# (Cutting) Losing too much weight, too soon? Help!



## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

Hey,

Last week I started my first ever cut, trying to lose some BF and get those abs out for my holiday in 7 weeks 

I used to weigh like 140lbs when I first started lifting 2years ago, I bulked up slowly to 173lbs and started looking pretty good for me whos always been scrawny (5'9").

I started my Cut last week after maintaining for a week or 2. Only now this mornings weigh in read 163lbs.. thats 9lbs in 1 week!! The abs and seperations are a LITTLE more visible, but not hugely as i'd expect with 9lbs less on the scale.. I dont really want to drop too much weight as its took me so long to build up. Dont really wanna go below 155lbs if possible.

I calculated my maintenance was 3000 kcal per day, stayed at near enough the exact same weight for 2 weeks at that, so this past week cut I down to 2,800 kcals and this happened.. what the ****? I religisously count my macros and hit them with +/- 5g every day.

I do 2 sessions of 'cardio' per week, this is basically, (high intensity) football training on a wednesday and saturday and weight train the other days.

I was aiming to lose 1-2lbs per week not frikkin 9!! what the hell is going on?


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## resten (Apr 4, 2012)

Wouldn't be 9lbs of fat loss mate. I've lost that in a good sh1t before


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## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

hah, yeah i get that its not gonna be 9lbs of fat but still, if i keep eating at 2,800 the scale aint gonna go up is it? I'm thinking its just gonna keep going down without much change in body cojmposition! Please excuse my paranoia, i've just put too much work into this to just **** it all up in a week haha


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## resten (Apr 4, 2012)

I suspect your maintenance calories are slightly too low with the football training, although others may not agree (and I've never been one to count kcals, I just go by look and feel).

I'd be surprised if you see another 9lb drop like that. If you do, you need to sell your diet and training plan. You'll make millions 

Give it a bit more time, if it keeps dropping too quickly then add another couple of hundred kcals


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## pgray12 (Jan 25, 2013)

have you just switched to low carb diet? if so, prob most of it water weight. when carb cycling and moving from high to low carb days, i drop about 4-5lb in that first day, but most is water weight and levels out after. usually end up burning 1-2lbs of fat per week this way


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## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

Resten, thanks for the replies mate, unfortunately theres no real secret apart from an insanely high metabolism i think!

pgray12, No i'm currently getting like 360g carbs, 210 protein and 62g fat.. I just eat that everyday, no cycling or anything.


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## Kimball (Feb 26, 2012)

That 9lb will be at least 6lbs water, don't worry it won't happen again. Do it for 2 more weeks then adjust as you need.


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## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

So are you saying if i continue to eat this amount, i SHOULD see my weight plateau at around 163? Or should i be expecting to go up a few more lbs then lose more gradually?


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## resten (Apr 4, 2012)

alpoko said:


> So are you saying if i continue to eat this amount, i SHOULD see my weight plateau at around 163? Or should i be expecting to go up a few more lbs then lose more gradually?


Too many variables for us to answer this mate. It's going to be a case of trial and error. Clearly you can actually be ars*d to work all the macros and kcals out, so just tweak it until you're losing at the rate you want  Weigh yourself once a week ideally in the same conditions (i.e. first thing in morning after morning p*ss), tweak according to those results


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## Madoxx (Nov 7, 2010)

Op - download this - http://michaelandkendra.com/BMRCALC/Cut.xls

Enter your infor and see what your maintenance cals are, see if they agree with your 3k theory


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## cudsyaj (Jul 5, 2011)

alpoko said:


> Hey,
> 
> Last week I started my first ever cut, trying to lose some BF and get those abs out for my holiday in 7 weeks
> 
> ...


As everyone says, don't panic buddy!! I'm also on my first ever cut and dropped straight to to 2,600 to get the ball rolling (4 days weights & 2 days HIIT 20 mins), stopped taking creatine and lowered my salt intake and started cycling and timing my carbs.

The first 7-10 days I dropped about 2-3kg so 4-6lbs ish... then it stabilised and next 3kg was a lot more progressive until having to re-adjust all my macros and kcals to about 2200. I'm down from 96kg to about 88-89 now with a target of 84-86kg but now I'm only using the scales a little bit.

Lifts are all strong, barely any noticeable strength drops so long as bench stays around 100-110kg & deadlifts are around 200kg 1 rep max I know I've not lost muscle.

Mirror is way more accurate now than the scales are. Also a lot less depressing, took me 2 years to get 96kg and seeing it drop is misleading.

Good luck.


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## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

Resten, i currently weigh myself every morning after a **** to keep an eye on it, I always seem to be 1-2 lbs lighter the day after football then it goes back up.



Madoxx said:


> Op - download this - http://michaelandkendra.com/BMRCALC/Cut.xls
> 
> Enter your infor and see what your maintenance cals are, see if they agree with your 3k theory


thanks for that mate, yeh that excel file says my calorie requirement is 3048 kcals!

Cudsyaj, hah yeh, its so demoralising to see the weight fall off daily when its took 2years to build it up!! More in the mind than anything as my lifts haven't decreased. I find it hard to be subjective in the mirror.. i should of took progress pictures, argh!!

Im thinking though that the 2 intense sessions of football training probably equate to like 4/5 30min HIIT sessions on an eliptical or something.. probs burning more than i realise coupled with an already high metabolism.

I'll stick with these cals for this week and see how it goes, not like im competing or anything so its not the end of the world if i **** it up lol. Thanks for the replies fellas.


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## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

Resten, i currently weigh myself every morning after a **** to keep an eye on it, I always seem to be 1-2 lbs lighter the day after football then it goes back up.

Maddox, thanks for that mate, yeh that excel file says my calorie requirement is 3048 kcals!

Cudsyaj, hah yeh, its so demoralising to see the weight fall off daily when its took 2years to build it up!! More in the mind than anything as my lifts haven't decreased. I find it hard to be subjective in the mirror.. i should of took progress pictures, argh!!

Im thinking though that the 2 intense sessions of football training probably equate to like 4/5 30min HIIT sessions on an eliptical or something.. probs burning more than i realise coupled with an already high metabolism.

I'll stick with these cals for this week and see how it goes, not like im competing or anything so its not the end of the world if i **** it up lol. Thanks for the replies fellas.


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## Madoxx (Nov 7, 2010)

Nice attitude, have some rep


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## resten (Apr 4, 2012)

Wish all newbies were like this lad


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## alpoko (Jan 24, 2013)

1 more question while theres some good people checking this thread, do you think its possible to build muscle in a negelcted bodypart while on a surplus?

The reason I ask is, while i've been training for 2years, the first 16months'ish was with the attitude - 'My legs get enough work playing footy, i dont need to train em' ¬__¬

I started training them properly in january and seen some good strength gains in my squat and they certainly got visibly bigger, but I fractured my tibia in march, and had to take 8weeks off training them. But the last month i've been hammering them again and they're feeling fuller from week-to-week. Is it possible that i'm getting some newbie gains on my legs even though im not in a caloric surplus? Or is my mind playing tricks on me?


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## T_Woody (Jul 16, 2008)

Just backing up what a few have said, the first few weeks you do drop fast but alot of it is water weight, which is sitll nice and youl feel a littl tighter all around i imagine!


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