Training on an aggressive caloric deficit

deadshot138

deadshot138

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How should I be training on an aggressive caloric deficit? I'm doing one meal a day, just trying to shed as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I typically have my one meal after training and then fast through work, sleep, and training. I'm noticing I don't have as much energy or enthusiasm for training. How should I be tapering this? Avoiding sprints and higher heart rate stuff? My legs ached even just sprinting on the air bike. Atypical for me.
 
I know that you are familiar with conjugate so I would skip the DE days and just do an upper body workout press or bench variant to a 1rm same with lower than do some back off sets like 90%x2-3 then 80%x5-8 for 2-3 sets. Add in some assistance lifts if you have the energy. Cardio just do standard bro cardio 2-4 days a week 20-40 minutes.
 
Don't do anything that incurs recovery. This means keep your workouts short and far from failure, but heavy so your body gets the message that it needs to retain its muscle. If you're sprinting on the airbike, do much less volume because, again, you don't want a recovery debt, you just want to remind your body to retain its capabilities.

For me, personally, when I fast like you're doing I eat a regular day (3000+ calories) at least once a week. I also find that my workouts do best with alactic strength work and aerobic work. I assume it's because of my glycogen stores, but I just don't do well with glycolytic work.
 
don't ask said:
Don't do anything that incurs recovery. This means keep your workouts short and far from failure, but heavy so your body gets the message that it needs to retain its muscle. If you're sprinting on the airbike, do much less volume because, again, you don't want a recovery debt, you just want to remind your body to retain its capabilities.

For me, personally, when I fast like you're doing I eat a regular day (3000+ calories) at least once a week. I also find that my workouts do best with alactic strength work and aerobic work. I assume it's because of my glycogen stores, but I just don't do well with glycolytic work.
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Yeah I'm noticing doms when I never get sore. Definitely a recovery issue.
 
How many calories is that. 1 meal. So 1100 calories for the whole day ?

Seems extremely low and almost unhealthy
 
I dropped 35 lbs in less than 3 months and was training harder than ever. My meal timing was drastically different than you though. I was eating the traditional lunch and dinner, although small, and snacking or having a smoothie 2-3 times a day. Meals were typically around training. Weekdays I was training before dinner on a smoothie and then training after dinner (snack before bed). Weekends was typically 3 times a day.
 
Yup like the other poster said. Keep your workouts short and intense. Unless you are also doing zone 2 liss work then that can’t be helped. But yeah drop the volume
 
I think I'd workout a little while after that meal so I wouldn't feel so damn depleted. Fasted workouts feel awful to me(mostly talking about lifting here). Maybe it's different for you.

If you're super worried about recovery then save 200 of your calories for after your workout if you feel like you'd benefit from more protein. Your body takes a pretty long time to fully digest and assimilate nutrients so working out 2 hours after your main meal shouldn't hinder your recovery much at all.
 
wufabufa said:
I think I'd workout a little while after that meal so I wouldn't feel so damn depleted. Fasted workouts feel awful to me(mostly talking about lifting here). Maybe it's different for you.

If you're super worried about recovery then save 200 of your calories for after your workout if you feel like you'd benefit from more protein. Your body takes a pretty long time to fully digest and assimilate nutrients so working out 2 hours after your main meal shouldn't hinder your recovery much at all.
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2 hours after a meal? I'd be more worried about being sluggish. Is that long enough after eating to not feel any ill effects ?
 
I’m leaning out a bit for summer. Be right there with you. Last ten pounds is the hardest.
 
Oblivian said:
It sounds like that's not working well for you.
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Weight loss is happening but I'd probably be better suited eating another light meal and being able to train harder. I could hypothetically eat 1k calories a day and just walk but I've got a fair bit of muscle I don't want to wilt away
 
deadshot138 said:
Weight loss is happening but I'd probably be better suited eating another light meal and being able to train harder. I could hypothetically eat 1k calories a day and just walk but I've got a fair bit of muscle I don't want to wilt away
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I think one meal a day/fasting can work for some, but I also think a lot of people use it when it clearly isn't a good long term (or even short term depending on goals) plan for them. This is particularly true with heavier people as well. Instead of learning to eat lighter meals and being able to function all day, they please their inner fat kid and gorge on the one meal. This results in feeling like shit for a long time, having a narrow window of feeling "normal", and then feeling hungry again. If you are upping your workout intensity and volume, it's a horrible plan unless your timing is dead on. Personally, I'd learn to just eat smaller meals and feel good all day. You can get more workouts in per day, even if they are short.
 
deadshot138 said:
2 hours after a meal? I'd be more worried about being sluggish. Is that long enough after eating to not feel any ill effects ?
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I guess if you're pounding 1500cal or so in one sitting then yeah, maybe it is too close to working out. I'm all for fasting, but like @Oblivian said, it might not be ideal in your circumstance.
 
I don't have much experience with losing weight but I'd think slow and steady is the move instead of an "aggressive" deficit.
Small meals, lots of salads and protein, cut out sugars or anything that leads to binged calories. No juices, no pops, no energy drinks or beer. Water and maybe coffee.
 
vision1 said:
I don't have much experience with losing weight but I'd think slow and steady is the move instead of an "aggressive" deficit.
Small meals, lots of salads and protein, cut out sugars or anything that leads to binged calories. No juices, no pops, no energy drinks or beer. Water and maybe coffee.
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Black coffee is good. Also suppresses the appetite.
 
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