Thread: holding on to the muscle

Ya pretty much. I would maybe do maintenance calories for those 5 weeks. You will most likely keep more muscle that way. If you do loose some muscle it will come back real quick when you bulk again though.

If you eat under maintain at 500 calories then muscle loss should not be an issue. I've maintain my muscle when losing about 15 pounds at 1500 daily intake. I lost some strength but muscle mass.

But were you working out? He can't really train for 5 weeks.

Originally Posted by premo

hey guys , seen my physio tonight cant train chest or back for at least 5 weeks hopefully wilth good rest and massage etc will be bck sooner,

im on a cut and want to get to 10% or lower but as i cant lift im gonna struggle to hold on to muscle , is it just a simple case of keeping my protein high to keep as much as i can

keep protein high, take some test boosters. Try to work them indirectly. You dont really have to worry about atrophy for only 5-6 weeks as anything you lose will be ragained withing 10 days with muscle mmory

i can still do squats and legs, i can possibly do really light shoulders and arms but im not allowed to go heavy ncase it effects the chest area, what about supps?? will creatine help in any way

Creatine is always good. I'd stay at maintenance while healing an injury. Cutting adds more stress and impedes collagen synthesis that much more since the body isn't exactly primed for anabolism while hypocaloric. Fish oil, vitamin D, E, C, lots of protein, get whatever exercise you safely can and get lots of sleep.

Thanks built can you help me work out what maintanance is ? Also I when you say vitamins do you mean buy some or in food? If I know what maintanance is ill be able to work out my cutting needs too for when I can lift again. I'm gonna do squats and sprints on no squat days to keep my fast twitch muscle fibres active.

FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal track your eats, and average your intake. If you don't gain or lose, that's maintenance.

You mentioned you've been cutting - how much have you lost, how many cals a day on average, and over what time did you drop the weight? I need to figure out the deficit you ran.

ok i am 5 9 , i was 210, i loosly started cutting around 1 yr ago wth cheat days/weekends and some weeks only a little lifting die to shoulder injury
i started eating like this
6am - protein shake
workout
830 - protein shake
930 handful of nuts
1 30 chicken and salad
7 dinner - chicken or steak salad/veg
10 protein shake

never counted caloried or macros - im now 185-188 around 14% at a guess looking at others pics and only seem to be holding fat bottom part of belly now - lost alot of muscle as well as fat due to shoulder injury and lack of food

recently i have been doing ths

6 am - protein shake
workout
8 am oatmeal with protein not milk
1-130 chicken salad
6-7 protein shake/ plus chicken salad.veg
10 - 10 30 protein shake/or egg whites

i have been eating carbs on a wednesday by adding a bread wrap with my chicken and for dinner would be wraps or pasta

saturday and sunday i have pretty much been eating anything i want dinner usualy is pizza followed by muffins or ice cream sometimes both

sundays will be more healthy byt i may consume breads and have been having dessert also

You are free to diet any way you like.

However, if you want my help, you'll have to fitday your eats and post up the macros.

Up to you.

protein shake - 55gs - 210cals - 42g p - 3.3c - 3.6f
oatmeal milk - 235 cals - 12.3p - 32.7c - 6.3f
chicken breast and salad - 55cal - 8.4p - 2.2f
protein shake - 55gs - 210cals - 42g p - 3.3c - 3.6f
chicken breast with salad - 55cal - 8.4p - 2.2f
6 egg whites and whole eggs- 463cals - 37.6p -3.3c - 31.7f

had to do salads seperate on siite here is the site totals also put oatmeal with milk where i actualy have it with protein powder so i think i may need to add this to total 55gs - 210cals - 42g p - 3.3c - 3.6f
alsi i dont have whole eggs not sure how to calculate the differnce i have whites only


cals 1,273
protein 153
carbs - 51
fats - 50.1

wednesdays i have wraps for lunch and with chicken salad, weekends i have been having cheat day sat sometimes dessert on sunday

You weigh over 200 lbs and you're only eating 1200 calories a day?

No I was. Now I'm at around 185

I lost a lot of muscle to proly eh

Possibly. You still fat, or are you lean now?

I'm pretty lean ¥aybe 14% I thought I was around that when I was 200lbs. But I'm 185 and I'm holding some fat around the lower abs tops are flat. I had a lot of time no lifting due to ashoulder injury also

I wanna burn this fat off the lower belly and hold onto what I have left muscle wise. So I can bulk this time cleaner

I'd suggest you take a break from this super low dieting for a bit, okay? Creep the calories up to maintenance, slowly, start by raising protein to about 250-300g daily, and fats could creep up to about 80-100g daily. Get yourself healed while you gradually ramp up whatever activity your body will let you, then cut again, but more modestly this time. Your current maintenance should be in the ballpark of 2700 calories a day; next cut, don't go lower than 2200, okay?

Ok. Do you think having a cheat day on sat ! And dessert on sunday is harming me maybe should I cut the dessert sunday out ?

Calories in, calories out my friend. If you run a deficit, you'll drop.