Who is on a cut?

[JohnHelton]

@DCM good luck on your cut. I'm pretty close to your numbers and have been cutting very slowly. At this point, I'm wondering if I keep going at the same pace, go faster, or start to bulk (only cutting during pivots). I asked my coach his opinion this morning. We'll see what he says.

[FredM]

Another thing worth mentioning is the change in personal identity. I really liked looking "impressive" in a hoodie and jeans and having people at work joke about "I wouldn't want to mess with broseph!" You never really hear that stuff about lean guys unless they are also absolutely huge. This is an extra special glimpse into my own insecurities, but is real and I wanted to share for anyone else struggling.

^This... right in the feelz

This is almost as hard as spending 6 hours a week working out for a year to achieve a body comp you’re still unhappy with. Or looks from family members when they realize you’ve become a gym rat but look like you barely train.

[broseph]

I’m seriously considering some sort of meal replacement shake for breakfast on days where I work mornings. I’ve tried overnight oats... don’t like the texture.

I’m never actually hungry in the morning. I just don’t function well at work if I don’t eat.

Does anyone have experience with this?

I've made sweet potato shakes before. Cup of cooked sweet potato, skim milk, scoop+ vanilla whey, some artificial (or whatever) sweetener, and a heavy dash of pumpkin spice. Goes down easy, tastes good, good macro split, good satiety.

[Allentown]

The poor, repressed powerlifter...

[dcw]

@Wilhelm When/Where is your meet?

-

Also, from my log:

Today marks Day 1 of Week 7 of the cut. I'm down 15.4lb. I'm going to do one more week of Fat Loss 2, then I'll suffer through two weeks of Fat Loss 3 to see just how lean I get. That will end the cut and the endurance template at the same time. The tentative plan from there is to transition through Maintenance 1, Maintenance 2, and finally to New Base as I do the BBM 7 Week Hypertrophy Template (3 day). Whatever weight I end up is where i'll be, and it'll be time to take a run at a strength block.

For those of you who have ran the RP templates, how long did you stay in each phase post diet before moving to the next? I haven't dug back through the material from RP, but off hand I was thinking of spending 2-3 weeks in each maintenance phase before hitting new base. Slow and steady, and all....

Appreciate your thoughts, my fellow vain ab focused pajama boys

[JohnHelton]

@dcw, are you following the RP Template exactly, including all the vegetables? I can't believe how much weight you have lost in the last month. I think you are down about 15 pounds in a little over a month. That is crazy. Which template have your progressed to? FL1, 2, or 3?

ETA: Crazy that you were responding at the same time as my post.

[DCM]

@DCM good luck on your cut. I'm pretty close to your numbers and have been cutting very slowly. At this point, I'm wondering if I keep going at the same pace, go faster, or start to bulk (only cutting during pivots). I asked my coach his opinion this morning. We'll see what he says.

Thanks John, I appreciate it. My strength already began bouncing back during my 2-week diet break, so I'm confident that my lifts will recover speedily once I begin my slow bulk next year.

I'll be checking your log to see what your coach says

[Wilhelm]

@ Wilhelm When/Where is your meet?

November 24th Brewer Maine (Bangor)

I have 30 something bench sessions between now and then.
Hoping that is enough.

@broseph
I've used a little mashed sweet potato in shakes before.
Like 20 or 30 grams of carbs worth.
I liked it.

[dcw]

Dcw are you following the RP Template exactly, including all the vegetables? I can't believe how much weight you have lost in the last month. I think you are down about 15 pounds in a little over a month. That is crazy. Which template have your progressed to? FL1, 2, or 3?

ETA: Crazy that you were responding at the same time as my post.

Yeah I’m really happy with progress so far. Strength has taken a little hit, but, honestly, it’s probsbly just as much the programming (endurance focused template) as it is the diet. I expected to lose more strength than I have.

-15lb in 6 weeks.
~four weeks on fat loss 1, losing avg 2.5lb per week
-one week loosely tracked (out of town SWAT training), lost about one pound
~one week on fat loss 2. Down another 4 (2 of that was the past two days)

I’ve been following the templates pretty much to the letter***
Training MWF - “hard training macros”
Conditioning TuThSa - “non training macros”
Off Sunday (maybe a long walk) - “non training macros”

***I didn’t count the veggies for the first four weeks, but my OCD finally caught up to me so I’ve been counting everything starting this past week. I’ve been getting probably 10 servings of veggies a day, BUT, 2/3 of those are cans of V8. It’s just easier when you’re eating half of your meals in a car. Lol

I can (and do) eat the exact same thing every day, so the set up and implementation has been simple. The only problem is being hungry.

