vague ballpark for somebody just starting out, but much beyond that, my opinion is that they're not much good for anything, in my case anyways.

This is the case for everyone. It is just a tool of many to be used for keeping track of your goal, you simply cannot just rely on them - most dont even take enough information from you anyway