Catabolism during cutting and cortisol hormone

BoyFromAus

Active member
Hi guys

I been doing weights for about 7 months now (a noob compared to you all) and about 3 weeks ago, I started my cutting phase and going in calorie deficit daily. first two weeks I seemed to have lost some fat noticably but the third week i can't really tell by checking the mirror.


I have a few questions as I do get confused by different articles and different posts saying different things about catabolism and the cortisol hormone, so i'd like to know from your personal experience.

1. On your cutting phase, do you do low intensity cardio-exercise on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast? Has this given you good results in losing fat or has your body gone catabolic and started to burn muscle?

2. Is there a way to reduce cortisol levels? I read in the Hugo rivera guide that vitamin C can reduce it. Anyone tried this?


3. How many hours between your last meal and bed time? One article i read says you shouldn't have any meals 3 hours before bedtime.


4. I do 2 Low intensity cardio sessions daily and go to the gym 4 times a week (focusing on heavy weight, low rep).

one session in the morning on empty stomach, another session after the gym workout (in the evening) or half an hour after dinner.

Am I on the right track with my program or am i overtraining or something?


Cheers,

much appreciated
 
1. I don't do low intensity cardio, never schedule it in. I stick to HIIT as long as my legs aren't sore.

2. Yes, refeeds reduce cortisol levels, they also improve things over all.

3. I eat right up until bed time to be perfectly honest. Right before I go to bed sometimes.

4. How long are your cardio sessions? Too much cardio can increase cortisol levels.
 
ThomasRivera said:
1. I don't do low intensity cardio, never schedule it in. I stick to HIIT as long as my legs aren't sore.

2. Yes, refeeds reduce cortisol levels, they also improve things over all.

3. I eat right up until bed time to be perfectly honest. Right before I go to bed sometimes.

4. How long are your cardio sessions? Too much cardio can increase cortisol levels.
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my LIIT cardio sessions are usually a power walk for 25 - 30 mins Per Session. So 60 mins a day.

And thomas, how many miligrams of vitamin C do you take a day to reduce cortisol? The HIIT training you do, what do you eat before doing it?
 
Last edited:
1. On your cutting phase, do you do low intensity cardio-exercise on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast? Has this given you good results in losing fat or has your body gone catabolic and started to burn muscle?
Click to expand...

Good results, I do HIT followed by low intensity cardio AKA walking, never had an issue with muscle/strength loss.

2. Is there a way to reduce cortisol levels? I read in the Hugo rivera guide that vitamin C can reduce it. Anyone tried this?
Click to expand...

I take 6g of vitamin C a day, Morning/Midday/Night 2g/2g/2g

3. How many hours between your last meal and bed time? One article i read says you shouldn't have any meals 3 hours before bedtime.
Click to expand...

Don't f**king matter, you can eat up to a minute before bed if you want to...that doesn't make any sense....as long as you're not over eating, it doesn't matter.


4. I do 2 Low intensity cardio sessions daily and go to the gym 4 times a week (focusing on heavy weight, low rep).

one session in the morning on empty stomach, another session after the gym workout (in the evening) or half an hour after dinner.

Am I on the right track with my program or am i overtraining or something?
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'd keep the second session after the gym workout, not after dinner.....this is definitely NOT over training.....Might want to alternate your cardio between HIT and LIC(low intensity cardio)

Let's say you did 1 hour of walking, fast paced, swimming etc... a day...(don't jog btw....either sprint or walk) so instead of doing that, you'd do HIT for 20-30 mins (build up to this if you can't do 20-30 min) and then do LIC for the remaining 30-40 mins....

That way, you burn more calories, feel better throughout the day and build some muscle at the same time.

:cheers:
 
BoyFromAus said:
my LIIT cardio sessions are usually a power walk for 25 - 30 mins Per Session. So 60 mins a day.

And thomas, how many miligrams of vitamin C do you take a day to reduce cortisol? The HIIT training you do, what do you eat before doing it?
Click to expand...


oh, my mistake. You said Refeeds.

