How far to continue loosing

navdeeprana

How far should I continue to cut before trying to increase healthy calories and macros to gain lean muscles.

34 years , started at 230lb , came down to 205 lb and then had a setback with injuries and gained all the weight back.Finally working around injuries and almost down to 200lb  and at 1500 calories per day with weight training twice a week and intense cardio just 30 minutes 4 times a week.

Thanks in advance.

Stay Strong!

Nav

LiftHeavyThings27105

Good evening! Generally speaking, men *should* cut until they get down to 10%-12% body fat. Generally speaking, that is. How do you feel at the moment? What is your body fat percentage? Any idea there?

navdeeprana

Good evening to you too. Using few online calculators my guess is around 26% body fat, so probably I think is going to take me another year :(

LiftHeavyThings27105

Hey, all good. My thought process, were I in your shoes, would be to do this the right way. Slow and steady wins the race, right? It is going to take some dedication, persistence and consistency. I would strongly encourage you to find a canned program (resistance training) and follow that. Cardio is a tool....generally speaking......and not the answer. Nutrition is really going to be key. Get that right, above all.

Things for you to consider:
1. assuming no food allergies or medical conditions, fear no foods.
2. find your tdee (https://tdeecalculator.net) and create a plan based on that
3. since we are in MFP, use MFP in place of #2 (I don't use MFP for that...I use the on-line calculator I provided)
4. find a caloric deficit that works for you. MFP is apparently good at doing that for you (you set how aggressive you want to be in your weight loss....)
5. I would investigate potentially being a little bit aggressive at first?
6. Consider - long term - coming up with a plan that you know that you can sustain and one that it not too restrictive. If you hate what you are eating and you are pissed off all the time (aka, hangry) then the likelihood of you following this plan long term is pretty much 0%....why set yourself up for failure
7. consider making small goals...which naturally take you to bigger goals. In other words, build in some success so that you can see some progress and build some confidence.
8. Dont forget to check your TDEE (or, NEAT as MFP uses) after every 5 pounds or 10 pounds lost. You 'maintenance calories' will change as you loose weight....so that deficit at 230lbs might very likely no longer be a deficit at 200lbs.
9. Get to the gym and follow a resistance training program that affords progressive overload.
10. Know that this is going to be a challenge.....which will make it all the sweeter once you get there.
11. Not to put the cart before the horse, but as you approach your end goal, start working on a new plan. Too many folks follow their plan, reach their goal and then sit there "Now what?". And guess what happens? They end up gaining all that weight back and slipping back to old habits.
12. Don't be afraid to reward yourself. You gotta pay yourself every now and again.
13. Show up - every day!

Just a few things to consider.

navdeeprana

Thank you for the insight. Food is the key and everydy is a struggle for sure. With my knee and soine injuries past choosing the right workouts been the biggest challenge.

Truly appreciate the details

LiftHeavyThings27105

You are most welcome. I am sure that others will chime in.

I injured my knee my sophomore year in high school. Yes, the classic 'high school football injury' and stayed away from squats until I turned 49. Then I started. With good form and a patient program, I progressed well. Then I got stupid and starting doing too much (mostly deadlifts, but also squats) and hurt my lower back several times. But, that is besides the point.....which is, don't be afraid to do things that "everyone says that you should not do"!

What Jeff Cavelier at AthleanX (you tube). He is the reason why I started doing squats. Well, better stated, that I had the confidence to start doing squats. I tell you what.....my glutes and quads are pretty kick *kitten* (yes, pun very much intended).

But, baby steps, right? You will get it.

Tic78

Your calorie intake is really low for your weight. It leaves you no where to go and in your case it’s probably hindering your progress. Agree with everything above find your tdee.

In the past I cut at 1800 calories, it worked initially but didn’t get me the right results and at that point my weight was around 200lbs.

Now I’m at 175lbs and cutting at 2100. I read quite a few articles that were saying for a cut take your weight in lbs and multiple by 12. This has been working well for me, I’m eating more than I was, I’m heavier than I ended up on my last cut and I’m more defined than I was previously so I’ve lost more bodyfat.

So if your 220lbs then really most likely you will still lose weight at 2600 calories, you will feel better, your workouts and energy won’t suffer as much and the deficit will be a lot less severe.

The article was 12 x body weight for a cut calories for a man, for ladies it was 10x. If you had a heavy body type for a man and 12 x didn’t work for you then go with x10 even that will leave you eating far more calories that you currently do.

I understand you will be sceptical about losing weight while eating more but your tdee is going to be probably more than double what you currently eat. I was sceptical myself but it works, trust the numbers and use an app that tracks weight daily so you can see the progress.

Good luck

navdeeprana

Tic78 very intresting facts ..my thumb rule mostly was more the calorie deficit...more better chances of weight loss.

But with my current calories yeah I find it difficult to stock to it.

Much appreciated

navdeeprana

@LiftHeavyThings27105 Yeah baby steps for sure..

steveko89

As the other posters have said, you can certainly still be in a deficit at more than 1500 calories. @LiftHeavyThings27105 's advice to cut down to at least 10-12% is well founded. There's evidence that muscle growth is most optimal at <15% body fat for most individuals, hence the origin of the "cut to 10%, bulk to 15%" methodology.

There is definitely a fine line between trying to maximize loss rate and dietary compliance. I know I can get caught up in focusing on the destination rather than the journey, too. Good luck and Enjoy the process.

navdeeprana

@steveko89 thank you for the insight. Much appreciated.