Is it possible/healthy to lose 2.50 lbs a week by

[DJnoob]

1. Cutting from 170 to 155 ( consuming 1300 calories or less )
2. Getting Stronger/building muscle but at MINIMUM maintaining muscle/strength.

Thanks.

Anyone here ever done this? or is this too much

 

[EyeBRollin]

It’s easier to focus on one at a time. I recommend building a strength base first for at least 6 months using a functional strength weightlifting program such as Starting Strength (by Mark Rippetoe). Once you have a solid strength base your metabolism is higher due to better body composition (muscle is fat burning tissue) and you can transition into a higher cardio routine for cutting. Most people cycle those two “bulk” and “cut” phases after reaching an advanced level of fitness.

 

[Poonstra]

consuming 1300 calories or less

This seems dangerously low, during a cut I eat about 2500 - 2700 calories. How tall are you, what is your body fat? How often do you exercise? Do you sit for you occupation or do you need to walk about? This all matters.

 

[DJnoob]

i am 5'7 currently at 173.8 and 3 weeks @ 179
i am consuming 1700 calories daily
Getin 6 hours sleep daily + 45 min nap

i sit on pc for most part. I burn 1000 calories on eliptical daily for ALMOST a month now.. i am trying to lose body % from 20 to 13-14 is near term goal. I lift weights every other day on top of the daily 1000 calorie burn on top of the 1700bmr.

ANd it seems i've only lost 6 to 7 lbs..

I am getting stronger..able to to do an extra .5 to 3 reps per week on specific muscles..some musles @ .5 extra rep

 

[RickTheToad]

1. Cutting from 170 to 155 ( consuming 1300 calories or less )
2. Getting Stronger/building muscle but at MINIMUM maintaining muscle/strength.

Thanks.

Anyone here ever done this? or is this too much

No. Overtime, fat will turn into muscle or burn away if you are exercising. The only non-heathy way would be by starving yourself or going on a water diet to reach part of your goal. Both, I wouldn't suggest. I recommend a hybrid KETO. I say hybrid as if you do not mix it up a bit, you will develop chronic constipation; which is not fun.

 

[DelayedGratification]

1. Cutting from 170 to 155 ( consuming 1300 calories or less )
2. Getting Stronger/building muscle but at MINIMUM maintaining muscle/strength.

Thanks.

Anyone here ever done this? or is this too much

Agree with other posters... too much at once. Best to not rush these things. If nothing else, going too fast means you set yourself up for a rebound.

Plus, the body is an intricate, counter-intuitive thing. One dynamic I consistently run into: I've been doing serious calorie-restriction along with intermittent fasting, yet finding myself at a plateau for weight, even though I hit the gym 3x a week. Then I'll inadvertently splurge a bit on calorie intake for a day or two and find that I've lost weight and/or reduced body fat, as if I were cutting. This happened once again over Thanksgiving.

My best theory (in my case anyway) is that my calorie restriction throttles down my metabolism, and the occasional splurge tricks my body into thinking, "hey, it's ok to burn calories now!".

In any event, what I'm doing is working in the long haul, but I would probably fare better if I were working with a knowledgeable professional. The "knowledgeable" part being the trick, of course.

 

[Machine10033]

You will feel like crap, hold onto fat, lose all strength and screw your hormones up. 1300 calories will completely down regulate your metabolism. If your maintaining your weight on your current diet find out how Many calories that is... and then put yourself in a deficit of 200-300 calories either thru diet or cardio and maintain that deficit until you stall.... then drop it another 100-200 calories and run that deficit until you stall. In my idiotic youth I have had some days around 1000 calories and couldn’t lose a pound. Your body will adapt and it will set you back big time.

 

[metalwater]

1. Cutting from 170 to 155 ( consuming 1300 calories or less )
2. Getting Stronger/building muscle but at MINIMUM maintaining muscle/strength.

Thanks.

