Cutting Calories on a TKD...

[MASSIVEmorris]

Currently, I'm on a "TKD" (2 weeks in) and I'm taking in 2600 calories (Bodyweight x12). When should I drop 100-200 calories...every 2 weeks or what? TIA.

 

[plornive]

Only drop cals if your fat-loss slows. Even then, it may be a good idea to try a carb-up/refeed first. A carb up will not cause too much fat storage if you use a glucose disposal agent, and it will increase your metabolism temporarily. That is besides it's muscle volumizing and glycogen synthesizing effects. Have you read any articles about leptin? www.avantlabs.com check out the articles on leptin.

 

[MASSIVEmorris]

Thanks Plornive (you're always very helpful) ...have I ever told you how much I love you ? Heheh....

 

[Kid Dynamite]

Keep your cals up. Only drop them after you've tried adding more cardio and results have still slowed. If you want to go w/carb ups, you could switch to a CKD, BUT I think I remember you saying you had problems w/carb-ups in the past.

 

[MASSIVEmorris]

Kid Dynamite- thanks for the suggestion (always helpful as well) ...yes, you are correct about the carb-ups. I can never "structure" them properly, oh well. It seems like the TKD is working pretty good so far...only problem I have is sub-par workouts (even with the carbs). BUT, the fat loss I'm noticing (I can see my abs...a little! ) ...is worth it. I plan on doing this (the TKD method) until August 1st.

 

[plornive]

Have you taken your temperature in the morning before getting up? If your metabolism is dropping too much, you might need to do a carb-up once every 3-4 weeks at least. I'm not sure how effective such infrequent refeeds are, but Par Deus seems to think it is better than not refeeding. The hard part is eating above maintenance calories then dealing sub-maintenance calories again.

Also remember that adding cardio is only slightly different from dropping calories. A caloric deficit from cardio will decrease your metabolism as much as a caloric deficit from diet, if not more. If you are not doing very much cardio, then cardio might be the answer. If you are already doing a moderate amount of cardio, then a combination of reduced calories and cardio is better than increasing cardio alone (depending of course on your current maintenance calories --- you don't want to go too low).

Sometimes cardio can literally have no effect due to its negative effect on basal metabolic rate.

 

[MASSIVEmorris]

Plornive- No, I have not checked my temperature....uhh, I wasn't too concerned about it because I'm only 2 weeks into this thing. Currently, I'm doing 5 sessions of cardio a week (first thing in the morning, low intensity/light jogging, for 30-40 min). Still going to stick with 2600 calories for now...and see how it goes. As for the refeeds/carb-up ...why is that necessary? I have tried to read the articles Par Deus wrote about leptin however, they went right over my head; way too technical. I thought pre-workout carbs were sufficient enough to keep things moving along smoothly (metabolically speaking). Isn't that the point of a TKD...to not have carb-ups/refeeds...yet, to yield a greater amount of fat loss/muscle preservation due to the temporary carbohydrate intake. Once again, I am confused.

 

[plornive]

Oh, I see. For some reason I thought you had been dieting for a while before this. Your post made it sound to me as if you were getting fatigued and had already decreased calories somewhat or something.

You only need refeeds if your metabolism would slow down too much otherwise, so disregard what I said above.

 

[MASSIVEmorris]

Well, you are right in assuming that. Prior to the 2 weeks on the TKD so far...I had been on a standard ketogenic diet approach for 4 weeks. I made the switch over to the "TKD" approach due to numerous suggestions (like yours) and reading up on it more myself.