When cutting...

LUClEN

I am doing a big cut right now. I cut my calories all the way down to around 1600-1800 (i was advised to eat 2020 a day; roughly 14 cals per pound of body weight), spread my meals out throughout the day in 5-6 meals a day (depends on the schedule) and I have dropped 5 lbs in a week. Success is in my sight.

I noticed my skin is gettin loose though. I've done a bit of reading and have heard from numerous sources that the body should fix this itself, but the ability for the skin to tighten decreases with age. Anyone else face this problem? What did you do to deal with it?

waterproof

@RodrigueZz you is cutting to damn low, you doing more harm than good, this what's happening or going to happen....

You are eating your muscle more then you are losing fat, the muscle is where are the good ? at, the protein, minerals, vitamins, healthy fat ect.....your body attack that before it attack the fat WHEN YOU ARE DROPPING YOUR CALS LIKE THAT, THEY GO FOR THE GOOD ? TO EAT FIRST.

You is about to plateau real quick because your body is about go in starvation mode and it will hold on the fat you want to burn for dear life AND EAT THE MUSCLE MORE.

Your skin is getting loose because your are loosing muscle first instead of the fat AND YOU ARE NOT HITTING THE WEIGHTS TO KEEP THE MUSCLE OR ADD AND TO TIGHTEN THE SKIN, that's why obese people have all that skin because they lost alot of muscle more than fat AND THEY ARE NOT LIFTING WEIGHTS.


NOW YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB, AND DOING SOME GREAT THINGS AND HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, LET GET THAT SKIN TO TIGHTEN AND LOSE THE FAT.

KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING BUT GO TO 2000 CALS SO YOUR BODY WONT GO INTO STARVATION MODE, ADD THE CALS IN PROTEIN SHAKE, OR BOILED EGGS OR LEAN MEATS, A EXTRA BOWL OF NATURAL OATS, ARE EAT A FEW SPOONS OF ALMOND BUTTER OR DRINK SOME XTRA GLASS OF LOW FAT MILK FOR THE CALS..

TAKE BCAA'S, IF YOU RUN TAKE THEM BEFORE YOU RUN, IF YOU LIFT TAKE THEM BEFORE AND AFTER YOU LIFT, ON YOUR REGULAR DAYS TAKE 2 IN THE MORNING, THEY WILL PROTECT YOUR MUSCLES FROM GETTING EATEN UP AND FEED YOUR MUSCLES ALSO....

either buy these or take the powder form [img]http://store.bbcomcdn.com/store/prodimage/? _prod4300050/image_prodprod4300050_white450px.jpg[/img] you can order them at bodybuilding.com

AND DONT FORGET YOUR MULTI'S AND ADD FLAXSEED OIL, PILLS, VITAMIN C and B

Amino Acids

Amino acids are essential to anyone's healthy diet and are especially essential to helping to improve the overall look and texture of the skin. There are 28 amino acids that are supposed to be included in a daily diet, and most of us do not receive enough of these acids through food. Thus, individual supplementation that provides amino acids can help the skin repair itself, tighten, and build the muscle under the skin.

Amino acids work by adhering to other elements in the body. Without these acids the body can not perform some of its most basic and simplest of functions. Some of these essential nutrients are the key to skin repair, moisture and flexibility retention, and muscle development. Adding additional supplements like flaxseed oil and Vitamin B as well as a very potent Vitamin C regimen can also provide your body with the raw materials for helping skin retain its shape.

NOW ADD WEIGHT TRAINING ALSO, HIT THE WEIGHTS IN THE 12 RANGE TO TIGHTEN THE SKIN and drop fat, the more muscle you add the more the body burns cal and eat fat.....now if you do everything right like you doing and no cheating and hit the gym also and you add weight, dont get mad...that means that you dropped fat, and add lean muscle, muscle way more than fight, go by the way your clothes fit and waist size..

and weight yourself on the same day every week around the same time, because weight does go up and down depends how much water you hold, weigh yourself in the morning after you take a ? for your true weight

Get Physical

Believe it or not building up the muscle under the skin can help reduce sagging. In mild cases of saggy skin this can often be enough to reduce the sagging to a nearly unnoticeable degree. Muscle under the skin can decrease the problem because it holds its shape much better than fat and is more apt to fire under normal daily activity.

Physical activity might not be enough. Small weights and muscle building exercises are often required to help improve the look of sagging skin. If you start an exercise program that is designed to contribute to your overall muscle mass, try to build the longer, leaner muscles

LUClEN

My six pack is becoming more visible (about damn time) so I know i'm losing some fat as well as some muscle (some lifts have gone down). My understanding is this is normal though.

