below 7-10% for men) ( Rossow et al., 2013 Helms et al., 2014a Kistler et al., 2014 Huovinen et al., 2015 Robinson et al., 2015). You might be more likely to lose muscle mass if you cut calories when your body fat is already low (i.e. I won’t go into details here, but check out my article on it, and Greg’s, as well. This means that our bodies react differently to similar training programs and diets. Garthe et al., 2012 - Athletes respond differently to bulking.Ī great deal of studies show that there are high-responders, low-responders, and non-responders to training. How close you are to your genetic potential.interference effect) ( Helms et al., 2014b) How much and which type of cardio you do (i.e.Low body fat increases your risk of losing muscle mass ( van der Ploeg et al., 2001 Rossow et al., 2013 Kistler et al., 2014 Murphy et al., 2014 Robinson et al., 2015 Huovinen et al., 2015 Hulmi et al., 2016). Your protein intake (citations further up).How steep the caloric deficit is ( Helms et al., 2014a Robinson et al., 2015 MacKenzie-Shalders et al., 2016).Not everyone can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. The same is true for cutting (Garthe et al., 2011). “While greater deficits yield faster weight loss, the percentage of weight loss coming from lean body mass (LBM) tends to increase as the size of the deficit increases ”Īthletes have different levels of success when bulking, as shown in the graph below. >2 grams per kg bw) ( Phillips, 2014 Murphy et al., 2014 Helms et al., 2014). You might want to eat a high-protein diet when you go on a cut to preserve muscle mass ( Stiegler and Cunliffe 2006 Wycherley et al., 2012 Churchward-Venne et al., 2013 Pasiakos et al., 2013 Phillips, 2014 Trexler et al., 2014 Helms et al., 2014 Helms et al., 2014a Murphy et al., 2014 Manore et al., 2015 Kim et al., 2016 Hulmi et al., 2016).įor example, 1.5-1.8 grams protein per kg bw ( Phillips, 2014 Murphy et al., 2014 Hulmi et al., 2016).I will review this in more detail in another article. There are other negative effects of rapid weight loss (hormonal, physiological, and psychological) ( Sundgot-Borgen and Garthe, 2011 Franchini et al., 2012 Trexler et al., 2014 Khodaee et al., 2015 Manore et al., 2015 Hulmi et al., 2016 Aloui et al., 2016 Hulmi et al., 2016).Very low calorie diets might lead to more muscle atrophy ( Chaston et al., 2007). around -500 kcal) to avoid loss of muscle mass (Garthe et al., 2011 Sundgot-Borgen and Garthe, 2011 Trexler et al., 2014 Helms et al., 2014a Murphy et al., 2014 Khodaee et al., 2015 Manore et al., 2015 Hulmi et al., 2016). Cutting should be done with small or moderate deficits (i.e.But in older adults, aerobic training in itself could preserve more muscle mass than being sedentary ( Weinheimer et al., 2010). Hence, it’s important to do strength training while cutting to avoid muscle loss ( Stiegler and Cunliffe 2006 Miller et al., 2013 Churchward-Venne et al., 2013 Trexler et al., 2014 Helms et al., 2014a Helms et al., 2014b Murphy et al., 2014 Hulmi et al., 2016).
We might lose muscle mass if we cut calories without doing strength training ( Villareal et al., 2016).You can find an overview of the deficit gaining and body recomposition studies further down in the article. The preponderance of the evidence suggests that both beginners, novices, intermediates, and even advanced athletes can gain muscle and strength while losing fat. Or, they could be bodybuilders with a lot of lean mass and low body fat %. They are very strong in relation to their body weight, and usually have considerable amounts of lean mass (i.e. Advanced = These are typically athletes or bodybuilders.Usually, they will have 2+ years of experience with strength training. Trained = These are intermediately trained lifters.