Let's talk about calorie deficits/diets

[hugeloser]

Just wanted to share some of my experience going from 35% body fat to around 18%. Still slowly cutting right now. I’ve tried different kinds of deficits, played around with diet, cardio, fasting, all that. Some stuff worked better than others. Some things I’d never do again. I’m curious how others here handled this too, especially if you’ve been through the long grind


Started with the classic 500 cal deficit

This was my intro to fat loss. Didn’t track super hard at first, just ate cleaner and less junk. Pretty easy to stay in a deficit once I cut soda and snacks. Weight came off, but it was slow. I think I dropped like 1 to 1.5 pounds per week if I was consistent

Honestly, this is probably the most livable method. I could still go out, still train, and I wasn’t always starving. But it was mentally draining how long it took to actually see changes. I’d recommend it for beginners though. Easy to stick to and helps build discipline without going extreme

Water fasting

Eventually got impatient and tried water fasting. Just water, coffee, salt. Lost a ton of fat fast. Like stupid fast

First couple days were rough, then it got easier. No hunger, no cravings, no energy crashes. Actually kind of peaceful once you’re locked in. But it absolutely kills your social life. Can’t eat out, can’t sit at dinner, can’t have shit. Makes you realize how everything we do revolves around food. If you’re introverted or solo grinding, it’s doable. If you have any kind of social life, good luck. Personally, i am a loser so i fucking loved it

Aggressive cuts (1000–1500 cal deficit)

Tried this thinking it’d be a middle ground between fasting and slow cutting. It ended up being worse. You’re eating, but just enough to be hungry all the time. Meals made me hungrier. I’d be good all day, then cave at night and binge. Felt like I was fighting my body constantly

Only way I could handle this was OMAD. Just eat once, get it over with. Nonetheless, i hated it.

Food deficit vs cardio/steps?

When I first started, I tried using cardio and walking to burn most of the calories. I like cardio in general, especially walking or long incline treadmill sessions. It feels good and it works, but to actually burn a lot of calories, it can take up a lot of time. Someone like lukasegolifts on tiktok basically lost insane of weight doing cardio, but not everyone is as mentally deranged (dedicated?) as him

What i'm doing now, slight deficit, recompy ish diet.

These days I’m sitting in a 200 to 300 cal deficit. Some days probably closer to maintenance. Still making slow weight loss progress, can actually be a gymcel and build muscle.

Do i wish i could just jump into a water fast again and lean tf out? Yes. But diet fatigue is real, and i need a break.

Hope some foid calls me ugly, so i can get some leanmax motivation but right now, it's not there

 

[hugeloser]

DNR. Just pin reta, retard.

 

[sphenocide]

Good post, yeah 500 defecit mogs imo

 

[hugeloser]

Good post, yeah 500 defecit mogs imo

Slow and steady does work for most people, but it really depends on where you’re starting. If you’re 35% body fat at 100 kg and aiming for 15%, that means you need to drop around 24 kg of fat. That’s about 184,800 excess calories to burn. At a 500-calorie deficit per day, you’re looking at 369 days of dieting. That’s a hell of a long time to stay locked in

For someone in that situation, I’d say either bump up the deficit or seriously consider water fasting like I mentioned earlier.

Now, if you’re already around 15% and just trying to slide down to 10%, then yeah slow and steady makes way more sense.

 

[sphenocide]

Slow and steady does work for most people, but it really depends on where you’re starting. If you’re 35% body fat at 100 kg and aiming for 15%, that means you need to drop around 24 kg of fat. That’s about 184,800 excess calories to burn. At a 500-calorie deficit per day, you’re looking at 369 days of dieting. That’s a hell of a long time to stay locked in

For someone in that situation, I’d say either bump up the deficit or seriously consider water fasting like I mentioned earlier.

Now, if you’re already around 15% and just trying to slide down to 10%, then yeah slow and steady makes way more sense.

true, I’m 80kg trying to go down to 68ish