my goal is to reduce body fat. so i start planning my daily meal. my body need a total of 2.5k to be maintain. so i cut it to be 2k

so here is the thing guys.

if i simply can make a calorie deficit by only through my eating/diet. why should i do a cardio?

consider this situation:

1. i eat for a whole day by 2k calorie

2. i eat for a whole day by 2.1k calorie and i did a cardio which burns lets say a 100 calorie. which makes my total calorie of the day is 2k.

both situation achieved 2k calorie at the end of the day. i read a lot and all of my reading say bla bla bla cardio is a must bla bla bla.

sigh. so guys if u have experienced in this problem can u share it? thanx guys

Do cardio so can enjoy more food !! Or to accelerate the cutting process

ignore for more food. im more interested by how to accelerate to lose a body fat

don't over eat.
avoid in between meal snacks - or eat healthy snacks i.e. fruits if you have the temptation to have snacks.
do regular medium to high intensity cardio exercises.
but there's this lil bit of stubborn belly fat which i'm still trying hard to get rid off, if you have a tip, do share.

How do you get your calorie maintenance value? You multiply your BMR with your activity factor (read more on my sig). If you don't do any exercises, you can't get that 2500kcal maintenance. Most probably you'll get 2000kcal.

Why people do cardio? It's the easiest form of exercise.

Why people says cardio is a must to lose weight? It's because of their knowledge limitation.

Why people resort to Mass Gainers to gain weight? Same reason as above.

Why people starve themselves and/or consume herbalife/TRA/Shaklee to lose weight? Same reason as above.

1. im not too active and im not very active either. that makes me active only. so i choose active multiplier to get my calorie maintenance. i dont get your point. ofc im aware if im active or not.

2. easiest form? ok

3. so u want to say that author of bodybuilding.com with experienced as personal trainer, fitness coach has already limit their knowledge?

4. ppl rely on mass gainers because of many factors. imagine a total of 2k calorie can be simply achieve with one drinks.

5. once again. this people has reach their limit?

1. What's your BMR and what's your activity factor?

3. Research shown that HIIT and HIT > LISS. With HIIT and HIT, you'll have higher EPOC which means that your body keeps burning calorie even after you stop your exercises. Who doesn't want that?

4. Mass Gainers are full of craps. Even SPONSORED IFBB Pro that requires 5-8K kcal per day doesn't consume mass gainers from the sponsoring companies.

5. Nope. They just lazy, and lack of knowldege, and lazy. I said lazy twice? Yes I do.

Yes cause this people lazy to read and do research so they just simply put there "cardio must". Their knowledge is limited.

OP,

1. cardio can make fat lost faster by utilizing more energy.

2. Cardio is healthy whereby it increases stamina and heart health.

1. my bmr is 1,752.40. activity factor like? 60 minutes for each workout of 3 days and 1 day rest. y?

3. how in the world they know what is hiit and hit and epoc if their knowledge is limited?

4. stay on the topic, to burn fat

5. not talking about lazy ppl rite now. my eyes is on fitness coach that writes article for cardio is a must bla bla bla

maybe for now, i believe that cardio have benefits, good for health and etc. it is not a must to burn fat. is it?

Cardio exercises is indeed good for health . But you don't need cardio to torch fat . All u need is a calorie deficit , do note that as ur weight drops so does ur TDEE , meaning u will need to recalculate ur calories again to ensure you won't stall in progress .

OF COURSE no. Just eat below your TDEE. Fat loss is all about calories in and calories out. It's basic energy physics actually.
Adding on to what kshen said, you need recalculate your TDEE after losing around 2kg of fat. This is because your TDEE will become lower as you lose fat since you are getting lighter.

i'm not sure about that.

i've been eating 1,000 cal for i can't remember how many months but my weight stays within the same 5kgs.

i think once your body adapted to your daily cal count, it just keep preserving those fat in.

1. OK. Just checking.

2. If they know what is HIIT, HIT and advantages on the EPOC, they won't say that cardio is a must for weight loss; hence their knowledge limitation. If they know that HITT is better than LISS, why would they advocate LISS?

