I've only been dieting for 6 days, but I already noticed a pretty dramatic drop in gym performance and I’m trying to figure out if there’s a smarter way to structure my diet.
For context, I’m lifting in a calorie deficit (about 700 calories/day as a 270 pound male) and eating very low carb (under 20g carbs/day). Earlier this month, I was able to reach my lifetime goal of seated shoulder press with 60 pound dumbbells, which is probably my favorite exercise and the only lift I care most about preserving.
All week, I felt noticeably weaker and so I took a rest day yesterday, got plenty of sleep, and repeated my same exact morning routine from earlier this month when I finally hit my shoulder press strength goal on May 8th. (protein shake and banana 30 minutes after getting out of bed then gym 90 minutes later)
If I maintain a weekly calorie deficit of 3500 calories, is it possible to strategically have 1 (or maybe 2) higher-calorie days per week? Something like:
- Friday thru Tuesday 1000 calorie deficit
- Wednesday 500 calories surplus
- Thursday 1000 calorie surplus
- Do my strength workout on Friday morning after protein shake and banana
Would something like this work? I just grabbed these numbers out of thin air and would appreciate any guidance today on how to maintain strength while losing 1 pound per week. 💪
I go the gym daily unless I have a prevailing reason not to. I miss probably 2-3 days per month but. I aim to do zone-2 cardio for 30 minutes 4-5 times per week but lately have been only doing 2-3 times per week due to the hot weather. During the cold months, I'd walk 2 miles daily. But now I don't enjoy it due to the hot weather, hence I go less.
This is what ai said also, so I mildly carb loaded last night and this morning with a medium sized red potato of 150g raw weight (about 25g of carbs per potato) and I meticulously counted 8 gummy worms about 20 minutes before my workout (another 25g of carbs). After all, how much glycogen should I need if I'm doing a 1-rep max and it's my very first exercise upon arrival at the gym after 5 minutes of stretches and easy warmup? Maybe having maximum glycogen gives you more strength than suboptimal glycogen? During the 1-rep max, your muscles use ATP because the muscle fibers (actin & myosin) cannot use glycogen nor glucose. They require mitochondria elsewhere to phosphorylate ADP into ATP iirc.
(ai caveat: For a lift lasting ~1–5 seconds, the dominant energy system is the ATP-phosphocreatine system. Stored phosphocreatine rapidly donates a phosphate to ADP to regenerate ATP throughout the lift)
Thanks!