Weight loss without strength loss... any successes?
BeneficentBengal
Posts: 10 Member
I'm reducing my caloric intake to the MFP recommended net and I haven't really noticed any weight loss... but I am noticing that I'm no longer gaining in strength, and am coming in well below my PR for weight and reps. I used to be able to bench 215 at 6-7 reps each, but am now down to 205 and need help on the last set of 6, and all my other lifts are pretty much going along the same lines.
I knew I'd be losing some strength during a weight loss program, but this is ridiculous. I'm not even losing weight, just muscle mass apparently. Did anyone manage to maintain (or even gain) their weight-lifting while reducing their overall weight?
I knew I'd be losing some strength during a weight loss program, but this is ridiculous. I'm not even losing weight, just muscle mass apparently. Did anyone manage to maintain (or even gain) their weight-lifting while reducing their overall weight?
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Replies
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I eat at a reasonable deficit and lift heavy - my lifts are going up, so yes, I'm gaining strength. My guess is that you're eating at too much of a deficit.0
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I've been very fortunate to work with a trainer and a sports dietician. I've been gaining both muscle and loosing quite a bit of weight. Eat at a deficit is exactly right. Also, watch the macros with the kinds of calories your eat. Eat several times a day; don't let yourself get hungry. Finally, lift heavy and add in some cardio. While not full-on cardio, I try to do two days a week of HIIT.
It's been my experience that many folks on here can help you a whole lotincluding Ireed89 above. Check out my FL, there are several knowledgable people on there.
Best of luck to you!0 -
I eat at a pretty reckless deficit and my bench has gone from 55lbs and pathetic to 75lbs before I stalled out my noob gains. From here, I've switched to bodyweight for funsies and have continued to build on my ability to do pull ups and dips. Not to mention push ups.
Maybe check your protein intake? I know I stopped really hitting my protein macro for a while I noticed a pretty immediate dip in strength. Also try experimenting with eating a small snack for quick energy before the work out. I had to do this as well and noticed that a banana 30 mins before helps me to really push it at the workout.0 -
Once your strength is at the theoretical higher end of your scale it will be affected by a myriad of factors, from calorie deficit to cardio to lack of sleep.
How big is your deficit?0 -
Move to more of a strength based routine
(3-5) reps with longer rest,and go down in
Frequency to 2 times per week.
When you're in a deficit unless you're a newbie
To lifting you will most of the time lose strength especially
If you lift as much as you did in a surplus.0 -
I don't know what my full deficit should be, MFP tells me to net 1340 a day, and I usually add on 200-300 from saying I do 1 hour of weight-lifting or 30 minutes of cardio. I'm usually within 50 calories of the net. Either way, I'm definitely eating at least 300 calories below my basal metabolic rate.0
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I don't know what my full deficit should be, MFP tells me to net 1340 a day, and I usually add on 200-300 from saying I do 1 hour of weight-lifting or 30 minutes of cardio. I'm usually within 50 calories of the net. Either way, I'm definitely eating at least 300 calories below my basal metabolic rate.
Wut?
Unless you're 3 feet tall (or a very very strong woman) I'm going to guess that your settings are incorrect AND you're in too large of deficit.0 -
No, I currently weight 200 lbs and I stated that I wanted to lose 2 lbs/week. MFP set 1340 as my daily net.0
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No, I currently weight 200 lbs and I stated that I wanted to lose 2 lbs/week. MFP set 1340 as my daily net.
you are not eating enough and your body is holding on to everything.
how much weight are you wanting to lose? unless its 40-50 pounds you have no need to be at a 2lb a week deficit, and i dont see 150 being a goal for most any male to aim for unless you are 5'6" or under and want to be "scrawny". i would change the numbers to 1lb a week and change your activity level(most likely you are set to sedintary correct) and if sedintary is your current setting, unless you do absolutely nothing all day errr day, then change it to lightly active.0 -
I gained strength and a wee bit of muscle (newbie gains) last year on 1200 net. You can obviously only do that for so long. After all my lifts stalled out, I decided to bulk.
I am just recently cutting after a bulk and haven't suffered much loss of strength yet (6 weeks at deficit (4 @ 1700 net and the last 2 at 1500).
So, from my experience, I'd say you can definitely make STRENGTH gains at deficit - but not indefinitely.
ETA: I'm a 5'6 female - you'll need more cals than me, if you're a guy obvs. Like others have said, setting MFP to 1lb a week loss will give you more to work with (and more chance of sticking to it)0 -
No, I currently weight 200 lbs and I stated that I wanted to lose 2 lbs/week. MFP set 1340 as my daily net.
Doing it wrong.gif0 -
How am I doing it wrong? I want to drop down to 175 lbs, and I want to do so over the three months of summer. 2 lbs per week seems like a reasonable goal.0
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You CANNOT eat below your BMR that is a recipe for disaster. As per the question, when I was in deficit I mostly just maintained my strength with a few areas creeping up slightly.0
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How am I doing it wrong? I want to drop down to 175 lbs, and I want to do so over the three months of summer. 2 lbs per week seems like a reasonable goal.
if all you want to lose is 25lbs then you should be at a .5-1lb per week loss. you may have a "deadline" for your weight loss but you will find out your body dont do deadlines.... at that large of a deficit, what your body will do, is give you the big FU..... you are risking future health complications to try and make an unrealistic goal.0 -
How am I doing it wrong? I want to drop down to 175 lbs, and I want to do so over the three months of summer. 2 lbs per week seems like a reasonable goal.
i feel your pain. i've been there before myself. but if you want to minimize muscle loss (not just strength loss, but actual muscle going bye bye too), you're going to want to up those calories by quite a bit. A full grown man eating 1300 is preposterous. Eat around 1800 at least, PLUS exercise calories.0 -
I don't understand why 2 lbs/week is unreasonable. I read that this was the maximum recommended rate of healthy weight decrease for the average person.
