Bodybuilding Forums

A few weeks ago, when I was really trying to hit the diet hard and keep calories, carbs, protein, and fats exactly at their correct ratio (so I thought), I noticed something interesting.

I got weaker in the gym.

I usually deadlift around 270/280 right now, adding reps and building up toward 300. Typically in the gym, someone is considered "strong" when he can bench his own body weight, squat 1.5x his body weight, and deadlift twice his body weight. I'm a long way from deadlifting 430 pounds, but working my way there!

Anyway, I noticed that last week my deadlift was off. I couldn't even deadlift 180. This forced me to take a hard look at environmental and dietary factors that might be causing such a drastic reduction in strength. Had I been sick? Injured?

Once I analyzed my food logs, it was obvious.

I simply wasn't eating enough. My average daily caloric intake on non-carb-up days was only around 1800 calories, and then I'd have workouts on top of that. My protein intake was in the toilet, somewhere around 0.5g-0.7g per pound of body weight. In my quest to reduce fat consumption and drive ever-greater body fat loss, I was getting terribly hungry and craving carbs at night. I was missing workouts due to lack of motivation, feeling tired and lethargic.

This week, I decided to screw the calories and focus on eating enough protein and fat to stay satisfied. I know that method works for me, and has produced excellent results. Two days ago, I had a protein intake over 300g and fat consumption nearing 200g, when I had terrible carb cravings at night and instead tossed chicken breast and steak down my gullet.

The carb cravings are gone again. This morning I deadlifted 280 again on my first set, 250 on my second, and 230 on my third. I finished my back workout and hopped on the elliptical for 10 minutes of HIIT (I was late for work, and had to rush it). I felt energized and optimistic, ready for this workout, and although I didn't beat previous records in the gym in all lifts, I at the very least matched them.

The moral of the story is "Eat more food, dude." Starving myself works against my goals, and causes me to blow the diet with some regularity, plus it ruins my lifts. Diminishing strength in lifts is not an acceptable trade-off for fat loss. EVER.

I need to face it: I'm a big guy. I'm over six feet tall and quite broad. I'm probably never going to have a wasp-waisted bodybuilding figure; And although I've been trying to follow Mark's Total Six-Pack Abs recommendations to the letter, I do better with a bit more protein and fat consumption. Sure, it means I won't peel weight off "Biggest Loser"-style at this point (with only 30lbs to lose to reach single-digit body fat), but it also means that to maintain weight while lifting heavy I need to eat in excess of 3600 calories a day or so.

So for anyone else struggling with beating their own personal best every time you hit the gym, take a long, hard look at your eating habits. Chances are good you, like me, may just not have been eating enough to support your muscle-building goals.

Regards,
Matt B.

Diminishing strength in lifts is not an acceptable trade-off for fat loss.

Matt,you are 'heavily' right. Lifting weights and getting weaker just do not go together(at least should not).

ditto.. I know exactly how that goes. I can EAT and EAT and EAT. My only problem is that I don't really feel like eating more then twice a day. A small lunch and then a very very large dinner. I have tried to eat smaller meals, I did actually, for the start of the diet a few months ago but I got tired of eating little meals all day. I am back to 2 meals a day, working out less frequently though really intense. I have thought about bulking up (clean) to gain alot more weight then tapper off the calories til am comfortable again.. though it never works that way. I always get lazy, and eat only twice a day. Sometimes once.

I am used to intermittent fasting/warrior diet and it's kinda stuck in my mind that I don't need to, nor really want to eat so much. Sometimes I feel like eating a 5000 calorie diet for a few months to really pack on some size then let off for a bit, though maintaining size.

I am pretty lean with some muscularity; 'beach muscles' lol.

This post was necessary and insightful. For some reason, even though I've been fully convinced to stay on route for a low-carb, high-fat and protein diet, I'm still shying away from eating enough fats. I eat fat at almost every meals (with eggs, chicken - and supplement fat-less meats with cheese and almonds), but I've been eating too little - I haven't even been eating 1/2 of my body weight in fat. This past week, after looking at my weightlifting records from a year ago, I noticed some of my lifts have barely progressed. So I simply increased fats, and I was able to increase weights on every exercise this week. I'm small framed and have a small stomach - thanks for this post to stuff down the message to stuff food down our throats.

melville49 wrote:thanks for this post to stuff down the message to stuff food down our throats.

it's true... cars don't run on empty gas tanks!