Workout suffer when cutting?

Sarahliquid

I've cut back from maintenance - 2000 cal. per day, to 1600 per day. It's been a week and today I could do noticeably less than the same routine last week. Is this to be expected?

kwedman488

Cutting by 400 calories is too much. When cutting you should aim to do so by no greater than 250 calories. If you cut by that much you don't just lose fat, you lose a significant amount of muscle as well which is partially why your workout is suffering so much. It is a slow process to cut, one you can't cheat if you want to maintain most of your muscle mass.

Sarahliquid

Oh wow, I didn't realize. I'll be happy to go back up to 1750. Although in the week I've been at 1600 my weight didn't change at all.

tectactoe

At best, that would mean you lost close to a pound (less, actually), which is well within typical day-to-day weight fluctuation, so unless you have a scientific scale, you probably won't notice significant weight loss until a FEW weeks.

And yes, you will likely lose strength when cutting as opposed to maintenance/bulking during workouts. Many people choose to switch up their routines (moving from high weight, low sets/reps to lighter weight, more sets/reps) during a cut.

Sarahliquid

Thank you, very good to know!