Want To Get This Straight

[garbage cutters]

So after 8 weeks of cutting and cyling calories/carbs you take a week off and do not do cardio or lift and eat at maintanence level to restore hormones/leptin before dieting again?


If you do not lift for a week or do cardio, then won't your maintanence calories be less than when you were dieting? I'm a little confused on how to go about this, the end of this week will be 8 weeks for me and I am still not at where I want to be so advice is appreciated.

[garbage cutters]

doesn't anyone know the answer to this? i didnt think it was that hard of a question

[TT4life]

I wish I could help you...i am having the same problem with people replying to my posts...just from what I have seen on here yeah I would do the maintanence thing after i was finished to let your body rebound.

[miss_carrie]

if you are going to take a week off, you should probably reconfigure your maintainence calories minus the activity that you normally do. so i guess they would be slightly lower than if you were doing lifting/cardio. hope this helps

[msundi83]

I would just continue carb cycling. The high carb days are meant to restore leptin levels and that is why they are there mostly. You could take a week eating at maintenence if you'd like, but you'd need to figure out your maintenence again after the cut (assuming you lost weight, which I imagine is the case). The only problem with that is that as any of us who have done a standard iso-diet know, finding your maintence can take more than a week and calculating it isn't always right on. My advice would be to carb cycle still, many people make a lifestyle out of it.

[slyfox115]

Yes a week off after 8 weeks will be beneficial after dieting. You really have to listen to your body, if you feel run down, overtrained, and your progress has stalled then yes take a week off. If you feel good, and are still progressing, then keep going a few more weeks. Perosonally my body needs a good week off every 12 weeks but it depends on how hard you are dieting and just by how you feel, mentally and physically.
As far as your question goes about you maintenace calories being less being you are not training or doing cardio then the answer is yes because you are burning less calories with your activity levels being lower. Hope this helps.

[AphtaLyfe]

Yes your maintainence calories will be lower.

Yes that means you should eat less when you aren't lifting/doing cardio during a week.

And to address the problem of why people don't reply to threads:
A) Its on a sticky
B) You didn't search
C) The question is dumb and you should google it first
D) The question is worded badly and/or doesen't make sense
E) The question is too long and/or lacks grammer (If I see a thread with more than 6 lines without a paragraph I immediately close it... I would rather read some biochem)
F) The question would be better asked in the form of a PM or IM

I'm usually online, if you have questions feel free to contact me through AIM.

Good Luck

[garbage cutters]

I would just continue carb cycling. The high carb days are meant to restore leptin levels and that is why they are there mostly. You could take a week eating at maintenence if you'd like, but you'd need to figure out your maintenence again after the cut (assuming you lost weight, which I imagine is the case). The only problem with that is that as any of us who have done a standard iso-diet know, finding your maintence can take more than a week and calculating it isn't always right on. My advice would be to carb cycle still, many people make a lifestyle out of it.

doesn't it take more than one day of eating at maintanence to restore leptin/hormone levels?

I mean think about it, it takes a week or two of dieting for them to decrease, so wouldn't it take at least a week of eating at maintanence for them to increase again?

[P01Shooter]

When I take a week off every 6 to 8 weeks I eat quite just over maintenance with one or two days the diet goes to hell and calories spike. The key thing you want to focus on is recovery and feeding your body so it can do that. Is one week where you eat slightly over maintenance going to kill you? No, but it will do wonders for when you get back in the gym.

[msundi83]

doesn't it take more than one day of eating at maintanence to restore leptin/hormone levels?

I mean think about it, it takes a week or two of dieting for them to decrease, so wouldn't it take at least a week of eating at maintanence for them to increase again?

On my high carb days I don't eat at maintenence

[garbage cutters]

When I take a week off every 6 to 8 weeks I eat quite just over maintenance with one or two days the diet goes to hell and calories spike. The key thing you want to focus on is recovery and feeding your body so it can do that. Is one week where you eat slightly over maintenance going to kill you? No, but it will do wonders for when you get back in the gym.

sounds pretty good to me

might be a good plateau breaker too (thinking in long run)

[Worldwide]

For your week off, stick to the same caloric intake you've been on - don't up it or lower it. The lack of caloric expenditure via exercise will result all the surplus you need. Leptin generally doesn't become an issue unless your body fat is already at low levels --> overweight people typically don't suffer from low leptin levels.

[garbage cutters]

For your week off, stick to the same caloric intake you've been on - don't up it or lower it. The lack of caloric expenditure via exercise will result all the surplus you need. Leptin generally doesn't become an issue unless your body fat is already at low levels --> overweight people typically don't suffer from low leptin levels.

I am 20 years old, 5' 11'' 170lbs, definetly not overweight, about 12% bf


doesn't leptin have to do with the caloric deficit your body is being put in despite composition? meaning your body senses that you are in a caloric deficit for a while and tries to hold onto calories more which is why diets slow down after a while?


anyway i consider myself fairly lean and the week off will do me good in restoring hormonal levels and giving my neurological system a rest and i don't think eating at maintanence for a week will do me anything but good in the long run