Can I realistically cut 1.5 lbs a week and retain my strength/lifts?

dickpelkie

Hey all,



I am a 5'8" male, 187 lbs. When I first started last october I was 230 lbs and lost 60 lbs through bodyweight exercises and cardio. In the past 5 months I've bulked from 170 to 187, and in the past 3 months I started getting serious about barbell lifts and HIIT training.


My 1RMs are:
OHP: 135
Squat: 245
Deadlifts: 310
Bench: 185


My goal is to get down to about 170/165 while retaining my strength. Is this realistic at a loss of 1.5 lbs a week? My lifting schedule is:
Monday:squat, OHP
Tuesday: deadlifts
Wednesday:squat
Thursday: deadlifts
Friday:squat, bench


And I do HIIT after lifting. On weekends I will hike or some other LISS exercise. If I hit my macros do yo think I can retain my gains? Could I even improve since I'm still pretty new at lifting? What're your experiences?

DavPul

Depends on how long this deficit and cutting weight is going to last

nossmf

So long as you keep your protein way up, you could get away with it. I increased my strength while losing .5-1 #/wk.

piperdown44

Mine went down after a while but now it's going back up some. 3 months into a cal deficit. I attribute it to better neuromuscular adaptation.

Giolis

It's possible but at such a fast weight loss you could loose a good portion of muscle too. You should notice pretty fast since any muscle loss will affect your lifts. You can slow down the weight loss if your lifts are going down too fast. Everyone is different so you have to pay attention to your body and might have to change up your routine - less reps and sets to keep the weight heavy. The reduced calories could affect how much energy you have and your recovery time so you kind of have to figure out if it's an energy issue a muscle loss issue or a combination.

Play around with the rate of loss. The good part is that nothing is permanent.

DopeItUp

Easily. At this stage of the game for you, you could even get a little stronger while cutting.

You may want to look at your lifting program though. Squatting 3x a week and deadlifting 2x a week is going to kill you (unless some of those days are light work or speed work or something)

Sued0nim

Why so fast?

Also why only one lift per session? Have you thought about following a programme like stronglifts or starting strength

KittensMaster

Till you get close
To ideal weight

I have had to take a 2 week split to fat loss or muscle build since I am single digit pounds of fat to lose

It is easier to focus on a slight overage of calories and work hard

Then two weeks at 1 lb loss level of calories with a good bit of instense level cardio to burn some calories

_Terrapin_

So you dropped 60 pounds from October to March and then gained 17 pounds from March to August. And your question is about strength correct?

ryanflebbe

What is your set and rep scheme for each day? Are the big lifts all you do each day? You may lose a little muscle, but you can probably maintain strength. There's only one way to know.

ovidnine

rabbitjb wrote: »

Why so fast?

Also why only one lift per session? Have you thought about following a programme like stronglifts or starting strength

These questions.

You can probably do it, but if you aimed for say .5lbs a week you definitely could and probably continue to get stronger.

I'm really confused by the one lift a day thing and would also highly suggest a program like stronglifts, or The Journey (by Greg Nuckols of strengtheory).

ninerbuff

Dependent from person to person. In most cases I'm seen, a little strength loss accompanies weight loss for people who bulked then cut.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

foursirius

With being new to lifting I'd anticipate you'll still gain some strength even at a deficit.

dickpelkie

ovidnine wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

Why so fast?

Also why only one lift per session? Have you thought about following a programme like stronglifts or starting strength

These questions.

You can probably do it, but if you aimed for say .5lbs a week you definitely could and probably continue to get stronger.

I'm really confused by the one lift a day thing and would also highly suggest a program like stronglifts, or The Journey (by Greg Nuckols of strengtheory).

Thanks for the reply everyone.



To answer questions:


My lifts are either 3 or 4 sets x5reps or I'll work up to my 1rm. It depends on how I feel. I understand this may be suboptimal.



After my lifts I do conditioning work. This is usually a crossfit WOD.


Are you saying that trying to cut 1.5 lbs is too fast? I'll look it it. I did feel low energy after reducing my calories by about 500/day from my normal amount.


To simplify, I lost 60 lbs from Oct '14 to April '15. (230 to 170) I kind of stalled in may and started taking lifting seriously in mid June. I had never done barbell work before June 16th or so. I was about 175 when I started. I probably bulked too fast but I was feeling great and making a lot of progress in a short amount of time. (I had decent conditioning from doing tons of cardio and bodyweight circuit training when I was focused on weight loss)


My goal weight is about 165/170, while still being able to hit these lifts. I feel fine squatting 3x a week. On the days I don't feel great I will do dynamic effort. Could the program be improved?

ovidnine

Ahh, ok, so you're doing crossfit stuff too. I don't really know anything about it at all so I can't really comment one way or another.

As others have said, you won't really know if its too much until you give it a shot.

If you do lose some muscle, you'll be at your weight goal faster and can focus on building strength again.

Alternatively, if you go slower, it'll take longer to get there, but you probably won't lose any strength.

For myself I take the slower route because I discovered if try and lose to fast I get miserable, then I binge eat and ruin it anyway. lol That's me though, you probably have actual discipline.

Good luck on your cut and I'm sure you'll do great whatever route you take.

jessef593

Why are you in such a hurry? Dropping that much a week would require a deficit of 750cals a day or so. If you're that low it's a good chance you'll lose muscle mass aswell, why not take your time, burn .5-1lb a week and take your time while retaining strength and as much LBM as possible. And don't go by your weight, go by what you see in the mirror. Scales just show weight loss/gains, mirrors show fat/muscle gains and losses.