Confused; should I restrict cals or not? Lifting..

BaliDream

Hi - I'm beginning the StrongLift 5x5 program next week, but I'm not to sure on if I should restrict my calorie intake a bit.

My current stats are: 5'7, 150lbs, male, 18 years. I think I have a fast metabolism. As seen in this pic http://i51.tinypic.com/dcau6t.jpg I have quite a bit of body fat on me.

The program suggest I just 'eat my stomach full every three hours' and to 'eat clean'. I don't trust myself to do this, and I also don't believe that just 'eating healthy' but not reducing the amount I eat will help me get my dream body.

To maintain my weight I'd be needing to eat around 2600 calories per day.

If I were to eat 2000 per day, would I still be able to gain muscle/not lose any muscle? I'm quite confused.

Thanks

JenMc14

If you're new to lifting, you might see some gains. However, you're not going to make significant gains eating at a deficit. But, lifting heavy will help you retain muscle. So, lift, create your deficit, lose some fat, then when you get your body fat lower, you can up your cals and work on gaining.

mdizzle99

So what are your ultimate goals? Based on your picture, I'd say your body fat is already quite low; sub 15%. I would recommend you focus on gaining muscle right now which is what stronglifts was designed for. Those programs plan for linear growth so you add weight each workout. For that reason it recommends you eat a lot. Your body needs those calories to gain muscle.

At very first, you may be able to gain minimal muscle on a calorie deficit, but that won't last. You'll need to focus on lowering body fat or increasing muscle. I recommend a clean bulk for you.

TheTrimTim

You certainly won't be as awesome as you can be if you eat 'dirty'.

If you feel that 2600 is your balance point, you are likely to loose muscle mass and weight if you eat less. Simples.

TheTrimTim

(Check out the Ben Coomber Radio podcast on iTunes. It will make you rethink the way you eat).

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

You're not fat, you're just in "DYEL bro" status. I'd say eat at maintenance or slightly below it and take advantage of newbie gains for the next 6 months or so. Then reevaluate your progress and decide if you need to bulk or cut next.

BaliDream

Thanks all....

Something inside me really wants to eat less for some reason, maybe because it'll show change in my body quicker, which I like the idea of, I'm an impatient person.

But, based on the fact I have failed so many times lowering my calories, I may force myself to eat my 'maintain' calories while lifting. Ill see how that goes. If I'm still not seeing a difference, I guess I'll lower my calories.

BaliDream

I'm beginning to wonder, what if I only restricted my calories during the days I wasn't lifting? Would that work?

BreakingOath

Check out http://scoobysworkshop.com/. All free info and he has 100's of videos for you to watch.

Eating at a deficit will greatly hinder your muscle gains. You have to eat at a calorie surplus to gain muscle. Since you're fairly new to lifting you can expect noob gains, however, the gains will not always come so quickly. Building muscle takes time, hard work, lifting heavy, and consistency.

kendzini13

I received this email yesterday:




I've never seen a low calorie diet fail, when setup properly.

...for years people have challenged me saying that low calorie diets slow down the metabolism.

They are right (but it doesn't matter).

Here's the deal...the metabolism doesn't slow down enough to stop fat loss.

Lyle McDonald worded this perfectly:

"In general, it's true that metabolic rate tends to drop more with more excessive caloric deficits... But here's the thing: in no study I've ever seen has the drop in metabolic rate been sufficient to completely offset the caloric deficit . That is, say that cutting your calories by 50% per day leads to a reduction in the metabolic rate of 10%. Starvation mode you say. Well, yes. But you still have a 40% daily deficit."

A good example is the Minnesota Starvation Experiment.


Scientists recruited 36 young healthy men to participate in a yearlong study divided into several phases: a 12-week normal control period, a 24-week starvation phase where calories were so dramatically reduced that participants lost approximately 25% of body weight; and, finally, a recovery phase to renourish participants

The Results of the Study?

First, all participants lost weight. Starvation mode does not result in your body hanging onto extra fat or calories in an effort to "preserve" your body. But, it's more complicated than just losing weight. All of the participants also experienced a drop in their metabolic rates - approximately 40% below baseline. At no point did they stop losing fat until they hit a rate of approximately 5% body fat near the end of the study.

Here's a study from Cambridge University

In the first 2 days of starvation, there is a small absolute increase in basic metabolic rate relative to values obtained from overnight fasting. Overnight fasting is what every one of us does during our sleeping hours. So it is not true that going below recommended calories for one day is going to slow down your metabolism -- quite the contrary, it may speed it up just a little.

...but after a period of time the metabolism does slow down (but not enough to offset fat loss).

Lean individuals lost great amounts of fat-free, lean tissue during starvation, but obese individuals lost much more fat tissue. The loss of lean mass is not as critical to the obese person simply because an obese person has more lean mass than a person of the same age and height but normal weight.

...but you don't want to lose muscle...right?

Here's Brad Pilon's stance on this.

(In regards to people who lift weights when dieting for fat loss).

"Here's the truth about losing muscle mass while dieting. I don't believe it. Not at all.

I have taken over one hundred body fat measurements on amateur body builders and fitness models.

None of them lost any more than 1 or 2 pounds of lean mass while dieting for a competition!

They drop anywhere from 20 to 50 pounds of fat, but lose almost no muscle!"

So simply lift weights while dieting to ensure no muscle loss.

Hope that clears up the confusion a bit.

Cheers,

-Rusty Moore

Abs Blueprint & Visual Impact Fitness Courses

PS: There is a way to make a larger differential between how many calories you take in vs how much you burn.

Creating a large "differential"...a larger deficit...by keeping your metabolism as high as possible...while keeping the calories low...is the key to fast fat loss.

I like to call it the "Perfect Storm" of fat loss.

Will talk about that in the next email

taso42

If you want to lose weight, eat a deficit. If you want to gain weight, eat at a surplus.

nathanalgren

And how do you make sure you wont get fat by eating at surplus? I mean my concern is, if I eat at surplus to gain muscles, i will just end up with a bigger belly even if i work out 3 days a week and lift heavy.

taso42

And how do you make sure you wont get fat by eating at surplus? I mean my concern is, if I eat at surplus to gain muscles, i will just end up with a bigger belly even if i work out 3 days a week and lift heavy.

You will almost inevitably gain some fat as well. If you're meticulous with your macros and keep just a slight surplus, you can "lean bulk", in theory. It's easy enough to cut the fat back once you've added some muscle+fat.

nathanalgren

And how do you make sure you wont get fat by eating at surplus? I mean my concern is, if I eat at surplus to gain muscles, i will just end up with a bigger belly even if i work out 3 days a week and lift heavy.

You will almost inevitably gain some fat as well. If you're meticulous with your macros and keep just a slight surplus, you can "lean bulk", in theory. It's easy enough to cut the fat back once you've added some muscle+fat.

So what you are suggesting is, gain muscle and fat first with calorie surplus of -lets say- 200-300 cals at day, then once you have built some nice muscles, just do calorie deficit for a while and lose the fat?

BaliDream

In the same question boat as nathan. I REALLY don't want to bulk, I want to get slimmer, worst case stay at my current shape. In the email posted in this thread, I did pick up a few sentences that I really like:

None of them lost any more than 1 or 2 pounds of lean mass while dieting for a competition!

They drop anywhere from 20 to 50 pounds of fat, but lose almost no muscle!"

*** So simply lift weights while dieting to ensure no muscle loss. ***

^ What I'll be doing, basically. But not dieting, just watching WHAT and HOW MUCH I put into my mouth.