Lifting Heavy will cutting

Temple_Fit

Ok, I still have some bf% to shed and I am trying to eat on a deficit but it is not working. My body wants MORE FOOD. My calories are set at 1700, however, I have been eating 2000 plus. Will increasing my cals throw me into the bulking phase?

Annaruthus

Depends on what you are doing with the calories. GENERALLY SPEAKING, burning more calories than you are consuming does not incline your body to "bulk". Excess calories promotes an internal environment in which muscle can grow.

EXTREMELY GENERAL STATEMENT!

Truly though, it depends on what your training plan looks like.

Chocol8teThunder

Thanks for responding to this Ruthie. Nadine is cutting right now. She is doing it the right way slow and controlled.

Nay, I would be interested in how you determined 1700 is a caloric deficit. Have you been dropping weight at 1700? If so, how much per week?

If you are in 1-2lbs weight lose pattern keep it up and choose less calorie dense food (air popped pop corn... weigh the seeds before popping, bags of salad, I do not count dark green vegetables in my macros.

Any more than 3+lbs is too low of deficit and we may need to add calories.

Keep posting I believe your questions will bless others as you make your journey to the stage.

Annaruthus

Blah, I apparently brain farted when I read her post before.

So anyway, what I really think about what you asked :-):

I'm cutting as well, and most people find that they do not have the same amount of energy while on a cut to lift as heavy as they do when they are bulking or maintaining. My calorie range is 1800-2200 calories per day, and I have been lifting heavier than I ever have before. I'm still losing inches and body fat, just a lot slower than if I lowered the number of calories.

It's also important to consider the default calories you will burn regardless of working out (aka BMR). Mine is ~1350, so I at least want to net that many calories, but also considering that I probably burn calories working, walking to and from my car, blinking, etc. So maybe another 200-300 calories. So that puts me ~1550-1600 calories not including working out. I workout twice per day, usually burning about 200 calories on average per workout, soooooo: ~1950-2000 calories are burned in a day :-)

Some days more, some days less. It is a personal experiment to see how much you can eat (and therefore have more energy), and still lose body fat.

Annaruthus

Another thought too, As I have gotten further into my cut, I have changed my macros, and when I eat certain foods, but not the amount of calories. Week 17 of my cut (counting down to comp): 30p/40c/30f, with the same calorie range, and I had brown rice or sweet potatoes with dinner. At week 12-13 I started having large salads topped with protein for dinner, therefore not getting any serious amount of carbs after my PM workout. This week, Week 10, I changed my macros to 40p/30c/30f, lowering the carbs a bit further, but still eating the same calories.

Also in Week 17, I lifted twice per day and I did not do any cardio. I gradually threw in the cardio to keep my progress going. So it went from 2 times per week, to 3 times per week, to 4 times per week, but none of the sessions have been longer than 20 minutes. As I get closer to competition time, I'll increase it to 30 minutes at the most.

So you see, there are a lot of options. Don't lose faith, it is just a real process finding out what works for you!

Ruthie