Eating at Maintainence versus Fat Loss
a_vettestingray
Posts: 654 Member
Hey All,
Quick question: I restarted NROL4W on 9/13 (as I quit halfway through Stage One over the summer due to vacation/work travel/etc. Anyways, when I first started it, I went with the recommended calories of: 2177 on lift days and 1935 on non-lift days. I didn't really see much change in body comp/weight during that time. When I restarted, I decided to eat at fat loss (-300 cals). It has now been almost four weeks and I am starting to see some awesome changes in body comp, but not weight or measurements.
However, now I am afraid that I am essentially doing cut and not really building muscle. I feel that for my particular situation (5'7, 128lbs, 33/27/35 measurements, 22% BF) I need to focus on building muscle so when I do get my BF down where I like it, I will have the physique I am longing for. Sooo, I suppose I should be eating at maintainence at the very least, but I am terrified I will undo all the visible gains I have made:grumble: and be less motivated to continue since it took me sooooo long to lose 10lbs and a lil BF% in the first place! (It took me over a year to lose 10-12 lbs and stay there)
Does anyone have any ideas of what I should be doing at this point? Continue to eat at fat loss or go to maintainence?
Thanks!
Quick question: I restarted NROL4W on 9/13 (as I quit halfway through Stage One over the summer due to vacation/work travel/etc. Anyways, when I first started it, I went with the recommended calories of: 2177 on lift days and 1935 on non-lift days. I didn't really see much change in body comp/weight during that time. When I restarted, I decided to eat at fat loss (-300 cals). It has now been almost four weeks and I am starting to see some awesome changes in body comp, but not weight or measurements.
However, now I am afraid that I am essentially doing cut and not really building muscle. I feel that for my particular situation (5'7, 128lbs, 33/27/35 measurements, 22% BF) I need to focus on building muscle so when I do get my BF down where I like it, I will have the physique I am longing for. Sooo, I suppose I should be eating at maintainence at the very least, but I am terrified I will undo all the visible gains I have made:grumble: and be less motivated to continue since it took me sooooo long to lose 10lbs and a lil BF% in the first place! (It took me over a year to lose 10-12 lbs and stay there)
Does anyone have any ideas of what I should be doing at this point? Continue to eat at fat loss or go to maintainence?
Thanks!
0
Replies
-
How do your macros look regularly?
I bet that the initial no-changes were just because you had started a new lifting plan and depending on your lifting history really wasn't moving as much weight.
I would go ahead and eat at maintenance and just be sure to get your macros perfect, I think most people seem to get the best changes eating at maintenance vs fat loss! 0 -
If you run your numbers through another calculator, like Scooby's, you'll find that NROL "maintenance" is called "15 percent gain".
NROL "300 calorie cut" is close to "recomp" or "lose fat gain muscle".
So don't stress, you're doing fine with the 300 calorie reduction from NROL.
For example, here's my numbers.
NROL maintenance 1,972 kc (+ on workout days)
NROL fat loss 1,672 kc (+ on workout days)
Mifflin-St Jeor 15% build 1,851 kc
Mifflin-St Jeor maintenance 1,609 kc
scooby gain 1,814 kc
Scooby recomp 1,674 kc0 -
If you run your numbers through another calculator, like Scooby's, you'll find that NROL "maintenance" is called "15 percent gain".
That's interesting! For me, Scooby maintenance numbers are waaay over what NROL asks me to eat!0 -
I think that cutting 300 is a good idea, so long as you are getting enough protein.0
