Loss of strength with diet

[ernhrt]

Background:
Doing Dave Palumbo's cutting diet.
Slowly saw increases in weight and reps before the diet.

I have been doing the diet for about 4 weeks and I saw my strength go down. Only being able to lift 8,9 or 10 reps instead of the 12 I was doing.

Fast forward to today. I basically came off of the diet and have been eating carbs and whatnot again for the last week. Maintaining weight and not being stupid. I have noticed that my reps are back to where they were and I getting the full sets done.

Is this a normal thing?

[SP1966]

Yes.

[JTraining]

Sucks doesn't it There are two major schools of thought on how to combat this and it is no secret which school I belong to (both are valid in my opinion).

1) Cycle a clean bulk and cut regimen throughout the year.

2) Eat at maintenance while not gaining any fat so you do not have to cut.

Good luck in fighting the good fight for lean muscle mass!

[Meatpants]

Yes.

And if you are back to full speed after only a week, that is a great sign that your diet was successful. How much did you cut off?

[ernhrt]

And if you are back to full speed after only a week, that is a great sign that your diet was successful. How much did you cut off?

Not really going by weight, but the scale tells me 10 lbs.

I am going for fat loss.

[JOHN GARGANI]

ERNT: when Palumbo and his colleagues go on these kind of diets, they are also chemically enhanced, which minimizes the muscle and strength loss......

with that in mind, if you train naturally, you should never bring the carbs as low as some of these guys do...