Stalling on lifts and eating closer to TDEE (recomp?)
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Sumiblue
Posts: 1,597 Member
I'm wondering if I can get some input from my lifting buddies about calories on lifting days vs. non-lifting. My goal is fat loss and gaining lean muscle. I feel like I am beginning to stall on my lifts, especially with squats and deadlifts. I've been doing SL for 14 wks with just 1 week off for the holidays. 2-3x a wk but mostly it has been consistently 3x. I keep trying to tweak my calories for maximum benefit. I don't have a lot to lose; 20bs. I don't even care about the weight if I can lose inches off my hips, butt, thighs. I have been trying to do SL at a deficit and I haven't always been successful
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I've been trying to find this answer too. So far it seems like if you want to do more than maintain your current muscle mass you need to eat at a surplus or for sure not at a deficit. I'm currently at 1200 and eating back exercise calories but nothing seems to be happening. I'm also running right now about 4km 5 days a week. I've been thinking about eating 1800 calories on days I lift but the additional calories can only be fruits/veggies or just plan chicken or tuna. I'm hoping that by only allowing myself to have very healthy lean choices for the extra calories each day I won't end up gaining by adding the calories.0
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I am in about the same position you are with ~10-15 pounds to lose. I have been doing SL for just over 2 months (back at it after ~6 month break-was doing AllPro Beginner's then). At the same time I started doing TDEE. Initially, I ate TDEE+100 cals (1800) on lifting days and TDEE-300 cals on non-lifting days. After a month I did not see any weight loss so I decreased down to 1700 calories on lifting days and from 1400-1500 on non-lifting days (although sometimes I am over depending on hunger and other workouts done). I have just recently begun to see the scale go down again (after a month). I think when I first started lifting that the muscle damage/repair caused water retention. I am taking measurements once a month and have not yet seen any changes but am not really expecting to yet anyway. I am not too concerned about "stalling" in lifting either. My thought process is that if I fail a weight, that sufficient neural adaptation and muscle fiber recruitment has not yet occurred to allow me to increase. In other words, when I "stall" this lets me know that I can still improve even when staying at the same weight. I have done some reading on the leangains website (recomp stuff) and by lyle mcdonald (recommended by ETP group--Sidesteel and Sara. Not sure if you already have looked here but this is the recomp website: bodyrecomposition.com/
I am also interested in hearing other responses...in for knowledge :-)
One more thing to add: I generally follow the recommendation found in this thread for protein intake: myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1167386-review-of-dietary-protein-during-caloric-restriction?hl=1.1-1.4+g%2Flb+protein0 -
Interesting stuff, ScientificExplorerGirl. I will peruse those links later after my little one goes to bed. Recomp is what I'm trying to do. May I ask how tall you are?0
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I am 5'7"0
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I thought that recoup is an alternative to bulk/cut to basically stay at the same weight, but lose fat/gain muscle...and that it just a really slow process since you generally can't build muscle on a deficit? I assumed it was something you did once you hit fat loss goals? Would love to be set straight if I'm wrong there.0
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My understanding is that, yes, it's an alternative to the cut/bulk cycle. You lose fat & gain muscle. I've done much reading on the subject today and it seems like it's a good option if one does not have a lot to lose. I only want to lose 20 lbs and I find cutting to be too restrictive, setting me up for bingeing. Part of that is I am short, so my TDEE is lower already. Hard to cut from that. I'm going to give recomp a try. I will eat at maintenance and lift and see what happens. For me the most frustrating thing is getting an accurate TDEE. I have checked multiple calculators and measurement methods, different sites-they each give different TDEE for me.0
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@Sumi -- Maybe take the handful of TDEEs and average them, and start with that. If you notice your losing or gaining, add or subtract 10-50 calories a day until it evens out.0
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But, but- that's math! Just joking, good idea
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Have you been tracking your food accurately? There was a post on the ETP group board that said how to calculate your personal TDEE based on calorie intake and weight change over the last 8 weeks or so. It is math though.
ETA:Note however, these are all estimates of averages. The best determination of what your TDEE are your results. If you have been tracking for a while, you should be able to look back over a period of time and calculate what YOUR actual TDEE is. For example, say I lost 8lb over a 10 week period while eating an average of 2,000 calories a day. My TDEE would be: 2,000 x 7 days x 10 weeks (140,000) which represents the total calories consumed over the 10 week period plus 8 x 3,500 (28,000) which represents my weight loss expressed as a deficit using the 3,500 calories per pound approximation. My total expenditure over that period would be 168,000 (the 140,000 plus the 28,000) divided by 70 (7 days x 10 weeks) = 2,400 per day. This would approximate my TDEE. Obviously this number should be tweaked up or down if there is any significant change in activity. It also assumes that you have been logging your intake accurately.0 -
I haven't been on MFP very long and I have occasionally forgotten to log meals so that probably wouldn't work for me. But I need to get serious about logging. I'll try to remember to go back and see if I can track it and find the "real" TDEE.0
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I want to lose a few pounds of fat, mostly because I'm thinking about doing a bulk sometime this year, so I'm on a slight deficit. I like my progression, though, and I tend to eat more on days I lift. Maybe you have too much of a deficit. If you really want to focus on cutting, especially more aggressively, you might just have to accept making slower progression with your lifts. If, however, you start to feel weak and dizzy, it might be time to up calories because that's a sign you're not fueling enough. If you'd rather focus on re-composition, however, eat at or close to your TDEE every day.
Logging accurately and consistently is key to doing this. You can't really know if you're eating enough, too little, or too much without logging.0 -
http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/
Somebody posted this the other day and it gave me new hope. 0 -
I've done some more intensive reading on TDEE and recomp and it does seem like it's best done when one is below 20% BF. I'm about 25%, I think. So, I'm trying to do the deficit thing. Ugh, hate eating at deficit. I read the Scooby article. Sounded okay except for the bit about daily cardio.0
