Feeling Depleted...

[AirWolf]

I've been on a pretty strict cutting diet for the past several months. I've moved from 235, 24%bf to 200, 17% bf. But for the past 2 days I've felt absolutley depleted like my muscles are beggin for something and my stomach has been a bottomless pit, which is unusual since I've had no problem controlling my appettite so far. I eat plenty of protein, so I don't think thats an issue.

Anyway - I'm considering spending a week bulking a bit to get my metabolism back and maybe make my body happier. What do you guys think? Should I just struggle through this and exercise some will power or give in to the cravings and stuff my face w/ clean foods.

 

[6_pak]

I've been on a pretty strict cutting diet for the past several months. I've moved from 235, 24%bf to 200, 17% bf. But for the past 2 days I've felt absolutley depleted like my muscles are beggin for something and my stomach has been a bottomless pit, which is unusual since I've had no problem controlling my appettite so far. I eat plenty of protein, so I don't think thats an issue.

Anyway - I'm considering spending a week bulking a bit to get my metabolism back and maybe make my body happier. What do you guys think? Should I just struggle through this and exercise some will power or give in to the cravings and stuff my face w/ clean foods.

Congrats on your progess so far. You said youve been on a strick diet for 2 months, do you have cheat meals or cheat days?? If not, go right now to pizza hut or an all you can eat buffet and pig the f*ck out. One meal want do any damage to your progress and will fill you back out, as well as, give you a psychological break from dieting. All in all, if your not preparing for a contest, cheat every 10-15 days.

 

[AirWolf]

Congrats on your progess so far. You said youve been on a strick diet for 2 months, do you have cheat meals or cheat days?? If not, go right now to pizza hut or an all you can eat buffet and pig the f*ck out. One meal want do any damage to your progress and will fill you back out, as well as, give you a psychological break from dieting. All in all, if your not preparing for a contest, cheat every 10-15 days.

Thanks for the congrats...and thanks to the whole board for your help along the way.

I have cheat meals typically at least once a week...although I never pig out, I just eat shitty restaurant food.

 

[pintoca]

Props for your result Bro.

How is your training? One mistake we tend to do A LOT is overtraining.

Characterizing overtraining is hard, the symptoms vary from person to person, but a common one is that feeling of "I don't want to hit the gym today"... if you find yourself lacking the "energy" and the motivation to get through your program then take a rest.

1 week off the gym can help you more than just going through it half-heartedly...

it is a vicious circle:

1. You are felling like shit, but you go through with your diet and gym, only at 50~75% of what you can give
2. You don't get the results you need to motivate you to continue
3. You feel even worse, then you get even worse results.

It has happened to me a couple of time, being cutting straight for 5.5 months and there have been weeks where I felt like shit and I decided to skip my weekend training/diet and just have a "normal people" life for 2-3 days... once you see what normal people do and eat... shit that is scary, you want to go back to your program fast!!!!!

 

[AirWolf]

I'm pretty sure its not overtraining...I still feel good in the gym, although I've definitely lost a bit of strength with my 35lbs. I'm following a HST program so I'm lifting 3 days a week.

I think part of it is that I started playing basketball a lot more in recent weeks and I kept my calories the same so I cut weight a bit too fast. I'm upping my calories temporarily...not all the way up to maintenance, but somewhere in between - we'll see what happens.