Cutting Diet Dilemma

[corporatehippy]

So I've read that you need to take 1g/lb protein even while cutting, which I'm finding a bit hard to understand, here is why:

My Calorie requirements:
Maintenance ~ 2500
Fat Loss ~ 2000
Extreme Fat Loss ~ 1500

I am currently on a cutting routine and aiming for around 1500Cal/Day. However,I weight 165lbs and if I have 165g of protein, I am spending around 750 Calories minimum on just protein. That leaves me with 750 more Calories, which is barely one meal. And this becomes real hard when you're training every other day. Am I missing something here? What do you cutting diets look like? Can I do with less protein?

[Andrew_S]

A simple solution would be not to follow an extreme caloric deficit for cutting.

[corporatehippy]

That would mean waiting twice as long for the same results and spending twice more time not making mass gains though.. I tend to be a bit extreme, that's how I've always been and I'm sure there are many others out there who have done this. Is the 1g/lb so important? John Barban in his 'Anything Goes Diet' claims that 60g / day is enough to maintain lean body mass as long as you train 3 times a week.

[Andrew_S]

That would mean waiting twice as long for the same results and spending twice more time not making mass gains though.. I tend to be a bit extreme, that's how I've always been and I'm sure there are many others out there who have done this. Is the 1g/lb so important? John Barban in his 'Anything Goes Diet' claims that 60g / day is enough to maintain lean body mass as long as you train 3 times a week.

You think it's twice as long, but when metabolic issues come up from eating under BMR every day it will be a different story. 1g per LB isn't some magic number, it could be more or less depending on a bunch of factors, but protein does become more important the larger the deficit becomes. You can do what you want, but unless you're cutting for a competition (and even then...) I don't see the point in trying to bury yourself.

[Cazax]

Hit protein (1g x lb) and fat (0.5g x lb). The rest of the calories may come from any source of energy. It's not advised to follow such an extreme caloric deficit as it will probably harm your metabolism and screw your performance at the gym and every day life. Better to go slowly but maintaining muscle mass and be able to eat decent amount of food.

[corporatehippy]

I've been on a 1500 Cal / day diet for almost a week now and I feel great actually.. What are these metabolism problems you'll are referring to, can you please elaborate?

[n0useforaname]

That would mean waiting twice as long for the same results

Same results? So you think think that you will still retain the same amount of muscle and energy from such a deficit?

[corporatehippy]

Yep, no reason to believe that won't be the case. I've actually read studies where people have been on 800Cal/day for months and still retained all the muscle by training 3 times per week. If there is a reason to believe otherwise then by all means do enlighten me. Is a 1000 Calorie deficit really so extreme? Little surprised by the reactions I'm getting.

As for energy, so far so good - I feel great, I'm enjoying the low calorie lifestyle. I've only trained twice on this diet but actually made some progress also. Very rarely do I 'feel' the deficit, but then it's only been a week.

[n0useforaname]

Ive done it both ways.. I would never eat that low again. You seem like you want to do it no matter what, so go for it. Im on my phone so im not finding links for you... But ive read enough, and done it myself to know how crappy you feel, how weak you get, and how much bigger you could be from doing it properly.

[corporatehippy]

You seem like you want to do it no matter what, so go for it.

Don't get me wrong mate, first time I'm cutting so trying to figure things out. Could totally change my mind if there are convincing reasons to believe otherwise. Of course, each person is different - I actually do not feel any loss of energy or weakness so far, as I mentioned I was even able to progress to higher weights at training. And lets see its still been only one week. There is no way in hell I would compromise my moods and energy levels for this, those are way more important to me.

But if I won't achieve my objective (of dropping fat, retaining muscle) by doing this then I definitely want to know more...

[n0useforaname]

For the first 3-4 weeks, i didnt notice anything and actually felt better.. Then after a month i noticed i was having off days. So i came on here, upped my cals, and started hitting my numbers. I still cut, felt better than i thought i could have, and never looked back since. And about 2 years before that I cut from 217 to 170 and lost pretty much everything from only eating 1400 cals a day.