while cutting force yourself to eat?

[blast00]

So I am cutting, and eating 1500 cal per day. Sometimes just based on my work schedule (like today) 9 pm comes around and I have only consumed 600 calories. I am pretty hungry, eat a clean, hearty dinner and its 10:30 PM and I have consumed 1150 calories. I am not hungry, and plan on going to be shortly.

Is this a good thing? ending my day and being even under my calorie intake that I set (since I am cutting), or should I "force" (of course, I love eating and enjoy it) force myself to eat to get myself to around the calorie intake I am trying to intake daily even tho I am not hungry...

any help and advice is appreciated as always.

Thanks!

[Joelift]

I'm kind of in the same boat. It sounds weird to say, but I had to force myself to have dinner tonight after working out. Since I'm still trying to maintain/build some muscle as I drop a few pounds I DO force myself to eat sometimes as long as I'm still below maintenance.

That's more because I know if I don't eat, then I'll just have so much less energy the next day.

[everclear111]

I have to force myself to eat most days... I find it easiest to make up the deficit with protein shakes and milk or a Detour bar.

[mpipes]

If you aren't hungry, don't eat.

The only exception I would make is if it happens on a consistent basis and it causes you to be low on protein intake all the time. In this case I would eat a little more protein at the other meals so it doesn't get missed.

[bifodus]

If you aren't hungry, don't eat.

The only exception I would make is if it happens on a consistent basis and it causes you to be low on protein intake all the time. In this case I would eat a little more protein at the other meals so it doesn't get missed.

I agree with this. There seems to be a general fear among people cutting these days of going too low in calories. True, we'll probably find that people with lower caloric intake are more likely to rebound and go on an eating binge. But of those with low caloric intake, the ones who don't rebound are the ones that eat less simply because they aren't hungry. Eating while you're not hungry is clearly not working in your favor if your goal is to lose fat.

You need to avoid being hungry, but also avoid eating when you aren't. For the average Joe, rebounding is what you need to watch out for, not muscle loss. Muscle loss is something that people seem to avoid like the plague. But from my experience, it's quite easy to gain that muscle back again after a cut. At least, it's much easier to gain it back than it was to get the muscle in the first place. My guess is that although you may lose muscle, your CNS remains "strong."

[bifodus]

I'm not sure if I agree with this. For three days in a row I didn't force myself to eat and just ate when I was hungry and I only ate 1100 calories a day. There's no way that's enough. Keep in mind that I did cardio on two of those days. Of course if I'm 100 below what I aim for, I don't force myself up, but if it's several hundred, I get something in.

You say there's no way that 1100 calories is enough, but it seems like you're using conventional knowledge on fat loss rather than going by how you feel. Most would say that you shouldn't go that low in calories because you'll feel sluggish, and eventually you'll binge. Doing this for a long time could mean muscle loss, but that correlates pretty heavily with feeling sluggish since it's unlikely your workouts will be as strong. If you were at 1100 calories and still going strong, I envy you. But I think eventually you'd feel a strong desire for food. I could be wrong though. How did you feel on those days?

[obesebeast]

I've got my metabolism jacked up so high I'm feeling starved while cutting at 2400 cal/day, my body doesn't even care what it gets and as a result, all food has been tasting amazing. My body is telling me, "I'm F*ing hungry man, I'll take whatever you got and you're going to enjoy it"

[blast00]

I've got my metabolism jacked up so high I'm feeling starved while cutting at 2400 cal/day, my body doesn't even care what it gets and as a result, all food has been tasting amazing. My body is telling me, "I'm F*ing hungry man, I'll take whatever you got and you're going to enjoy it"

do you mind posting your diet/ routine? curious how you got your metabolism jacked up so high.


I used yesterday's lower than wanted calorie deficit to have a cheat meal, I felt that it was a good opportunity.

[obesebeast]

^ here's a pretty detailed log of what I was doing from Mid April -> Mid May

I'm currently on a cyclical keto diet plan eating ~2400 cal/day split between 6 meals

each meal looks something like this:

1.5 servings healthy fat(30g fat) - 200-300 cals
1 serving lean protein(30g protein) - 100-120 cals
1 serving dark green veggie - 20-25 cals

so I mix and match from these 3 categories and am able to achieve my CKD macros of ~65f/3c/32p and I do a 600g carb refeed over 24hrs every 10 days, only keeping this plan for a maximum of 30 days before I switch to a carb cycling diet at the same amount of calories

I train 3 days on, 1 day off, doing HIIT on the non leg day and some LISS if I'm interested on my rest day, cardio is at the bottom of the barrel for my routine now, I just don't find it necessary any more to continue to lose weight, I'm at the point where it's only burning more calories, my CV health is phenomenal, although I wouldn't ever cut out cardio permenantly, just tapering it back is fine.


