Help! *cycling* diet

[Metro Girl]

So supposedly you cant burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. I notice a lot of talk about *cutting* and *bulking* diets on this board, but I have never tried cycling my diet before. My main concern now is to get rid of he excess fat around my middle.

I know I need to eat less calories than I burn, but how much less should I be eating without going on a *crash* diet?

In fact, what is the difference between a *cutting diet* and a *crash diet*? I don't want to ruin my metabolism.

Should I continue to eat the same type of food (I'm eating healthy) and just decrease the calories or shoud I also eliminate carbs and sugars? (I think you call this CKD.) ???

What is *carbing up* and is it necessary?

If I'm eating less, should I continue to lift weights or stop lifting weights (since I can't gain muscle anyway) and do more cardio?

How long should I stay on this diet?

Ladies, I'm really confused. I wanted to post this specifically on the women's board rather than the diet board because most of those guys probably weigh twice as much as I do and need to eat a whole lot more. Any help from you is really appreciated.

I've tried to find information on the internet but I'm still confused.

 

[wateengedoe2]

A cutting diet shouldn't go too low (e.g. below 500 kcal under your maintenance level) so your metabolism doesn't slow down too much. Cut down on the carbs (but no keto diet is necessary), eat most in the mornings and decrease the size of the meals (especially the carbs) the later it gets in the day. Eat often (5, 6 times a day). Keep your protein at least as high as it is now (if you're already eating e.g. 1g/lb body weight), or maybe even a bit higher and drink a lot of water.

Re the training: Keep on lifting!! This is the stimulus for your body to keep your muscles, otherwise it will burn them because they take up energy that the body will try to save. Incl. some cardio as well, preferably on empty stomach in the morning, because then fat burning will be more effective. Don't cardio too much, it will break down muscle. 2 or 3x a week is enough.

 

[Metro Girl]

ok, nevermind, i'll just do more cardio or something. i'm making it too difficult for myself.

 

[wateengedoe2]

Why? Eating a bit less carbs isn't too hard and it's far more effective than just a bit more cardio. Re the calories, everyone should decide for themselves of course, but I think knowing what and how much you eat is very important if you want to reach your goals (either more muscle or less fat, or at least not losing muscle while trying to get less fat).

Whatever you decide to do, please do NOT cut down on the lifting, because you will eat your muscles that way, especially when you eat less.

 

[JJFigure]

Most of us use cutting diets for the following reasons:

1) Competition - getting on stage in a little bikini is always a great motivator for temporarily cutting bodyfat.

2) Photo shoots - again, you have to live with the photo, so a photo shoot is another great motivator for temporarily cutting bodyfat.

3) Summer weather/Vacation - not as strong a motivator, but another decent reason to shed bodyfat.

The problem with a cutting diet is they are really meant for temporary levels of bodyfat. Most of us don't stay on this type of diet, because a long term cutting diet will definitely mess with your metabolism and sanity. Just watch for posts from a few of us as we're getting ready for comp - the sanity levels definitely start dropping! Instead, we have maintenance body fat levels we can live with, and cutting body fat levels for specific purposes.

If you're just trying to reach a new, lower maintenance weight you can live with permanently, your best bet is to clean up your diet by limiting processed foods, increasing your protein, and ensuring your diet contains EFAs. For permanent weight loss, I believe you should train your body to live with new, lower fat setpoints by gradually losing weight. For example, lose 5 lbs. then hold that weight for 5-6 weeks to give your body time to adjust to the lower body weight. Then, lose another 5 lbs. and hold for 5-6 weeks, and continue this cycle until you reach your desired weight/body fat levels. If you lose weight too rapidly/too drastically, your body will try to get back to its old maintenance weight and will sabotage your diet strategy.

If you're following this type of approach, you don't have to do anything as drastic as a CKD, so you also don't need to worry about carb loading and carb depleting. Reduce your kcals - maybe using a formula such as 11xbodyweight - or even 12xbodyweight if you lose weight too rapidly on 11xbodyweight, and eat foods that will fuel your body, not your emotions. Have the occasional cheat meal to retain sanity, and keep your workout intensity high. Don't live in the cardio section of the gym (30-40 min 3-4xweek is more than enough), and lift with the big boys and girls (in other words, use free weights and focus on compound movements).

Good luck!

 

[wateengedoe2]

JJFigure, I don't agree with you in that cutting diets always should lead to such extreme goals. IMHO cutting is just a good way of weight loss diet, i.e. a diet that will cause fat loss with as much muscle mass being retained as possible. One can go very far in that, to 10% or even less fat, but why not use a similar diet, still with enough calories to ensure keeping your metabolism high enough, e.g. to go from 30% to 20%?

 

[JJFigure]

Sorry Wateengedoe2 - I was just pointing out that most of us use the more extreme cutting diet for very specific goals. You're right, you can also use a cutting diet to just drop bodyfat, but I don't think you'll be able to keep the full bodyfat reduction unless you take a more gradual approach. Every time I finish a diet cycle, my body tries to get back to a very specific weight - it never fails, no matter how little or how much I eat, I always end up back at the same weight. It's really hard to get your body used to a new set point, and cutting diets tend to be too rapid an approach for permanent bodyfat loss.

 

[wateengedoe2]

OK, I see what you meant, JJ! I regard everything that incorporates losing fat in a wise manner and not only weight (like most diets by people who know nothing about BB) as cutting diets, not only diets that lead to very low fat percentages that can only be kept for a short time. So it's just a difference in definition I think I think the weight can be kept off when one changes eating habits for good ánd didn't cut down to a too low fat percentage.