I'm not quite familiar with Refeeds, can you explain that one thanks.
 
Its a day out of the week where you would consume say 10-20 percent, maybe 20-30 percent more calories than you require to maintain weight during the week, being careful of fat intake and keeping the carb intake as clean as possible.

About once a week.
 
Im on keto, so right now before HIIT I eat meat and oil basically. On a standard diet I would preface it with a meal similar to what you would eat before you workout.
 
BCAAs in between meals will def help maintain muscle while on a calorie deficient diet. They can also lower cortisol and such too. This is all from the article on BCAAs in the articles section.
 
im just wondering if you guys who have posted answers are talking about cutting or not? because the OP specifically asked regarding cutting... to me it seems like you guys are talking about maintence (you do lose fat on maintence keto)
 
BoyFromAus said:
Hi guys

I been doing weights for about 7 months now (a noob compared to you all) and about 3 weeks ago, I started my cutting phase and going in calorie deficit daily. first two weeks I seemed to have lost some fat noticably but the third week i can't really tell by checking the mirror.


I have a few questions as I do get confused by different articles and different posts saying different things about catabolism and the cortisol hormone, so i'd like to know from your personal experience.

1. On your cutting phase, do you do low intensity cardio-exercise on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast? Has this given you good results in losing fat or has your body gone catabolic and started to burn muscle?

2. Is there a way to reduce cortisol levels? I read in the Hugo rivera guide that vitamin C can reduce it. Anyone tried this?


3. How many hours between your last meal and bed time? One article i read says you shouldn't have any meals 3 hours before bedtime.


4. I do 2 Low intensity cardio sessions daily and go to the gym 4 times a week (focusing on heavy weight, low rep).

one session in the morning on empty stomach, another session after the gym workout (in the evening) or half an hour after dinner.

Am I on the right track with my program or am i overtraining or something?


Cheers,

much appreciated
Click to expand...


1.This will work,and is probably the best time to burn fat.Take 20g of whey protein 20mins before your workout to prevent you burning muscle.

2.Yes, plenty of products out there,Leanxtreme being agood one.[vit c won't do much].

3.Take 30g of casein 1hr before bed to help prevent catabolism.

4.I cant tell you if you're over training,but you look to be on the right track.

Good luck.
 
jester87 said:
im just wondering if you guys who have posted answers are talking about cutting or not? because the OP specifically asked regarding cutting... to me it seems like you guys are talking about maintence (you do lose fat on maintence keto)
Click to expand...


What about it sounds like maintenance? I mentioned refeeds, which is an effective cutting diet tool, HIIT, eating up until bed time, and not doing too much cardio. Omen hit on vitamin C, eating not mattering and HIIT.
 
landfill said:
1.This will work,and is probably the best time to burn fat.Take 20g of whey protein 20mins before your workout to prevent you burning muscle.

2.Yes, plenty of products out there,Leanxtreme being agood one.[vit c won't do much].

3.Take 30g of casein 1hr before bed to help prevent catabolism.

4.I cant tell you if you're over training,but you look to be on the right track.

Good luck.
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Can't really agree with you there, study suggests otherwise. And there are numerous other links that pop up on search engine when relevant information about cortisol reduction. Can't really dismiss Vitamin C.

Invalid Link Removed
 
ThomasRivera said:
Can't really agree with you there, study suggests otherwise. And there are numerous other links that pop up on search engine when relevant information about cortisol reduction. Can't really dismiss Vitamin C.

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...


You're right.I retract wht i said about Vit C.
 
thanks for the detailed feedback, Thomas, landfill and omen.

I'm not doing Keto for now as i'm the type to get quick stomach upset if i do an extreme diet. I'm sticking to 1g protein per pound, moderate carbs, low fat.

I have upped my intake of Vitamin C and i do a HIIT training session in the evening now.

Results have been good. I've dropped about 3% overall in bodyfat in 3 and half weeks.
 
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