FastFirst
Level 3 Valued Member
Hope you folks can give me some ideas. If this is an area you know something about, I would appreciate you taking the time to read this.
I am looking to cut about 10lb of muscle, appreciate that at my age or any age that seems a bit daft. But I have running goals that I cannot achieve at my current weight. I would like to do this in a safe way. And I would like to maintain/increase my strength of course.
stats: age 47, height 5'9.5", weight 164lb, 7% BF
I have tried:
1. chronic energy deficit. results: 5.3% BF, 160lb
2. intermittent fasting with moderate ED. result: 5.7% BF, 160lb
3. weekly 1 day fast with 4-5 days ultra low protein (<40g/day). results: 5.0% BF, 156lb
All of these were with full abstinence from any resistance training, lots of aerobic running, 5-8 hours per week, plus just one short session of 5-8 second alactic hill sprints per week. So I guess you could say it was A+A.
The best results in terms of dropping some lean mass were from the weekly 24hr fasts surrounded by low protein days but that was hard on the system and seems too dangerous to me. After 6 weeks of this even though there were some muscle losses I think it ultimately took a tool on my aerobic fitness. It was quite challenging to adhere to a good quality diet because the hunger led me to crazy cravings and the refeeds were not pretty at times. So I ended up with positive energy balance a couple of days per week but eating junk in the process. It limited the volume and type of training I was physically able to do. It was also hard to track progress due to massive fluctuations in water weight with losses of glycogen, sodium, fiber, refeeds, etc.
Right now I am figuring out what to try next. My diet is pretty consistent now, as clean as I think it needs to be, lots of protein and healthy fats from nuts, chicken, fish, and non starchy veg, fruit. No processed foods. Some alcohol at weekends. My daily cheat is some jam on bread :-0
I'm currently at 164lb 6-7% BF. I am doing lots of RT (I have regained the small amount of muscle that I had lost) and a mix of running aerobic, glycolitic and alactic. My weight is fluctuating very little day to day right now.
Some out of the box ideas I've had include doing resistance training while fasted and continuing with a low protein intake for a few days, or high-protein low-carb while doing lots of running. I am hoping some of you would have experience or expertise that might show me the way.
I am looking to cut about 10lb of muscle, appreciate that at my age or any age that seems a bit daft. But I have running goals that I cannot achieve at my current weight. I would like to do this in a safe way. And I would like to maintain/increase my strength of course.
stats: age 47, height 5'9.5", weight 164lb, 7% BF
I have tried:
1. chronic energy deficit. results: 5.3% BF, 160lb
2. intermittent fasting with moderate ED. result: 5.7% BF, 160lb
3. weekly 1 day fast with 4-5 days ultra low protein (<40g/day). results: 5.0% BF, 156lb
All of these were with full abstinence from any resistance training, lots of aerobic running, 5-8 hours per week, plus just one short session of 5-8 second alactic hill sprints per week. So I guess you could say it was A+A.
The best results in terms of dropping some lean mass were from the weekly 24hr fasts surrounded by low protein days but that was hard on the system and seems too dangerous to me. After 6 weeks of this even though there were some muscle losses I think it ultimately took a tool on my aerobic fitness. It was quite challenging to adhere to a good quality diet because the hunger led me to crazy cravings and the refeeds were not pretty at times. So I ended up with positive energy balance a couple of days per week but eating junk in the process. It limited the volume and type of training I was physically able to do. It was also hard to track progress due to massive fluctuations in water weight with losses of glycogen, sodium, fiber, refeeds, etc.
Right now I am figuring out what to try next. My diet is pretty consistent now, as clean as I think it needs to be, lots of protein and healthy fats from nuts, chicken, fish, and non starchy veg, fruit. No processed foods. Some alcohol at weekends. My daily cheat is some jam on bread :-0
I'm currently at 164lb 6-7% BF. I am doing lots of RT (I have regained the small amount of muscle that I had lost) and a mix of running aerobic, glycolitic and alactic. My weight is fluctuating very little day to day right now.
Some out of the box ideas I've had include doing resistance training while fasted and continuing with a low protein intake for a few days, or high-protein low-carb while doing lots of running. I am hoping some of you would have experience or expertise that might show me the way.