too much loss on cut?

[sharpieblet]

I know that you have to suffer a little strength loss when you cut, especially if it's a long cut, but i cannot tell if i'm losing more muscle than i should compared to fat at this point. I am roughly a few months into my cut, currently at 149 lbs, goal is tentatively set for 135 lbs. Since January i have been losing 1-2 lbs per week and maintain a 500 cal deficit per day, some days are around 700. I no longer count calories burned during exercise towards my deficit. Cals per day are 1600 (500 deficit). Saturdays i have one (rarely two) cheat meal, but no binging.

Squat strength has consistently gone up since i started my cut, going from about 135 to 245 (6-7 rep sets), though it has now seemed to level off around 235 lbs. My flat bench press reps peaked at 205 lbs when i was around 165 lbs, but today i did one set of BB press with 185 lbs (5 or 6 reps, cannot remember) and instead of finishing the other two sets i just switched to DB bench press with 75 lbs for 5 reps and then two sets of 65 lbs.

Maybe it's b/c i'm 3 months on caloric restriction that i felt a little weak on the barbell bench press, maybe it's b/c i did my set of incline BB press right before, but after only one set of BB flat press, i felt like i wasn't puttin' it up like i used to. Does anyone else feel like they get weaker on BB presses faster than DB presses when they're far on their cut? This is my first ever 'real' cut so i'm not sure if i'm still doing it right or needing some adjustment? My incline flys still went with the same weight as usual, it's just the BB presses that seem to be harder now...

i'm still averaging 1-2 lbs per week, though i can definitely tell it's getting harder now to lose fat. maybe just looking at my bench numbers relative to weight, is it possible to tell if that's a normal ratio of strength compared to fat loss? thanks guys and gals, i'm still getting the hang of this as i go.

[sharpieblet]

bump for the sake of not wanting to screw anything up when i'm so close to finishing the cut

[rnacdaley]

bump for the sake of not wanting to screw anything up when i'm so close to finishing the cut

Just took a look at your before pics. Nice job on the weight loss. As I am sure you have read around here - many people are looking to do one of three things:

1. Cut and retain as much strength and muscle as possible
2. Bulk - gain, but minimize the addition of fat
3. Recomp - dont see many people discussing this

From what I continue to read around hear it is only normal to lose some strength on a hard cut. It sounds like you made strength gains along the way but are now leveling out. Try eating @ maintenance for a week. After that see how you feel in the gym and go from there.

[feinburgrl]

As long as you workout with intensely on your muscles and have body fat then you will not loss any muscle tissue.

[sharpieblet]

are you saying that having significant fat (above very low teens) helps keep muscle loss at a minimum, or prevents muscle loss altogether-if lifting intensely that is.

i have been considering a recomp week to see if it makes any impact, if i see any further decreases on next week's chest day or any other lifting day, i'll probably go ahead and do that. and thanks for the advice/compliment on progress.