4. No 4 points is about mass gainers and no sane people who want to lose fat will consume mass gainers. And more knowledgeable people will stay away from it because of the ingredient.

5. Points still on lazy people. Lazy people will not try to make a research on "What's the best method to lose fat". They will follow the GenPop opinion and hear say.

If you know about calorie in vs calorie out, then you'll know that you don't even need to exercises to lose fat. You do exercises to fasten the result. What ever exercises you do, there are pro and cons. LISS is easy, HIIT is hard but you'll get better ROI. HIIT + Weightlifting is much better. But you need to dig much much deeper in order to learn about weightlifting. What stopping you and other gurus from bodybuiling.com to learn and gain extra knowledge?

I could say that your body is in starvation mode. When you are eating way below your BMR, your body sense that you are calorie deprive hence it will holds as much fat as it could; making your weight loss stagnant (this is the same situation as polar bear hibernation).

That's the reason why extreme dieting only works for a very short while and never produce any good result. First, you'll drain out the water in your body. Second, you'll have very low amount of protein hence your body will start to breakdown your muscle tissue (your fat burning factory) for protein, glucose, energy. Third, your body will retain as much fat as it could as it sense you are in starvation mode.

pretty much. i lost nearly 15KG on the first 6 months and it stick there for nearly a year now.

so how do one get out of starvation mode without gaining weight in the mean time?

Well, you can google for metabolisme damage by Dr. Layne Norton. He already covered in depth about this issue. He also have trained few bodybuilders and they won the competitions they've entered without them needing to do endless cardio and using diuretics.

Depends on your goals. Calorie counting alone will make you lose weight, but how long can you keep it up? And consider the fact your metabolic rate drops as you age. You'll find that its harder to keep off the weight without exercise as you grow older.

Wouldn't it be better to build a stronger, more efficient body with a good metabolic rate? If you're not into cardio, that's cool. Why not lift weights? The extra muscle you gain forces your body to burn more calories to maintain it.

If you're in calorie deficit, you are losing both muscle tissue and fat. Fat is a stored energy in your body because of excess calories that your body does not need. So how it's going to build fat if you're in calorie deficit? What are the things that build that fat since it's all used up by our body?

Our muscle doesn't turn to starvation mode or muscle-tissue-to-fat-conversion mode. Your weight doesn't drop because the metabolism slowed down for your current weight. For example 50kg need 1,500cals to lose weight. Once you've dropped to 40kg, your smaller body doesn't need that much calories to maintain. Let's say now you need 1,000cals to lose weight but you still eating at 1,500cals and that is a calorie surplus. So, your weight just going up and down there.

Not trying to be condescending but isn't starvation mode a myth?

Well, Dr. Layne Norton do covers a lot about metabolic damage lately especially mid this year. I doubt he have anything to talk about starvation mode and metabolic damage if it's a myth.

SOS

This post has been edited by alien9: Aug 25 2014, 04:01 PM

I see, thanks for the link. Good read there.

I have some questions about something that I can't really figure out myself. Lets say my gf, who have been trying to slim down.

Her details:-

155cm (yes chibi )
weighs around 38-39kg.
currently eating at only 900 calories.

she previously tried eating 1000 calories for quite sometime and the scale isn't moving. Once she got to 900 calories, she got off 40kg and it's now around 38kg+.

Her process has stalled for quite long now. She hits the gym almost as often as me (bout 5-6 days/week). She's doing what I do but with lighter weights and shorter rest time.

Her daily intake is already dangerously low and she's still stalling. Is this the example of metabolic damage?

Her smaller body doesn't require that much calories to maintain therefore the weight stalled or going too slow. Bones, organs, blood, water and skin has weight too. So if she wants to decrease further faster, either starve herself or sorry to say, remove organs or bones.

Don't use scale that much. Ask her to use mirror, if she look puffy then cut out salt and sugar to prevent water retention. Eat more fiber that helps flush them out.

