No gains while cutting is normal, right?

AnilAnhirode
AnilAnhirode Posts: 20 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Decided to take my nutrition seriously 3 months ago. My goal was to lose weight.

Im down 45 lbs so far, and I estimate my BF% (comparing pictures) is 20-25%.

I'm always in a caloric deficit, and my numbers in the gym aren't going up. I tell myself I'm not providing my body with enough building blocks to pack on muscle, that's why my lifts are all plateaued.

I was flipping through my little note book the other day where I record all my reps/ set and it really hit me how little progress I've made over the past few months. Should I be concerned?

I know I can't have both worlds, loose weight AND pack on lean mass. I'm basically going to the gym to keep whatever lean mass I have, use it or loose it, right?

Replies

  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    I have been able to lift more while still in a deficit. I really have to focus on getting plenty of protein to accomplish that. It's not calories that are a base raw material for building muscle, it's primarily amino acids which come from protein. Your food diary is not open, but I would guess that more protein may help. Stimulating muscle growth is about more work over time, so if you can't lift heavier, then lift more reps, even if that means lifting lighter. Or you can try lifting the same with greater frequency (like 3x/week instead of 2x/week), not sure if that is an option based on your current training schedule and availability. More work over the course of a week will stimulate muscle growth. (weight * reps = work)

    Yes, definitely keep lifting to maintain what you have, but you should be able to tweak your food/exercise to also achieve growth even at a calorie deficit - it will generally be slower than at a calorie surplus, but it shouldn't stall entirely.
  • Cassandraw3
    Cassandraw3 Posts: 1,214 Member
    While yes, it is true that you won't gain muscle while in a deficit, it is not impossible to get stronger. 45 lbs in 3 months is a lot. That is an average of about 3.5 lbs/week. For best results, you should slow down your rate of loss. You really shouldn't aim for more than 1-2 lbs/week, slowing your rate the closer you get to your goal weight. The reason your numbers aren't going up is because you are not eating enough calories to fuel your workout. Also, are you making sure you are getting enough protein? Protein is essential for retaining as much muscle mass as you can while in a deficit. Recommended protein is ~1g per lb of lean body weight.


    Body Fat Level Rate of Fat Loss
    Men: <15% Women: <24% <0.5-1.5 lb per week, or; 0.25-0.75% of bodyweight per week.
    Men: 16-25% Women: 25-34% 1-2 lb per week, or; 0.75-1.5% of bodyweight per week.
    Men: 26+% Women: 35+% 1.5-3.5 lb per week, or; 1.0-1.5% of bodyweight per week.
  • AnilAnhirode
    AnilAnhirode Posts: 20 Member
    edited March 2019
    Looking at my past month, my macros have been:

    - Protein:
    Consumed: 145g (0.7 lb protein/ lb total body mass)
    MFP recommendation: 138g
    Remaining: n/a

    - Carbs
    Consumed: 210g
    MFP recommendation: 349g
    Remaining: 139g

    - Fat
    Consumed: 75g
    MFP recommendation: 94g
    Remaining: 19g

    Looking at this, i'm not hitting my carb and fat goals.
    That's why i say i'm not providing my body with the popper building blocks.
    Again, my main goal is to loose weight though.

    Cassandraw3, I agree i may have overdone it with the weight loss initially. I have thought of slowing my weight loss down to 1lb/ week and extending my cutting phase. I have been a bit impatient with getting my BF% down.

    tcunbeliever, I like to switch up the rep scheme and exercises at the gym to shock my body. One thing i like to add is that i love to row! At the end of a workout, i'll do a 2K row, or sometimes an endurance row. I hear A LOT of people saying cardio and strength training are like oil and water. I'm happy with my cardiovascular health, for my age/ weight/ height an average resting heart rate is 61-76 bpm, i fluctuate around around 50-55. Maybe this is holding my lifts back, or am i too paranoid?
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    AnilAnhirode wrote: »
    Looking at my past month, my macros have been:

    - Protein:
    Consumed: 145g (0.7 lb protein/ lb total body mass)
    MFP recommendation: 138g
    Remaining: n/a

    - Carbs
    Consumed: 210g
    MFP recommendation: 349g
    Remaining: 139g

    - Fat
    Consumed: 75g
    MFP recommendation: 94g
    Remaining: 19g

    Looking at this, i'm not hitting my carb and fat goals.
    That's why i say i'm not providing my body with the popper building blocks.
    Again, my main goal is to loose weight though.

