How to create a caloric deficit without going into starvation mode?

January 16, 2010 11:58 AM

According to the nutritional guidelines in my p90x program, my required calories per day (resting metabolic rate+daily activity burn+600 calories of exercise calories/day) equals 3000. I'm looking to drop fat, and gain muscle. Should I create a caloric deficit? And, if so, how can I keep my body from going into starvation mode where it will hold onto fat?

So far, I'm following the p90x nutrition plan to the letter. For the first 90 days, which is what they call the fat shredder phase, I'm to eat daily:

9 servings of proteins
4 servings of dairy
2 servings of fruit
4 servings of veggie
1 serving of fat
1 serving carb
4 servings of snacks
2 servings of condiments

In the second and third phases of the program, these ratios change, mostly with the reintroduction of carbs.

As I mentioned, I am interested in lowering my body fat and increasing muscle. I currently weigh around 200 lbs and I don't care if the numbers on my scale do not change, provided my body fat percentage does. Does that mean I do not need a caloric deficit at all? Will eating right and exercise be enough to replace fat for muscle? Or should I shoot for some caloric losses here?

posted by ranunculus to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

Response by poster: * make that 'for the first 30 days'
posted by ranunculus at 11:59 AM on January 16, 2010

There's no hard and fast answer here, and there's plenty that's still not understood about diet and weight. That said, low carb, but non calorie-restrictive, diets work and are muscle/protein sparing despite that there's no active caloric intake reduction. Now, some research shows that when not eating much in the way of carbs, total caloric intake naturally reduces, so really it's just a calorie reduction diet. Other research shows that more non-muscle mass weight is lost on low carb diets that truly aren't lowered calorie intake diets. (i.e., "a calorie is not a calorie.")

A good rule of thumb is that if you're getting enough protein, the likelihood that you'll lose muscle mass is low. And, again, there is evidence to show that (no attempt to create a calorie deficit) + (low carbs/high protein) = (body fat loss over time). So, I wouldn't start by altering the diet to create a calorie deficit. If you find that your body fat % (or weight) isn't changing, then try creating a calorie deficit, but by reducing sugar and simple (or non nutritious/fibrous/vitaminy) carbs more than protein.

If you do reduce your caloric intake, be aware that if you make sure to eat a lot of protein, the diet will probably be muscle sparing, or at least more muscle sparing than a high carb low calorie diet. See this review of VLCARB (very low carb) diets for a lot of info about how they're muscle sparing.
posted by sentient at 12:24 PM on January 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Generally, fat loss and muscle gain are not done "at the same time" when it comes to fitness regimens. It is far more typical for an individual to "bulk up" in order to gain muscle and then undergo a fat-loss stage to cut down once muscle gains are made. Protein needs more calories to stay alive than does fat, so the idea is that once you have made significant muscle gains, you are actually just feeding the muscle itself rather than packing on the fat. From that point your workout would usually go highly aerobic and less tilted towards heavy lifting.

Losing weight healthily tends to be less about creating a "caloric deficit" and more about eating the right types of food and calories. Eating smaller meals, more frequently, while seemingly counter intuitive, actually burns more fat in that it stimulates the metabolism to be constantly burning food.

As far as p90x is concerned...I would follow it to a T and not try to introduce any caloric losses or you may not be consuming enough healthy calories for the demanding workouts. Follow the program, wait three months, and then reassess. I think you'll find that eating right and exercising will be more than enough to transform your body.
posted by jnnla at 12:31 PM on January 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

3000 calories may seem high but if you do truly follow that program it should be about right. the exercise is very intense. so if you're not doing exactly what they tell you or if you're slacking you might want to cut back on the calories a little bit. but if you're working your ass off like you should be then 3000 is probably right.
posted by no bueno at 1:58 PM on January 16, 2010

Like jnnla said, the conventional wisdom is that a caloric excess is needed to gain muscle and a caloric deficit is needed to reduce fat.

In my opinion, if P90x is good for anything it would be the latter; although it has nothing to do with "an advanced training technique called Muscle Confusion™," so any number of routines would work just as well, e.g. all the CrossFit-type workouts you can find online.

I think you'd be better off with strength training before you worry about conditioning/losing fat. And the most effective beginner strength routine will be based on progressive overload with basic barbell movements, e.g. Starting Strength.

So if you want to lose fat, I think you should create a caloric deficit of 300-500 cal or so. Monitor your bodyfat and adjust caloric intake accordingly. Do the opposite if you want to get strong and build muscle.
posted by ludwig_van at 2:13 PM on January 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Burning 600 calories a day (every day) in exercise is unrealistic for many people. Unless you already spend 1~2hours/day in vigorous exercise every day then you may be over estimating how many calories you can burn through exercise. The typical limit here is not will power - its simply over training. Letting your muscles rest & recover between workouts is what makes them stronger. So typical people trying to build muscle should only lift weight 3~4 days/week with 3~4 days of rest. Of course you can alternate muscle groups etc., but it's a complex balancing act that is easy to get wrong. What's true of resistance training is also somewhat true of cardio training. Many people do run every single day, but its not easy and again injury is more likely. I'm not trying to discourage you from exercise - I think is way more important than weight loss. But you should be realistic about how much exercise you can sustain over time and be wary of over training and injury as they can throw a huge roadblock in front of your fitness goals.

I think there is a pretty good consensus that to build muscle you need to eat excess calories and that this will inevitably also add fat. Vigorous resistance training while you're eating excess calories will tend to add more of the weight as muscle rather than fat, but you will still gain fat, but while your weight increases you body fat % will fall. Conversely if you eat a deficit of calories while maintaining vigorous resistance training you will lose both muscle & fat, but again you will tend to lose fat faster than muscle and so once again while your weight falls you will also reduce your body fat %. The message is, 1) you should care about body fat % & 2) you should resistance train no matter what you're doing with diet.

I think its pretty hard to both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Basically if you just start a good exercise routine without significantly adjusting you calorie intake you should gradually see a reduction in in body fat %. But its not likely to happen very fast. What I've seen when people want faster results is that they cycle. For example, in winter they eat excess calories (+500/day), lift a lot of weight and build a lot of muscle and a layer of fat, they gain substantial weight. Then in the second half of the year they eat a deficit (-500/day) of calories while continuing to train (perhaps more heavily on cardio vs resistance) and lose the fat. In this way over successive cycles they increase their body weight and reduce their body fat %. I recommend this web page for more info - its no BS and they're not trying to sell anything.
posted by Long Way To Go at 4:52 PM on January 16, 2010

I have done the V-Diet before. The shit is miserable, but it melts fat off you like nothing I have ever seen (and yes, it was fat, I did hydrostatic bodyfat testing before and after). It suggests exercises (which are pretty straightforward), and leaves you at the end with no desire whatsoever for much in the way of "bad" foods.

Honestly, the diet is absurd, you will be on the edge of quitting, but if it matters to you, you can do it.. If you do do it, you _will_ lose fat, period. See where you get after that, and decide what program you want to do next. Trying to walk the line between losing fat and gaining lean mass at the same time is going to do a mediocre job of both. If you can focus on and specialize in each goal individually, you will find yourself a lot more successful with comparatively less effort put in.
posted by milqman at 11:44 PM on January 16, 2010 [1 favorite]