Training in a deficit is complicated. You're low on energy due to low-calorie intake, your performance is impacted, also your strength and power. So, How Do We Train While We're in a Calorie Deficit? I'm going to give you tips on how to train while being in a deficit and remain healthy and strong.
We all know why we place ourselves into a calorie deficit - that is to become shredded. When we go about lowering our calories, our bodies aren't used to it, and as a result, we may feel like complete garbage. Low energy, low sex drive, low performance, mental and physical states are affected (mental clarity, etc), and so forth. Lowering calories does have its negatives, but over time, your body will adapt to the new condition(s).
It's somewhat harder to workout while low on calories, but that depends on many factors;
- Micronutrition
- Recovery
- Proper macro nutritional plan
- Workout regime
- Lifestyle habits (stress, sleep, etc)
We can avoid losing muscle while being in a calorie deficit. If you people aren't aware, you will lose muscle when you decrease your calorie intake. However, we can avoid losing a lot of muscle loss by prioritizing recovery and nutrition. Nutrition dictates a lot of things, so we must focus on that heavily when we go about becoming shredded and maintaining and gaining muscle mass.
To Avoid Muscle-Loss and Gains and How to Maintain and Gain Muscle-Mass While being in a Calorie Deficit
- Prioritize on these Nutrients - Water, protein, calcium, Magnesium, Glutamine, Vitamin D, Potassium, Carbs, B12, Iron all help with muscle-building and maintaining muscle mass. You can find all of these from foods. Whole-foods; Natural organic foods. Try to avoid junk processed foods; fast foods, canned food (depends), frozen foods.
- Prioritize on Protein - Protein is very important along with other nutrients as mentioned above. However, protein is critical to focus on. While being in a calorie deficit, we may also decrease our protein intake, and when you're low on protein, it's much harder to promote recovery and to develop gains. So with this being said, make sure you have a high protein intake. Make sure you're reaching your protein intake goal on the daily basis to prevent catabolism - the loss of muscle mass and strength, power, etc. If you focus on high protein intake, you can avoid muscle loss and you can build muscle while being in a calorie deficit.
- Prioritize Recovery - Sleep, resting, not overworking out, overall, focusing on self-care and health. Don't neglect sleep, Don't do drugs, focus on a positive mindset, make sure you're recovering by taking supplements, if needed, and focus on nutrition. Nutrition affects performance and recovery, so it's crucial to consume those beneficial foods to improve recovery! (Fruits, Vegetables, etc).
- Workout - working out can help maintain gains because if you're inactive and low on calories, you're setting yourself up to lose muscle. Your muscles need attention. They need stimulus in order to maintain their mass and if you're wanting to grow, you must stimulate those muscles. Don't over-workout though because overdoing anything will lead to destruction. We don't want that and we want to avoid that, so workout properly, focus on recovery and nutrition.
- Don't Starve - Do not starve yourself. Even though you're in a calorie deficit it may feel like you're starving, but you aren't. You just don't use to the new condition that you are enduring. It's new to you, and to your mind. But over time, you'll adapt to this new condition. Your body and mind will become familiar with low-calorie intake and will become the norm for you. Sooner or later, you'll hit a plateau, making you drop a bit more calories to see further progress. Anyhow, you do not need to starve yourself to promote weight loss. A calorie deficit means that you're tapering down your calories over time. Typically, you only need to deduct about ~300 calories from your average calorie intake. So for example, you started at 4,000 calories. Now to lose weight, use calorie deficit. From what I said, Deduct about ~300 from your average (4,000) which = 3,700 calories. Thus will give you fat-loss results. You don't have to dramatically reduce your calories or starve yourself to see weight-loss results. In fact, that's harming your body, your performance your mind, and overall health. It'll lead to much greater destruction of yourself. You'll become more catabolic, which means you'll lose muscle mass over time. We want to avoid that. Prioritize on nutrients to help avoid catabolism, and to fulfill your hunger.
- Load up on Vegetables, Fruits - Fruits, and Veggies are the powerhouses of nutrients. As mentioned many times throughout this article, Nutrients is key for health, performance, and longevity. If you're wanting to optimize your recovery, strength, clarity, and so forth, consume lots of veggies and fruits. Junk foods are processed which means they have little to no nutritional value, which does not benefit our bodies or health in any fashion. You cannot go wrong with eating veggies.
What to Expect While On A Calorie Deficit
- Loss of Gains
- Loss of Strength
- Loss of Power
- Harder to recover
- Harder to push heavyweights
- Harder to cope with certain things
- Affected Mind Clarity (foggy minded, can't think straight, not all 'there', and so forth)
- Affected sex performance
- Affected performance overall
- Irritability
- Intense cravings
- Hunger
- Lashing out
- List goes on...
Your body will adapt sooner or later. Give it time. Since you never been into this situation before (as I am assuming), so you have no idea what to expect nor what to feel. It's a new setting we must experience and endure to finally adapt to the new condition. Couple of days in, maybe a week or so, you should feel normal again.
Your body doesn't like when you're really lean and when you're wanting to push yourself. Meaning, the body doesn't like when it's lean. It's a fact. The body isn't made to be lean around 4-10% body fat. At that point, we're just pushing ourselves to continue on. Our whole body is affected, from the mind to the core - strength, power, and recovery are all impacted. You can address this with proper nutrition, but that's a bit more complicated than that. See, when we deplete calories and macronutrients, it's harder for us to push heavier weights and to gain a whole lot more muscle-mass because we aren't providing the nutrients our bodies needs in order to grow. For instance, when we become shredded, we normally decrease/eliminate carbs, but if you're wanting to grow mass, and push heavy heavyweights, carbs are needed. Carbs are what give us the energy and power we need to go about intensive things. Such as lifting heavy. Also, carbs help pack on a lot of mass; So if you're only consuming protein and fats, you won't grow as much compared to if you're having carbs within your diet. Lots of carbs are needed.
Supplements While In a Calorie Deficit
Supplements can help you optimize your gains. For instance, when we're becoming shredded, our calories are low. So we may not notice that our protein intake may be low as well. If we want to avoid muscle, strength, and power loss, make sure you have enough protein intake on a daily to ensure you're maintaining your gains. There are so many supplements that can aid in recovery, maintaining muscle, strength, power, and much more. Endless of options to research upon. Vegetable supplements, help aid in recovery if you don't like eating vegetables. Supplements can help, but it's the willpower that'll give you the results you're wanting.
You don't have to be in a calorie deficit for a long time. You can treat yourself to a cheat meal here and there. Once every other day, or once a week or once a month even. Some days, you can up your calorie intake depending on the situation. For example, if you're doing a big, heavy leg/squat day, I would advise you to consume lots of calories and carbs to ensure you'll have the strength and power to go through a painful squat/leg session. Those types of situations require a ton of effort and energy, but when you're low on calories, in a calorie deficit state, it's going to be a hell of a mission to lift something that heavy or to do something that requires that much energy and drive. In addition, you'll utilize those calories for a good cause, rather than just indulging in food for the fun of it. You can prioritize calories when it comes to training sessions. Low calories on low effort days, high calories on heavy intense days. Your body will require more nutrients depending on the situation. You cannot go balls to the walls if you're super low on carbs and calories.