    Cassandraw3, I agree i may have overdone it with the weight loss initially. I have thought of slowing my weight loss down to 1lb/ week and extending my cutting phase. I have been a bit impatient with getting my BF% down.

    tcunbeliever, I like to switch up the rep scheme and exercises at the gym to shock my body. One thing i like to add is that i love to row! At the end of a workout, i'll do a 2K row, or sometimes an endurance row. I hear A LOT of people saying cardio and strength training are like oil and water. I'm happy with my cardiovascular health, for my age/ weight/ height an average resting heart rate is 61-76 bpm, i fluctuate around around 50-55. Maybe this is holding my lifts back, or am i too paranoid?

    Based on these numbers it seems to say you are undereating your calorie goal pretty significantly. Are you not eating your exercise calories back?
  • Cassandraw3
    Cassandraw3 Posts: 1,214 Member
    AnilAnhirode wrote: »
    Looking at my past month, my macros have been:

    - Protein:
    Consumed: 145g (0.7 lb protein/ lb total body mass)
    MFP recommendation: 138g
    Remaining: n/a

    - Carbs
    Consumed: 210g
    MFP recommendation: 349g
    Remaining: 139g

    - Fat
    Consumed: 75g
    MFP recommendation: 94g
    Remaining: 19g

    Looking at this, i'm not hitting my carb and fat goals.
    That's why i say i'm not providing my body with the popper building blocks.
    Again, my main goal is to loose weight though.

    Cassandraw3, I agree i may have overdone it with the weight loss initially. I have thought of slowing my weight loss down to 1lb/ week and extending my cutting phase. I have been a bit impatient with getting my BF% down.

    tcunbeliever, I like to switch up the rep scheme and exercises at the gym to shock my body. One thing i like to add is that i love to row! At the end of a workout, i'll do a 2K row, or sometimes an endurance row. I hear A LOT of people saying cardio and strength training are like oil and water. I'm happy with my cardiovascular health, for my age/ weight/ height an average resting heart rate is 61-76 bpm, i fluctuate around around 50-55. Maybe this is holding my lifts back, or am i too paranoid?

    Based on this, you are undereating your calorie goal on average 700 calories per day?

    The bolded is just nonsense. Cardio and strength are both important to overall fitness. Cardio improves heart health which your heart is just another muscle (a very important one). Rowing at the end of your strength training is not holding your lifts back. The fact is you are underfueling your workouts by creating too much of a calorie deficit. Your body can only burn so much fat at a time, and once it reaches that limit, it will burn lean mass.

    Change your goal in MFP to lose 1 lb/week and eat to your calorie goal.
  • AnilAnhirode
    AnilAnhirode Posts: 20 Member
    edited March 2019
    Thanks for the insight guys. I realized I haven't been cutting, I've basically been starving myself. I got tunnel vision in my weight loss and just wanted to hit my goal as soon as possible.

    MikePTY, looking at my past month. I'm eating 1835 calories on average. Now that I'm looking at it from a months perspective, I realize how bad this is. I'm not even hitting my BMR.

    As for exercise calories, I recently stopped logging them for the cardio portion. I've been questioning if I was really burning 220 calories on a 15 min moderate intensity session on the elptical for a warm up. Have no idea how to estimate calories burned from doing compound movements and such. (See my last paragraph for more about this)

    Cassandraw3, you're right, I'm under eating the suggested calories to loose 1lb/ week. I myself don't believe in the bro science of cardio and weight lifting. Once a week I'll have a cardio only day at the gym.

    Thanks a bunch for the help guys, you made me realize what I've been doing wrong. I'll start by actually eating to my daily goal. From there I'll monitor my weight weekly and adjust eating as to loose 1lb / week.

    💪

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Gaining muscle and gaining strength are not one in the same though after a length of time a they will govern each other.

    One can gain strength on a cut to a point. The majority of people won't because they are usually running a cookie cutter program that doesn't monitor fatigue and/or dose proper volume on a long-term basis. That doesn't mean the programs are useless, perhaps just not optimal. Yeah.

    I myself along with those I coach gain strength during block(s) of weight loss because programming is more specific to the individual's needs.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories