MakeEachSetCount

I have never felt this. I can feel a deep exhaustion after a good workout, and almost feel hungover from a workout in the morning, but nothing like what you described.

Thank you for explaining it in the sense that he has plenty to lose before his body responds negatively when it comes to metabolism.

Is it possible that he has ate this amount of calories for a while and his metabolism is damaged? I feel like I have done this to myself before, but I cannot speak entirely for his situation. Other than that, I would agree. He is not tracking as well as he says/thinks.

If you lost eating 2500-2800, i don't think it's too off that he maintains at this 2700. Could his metabolism be slow enough to maintain at that caloric level? He would have only been 25-35 lbs heavier than you and more active, but I guess that depends on your definition of "semi-active". Age is 30 so still young as well. I am trying to help him get leaner, but I am not sure cutting calories at this point would be beneficial. I'm pretty confused on this.

Hey NF, I have a question regarding calories needed to maintain 285 lbs at 5' 10" or 5' 11" ish. I have a friend who is 285 and looking to lose weight. He claims to maintain at about 2700 -3000 cals per day with his activity level (lifting 4 days a week). I am about 250 with the same height and I maintain with 3300-3600 cals per day. I don't think his numbers are right. Anyone here have or had the same stats as 285? If so, what calories did you use to maintain, lose, bulk, etc? I know everyone is different, so I just wanted to get some ideas as I am almost positive his numbers regarding maintenance calories are flawed. All the calculators used show that this is way too low as well. Thoughts?

Consume less calories than you burn. Try a TDEE calculator online to gauge how many calories that you should eating and adjust from there. You can use a rule such as 90/10 or even 85/15 ratio in terms of eating clean vs cheating. For example, eat clean 90% of the week, and allow 10% to be of food you enjoy, but NOT exceeding your caloric limits. There are plenty of options out there for you. Some rules I suggest are to make sure you choose an approach that is sustainable and one that you will keep you satisfied.

You need to believe in yourself. To put that into perspective, this is what that should mean: Regardless of hardship, lack of motivation, lack of interest, etc, you need to focus on the opportunity and no necessarily the physical effort. Believing in yourself means having the discipline to reach your goals, and the ability to use the tools in order to get you to your goal. You can lose weight through diet only as well! By tools I mean preparation, planning, documenting, etc. Remain objective! Treat progress and regress as the same! Just keep moving forward regardless! At the end of the day, it is entirely up to you when it comes to doing what it takes to reach your goals. Nothing comes easy, so do not be discouraged. Don't just quit! Do something about it! If you can apply these things, I (a complete stranger to you), believes in you! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!

I honestly do not know how people can take working out seriously without keeping a log. Tracking performance will help you gauge progress. We should never just be going to the gym and going through the motions; we should be challenging ourselves on each exercise and each set. A workout log will help you see what needs improvement, what might have not been working (rep & set scheme), and what HAS been working. I feel that a workout log is essential!

This is pretty good. I really do not see any issues with it. Is your form the same without a belt?

This is much better, but on the negative, keep the bar in contact with your legs all the way down to your shins. This will keep you tight while doing reps.

The bar is starting too far away from your body. Start at about an inch away from your shins, as you grab the bar and move shoulders back (while keeping hips relatively high), your shins should touch the bar at that point, then start your pull. It will be a much more efficient pull and will help keep you tighter.

This is pretty much my approach. The only macro I really track is protein.

I have been deadlifting for a long time and I have never heard of this nor experienced it. Are doing a lot of cardio? Perhaps it's something from overuse, but I would not say that the deadlifts have caused this, especially if your form is good. Regarding intensity, I think if you are gassed to the point that you cannot perform any other exercises after deadlifts, you should revisit your diet/rest. Even if I go to high intensity (90% or higher of 1RM), I can still finish the rest of my routine for that day. Perhaps I will be affected by a rep or two on an exercise or two after, but nothing that will make the rest of workout not doable. I hope you find out what is causing the pain and can fix it. I know how problematic and downing nagging things like this can be.

