help with maintaining muscle during cut.

[drdave142]

Current stats:
Weight: 185
Body fat: 20ish

Goal:
weight: 175
Body fat: 10

Current supplements:

Whey iso
creatine mono
OxyElite pro
multi vitamin
Fish oil.

I'm on a low calorie diet right now (1200-1500)

I would like to know if there is anything else i could be doing to help reach this goal. I have already dropped 35lbs since February and now this last 10 seem to be hard. I have also noticed that my muscle mass seems to be dropping. My workout buddy has been looking into taking ep-stane. I dint know anything about this product and would line to know some info on it as well as if it would hello with my current goal. Arms don't feel line they used to. I hit the gym about 4 times a week. All advise would be great. Thanks again everyone.

 

[hvactech]

cals are way too low

 

[drdave142]

So more calories and heavy weight?

 

[hvactech]

whats ur age?

 

[drdave142]

29years
5'-6"

 

[hvactech]

i get a rough tdee of 2880 cals for maintenance assuming you exercise/workout 3-5 times a week....if you are 20% then i wouldnt go any lower than 2200 for starters. probably why you've noticed a loss in muscle mass, epistane is an anabolic which you shouldnt worry about

 

[Jiigzz]

Yeah, eat more. Your going to lose your gains by not eating enough.. body has to get fuel from somewhere and if your not supplying it through food, then it starts catabolizing muscles (and fat) for fuel.
The more muscle you have, the more food you must eat to sustain it as muscle mass is very alive and likes to be fuelled, whereas fat doesnt.

Eat -500 calories from your maintainence to cut well and make sure to keep your protein levels up (usually between 1.6-1.8g/KG/BW (where BW is bodyweight). convert to lbs

 

[GeovanniG]

Yeah, eat more. Your going to lose your gains by not eating enough.. body has to get fuel from somewhere and if your not supplying it through food, then it starts catabolizing muscles (and fat) for fuel.
The more muscle you have, the more food you must eat to sustain it as muscle mass is very alive and likes to be fuelled, whereas fat doesnt.

Eat -500 calories from your maintainence to cut well and make sure to keep your protein levels up (usually between 1.6-1.8g/KG/BW (where BW is bodyweight). convert to lbs

I totally agree, if your calories are too low, your body would get into starvation mode.

When in starvation mode, your body will store all the calories your taking in as fat--so you won't starve to death.

And when your burning calories, your body will first target your muscle instead of your fat.

 

[asooneyeonig]

many people disagree with me on this but eat around maintenance if not above. but cut carbs down as much as possible so fat will be the staple of your diet.

you could also try things like carb backloading or intermittent fasting.

 

[Jiigzz]

many people disagree with me on this but eat around maintenance if not above. but cut carbs down as much as possible so fat will be the staple of your diet.

you could also try things like carb backloading or intermittent fasting.

Yeah id be one of those people who disagree , but lets not get into a discussion on it. If you are struggling to get rid of the last of the fat then yeah, cut back on carbs on workout days and make sure to get in those BCAAs to ensure that these, and the fat is used primarily for energy.

But carbs are not the 'devil', and you can still burn off fat from a high carb diet (which is what I do).

 

[kingk0ng]

As mentioned, your calories are way too low. Low calories are going to do nothing but decrease your metabolism and burn off muscle. You'd be better off eating just below maintenance or just using a ketogenic style/low carb diet.

 

[johnathan1995]

Im also confused about something.how do i build muscle during cutting then?

 

[drdave142]

Thanks everyone. I'm reworking my intake and looking at tweeking my program a bit. And yes, how do you build while cutting? I've always been told, do one or the other.

 

[Jiigzz]

Im also confused about something.how do i build muscle during cutting then?

You ask the same question over and over on multiple threads, in the hopes that the answers given to you are wrong. They arnt. You simply cannot GAIN muscle while eating in a calorie deficit state.

Consider this scenario; if you were a builder and had only enough equipment (wood, nails etc) to build a small shack and then your boss calls you to build a mansion, can you do so with only the equipment needed to build a shack? of course not, there simply isnt enough raw materials. You must go out and buy more wood and nails in order to build the mansion. The same goes for the body. You cannot grow to be bigger if you only feed your body the materials it needs to maintain or decrease mass.

If you want to be a mansion, you have to get more building blocks.

You cannot be in a calorie deficit state and expect your body to grow, thats an oxymoron. You cant make a mansion out of shack materials. Period.