Starting Strength on calorie deficit?

Nice summary, thanks! I'm definitely over 20% bodyfat, so it sounds like I should probably continue dropping the fat.

I've been eating at a 500 calorie deficit since late May and my clothes are already fitting better. I went down one belt loop already and many of my shirts that were a bit tight before now fit great. I don't have any hunger issues either. My TDEE is supposedly around 2800 calories so I've been aiming for 2200-2400 calories a day. I don't weigh my food or anything so I doubt it's super accurate, but it seems to be working as my clothes are all fitting better. I've been hitting around 140-160g of protein per day. Not sure on fats and carbs. I've also gone up on several of my lifts with the dumbbells (dumbbell press, flys, lateral raise, front raise, preacher curl, etc). This is probably due to me not lifting for a little while and just getting back into it though.

Sounds like I should just continue to drop the pounds, give the SS program a shot, see how far I can get, and then take it from there.

Just an update, starting on week 2 of SS. Last week I found that eating 2500 calories was not enough. I was sore for quite a while and feeling pretty tired. I started going to bed an hour earlier (getting 7-8 hours of sleep now instead of 6-7) and I started eating around 3200 calories which is supposedly my maintenance according to a few calorie calculators that take into account your activity level (I used 3-5hrs of moderate activity). Now I'm not as sore and not as tired.

The squats are really tough! I've never done squats before in my life with a barbell, so I started off pretty light so I could get used to them, work on my form, and not kill myself haha! I made three 10lb jumps and will now be leveling off to 5lb jumps each workout.

The deadlift I actually enjoy. It's cool to see how much weight you can pull up off the ground. I've found that if I watch form videos before I do it each time, I keep my form much better and I have no problems. I can definitely feel my lower back afterwards, but it's a good kind of sore, muscle soreness, not spinal or joint soreness.

I'm decent at the bench press as I've always worked on my chest over the years, so that one I was able to start out a bit higher than the other lifts.

The overhead press I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with that one. I can't do them in my basement because it's 82" tall and I'd put the bar through the drop ceiling. Even in other parts of the basement between the rafters would not really work. I did them sitting down last time, but I know that's not the same. I'm thinking of taking the bar and some weights outside and doing them in the backyard. I'm starting off pretty light so that should be manageable for a while until the weights get heavier.

Haven't yet hit the power clean phase yet. That's not until next month. I'll have to learn how to do those. I plan on starting out very light on those as well.

I'd have to say that the squats are my least favorite exercise, and of course they are the one you do the most! My lower body is pretty weak, but it's already starting to respond pretty good. The key is focusing on your form so you don't mess up your back. I've found that I need to focus on keeping my heels dug in and not lift them up and lean forward. When I do that and press straight up with my hips it's much easier on my legs.

Anyway, from my short experience so far, doing SS on a calorie deficit is possible, but not ideal. I'm not a huge blimp, but ideally would probably like to shed 15-20lbs at some point, but I can eat at maintenance or slightly over for 3 months or so while I'm doing the SS program and then see how things look and adjust from there.

It is fun to do though going up on the weights each time. I went up on my squats 10lbs from last time and last time I thought it was tough. But I was able to get through them regardless. Hopefully I can keep that up for 2-3 months without stalling. But eating enough and resting enough is definitely key, just like Mark says repeatedly over and over in his book. He's not kidding, it really is a tough and demanding program!

Okiludy wrote: »

I have lost 41lbs since I started. I began doing Starting Strength about 2 months in. I have run either SS or a more powerlifting program based on SS for about 3 months. I have seen pretty amazing gains on my deadlift (65-380 for reps) and squat (45-315 for reps). My bench is lagging but still with decent gains (45-175 for reps).

I have eaten in a deficit the entire time. I was morbidly obese to start with and now am getting close to overweight. I am eating 40% of my calories in protein and at a loss rate of 2lbs a week. I can still maintain this as still in obese range. Once I hit overweight range going to cut deficit to 1lbs loss a week. When I don't eat enough protein recovery is harder and longer and that is a concern of mine. 40% seems to be around sweet spot for me. I don't know if this follows any study just what works for me.

Oh and I am 45 and haven't been in close to normal weight range in 15 years.

I'm not following, you're saying you increased your deadlift by 315lbs in only 3 months? It sounds like you could have started a lot higher on your initial lifts when you started. You would have to do 20-25lb jumps consistently all the way up to 380lbs, that doesn't seem sustainable. I've had a run with people lately on internet forums spreading a lot of BS. I'm not saying you're one of them, but can you explain how you did this? This is not typical from what I've read/seen/heard from others doing the program.