Great result. Sleeping through the night is always a challenge for me, glad your sleep is getting better for you.l

saranharm wrote: »

Bumping. I've heard that some people have a better loss after the first cut is over. Your weight seems pretty stable. Sounds frustrating- maybe the inches are down. How do your clothes fit?

I've lost the most body fat as I was reversing slowly out of my cut. My body just relaxed for the constant feeding that it got. I just felt like it told me that "hon, it's okay to let go of the stored fat as you won't be starved to hang on it". Keep your cut going and choose a very slow reverse and it should help you! I added 10 g carbs and 1 g fat weekly. Went from 1600 kcals to 2200 kcals in like two months. When my weight didn't change or even dropped I added 20g and 2 fats to get up sooner.

saranharm wrote: »

How slow did you reverse out of your cut @molnardrea ?

10 g carbs and 1g fat weekly as I said. That was the principle. But after 3-4 days on the new level I always felt confident to go faster because I didn't gain, even still lost weight at the beginning so I didn't eat one whole week on the same level always. I upped more frecuently. Every 3-4 days. I should also mention that I've never been dieting as low calories for long periods of times. I do this whole up and down scaling in 2-3 months repeatedly to have 8 weeks of "cut" and then slowly coming out of that to not put back fat and still eat normally. I'm 5'4 and 138 lbs, but with quite a lot of muscle. Close to my goal look, I want to lean out. On January 1st I started from 1500 cals and slowly in two month until the end of February I went up to 2200 where I stayed a week. From the beginning of March I'm taking away 20 g carbs and 2 grams fat each week until the end of next week. That will be 4 weeks of light, gradual cut. Then in April I will slowly add back again, until May, when I want to be on maintenance again. From then on I will stay on maintenance probably the whole summer because I will be very active and will have lots of exams and I can't study if I'm craving nutrients.

Note. My changes are not HUGE. But as long as I'm not going back into my old bingeing habits and eating like cr*p and progessing in the gym, I'm happy

Jennifer_Lynn_1982 wrote: »

Thanks for your input @molnardrea! I may give that a try as well. I don't think I could go down to 1500 calories though...hmm. Are you lifting heavy right now or at those calories?

@saranharm my measurements are about the same, they have gone down slightly after increasing in the last part of my bulk. It's important to note that although I weigh 15 lbs heavier, my measurements are the same as when I was at 145 lbs - for that I am truly happy!

To be honest, I'd be happy with where I'm at if I could lose a few inches from my waist - which I know you can't spot reduce but my measurements everywhere else I'm happy with.

Yes @Jennifer_Lynn_1982, I am lifting heavy on my 1500 week too. But that only means 3 lifting sessions that I have to do on that level. Next week I bump up to 1600 cals. Right now I'm on 1600 and I'm feeling weaker already. Can't wait to reverse out. I'm feeling the strongest above 2000 cals. When I feel weak and cannot lift heavy, I go down on the weights and add in one more set or more reps. Generally just doing higher volume training. I don't know why, probably not the best thing to do for my body, but mentally it helps me through the session.

I didn't know that :P Haha. I'm just going by feel, let my body talk and listen to it. I think this is the most important overall. To be friends and a team with your body. Help it. It took a year for me to learn this.

heybales wrote: »

During deficit training the higher volume is better, easier to recover from.

But, to maintain the strength if it was longer than 3-4 weeks, you'd need to reduce frequency/duration and keep intensity or weight on the bar.

The difference between just using the muscle to have no issues keeping it, and keeping the muscles at the same strength level.

I'm mostly physique oriented not strength, so I'm fine with some strength loss. It will come back as I increase my calories up again and keep adding back the weight on the bar, right?

I'd also like to push my calories further once I'm done with this reverse. I'd like to try and add 10 g of carbs and 1 g fat each week and grow my metabolic capacity. Is it really possible for my body to adjust slowly for using more calories without storing it as fat?

molnardrea wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

During deficit training the higher volume is better, easier to recover from.

But, to maintain the strength if it was longer than 3-4 weeks, you'd need to reduce frequency/duration and keep intensity or weight on the bar.

The difference between just using the muscle to have no issues keeping it, and keeping the muscles at the same strength level.

I'm mostly physique oriented not strength, so I'm fine with some strength loss. It will come back as I increase my calories up again and keep adding back the weight on the bar, right?

I'd also like to push my calories further once I'm done with this reverse. I'd like to try and add 10 g of carbs and 1 g fat each week and grow my metabolic capacity. Is it really possible for my body to adjust slowly for using more calories without storing it as fat?

Totally missed this.

Studies have shown the body will speed up metabolism and daily burn if you eat in surplus - for a short period of time. But then the excess is getting stored as fat.
Body tries to be efficient, so it doesn't invent processes to burn calories that aren't needed.

Usually what does happen though with someone with a good workout program - that becomes better and burns more during and for recovery - so TDEE actually does increase.
But all things kept equal - no.

Keep adding enough fat though and moving it around and of course at some point if eating level hasn't increased - you've made your TDEE match your eating level.
If good strong progressive lifting routine, can add muscle too with the fat. Hence bulking.