And my BMR is like 1900 calories, which would put waaaaay over the MFP recommended limit unless I did a lot of cardio. I don't see how it's possible to lose weight in a timely fashion without being below my BMR.
Anyways, I don't want to get into all the reasons I selected 2 lbs/week. Time is important and I never know when life is going to throw me a curve ball that takes me off course, so I'd rather get where I want to be as soon as possible. If anyone has any numeric advice on what they did to maintain/increase their strength (e.g. how heavy they were lifting, what kind of improvements they made, what they ate, etc), I'd definitely appreciate it.0 -
Yeah. Just seeing an energy problem from calorie deficit. 1300 is bad mojo.
After adjusting to a reasonable intake amount, can try fiddling with timing and composition of intake on workout days.0 -
I don't understand why 2 lbs/week is unreasonable. I read that this was the maximum recommended rate of healthy weight decrease for the average person.
And my BMR is like 1900 calories, which would put waaaaay over the MFP recommended limit unless I did a lot of cardio. I don't see how it's possible to lose weight in a timely fashion without being below my BMR.
Anyways, I don't want to get into all the reasons I selected 2 lbs/week. Time is important and I never know when life is going to throw me a curve ball that takes me off course, so I'd rather get where I want to be as soon as possible. If anyone has any numeric advice on what they did to maintain/increase their strength (e.g. how heavy they were lifting, what kind of improvements they made, what they ate, etc), I'd definitely appreciate it.
you don't have to understand it. understanding why something is the way it is doesn't change what it is. just understand that people who are in a position to know good from bad told you unequivocally that 1300 cals per day for a 200 pound male is BAD. you don't have to believe it for it be true.
no one here is questioning your reasons for selecting 2lbs per week. hell, i would select it too if it would work. if time is truly important to you, ****why do you want to spend time burning off muscle only to have to spend 5x that amount of time regaining it?****
anyhoo, you asked why you're losing strength and we told you. now you're asking for advice on how to maintain/increase strength but we've already told you the answer to that as well.
EAT MORE0 -
Fair fair. Thanks everyone!0
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And my BMR is like 1900 calories, which would put waaaaay over the MFP recommended limit unless I did a lot of cardio. I don't see how it's possible to lose weight in a timely fashion without being below my BMR.
You don't want to eat below your BMR (calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed doing nothing) for the reasons mentioned - however, you do want to eat below your maintenance level to lose weight. Check out the TDEE calculator from IIFYM as an example.0 -
^^^ This. You will lose weight at a healthy speed. Eating below your BMR is a horribly bad idea.
And my BMR is like 1900 calories, which would put waaaaay over the MFP recommended limit unless I did a lot of cardio. I don't see how it's possible to lose weight in a timely fashion without being below my BMR.
You don't want to eat below your BMR (calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed doing nothing) for the reasons mentioned - however, you do want to eat below your maintenance level to lose weight. Check out the TDEE calculator from IIFYM as an example.0 -
^^ Doubly this!
you don't have to understand it. understanding why something is the way it is doesn't change what it is. just understand that people who are in a position to know good from bad told you unequivocally that 1300 cals per day for a 200 pound male is BAD. you don't have to believe it for it be true.
no one here is questioning your reasons for selecting 2lbs per week. hell, i would select it too if it would work. if time is truly important to you, ****why do you want to spend time burning off muscle only to have to spend 5x that amount of time regaining it?****
anyhoo, you asked why you're losing strength and we told you. now you're asking for advice on how to maintain/increase strength but we've already told you the answer to that as well.
EAT MORE0 -
I don't understand why 2 lbs/week is unreasonable. I read that this was the maximum recommended rate of healthy weight decrease for the average person.
And my BMR is like 1900 calories, which would put waaaaay over the MFP recommended limit unless I did a lot of cardio. I don't see how it's possible to lose weight in a timely fashion without being below my BMR.
Anyways, I don't want to get into all the reasons I selected 2 lbs/week. Time is important and I never know when life is going to throw me a curve ball that takes me off course, so I'd rather get where I want to be as soon as possible. If anyone has any numeric advice on what they did to maintain/increase their strength (e.g. how heavy they were lifting, what kind of improvements they made, what they ate, etc), I'd definitely appreciate it.
you don't have to understand it. understanding why something is the way it is doesn't change what it is. just understand that people who are in a position to know good from bad told you unequivocally that 1300 cals per day for a 200 pound male is BAD. you don't have to believe it for it be true.
no one here is questioning your reasons for selecting 2lbs per week. hell, i would select it too if it would work. if time is truly important to you, ****why do you want to spend time burning off muscle only to have to spend 5x that amount of time regaining it?****
anyhoo, you asked why you're losing strength and we told you. now you're asking for advice on how to maintain/increase strength but we've already told you the answer to that as well.
EAT MORE
Testify.0 -
No, I currently weight 200 lbs and I stated that I wanted to lose 2 lbs/week. MFP set 1340 as my daily net.
No wonder you're losing strength.0
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