Wait, why she have to resort to starve herself or remove organs n stuff? I'm talking about having a slight deficit. The scale, I understand shouldn't be too obsessed with numbers but it's one of the monitoring tool. she measures daily to have more data to work with.

guys, its been 2 weeks since i started my diet. now, i feel weak and i think my body is smaller, im craving for food, i cant lift as i lift normally, so i reduce reps and sets just like Dr. Layne Norton article mention by alien9 said.

my abs make a little progress, i can see it comparing last time almost none. i think my bf is like 15%-17%. its a good process by just 2 week.

so now, im wondering, how do u guys cutting and bulking, what do u do for your diets? im wondering while im diet, should i add more weight? or maintain?

before this im on calorie surplus. and it feels great, i can do many sets and reps. i feel stronger too. now im weak. makes me wonder if i eat more and exercise more but maintain by calorie deficit, will i achieved my goal(reduce bf)?

situation: eat by 2.5k cal and burns 500 cal through cardio. a total of 2k cal at the end of the day. will it works?

nah.. just joking on that part..
What i meant is that your gf's is already below ideal weight.. her progress will stall or go real slow.. i mean real sloooooooooooow even if she's at calorie deficit.. can you reduce the weight of your bones, organs, blood, skins, etc? idk man..

If you feel weak eating less then don't do so. Just eat at maintenance calorie, then workout to make it in deficit. How much you can cut depends on your training intensity.

Maybe I wasn't being clear on my post. She's still at around 22%+ bodyfat. Noticeable fat around arms, thighs and belly.

You are likely having too much deficit. Back then when I was cutting, my lifts did not decrease much and at most I was only feeling hungry. Strength wise I pretty much retain most of it.

You should periodically incorporate either a greater deficit or more cardio when your cutting process stalls. Try increasing cardio from 15 mins to 30 mins. And when the progress stops, add more deficit. Don't go batshit crazy having super deficit.

40kg x 22% = 8.8kg
38kg x 22% = 8.36kg

8.8kg - 8.36kg = Lost 0.44kg fat. How long does it take? and those measurement might not be accurate. Female has higher bodyfat compare to mens.

Try lifting heavy, minimize cardio and increase protein intake.

I understand how long it takes to burn those fat off, I also know that the measurements are not accurate. Not trying to be an ass but I'm not a total newbie when it comes to cutting.

She's already doing minimal cardio, decent protein intake and doing the same routine as mine. She's mainly weight lifting in the gym.

All I'm asking if this is the case of metabolic damage.

What is metabolic damage? If your metabolism shutdown, you'd be dead.

At 900calories you have to be very strict on your diet because every calorie counts. Zero room for fun food or seasoning. Most food has to be boiled with water. Only can drink plain water. How is she going to hit her macros to aid the fat loss? Even if she does hit her macros, there will be other nutrition deficiency which is bad for health.

How accurate is the calorie count? How long have she been doing this? How accurate is her weight? Did she cheat on scale or food? How stress is her with this dieting plan? There's a lot of factors even if you submit those to researchers, they need months to give you definite answer. We are all here to give you guesstimate advise only. If it doesn't work then find other approach.

Very low calorie diet does work really well for people with bigger body. Your gf's body is small therefore the metabolic rate really slowed down and if she lower the calories any further, she will lose more muscle mass than fat which already happened.

I will advise your gf to stay away from this advanced dieting program.
Not the program fail you, but she fail the program.

Does she feel tired all the time? Are her poundages increasing? Is it hard for her to lose weight? What's her diet like? Was she overweight before? Did she lose a drastic amount of weight from starvation diets? Is her weight consistent? If so for how long?

Slow fat loss does not equal metabolic damage. Don't make a big deal out of it. There simply isn't enough data provided to know for sure it's metabolic damage.

no1 will noe till she tested. try refeed for few days. after dat if still no different, i guess need to go abit more extreme..

i'm pretty sure starvation mode is just a myth.. to an extend.

5-6 days a week of gym and her calorie intake is 900kcal + she have 22% bf? Doesn't it sound like super way off?

I guess at your current level, you should know what this looks like. Extremely low calorie intake + excessive exercises without adequate nutrition won't lead you to anywhere at all. I would say that she is having metabolic damage. You can check yourself from Dr. Layne Norton vid of symptoms of MD.