I’ve taken a long, slow approach to this cut for several reasons, most importantly that we can only oxidize and burn stored fat for fuel at a certain rate. Roughly 25 kcal per day can be oxidized from fat cells and burned. In order to get our bodies to do this, we need to create a deficit in the energy we expend every day compared to the energy we consume every day. In other words, we need to eat less calories than our body requires each day. Our body won’t just function on less calories, it will use the stored calories we have in our bodies to make up the difference. To a point. If the deficit is excessive, and the body can only oxidize the stored fat at a certain rate, it will burn amino acids, stored carbohydrate from the liver and if needed, break down muscle tissue for more amino acids. So, I think a slower diet, with a modest energy deficit makes the most sense for me. The caveat here is one’s starting point. A very over fat or obese person can cut calories more aggressively. That’s not my situation.
The other reason is I don’t want to feel hungry or lethargic, so I’m willing to take my time and feel good every day as long as I’m losing weight and getting leaner. When I first started my diet, I was eating 3100 calories at the peak of my bulk to keep the weight moving up. It was honestly hard to eat that much food and I often felt uncomfortably full after each meal, so cutting the calories was a welcome change. I don’t remember exactly how much I cut to start, but the last calorie count I remember was around 2600. It may have taken a few cuts to get there; i.e. I don’t think I cut from 3100 to 2600 the first day of the diet. I looked at my average weight loss each week and if it was in line with expectations, I didn’t change anything. I only cut calories further when the weight loss stopped, and usually only by 100 calories per day.
I kept losing weight at 2000 calories a day for quite a while, so that was pretty clearly a good energy deficit. But the body has a way of adapting to the new intake, partly because as you get lighter, you need less calories overall, and metabolic adaptation is a real thing. The body has a way of using less energy to survive when less energy is available. It’s an evolutionary adaptation that helps keep us alive in times of food shortage. There’s also an evolutionary adaptation against being too lean. Fat storage is a long term energy reserve for times of famine. Being very lean would make one much less likely to survive a food shortage, so our bodies will increase hunger signals and down regulate all nonessential activity if it senses imminent starvation. Dieters will often notice a decrease in NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis ) when calories are low. They will tend to sit more, feel the urge to lay down from fatigue, even fidget less.
I’m currently at 1900 calories and I really don’t want to go lower than that. I am feeling some effects of the lower calories, but my weight has stabilized for almost two weeks now. I’m not satisfied yet with my body composition, so I need to consider how to get more of an energy deficit to keep this going. I’ve started doing two 15-20 minute walks each day to burn a few more calories. Depending on the source one uses, that’ll burn anywhere from 100-200 additional calories. I’ll try to keep that up while staying with the 1900 calories and see what happens. Fat loss isn’t exactly linear. I’ve always had fluctuations in the rate of loss; losing nothing for a week, then suddenly losing 1% of my body weight the following week without changing anything. So stable weight for almost two weeks is disappointing, but not totally unexpected.
One change I’ve made to my diet which seems to have helped with some of the lethargy and fatigue is to include carbohydrates in every meal. I was trying a sort of carb backloading strategy; eating few carbs in my first two meals of the day and including them in my post-workout and last meal of the day. I’ve noticed that after my carb meals, the lethargy is relieved and I just feel better in general, so I figured I’d experiment with losing the backloading and see what happens. Since adding the carbs in at my other two meals, energy levels seems to be more consistent all day.
No one said dieting is fun. There’s a reason we don’t walk around looking like fitness models on a magazine cover. But being lean and feeling good about how you look is fun, so I will keep pushing to get closer to the ultimate goal.
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