I am ready to be done, though. A few more weeks.

Gotta go. 28g of almonds and 1 scoop of casein are calling my name

[sorry for any grammar issues; “sent from my iPhone”]

[Allentown]

Has anyone else tried running after losing weight?
It's almost... fun? now. At the very least, it's not just eternal torment. Well, it's less eternal torment. Just a little bit of torment. A scosche torment.

[broseph]

Has anyone else tried running after losing weight?
It's almost... fun? now. At the very least, it's not just eternal torment. Well, it's less eternal torment. Just a little bit of torment. A scosche torment.

I haven’t lost that much weight, but I was surprised how not terrible running was recently. Trail running was especially delightful, probably because of the increased shock absorption compared to road.

[cwd]

I've got some mystery tweak in my right quad, also my low back is hurting. I can't work lower body very much right now.

I put my cut on hold and went to maintenance calories until I can lift hard again. Is this the right strategy?

Do people normally keep cutting during an injury rehab?

[throwinshapes]

I've got some mystery tweak in my right quad, also my low back is hurting. I can't work lower body very much right now.

I put my cut on hold and went to maintenance calories until I can lift hard again. Is this the right strategy?

Do people normally keep cutting during an injury rehab?

I'm working with BBM to rehab a elbow injury, it was recommended to come back up to maintenance. It wasn't clear how much of that was to aid in recovery, or just to limit lean mass loss.

[cwd]

Do people normally keep cutting during an injury rehab?

I'm working with BBM to rehab a elbow injury, it was recommended to come back up to maintenance. It wasn't clear how much of that was to aid in recovery, or just to limit lean mass loss.

Both of those reasons make sense to me. Thanks!

[dcw]

For those of you who have ran the RP templates, how long did you stay in each phase post diet before moving to the next? I haven't dug back through the material from RP, but off hand I was thinking of spending 2-3 weeks in each maintenance phase before hitting new base. Slow and steady, and all....

Appreciate your thoughts, my fellow vain ab focused pajama boys

Update: Found the answer in the "How To Guide" and "FAQ"

Give at least 2 months of Maintenance 1, 2, and New Base (2 months total for all three diets, not 2 months per diet!) before beginning fat loss again. 3 months is even better for most, ensuring that your metabolism and psyche are sufficiently reset for best outcomes in the long term

AND

The purpose of the maintenance phase is to normalize/restore your metabolism and hormone levels from a long period of dieting. Your body views dieting as a stress. In order to conserve energy so as to minimize the calorie deficit, your metabolism slows (which means hunger increases), and hormone production (testosterone and thyroid hormones in particular) is downregulated. To begin reversing these adaptations, the maintenance phase focuses on slowly reintroducing food to your diet, while maintaining near your diet end weight. This phase will also serve to provide you with a mental and physical break from the rigors of dieting.

The maintenance phase will last a minimum of 8 weeks, but the longer or harsher your diet, the longer it needs to be (8 – 12 weeks is common). If you attempt to come out of maintenance too soon and transition into another dieting phase, you will ultimately end up having to reduce your calories even further than before just to initiate weight loss, because your metabolism/hormones have yet to normalize to their pre-diet levels. Similarly, if you add non-diet food too quickly, you will quickly start to regain the weight you just lost, because, coming out of a diet, your body is primed for (fat) storage. This is not ideal, and ultimately leads to no good yo-yo dieting.
As such, the maintenance phase is invaluable, and must be taken seriously. In our opinion, it’s just as critical to your success than the diet phase itself.

@JohnHelton I also remember us talking about whether or not doing a maintenance phase between cutting and bulking was necessary. In the article linked in the FAQ (https://renaissanceperiodization.com/th ... intenance/) they say that it's not necessary to do a maintenance phase if you're planning to gain mass after a cut. It appears that your choice not to was the correct one.

[quark]

[DCM]

For those of you who have ran the RP templates, how long did you stay in each phase post diet before moving to the next? I haven't dug back through the material from RP, but off hand I was thinking of spending 2-3 weeks in each maintenance phase before hitting new base. Slow and steady, and all....