Hey NF, What are your opinions on focusing on calories but not so much on macros when cutting? For example, I make it a priority to get anywhere from 200-230 grams of protein per day, but I do not necessarily aim for a particular amount of carbs or fat. Protein is really the only macro that I am concerned with. I mainly track my calories and just focus on staying within that caloric limit. I wouldn't say that one day is ever relatively carb or fat heavy (for the most part). I lift intensely so I need carbs, so I am not shy with carbs. I also do not try to limit fats. The only thing that I aim to limit is calories. Does anyone else have this approach, or do you follow a certain ratio macro split? All feedback would appreciated! Thanks!

In my opinion what you stated was too vague. What are your calories looking like? What is your weight, height, sex, activity level, etc... One rule will remain true, calorie deficits = weight loss. Metabolic damage could be a factor, but ultimately it still boils down to calories in vs calories out. I am no expert, but I would suggest eating at a slight surplus of 300 to 500 cals a day for about two weeks, and slowly scale back calories to kind of restart on your diet. Before you can do that, you will need to know how many calories you should be eating in the first place.

In my opinion, a BCAA drink can be a good substitute for people who want to drink something other than water all day, creatine has its proven benefits, and a pre-workout supplement is very beneficial if that is what someone needs to get that extra boost to get themselves to the gym. I for one have taken a D-Aspartic Acid supplement and have certainly seen different benefits from it as well.

In my opinion, you should never go to failure if the intensity is high. The return is minimal and the risk is way too high. If the intensity isn't high on said lift, then you're risking less, but again, the return isn't necessarily worth it.

I feel that this exercise selection is good for the most part. Not sure that you are or are not doing this, but I would not limit reps to a certain amount per set. I would maximize each set in order to make sure that you are putting yourself in a good place for progression. I basically use an auto-regulated approach for progression. For example: 3 sets of squats for 18 reps total. If the first set is 10 reps, 2nd is 6, and 3rd is 5, that's 21 total reps. I beat my goal of 18 total reps so I will add 5 lbs to the bar next time I perform squats. I usually set lower rep goals for the big movers such as bench press, rows, squats, deads, etc... and higher volume goals for the accessory lifts, but I am ALWAYS maximizing each set by pushing each set to one rep before failure or if my form starts to slip drastically.

Most effective would depend on your strengths. Randy Couture lost more often to Liddell than not. The main reasons were that we he was great at striking in combination with being able to keep distance between him and his opponents. Royce Gracie was a great at what he did because he was able to get close to his opponents and smother them to them ground with various techniques. I have trained in Muay Thai for about 4 years of my adult life. Striking and keeping distance were my strengths.

Even with restricting most vegetables and fruits, there are plenty of healthy recipes that you can look up online to keep calories in check and still hit your macros. I am the same way regarding vegetables, but I can eat a few. I would look to add or substitute fruits and vegetables with the ones that you can/willing to eat.

Thanks for your feedback! I will consider this.

The re-feeds are tracked enough to know that I am in that range via the myfitnesspal app. I have not taken a break and have considered doing so, but according to my tdee, it looks like the 2500 cal per day approach would be too little. I don't want to cause anymore metabolic damage considering it is possible that I have already been doing so....

Hello! I have been at a standstill on weight loss for almost a year. I lost about 30 lbs eating 2500-2700 calories per day on average. What I will do is eat about 2500 calories a day, and maybe 4000-5000 calories on Sunday's as a re-feed day, but would still ultimately be in a 2500-4000 calorie deficit per week total. Per my TDEE, I am eating too little. I have a desk job and lift four days a week with cardio being done three days week. I carry a good deal of muscle and fat (unfortunately). According to my TDEE I burn about 3,900 calories per day. If I am eating 2500-3000 6 days out of the week, is my metabolism running much less efficient? Should I bump it up to 3000 calories per day for the whole week? My workouts are pretty intense as I lift fairly heavy with a good mix of volume. I am getting married in May of 2018 and I would like to lose weight for the wedding and of course the rest of my life. I am at about 288 now, and not sure my BF%, but I assume it is around 30-35%. I would like to get to about 220 and see where I am at. Any input on calories needed, calories per day, calculations, etc are appreciated! Thanks!