The shakes i take are full of BCAA's though, is it really a wise investment to get more?

I am currently taking L-Carnitine. Not sure if it's doing anything. I'll try and find some cheap flax seed oil, maybe that will help.


As for the loose skin I heard it can take years for the ? to correct itself. i bought some sea salt body wash to help with it - heard that can help.

leftcoastkev

If you're young (under 35) it shouldn't take long for your skin to snap back.

Unless you're metabolism sucks ass, you shouldn't take you calories so low.

I'm cutting right now on about 2500 cal daily average, which is actually pretty low.

If you play your carbs and your metabolism right, and take your cut slow, your lifts shouldn't stall too much.

I've been cutting for about 9 weeks and Im down 12 lbs. Doesn't seem like much but my lifts are the same and in a couple places went up (back lifts), if not by not losing much muscle, it's by sheer will and wanting it. I got about 5-7lbs realistically to go 'til I'm where I wanna be. Then ride this ? out through the summer staying conditioned.

Take some time and check this out. It may not seem relevant at first, but this is a very smart guy who is talking about cutting and metabolism. Getting a grasp of what he's saying will take you a long way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk

scarfacetf

BCAA'S, you don't have loose any strength at all. I made a cut last summer made nothing but gains lost a ton of body fat. Try the renegade diet. First time in my life i had an eight pack. Even now, I made steady gains while bulking with only a small body fat gain. Lost eight pack still had six.

LUClEN

Im gonna look into that renegade diet, this 1600 cals thing keeps me
hungry as ? all the time. I ? up my diet over the weekend with some bad meal
choices and gained back what i lost. Cant believe how quikcly it happened tho. I wonder if its cause i slowed my metabolism down too much by cuttin calories so low

Any specific bcaa brands/products you can reccommend? I need some more whey isolate so ill cop some bcaas while im at it too. Ive read good things about scivations glutamine/bcaa blend

leftcoastkev

RodrigueZz wrote: »

I ? up my diet over the weekend with some bad meal
choices and gained back what i lost. Cant believe how quikcly it happened tho.

I wonder if its cause i slowed my metabolism down too much by cuttin calories so low

It's water weight most likely (glycogen, fluids, retention).
Unless your putting away 7000+ calories per day, I'd highly doubt you'd gain that much actual fat in a 2 day span.

If anything you probably did your body (hormones - leptin, thyroid) a little longer term good with what you're viewing as short term "damage".

btw, BCAAs, Glutamine, etc.....outside of actual test/juice and pro-hormones (which i don't do), most of that stuff typically makes no big differences.
If you're gonna pick up some Whey, check out the potassium profiles and rock with the one that has the most per serving. Potassium helps keep sodium (and thus water weight) balanced. I use Isopure Zero Carb Whey because of this (and the fact that it's gluten free and has tons of other vitamins and minerals).

LUClEN

I was nowhere near 7k. I ate maybe 6k for the whole weekend

leftcoastkev

wouldn't worry about it too much.
if you want to do some light damage control, up your water intake. do some cardio. sweat it out.

waterproof

RodrigueZz wrote: »

My six pack is becoming more visible (about damn time) so I know i'm losing some fat as well as some muscle (some lifts have gone down). My understanding is this is normal though.

The shakes i take are full of BCAA's though, is it really a wise investment to get more?

I am currently taking L-Carnitine. Not sure if it's doing anything. I'll try and find some cheap flax seed oil, maybe that will help.


As for the loose skin I heard it can take years for the ? to correct itself. i bought some sea salt body wash to help with it - heard that can help.

First thing everybody body is different, it's trail and error and that's the truth, listen to your body, take down notes and see what works best for you..

Now in my humble opinion, we are in a new era of fitness, sports/fitness science, kinesiology, dieting ect.... and i deal with science and how my body receive the training and supplements......

There is a reason why BCAA'a, Creatine, Glutamine last this long and is used, because it works....bodybuilders, fitness freaks, athlete ect deal with science, right now i havent used gluatimne and my body can tell the difference my recovery time is not as fast, and with the heavy poundage sorness is there and with glutamine i train with the same intense not as sore as much.