Anyone here ever done this? or is this too much

I was similar stats and initial goals. It took me couple months only. What I did was increase caloric intake and add protein and do hard sprints for couple hours every other day. When I tried to do it every day, I hurt myself. Lifting only three or four days a week at the same time. It was really grueling. Everything got much stronger and the fat just disapeared, abs popped out, was drinking an insane amount of water, like a camel or elephant. Had to cut the run time some, just could not eat enough. at some times in the morning, the desire to eat was just crazy.

 

[Poonstra]

i am 5'7 currently at 173.8 and 3 weeks @ 179
i am consuming 1700 calories daily
Getin 6 hours sleep daily + 45 min nap

i sit on pc for most part. I burn 1000 calories on eliptical daily for ALMOST a month now.. i am trying to lose body % from 20 to 13-14 is near term goal. I lift weights every other day on top of the daily 1000 calorie burn on top of the 1700bmr.

ANd it seems i've only lost 6 to 7 lbs..

I am getting stronger..able to to do an extra .5 to 3 reps per week on specific muscles..some musles @ .5 extra rep

You are doing way to much. I advise 3 days of lifting and 2 day of cardio. I don't know your age, but I assume it to be 30, with the rest of the data you provided you should eat about 2400-2500 during a healthy cut. This is with the 5 days of exercise. Also, don't try and increase strength during a cut, focus on mainting it. Bulking if for strength gains. Last peace of advice, don't cut for more then 3 months, it's too much stress on the body. See attached.

 

[GrowingPains]

i am 5'7 currently at 173.8 and 3 weeks @ 179
i am consuming 1700 calories daily
Getin 6 hours sleep daily + 45 min nap

i sit on pc for most part. I burn 1000 calories on eliptical daily for ALMOST a month now.. i am trying to lose body % from 20 to 13-14 is near term goal. I lift weights every other day on top of the daily 1000 calorie burn on top of the 1700bmr.

ANd it seems i've only lost 6 to 7 lbs..

I am getting stronger..able to to do an extra .5 to 3 reps per week on specific muscles..some musles @ .5 extra rep

Just weigh yourself daily and figure out what maintenance calories is.

Once you've figured that out, subtract 200 calories. And see what that causes you to lose per week.

2.5 lbs / week seems like an upper limit to me. 1 lb a lower limit. None of us can tell you what 'healthy' is. Health does not correspond to a set of numbers. I could lose 3 lbs per week and be healthy. You might be able to handle 2 lbs/week.

If you feel good day in and day out then you are fine. Sleep good. Eat quality food. Drink water.

It is possible to strength and lose weight. But you will find it challenging unless you are experienced in doing so. You will need to know how to program and a proper rate of weight loss. Probably the simplest way to achieve this is to do whats called body recomposition. You wont necessarily lose weight but you will achieve your goal - slowly.

Keep your protein high, 1.6g/kg bodyweight. Youll be alright man dont stress it.

 

[EyeBRollin]

You are doing way to much. I advise 3 days of lifting and 2 day of cardio. I don't know your age, but I assume it to be 30, with the rest of the data you provided you should eat about 2400-2500 during a healthy cut. This is with the 5 days of exercise. Also, don't try and increase strength during a cut, focus on mainting it. Bulking if for strength gains. Last peace of advice, don't cut for more then 3 months, it's too much stress on the body. See attached.

5 days per week of exercise is too much. It means you’re either on steroids or the workouts are too easy.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Don’t listen to these sissies. You *CAN* build muscle and lose fat at the same time. You just can’t do it at the rate you desire, esp if you’re older and/or are near your physiological peak in terms of the amount of muscle you have. You can burn fat quickly, but you won’t be able to build muscle unless you’re young. You can only build muscle while burning fat if you have a little bit of excess fat, work REALLY hard in the gym, and burn fat SLOWLY (not fast). And even then, how much muscle you already have, your age, and how close you are to your physiological maximum will also affect this as well.

