Thread: maintainace diet

Well if I were you I'd increase my calories by 200 every week, considering you shouldn't of even eaten 1500 calories to begin with that's way too little and you probably slowed down you metabolism, so since your metabolism is slow I'd keep the cardio to 5x a week untill you hit the 2100 then reduce it to 4x a week (or 3x a week) and keep increasing your calories every week by 200 untill your at your maintenance.

Originally Posted by Tom_B

Well if I were you I'd increase my calories by 200 every week, considering you shouldn't of even eaten 1500 calories to begin with that's way too little and you probably slowed down you metabolism, so since your metabolism is slow I'd keep the cardio to 5x a week untill you hit the 2100 then reduce it to 4x a week (or 3x a week) and keep increasing your calories every week by 200 untill your at your maintenance.

Well, actually 1500 for me is fine since I only weight right now 160 and I am 18 years old. At 1500 I am able to get +160 of protein in order to maintain muscle, and also in the weekends I have cheat meals in the morning, and after nutritional meals to keep my metabolism from slowing down too much.

But thank you for answering my question, as soon as I'm done cutting, I'll be sure to increase my calories that way to maintain.

Actually, 1500 is too little for you. You should still be able to cut while eating about 2000 calories. If you are eating properly, then you probably need somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 calories just to maintain.

that's what i was thinking, I'm gonna be 140lbs when i go on my cut and I'm gonna need about 2000-2300.

Beside the weekends where I take a small break, I am eating nutritionally during the week 7 meals a day, usually consisting of only 1%milk, whey protein, ham, chicken, beef, tuna, salad, unsalted peanuts, mozarella cheese, 0 sugar jello, low fat cottage cheese, eggs, carb shakes, high fiber cereal, and protein bars. I drink over 1.5 gallons a day of water and nothing else except for the shakes. I workout 3 times a week, and cardio 5 times a week. M,W,F is hiit cardio, and T,Th is 45 min. stationary bike at 70% heart rate. I am also using right now a ECY + green tea bags stack to help me along. And even with all this I am only able to lose the most 1.25 lbs a week. I added up all that I eat on the weekends, and it's around 2500 on saturday, and 2000 on sundays. On monday's when I go back to the strict diet and go weight myself in the afternoon, I usually see a gain of 4-5 lbs which are most likely of water, and maybe some stored sugars.

I don't really think that I'm burning muscle because I'm still able to do around as much as when I finished bulking 6 months ago, just ten lbs less the most on weights.

I am not arguing with you guys about this, I truly try to take in as much advise as possible, but I don't know. 1500-1600 cal a day are what through trial and error has been working for me the best. Maybe my body is really struggling to keep those last few lbs of fat, or maybe genetically my metabolism is really slow or my body retains fat really easily, I just don't know. All I can say is that everybody is different one way or the other.

Are you a male or female?

I'm a guy

If you add 5-10 lbs of muscle, your metabolism will be much higher and you will be able to keep the weight off easier. At your age with your level of activity and gender, you should maintain at around 2800 calories, so there might be something wrong with you--unless you have absolutely unfortunate genetics. Do you experience fatigue frequently? If you have insurance, see a doctor and ask to have your thyroid checked. I'm sure you have friends your age that eat over twice what you do and are just as lean. To answer your question though, I would gradually increase your calories; about 50 a day until you are at about 2200, keeping your cardio frequency up, but shortening the length from 45 to 30 min immediately. Eat plenty of complex carbs and get your Essential Fatty Acids (EFA). It is possible that your body has attapted to "starvation mode" and your metabolism is lower. With the right adjustments, you should be able to maintain while eating over 2200 calories a day.