Right now i am upping my dosage of bcaa's to put on some more size,,, i am using ON BCAA in the pill and powder form, I SAY UP YOUR BCAA INTAKE

here's some studies

BCAA and fat loss

A February 2011 population study out of The Journal of Nutrition by Qin et al, looked at a cohort of 4,429 subjects from Japan, UK, USA and China (19). There was a positive correlation for escalating intake of BCAA and reduced risk of being overweight or obese.

A January 1997 article on competitive wrestlers shows the impact of BCAA on weight loss and exercise performance (20). Competitive wrestlers are a good model for the study of calorie/carb restrictive diets combined with intense exercise regimes. Twenty-five competitive wrestlers were randomized to 4 different low calorie dies: Low calorie & low protein, low calorie control, low calorie high protein and low calorie & BCAA supplementation. The BCAA group lost the greatest amount of weight (9 pounds), body fat (loss of 17%), and specifically lost weight from visceral adipose tissue (a reduction of 34%).

Finally, a pilot study out of the journal AGE showed a dose of 12g BCAA in combination with oleic acid and DHA resulted in a close to 4 pound weight loss with in a period of only 2 weeks in women over the age of 38 (21). The researchers chose the BCAA leucine because of its effects on hunger and fat loss in other studies. “In conclusion, this study demonstrates that leucine……… may cause weight loss through signaling mechanisms to the brain and adipose tissue.”

BCAA & muscle mass

The journal Obesity in 2008 showed resistance training is one tool to help maintain muscle mass when dieting (8). BCAA are another. BCAA amino acids, most notably leucine, interact with the anabolic cell signaling messenger mTOR stimulating muscle growth alone and synergistically with resistance exercise (15).

This is an important consideration since studies have shown traditional weight loss approaches can impact muscle mass and decrease metabolic rate (BMR) by 10-20% (16). A slowed BMR is a predictor of Yo-Yo weight gain. Â Those with the largest metabolic declines induced by muscle loss are four times more likely to regain lost weight over the next 24 months (17).

BCAA controls hunger, cravings and energy

Perhaps the most important component of maintaining an exercise regime and diet plan is related to willpower. Due to the compensatory reactions created by excessive exercise and/or dietary restriction, it is almost impossible to win the battle of wills against the physiology. BCAA have special actions in regulating energy, controlling hunger, and potentially benefiting stress induced cravings.

BCAA effects on hunger, cravings and energy come from the ability of these aminos to generate the gluconeogenic precursors glutamine and alanine. This has a balancing effect on blood sugar. A March 2011 study by Gualano, et al. showed 3 days of supplementation with high dose BCAA resulted in increased fat oxidation and exercise performance in response to glycogen depletion compared to a placebo. This was likely due to the ability of the BCAA supplements to maintain glycemic control as stated by the researchers: “Importantly, our findings suggest that BCAA supplementation appears to prevent the exercise-induced hypoglycemia, particularly in glycogen depleted subjects.”

Obviously the ability to maintain blood sugar balance in low calorie or low carb dieters will indirectly impact hunger, but exercise has direct hunger inducing effect (2). BCAA supplements have been shown to impact hunger directly and may provide a buffer to exercise’s appetite stimulation. Both AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and mTOR signaling have hunger suppressing effects in the hypothalamus. Leucine has been shown to adjust both signaling systems and reduce food intake (13).

The effect on cravings is more indirect than BCAAs impact on hunger. The blood sugar balancing activity of BCAAs would likely have an impact on decreasing cravings, but stress hormones may be involved as well. Excessive exercise and the stress of dieting may raise stress hormones (18). The stress hormone cortisol has been implicated in brain chemistry changes that induce cravings specifically for highly palatable foods (salt, sugar, starch, fat) (3). BCAA supplementation lowers the cortisol elevation often seen with intense and prolonged exercise (7).

Clinical implications

The dose of BCAA supplements used in studies range from 5 to 15g daily and higher (22). Some studies on appetite suppressing effects suggest higher doses of 300mg/kg body weight. Most information suggests a 3:1:1 ratio of leucine to valine to isoleucine.

Given the potential for negative compensatory reactions during weight loss exercise protocols, interventions that are able to maintain muscle mass and control hunger, energy and cravings are needed. Branched chain amino acids (BCAA) have many overlapping mechanisms that may help weight loss efforts through exercise and dieting.

These 3 amino acids also help your body burn fat, improve your recovery and reduce your muscle soreness.

What was once just thought of as a muscle building supplement is now a vital tool for those that want to lose weight and build new lean muscle at the same time. This isn’t just for bodybuilders. BCAAs are for any man or women looking to get in better shape and lose weight.

So always do your research and know the science