So, how to do it ‘correctly’? Fasting. Only give yourself a 1-2 hour window each day for you to eat, preferably 3 - 4 hours before you go to bed. Your entire caloric intake for the day should be within that time frame. This is because fasting increases HGH, testosterone, and cortisol. HGH shoots up like 500x the normal amount (or something like that). These hormones begin to rise at the 16-hour mark of not eating, and continue to rise until they peak at the 24-hour mark (to which they then decrease at the same rate that they rose). Most of this increase occurs within the 18-24 hour range though.

You could also try not eating at all for a few days. These hormones will spike up again around the same time, except that they will rise much higher, but for not as long. The exception to this is when you’re asleep though, HGH and testosterone should go up during then.

Another thing: cortisol gets a bad rep for being the ‘stress’ hormone with a lot of articles saying that cortisol increases fat storing. But the thing is, that’s only true when insulin is present. If cortisol levels are elevated when insulin is not present, then cortisol will actually increase lypolysis (fat burning) instead.

Furthermore, when fasting, adiponectin levels rise. Adiponectin is a hormone that also increases fat burning.

And no, you don’t have to worry about losing muscle. The test and HGH increase is to prevent that. You preserve ~4x as much muscle when fasting as when you just do a regular cutting diet.

If you’re gonna take a supplement, omega-3s and L-Carnitine are good. Omega-3s increase anabolic activity, and carnitine is basically a fat transporter (makes it easier for your body to actually burn the fat).


You’re welcome.

 

[Poonstra]

You *CAN* build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

I didn't say he couldn't. I said daily cardio plus lifting every other day was to much. I gave him advice on a healthy cut, if he doesn't want to listen, fine.

Just weigh yourself daily and figure out what maintenance calories is.

Once you've figured that out, subtract 200 calories. And see what that causes you to lose per week.

This is exactly what I suggested him, based on the numbers he gave me.

None of us can tell you what 'healthy' is.

I definitely know his plan is UNhealthy

edit:typo

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

I didn't say he couldn't. I said daily cardio plus lifting every other day was to much. I gave him advice on a healthy cut, if he does want to listen, fine.

Why are you quoting me as if I addressed you when I didn’t?

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

OP, you can do heavy cardio for 2 hours a day while lifting 4 days a week and get in shape that way. I’m not genetically gifted by any means, but even I was able to do that. And I did that on 4.5 hours of sleep a night, too haha

So your cardio every day and weightlifting every other day isn’t ‘too much’. Most people never realize just how hard they can push their bodies. Even if they’re older, they’re still able to do it. You only have an excuse NOT to once you get to around 50 years old. Otherwise though, do what you gotta do.

 

[Poonstra]

Why are you quoting me as if I addressed you when I didn’t?

I can quote anyone I want to.

 

[EyeBRollin]

I’m calling BS on heavy cardio + lifting 4 days per week. That’s either steroids, lying, or pvssy ass isolation sets like curls. If you’re a natural lifter, go squat 300 lbs for reps 4 times a week then try running a 2 hour half marathon. It’s not fvcking possible.

 

[DJnoob]

I have been burning 1000 calories a day on eliptical and lifting every 2.5 days on average. I did lose 6-8 lbs and gained strength. I took 1 scoop protein at max daily. I weighed in at 170.8LBS from 179LBS 4.2 weeks ago. I would eat 1700 calories daily on average.

The reason for this instant flip in weight is to get to my goal to having that brad/chad lite body sooner. The sooner i can enjoy life some more. I am not wasting time

 

[Poonstra]

Building an awesome body takes time. A long time. Any intake more than 20-25% below maintenance will ensure you're burning muscle and bring out the skinny-fat guy in you.

And I know I'm repeating myself, but you're doing way to much. Those caloric numbers I posted before are based on the data you gave me, which I put in an excel sheet I got of a bodybuilders forum. The advise I gave you is actually based on something.

 

[Poonstra]

Is it possible/healthy to lose 2.50 lbs a week by

And I never really answered your question. I think for a well executed cut just below a kilo a week is on par, so 0,8-0,9 kilo/week.
With the condition that is person who is executing it is already trained. For someone who's just fat and wants to lose weight I have no idea.