When I switch to a carb cycling diet, it will look as such:

Day 1 - Quads/Hams/Ass + No Cardio - 270g net carbs, 180g protein, 45g fat, 2200 cal
Day 2 - Chest/Back/Shoulders + HIIT - 170g net carbs, 180g protein, 90g fat, 2200 cal
Day 3 - Low Back/Traps/Arms + No Cardio - 70g net carbs, 180g protein, 135g fat, 2200 cal
Day 4 - Rest + LISS - 0g net carbs, 180g protein, 165g fat, 2200 cal
Repeat

So it combines elements of a traditional 20/40/40 plan, TKD & CKD. No refeeds are needed, I'll have a cheat meal if I feel like it. Keep in mind, I'm pretty lean now with a good amount of muscle mass, increasing ones muscle mass increases ones caloric expenditure potential. So when I'm quite active and properly allowing myself to recover, my metabolism skyrockets. I time all my weight lifting and am a strong advocate for high intensity training and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy setting. I breath like a locomotive the entire time I'm working on my main exercise routine, taking no more than 1hr to complete all my main exercises.

Blah blah could rant forever, hope this helps, feel free to ask more if interested.

[obesebeast]

here's a sample of what I did this morning:

Full Body/Traps/Arms

Warm-Up
10min Cardio
15min Dynamic Stretching

Full Body
1x18x170 RP Power Cleans *PR*
5x10x85 Sumo Squat High Pulls....first time ever doing these, felt great, very very anaerobic, weight felt a bit light, will try 95 next time

Traps
1x18x370 Haney Shrugs
5x10x275 Shrugs

Tris
1x18x225 RP Floor Press...first time ever doing these, felt it in the tris, was pretty easy though, I'll move it to my flat bench weight next time I try these
5x10x185 Floor Press...failed on the 10th rep of the last set, very exhausting, blaming diet not body on that one

Bis
1x18xBW+20 RP Chin-Ups
5x10x25lb DB Concentration Curls

Cool-Down
5min Rhomboids "pump" to exhaustion, held a 75lb ez bar under a bench and shrugged for 5min varying speeds, holds etc, pretty rough
10min Static Stretching
20min Mile Walk

I blog my workouts in another forum unless I'm on a sponsored log, good times

[youngandfree]

So I am cutting, and eating 1500 cal per day. Sometimes just based on my work schedule (like today) 9 pm comes around and I have only consumed 600 calories.
any help and advice is appreciated as always.

Thanks!

What is your goal? 5'10" 155 is pretty small. No offense or anything, but how much more do you want to cut? Getting busy at work sucks to try to get meals in I know. I don't know about the don't eat if you aren't hungry "rule". If you don't feed your body enough after a long enough time period, it learns that you aren't going to feed it and your stomach shrinks. It does the same if you limit the size of your meals consistantly. Your stomach will shrink, then you won't be able to eat 2 plates at the chinese buffet anymore. If you figured you need 1500 cals to lose 1lb/wk, you need to account for your protein needs also. If you regularly go really low, and don't make up for it the next day, you go into drastic cal restriction. Then binging to make up isn't much better. I have always tried to eat similar sized meals every 3 hours. Sometimes it's hard, but I stay more satisfied, and have a constant supply of energy. I think you would be better served to figure out how to get some more meals in during day. Can you pack meals, can you eat on the run? You might have to get creative, but it's possible.

[orlandopunk]

you are cutting weighting 155 pounds and at 5'10
you must really like the emanciated look haha
whats your bf percentage? i woud say try to lose 5 pounds and bulk up
weighting that little wont give you ripped abs at all you need more muscle

[obesebeast]

without rHGH, how big do you guys think abs can get?

abs ARE made in the kitchen, not the gym

[blast00]

I think my body fat is around 13-14% that is why I say I need to cut... I want the abs...

do you think otherwise? You think the key for me right now is to bulk???

[elykrab17]

I think my body fat is around 13-14% that is why I say I need to cut... I want the abs...

do you think otherwise? You think the key for me right now is to bulk???

Have you been on a training regimen before? With your stats (and I'm saying this on the belief that 13-14% bf is correct) you'll look super skinny by the time you get to nice visible abs. I'd say do a nice clean bulk to put on some meat, and then cut from there.

Some pics of you would be helpful with deciding on what to do.

[c00kiee]

I definitely got this for a while when I was eating just enough meat to hit my protein, and tons of vegetables (mushrooms, spinach, celery, etc..) I upped the fat in my diet, put me where I need to be comfortably.

[bifodus]

You go to UA by any chance? I just finished my second year here.

Yep, been a senior here for a couple of years now (math major)...

Got a bit sidetracked by work, but hopefully I'll finish it up in this coming fall.

How are you liking it here?