HAI GAIZ,

As you jerks know, I've been cutting for about 8 weeks now and I've dropped around 9 lbs. I've gotten a lot leaner but still not where I'd like to be. Here's the thing though: I've been slowly dropping cals and now I'm at 2400/day but I think that my strength is starting to suffer.

I've stuck with the Texas Method for the duration of this cut but I've dropped the volume workouts from 5x5 to 3 sets of 5. My lifts for these workouts have stayed pretty much constant. However, my max out days have slowly gone to hell. For example, I did 365 x 4 for DL last week and this week I only got up 3 reps. On the front squat, I managed to do 260 x 4 for my heaviest lift but I've dropped it down to 255 and I only got up 4 reps today.

I touch and rub my body all over all the time when I'm moisturizing and it seems like I've lost body fat but I can't tell if I'm losing a lot of muscle. I'm worried that my ass is starting to go and I even asked my buddy to check out my ass today and tell me if it's still big but unfortunately he refused to answer on the grounds that it was "an extremely ghey and stupid question."

I'm thinking about cutting ~10 more lbs so for those of you who have cut, do these strength losses seem normal to you? How much strength did you lose relative to the amount of weight lost?

what do you think of trying to lower your reps on work sets?

Or refeeding a little and trying to cycle your carb intake some?

Have you tried taking a week off?

I could give you a fail-proof training protocol and cyclical diet/supplement plan for you to drop 10-15 lbs of fat while completely retaining max effort and repeated effort strength. Of course, I would require to know your current weight, height, bf% and activities list to build it.

some sort of carb up/refeed followed by maintenance for around a week have been recommended for extended dieting periods by Berardi, CT, Lyle for the positive hormonal effect and recovering the metabolism a bit

Your body is at a caloretic defecit, its completely standard to lose some strength...

SHOT

I didn't mean my post as a contradiction. He may just be overtraining and have some residual fatigue. I have no clue on ghey diet.com

I didn't mean to come off as correcting. I was just building on what you said. I agree with all the posts sofar.

Strength loss is standard and some sort of carb up or refeed every 4-6 weeks is a standard reccomendation

Wait....hold on. People here actually believe that ew is anything other then an overweight guy sitting behind the computer pwoning us all on levels?

Shhh

He trains.

HAI GAIZ,

If I take a week off (which is a good idea 'cause I haven't taken a week off since July), what do you think about my cals? I ate 2400/day last week so should I stay with this or should I bump it up a little and then drop back down next week when I lift again?

THANKS GAIZ.

I ASKED YOU BUCKOS A QUESTION

IMO go higher, for about maintenance or a little above even IMO

dunno about taking the week off vs just going really light or something but I think this recommendation is solid either way

I'd take the week off. But I take many "forced" weeks off.

LISTEN GUY I DONT KNOW OK?!

OH HAI! LONG TIME NO SEE, BUCKO!

Have you ever tried to calculate your lean mass and log it so you can check if you lose muscle mass or fat/water? You might want to get a caliper (there are pics of semi-nude dudes on the page, so you might want to check it out).

Bucko, I asked you a question too (even if it wasn't followed by an interrogation point.)

i have seen pics of ericw, he looks like a pretty buff guy

Quick newb question:

I am 6'3" 235ish. I am eating like 2100-2500 calories per day, lifting 3x per week, playing basketball 2x per week, running once per week. I've been gaining weight. I want to lose weight. Tell me what to do.

how the hell are you managing to gain weight? is that your actual calorific intake? have you been getting 100% of your cals from cake or something?

Ya sounds like you need a break. I like to take a week off every 10-12 weeks to let my body recover and I usually feel alot fresher after.

Since you wont be burning calories from training, I def. wouldnt increase calories on your off week. You dont want to gain any extra BF that you have worked hard to cut. Just stick with the 2400/day so u can maintain as much muscle mass as possible.

Your daily calorie intake directly correlates to weight gain/loss. A general starting point (general bc it varies from person to person) I use when refering to muscle/strength gain is 20 calories per pound of bodyweight. So a 150-pound male would need, 3000-calories a day to gain muscle. So, when you cut calories your strength may tend to suffer.

Have no clue as to your nutrition plan but what you can do to maximize strength gains while still cutting fat is perfect the timing of your meals. eat 6-8 small meals each day to provide muscles w/ much needed nutrients and also to keep metabolism high. If your taking in less carbs to cut BF make sure u are still getting carbs in before and after your workouts for muscle fuel/repair.

Sample day intake:

8:30am- Egg&Cheese Sandwich on Bagel, Coffee - 400 calories

12:15pm- Tuna Sandwich, Chips, Fruit, Water- 650 calories

4:00pm- Turkey Sandwich w/ Cheese on Wheat- 300 calories

6:00pm- Two scoops of whey protein powder- 250 calories

7:45pm- Turkey meatballs and sauce w/ side pasta- 700 calories


That's 2300 calories. Pretty standard day. Only drink booze like once per week (though I probably take in like 3500-4000 calories on those days).