ybme

Hello everyone I have a quick question about adding more calories into my diet. I started cutting semi-seriously about 12 weeks ago with my calories set at around 2500. I have gradually brought my levels down to their lowest at around 1000 calories a day *I know this is stupid and goes against everything I should be doing to lose weight* but I am just so frustrated with these last few pounds that I want to lose. I am down to 179 pounds from about 196. My strength has dipped a little but I know this is to be expected when cutting. My diet is standard low carb fare basically a keto diet with a refeed once per week. How should I go about adding calories into my diet? Right now I workout about 6 times a week 5 days a week of weight lifting with 6 days of cardio (1 hour in duration). Also I was just curious have I brought myself to a point where I am basically screwed since I have cut calories so low any increase will cause fat gain?

Ikaika

You've cut calories so low that your metabolism is probably tanking and you're losing muscle. Bring cals up to 1800 and we can talk; at 1000 cals/day you're starving yourself.

Tell us a little more about your training(rep ranges, volume, etc) as well as your cardio(intervals, steady state).

Are you set on sticking with a keto style diet?

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No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

ybme

Per workout I usually pick five or six exercises per muscle group and for each exercise I do about 4 sets of 10-12 reps. I dont take more than 30 seconds between sets and about 1 minute between exericse. My cardio is basically steady state I will do 60 minutes on the treadmill at an incline of 2.0 at 6.5 mph. I will also rotate in 60 minutes on elliptical, row machine, stationary bike. I get kind of bored with cardio so I try to switch it up to keep it interesting.

At this point I was kind of thinking of upping my calories in pure keto food to the point where I hit baseline then slowely add in carbohydrates. While I do enjoy the simplicity of a keto diet I am will to switch to something more along the lines of a 40/30/30.

Ikaika

well since you're plateauing switching from a keto to a normal diet probably is a good thing. I know Skelooth loves his keto but I hate it with a passion. I'm not sure that I follow why you need to slowly add in the carbs...are you afraid your body is gonna freak out and store them all as fat if you just start eating them all at once?

I'd also suggest switching to interval cardio rather than steady state. If you do 45 seconds of cruising followed by 30 seconds of all-out exertion you'll be dead after 15 minutes. The nice thing about intervals is that they cause an increase in your basal metabolic rate so that you burn more calories regardless of what you're doing; you'll spare muscle this way and since you've been doing steady state for a while I think the change will be positive for you.

__________________
No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

ybme

Thank you for all the advice Ikaika I guess I am slightly carb phobic. However, its funny because I feel like I lost most of my weight from 280-196 just doing a simple 40/30/30 diet. I was just under the assumption to get super lean you had to basically cut out all carbohydrates. How many days a week would you recommend interval cardio? Right now I am doing cardio for one hour six times a week.

Ikaika

See thats the thing...I don't think you have to go super low carb to lean out; for contests you have to carb deplete and all that jazz, but for the average joe i don't think it is necessary.

For interval cardio, try it 3 times a week for 15-20 minutes at a time. At first you will be completely fried after 15 minutes, but work up to 20. I don't think you have to do it every day; if you want to do 20 minutes of steady state 2 days a week I think that would be fine. My cardio schedule is as follows:

Monday: recumbent bike, intervals, 20 mins
Tuesday: treadmill, steady state, 20 mins
Wednesday: elliptical, intervals, 20 mins
Thursday: off, leg day
Friday: random machine, intervals, 20 mins

Hope this helps, its been great both for leaning out as well as improving my cardiovascular fitness overall.

__________________
No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

skelooth

Yes! If you are on keto for a prolonged amount of time... "jumping right back in" to a low fat (moderate carb) diet will not only bloat you, but cause you to gain fat... because you are terribley sensitive to carbohydrates.

Keto works fantastic, but it has to be done right, and it's still not a magic bullet. I would recommend a keto diet with an assload of LOW intensity cardio. Your body will have no choice but to burn the fat.

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ybme

How would you recommend adding carbohydrates into your diet skelooth?

skelooth

start with a single bowl of oatmeal each morning for a week, then a second bowl of oatmeal somewhere in the day during the second week... then third week eat carbs but be conscious of their GI. Slow and steady... otherwise you blow up like a balloon. I know, I've learned the hard way

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Ikaika

Thats what you get for doing keto.

__________________
No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

ybme

Okay here goes my quick update starting on this saturday I have added a carb meal post workout consisting of a fruit/oatmeal/lean protein/healthy fat. The rest of my meals will consist of fibrous vegestables/healthy fats/lean proteins. I am bumping up the calories to 1800. I have to admit I feel much better.

Ikaika

Those post-workout carbs are so important man, replenish those glycogen stores so you can hit the weights hard again the next day.

__________________
No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

ybme

Anymore advice Ikaika I think I am going to keep upping calories by 150-250 a week depending on weight changes.

Ikaika

Personally the next place I'd add carbs is when you wake up in the morning; I don't know what your breakfast currently looks like, but if you throw in some steel cut oats I expect you'll be pleasantly surprised. They fill you up and give you energy that will help tide you over till your workout.

Just my 2 cents, but if I don't eat carbs when I wake up I feel like ass all day.

__________________
No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

ybme

weight is up to 181 this morning which is a little upsetting I guess this is in part due to more carbs/food in general.

MacTech

Don't be overly concerned about this weight gain.

Attached is a picture of me at approximately the same weight and it is the sole reason I don't go by the scale. Although I do weigh myself everyday.

Attached Images

Picture 5.jpg (34.5 KB, 17 views)

ybme

Thanks MacTech Im just really confused at what I should do now. The added weight is still making me nervous and part of me just wants to gut it out and cut really hard to drop the weight however; I also know that dropping weight to fast is bad for your health and you are sacrificing muscle tissue.

MacTech

Well, my point is that at a certain bodyweight, I can look like my old picture, as well as the new one where I have more muscle and less fat. Don't rely on the scale as the end all.

A better judge may be calipers and/or the mirror.

Drop your weight slowly and your lean body mass will increase, as your fat goes down. Ensure you are eating clean and often. Overtime there will only be one result, a better looking you.

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Still going thru life one rep at a time.

My training journal.

ybme

Ok last week was kind of weird I upped my calories and dropped three pounds I am now eating about 2500 calories on workout days and 2200 on non-workout days. I am eating a lot more than I am accustomed to but I feel pretty good. Im basically following mactechs advice just eating six clean meals a day with one or two of those meals being shakes depending on the amount of time I have.

ybme

body is still adjusting to the increase carbohydrate intake I gained about 9.5 pounds this week but I am not really nervous I dont look any different in the mirror I think most of it was muscle glycogen being replaced I know some of it was fat but I was irresponsible with my diet and basically starved myself for several months so I do expect some fat gain while I reset my calories.

ybme