Appreciate your thoughts, my fellow vain ab focused pajama boys

Update: Found the answer in the "How To Guide" and "FAQ"

Give at least 2 months of Maintenance 1, 2, and New Base (2 months total for all three diets, not 2 months per diet!) before beginning fat loss again. 3 months is even better for most, ensuring that your metabolism and psyche are sufficiently reset for best outcomes in the long term

AND

The purpose of the maintenance phase is to normalize/restore your metabolism and hormone levels from a long period of dieting. Your body views dieting as a stress. In order to conserve energy so as to minimize the calorie deficit, your metabolism slows (which means hunger increases), and hormone production (testosterone and thyroid hormones in particular) is downregulated. To begin reversing these adaptations, the maintenance phase focuses on slowly reintroducing food to your diet, while maintaining near your diet end weight. This phase will also serve to provide you with a mental and physical break from the rigors of dieting.

The maintenance phase will last a minimum of 8 weeks, but the longer or harsher your diet, the longer it needs to be (8 – 12 weeks is common). If you attempt to come out of maintenance too soon and transition into another dieting phase, you will ultimately end up having to reduce your calories even further than before just to initiate weight loss, because your metabolism/hormones have yet to normalize to their pre-diet levels. Similarly, if you add non-diet food too quickly, you will quickly start to regain the weight you just lost, because, coming out of a diet, your body is primed for (fat) storage. This is not ideal, and ultimately leads to no good yo-yo dieting.
As such, the maintenance phase is invaluable, and must be taken seriously. In our opinion, it’s just as critical to your success than the diet phase itself.

@JohnHelton I also remember us talking about whether or not doing a maintenance phase between cutting and bulking was necessary. In the article linked in the FAQ (https://renaissanceperiodization.com/th ... intenance/) they say that it's not necessary to do a maintenance phase if you're planning to gain mass after a cut. It appears that your choice not to was the correct one.

This makes me wonder if I need a longer maintenance phase - I've basically been cutting all year, with only two 2-week periods of eating at or above maintenance. I have had quite a few cheat meals throughout the year as well, not sure how much that mitigates the impact of long-term restriction. If I struggle to lose scale weight over the next month at 2400-2500 calories, I think I WILL do a longer maintenance phase, just to sort out the issues mentioned in that quote. I don't think I could bear it mentally to eat much below that intake.

[JohnHelton]

After I'm done with my cut, I think I'm going to try Avatar Nutrition's Reverse Dieting. I'm starting to think my metabolism is getting pretty low. I've only been eating about 1900 calories per day. I would think the weight would be falling off...but it has been really slow. Basically, I think they just slowly add calories back as opposed to jumping to TDEE.

That being said, I'm pretty pleased with the results. Waist getting down to about 34". That is over 3" gone since mid-July.

[DCM]

After I'm done with my cut, I think I'm going to try Avatar Nutrition's Reverse Dieting. I'm starting to think my metabolism is getting pretty low. I've only been eating about 1900 calories per day. I would think the weight would be falling off...but it has been really slow. Basically, I think they just slowly add calories back as opposed to jumping to TDEE.

That being said, I'm pretty pleased with the results. Waist getting down to about 34". That is over 3" gone since mid-July.

Great results, John, congrats! 1900 calories does sound a tad low to me. What are your day-to-day hunger levels like? I think reverse dieting is a good idea in any case, and will be the approach I'll adopt as well, rather than jumping straight back in at maintenance calories.

[JohnHelton]

After I'm done with my cut, I think I'm going to try Avatar Nutrition's Reverse Dieting. I'm starting to think my metabolism is getting pretty low. I've only been eating about 1900 calories per day. I would think the weight would be falling off...but it has been really slow. Basically, I think they just slowly add calories back as opposed to jumping to TDEE.

That being said, I'm pretty pleased with the results. Waist getting down to about 34". That is over 3" gone since mid-July.

Great results, John, congrats! 1900 calories does sound a tad low to me. What are your day-to-day hunger levels like? I think reverse dieting is a good idea in any case, and will be the approach I'll adopt as well, rather than jumping straight back in at maintenance calories.

Truthfully, my hunger isn't that bad. I eat three meals per day plus a big protein shake (2 scoops of whey plus 8 oz. of milk). However, I'm ready to start really eating more. I'm curious the degree to which my testosterone has taken a hit.

The last thing I want to do after this stupid cut is gain fat quickly.