Losing Gains

Yes, to an extent... The amount of the deficit can contribute as to how quickly it will occur.

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It's definitely a possibility.

Since you're dieting and you're bound to sacrifice some lean mass, you would naturally draw the conclusion that the loss of that adaptation that allowed you to lift more, i.e., big muscles and stuff, would be the source of your problem.

However, sometimes it can simply be a matter of adjusting your training to suit your change in nutritional habits.

Consider manipulating your routine to increase weight/intensity, but reduce volume. This way you maintain your adaptation and maybe even improve in strength while leaving the hard work of weight loss to diet alone and less reliance on your workouts.

Make sense?

Good morning.

Look at your caloric deficit. I started at 240 chubby pounds. At a 500 Kcal / day deficit I ran into energy problems as well as loss of strength problems in the gym. After a few months, and after about 30 pounds of fat loss I increased my intake to result in a deficit of about 300 Kcal/day. I almost instantly felt better and I started to make very slow gains in the gym. The increased nutrition slowed my fat loss, but I felt so much better....so the trade off was worth it for me. At this point I started to introduce "Refeed" days where I upped by carbs and my caloric intake for the day was about 500 Kcal over maintenance....I did this when I felt low on energy....about once a week. This made a huge difference and did not seem to slow fat loss....in my case it helped. Now at about a year later I lost the fat I wanted to lose.....have the body I want.....and I eat maintenance....or even maintenance plus. My metabolism is much better than it was a year ago and I am able to consume more nutrition. With the extra nutrition I am making the best strength gains of my life.

Make sure you are getting your rest....eat about 1 gram of Protein per pound of bodyweight....get about 20% of your calories from fat....fill the rest with healthy carbs. Train no more than 1 hour 3 or 4 times a week..."heavy", with as much intensity as possible...good form...never sacrifice form for weight.

The reality is if your in the process of aggressive fat loss strength gains will be a sometimes thing...you just have to muscle through it (no pun intended). If your wiling to slow your fat loss it is much easier to get a little stronger at the same time...in my case I wanted the fat gone....and fast.....so I was willing to put up with stalled gym progress....and feeling kind of crappy. Time goes by fast...stick with it.....Let me tell you this....what you will learn along the way will be amazing...enjoy the ride.

Good luck! Just make it happen....you will love what it is like on the other side. Life really is better.

Plenty of protein, no more than about a 20% deficit, and above all else make every effort to, at the very least, be lifting the same weight during your cut as you were before. Not being able to make progress happen and even losing a little strength during a cut is common, but you should be doing everything you can to maintain intensity (weight on the bar), but you may have to lower the volume a little (number of sets) to make this happen.

This is why so many people end up losing and gaining the same weight over and over again during cutting and bulking cycles. If your not giving your muscles the same stimulus that was there to build the muscle in the first place you're are pretty much telling your body you don't need that much muscle anymore.

Good luck...

Sorry but this is a huge waste of time. All you're going to get in here is people applying what worked for them to your situation and it's all going to be different.

Be wary of people posting a long diatribe against any specific approach to dieting or training and also don't assume that because someone else had success with a certain methodology that you will too.

That's how we got the paleo diet and scientology