Muscle loss during cutting?

[externational]

Is it okay to feel hungry while cutting? Does prolonged hunger (more than an hour?) lead to muscle loss? I'm going to decrease my caloric intake but I'm concerned about losing muscle because of that minus couple hundred calories a day.

[pu12en12g]

Is it okay to feel hungry while cutting? Does prolonged hunger (more than an hour?) lead to muscle loss? I'm going to decrease my caloric intake but I'm concerned about losing muscle because of that minus couple hundred calories a day.

It's normal to feel hungry, but it shouldn't be torture. It can be a big help to not have junk foods that you crave around the house.

Keep us updated on your progress !

[Spartan]

Is it okay to feel hungry while cutting? Does prolonged hunger (more than an hour?) lead to muscle loss? I'm going to decrease my caloric intake but I'm concerned about losing muscle because of that minus couple hundred calories a day.

If your diet is in check, you have enough protein intake and are eatting 5-6 times daily, I wouldn't worry about muscle loss. Don't drop a huge amount of calories right away either. Slow and steady wins that battle. Drop maybe 250-500 total a day from your diet, about 1lb weekly alone off caloric intake and increase cardio and weight training to assist further. Post your daily meals and people can help you further and suggest options/thermogenics/etc. Good luck!

[externational]

thanks for the help you guys!

[icetrauma]

Everytime ya feel hungry down a glass or 2 of water. That will usually hold for a while.

[Spartan]

Everytime ya feel hungry down a glass or 2 of water. That will usually hold for a while.

That would help too. How often do you find you get hungry? I eat 5-6 times and rarely will find myself getting that feeling, but each person IS different. You could also look to add a meal replacement bar, or something along those lines that's not high in calories/fat/etc to hold you over till you get a real meal in you.

[Mr. Aries]

when I cut down i'm eatting like 8 times a day.. hehe

[Spartan]

when I cut down i'm eatting like 8 times a day.. hehe

Fatass.

[externational]

my daily intake breakdown is roughly like this:

breakfast: 280-480 calories
lunch: 400-600
sometimes a pre-workout: 300
post workout: 300
dinner: 500-1000
late dinner: 400-600

I get slightly hungry between every meal and really hungry between breakfast-lunch and dinner-late dinner. It's weird though. I used to be extremely skinny (5'10" 140lbs) and after working out and getting to 160lbs my appetite has become almost insatiable. I do eat relatively correctly. The only time I ever cheat is during breakfast because I'm in a hurry so I'll heat up one of those small personal pizzas from costco, anything else and Ill get hungry way too quickly.

[Spartan]

my daily intake breakdown is roughly like this:

breakfast: 280-480 calories
lunch: 400-600
sometimes a pre-workout: 300
post workout: 300
dinner: 500-1000
late dinner: 400-600

I get slightly hungry between every meal and really hungry between breakfast-lunch and dinner-late dinner. It's weird though. I used to be extremely skinny (5'10" 140lbs) and after working out and getting to 160lbs my appetite has become almost insatiable. I do eat relatively correctly. The only time I ever cheat is during breakfast because I'm in a hurry so I'll heat up one of those small personal pizzas from costco, anything else and Ill get hungry way too quickly.

If you're cutting, that's a BIG disparity between potential caloric intakes. You say you eat between 2180 - 3280 calories. You should probably try to get those numbers closer to each other, say 2700 calories and see how you feel after a few days. How's your protein/carbs/fats breakdown in those numbers? That matters too. Also, eat fruit if you feel hungry. Have an apple or bananna, orange, grapefruit, whatever. The fiber will help hold you over too and the calories wont kill you.
However, if you're 5'10 and 160, wtf is there left to cut???? You must be a stick to begin with. Post your diets and we'll see what we can suggest.

[externational]

I forgot to point out that the range in total calories actually describes both workout days and rest days, with the higher end being my workout days and the low end being my rest days.

My protien carb fat ratio is very close to 40/40/20.

And yea I don't have much fat to lose.. I only want to lose around 2-3 pounds of fat, which explains why I am so concerned about muscle loss since my body doesn't have much fat to burn when I feel hunger.

[Spartan]

I forgot to point out that the range in total calories actually describes both workout days and rest days, with the higher end being my workout days and the low end being my rest days.

My protien carb fat ratio is very close to 40/40/20.

And yea I don't have much fat to lose.. I only want to lose around 2-3 pounds of fat, which explains why I am so concerned about muscle loss since my body doesn't have much fat to burn when I feel hunger.

2-3lbs, that's it?

[externational]

2-3lbs, that's it?

it's still a goal.

[DavyO]

If you keep your protein intake high and eat every 2-2.5 hours (3 hour max) you should be able to keep muscle loss to a minimum or none at all IMO.

Slowly cut down on your kcal intake and adjust when needed.

[Biceps18]

If you keep your protein intake high and eat every 2-2.5 hours (3 hour max) you should be able to keep muscle loss to a minimum or none at all IMO.

Slowly cut down on your kcal intake and adjust when needed.

This is true, eat frequently and no hour long marathon run sessions and you should keep most muscle.