I am currently cutting my weight at around 1 lb/wk while doing the Bridge 1.0 and Strength 1 templates. Since I started I have reduced my BW from 236 to 220 and waist circumference from 37.5 to 35.5. My goal is to get my weight down to ~205 or my waist down to 33 inches (whichever comes first). So that leaves roughly 15 more weeks of cutting weight. My question is: Is there any benefit (other than psychological) to inserting maintenance phases during long cutting phases, or just cut at the same rate for the entire period? OR is it beneficial to cut at a higher rate for a shorter period (assuming the goal is to continue strength improvements and minimize muscle loss)? The idea I am aiming for is to get to a low enough BW so that I can slowly cycle bulk/cut phases over the long haul with the goal being to drive weight back up while minimizing average waist increases.
I do think that maintenance phases can be useful for folks who have recently lost a significant amount of weight, as there’s a significant amount of data suggesting weight regain immediately following weight loss tends to replenish fat stores first prior to muscle. To the extent a maintenance phase can help with this in a generalizable way is currently unknown, however I think it’s reasonable to recommend.
I did some searching and found some studies primarily focused on the obese but could not find a reference to specifics around duration of maintenance phases or how much weight loss causes these mechanisms to engage and disengage so could you elaborate on what the metrics are for a significant amount of weight loss (for instance more than 10% initial weight) or duration of maintenance phases (6 weeks). Or instead, are there not hard and fast lines and we have to do our best by watching our waist measurement when transitioning and if it starts climbing too fast, adjust calories downward and recomp for a while?
Weight loss of any amount produces a preference to replenish fat stores first. There’s no data on maintenance phases preventing this, as mentioned above.
You guys have mentioned that studies show obesity decreases muscle protein synthesis rates and that losing weight in such situations would improve nutrient partitioning. However, if weight loss produces a preference for replenishing fat first, doesn’t this contradict that, in the sense that nutrient partitioning would be worse following weight loss?
If I could piggyback on this discussion, for the sake of preserving lean body mass, do you find the maintenance phase to be as important/beneficial for folks who have are ending a bulk rather than a cut? I’ve been gaining half a pound a week for the past couple of months (now at 212 pounds at 6’1) while running a four-day split. My waist is now at 35.5 inches, and that’s about as much as I’d like to let it go. I’d ideally like to get back to 33-34. In that context, is it best to eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks before starting a cut?
Yes, that’s true particularly with insulin resistance and Type II DM. After weight loss, there are mechanisms outside of MPS that influence nutrient partitioning. That being said, I wouldn’t expect people to do worse with respect to muscle gain after body fat reduction compared to maintaining body fat levels (or expanding them).
So the underlined part is not clear to me based on what you mentioned earlier. If the body is preferentially storing fat after weight loss, doesn’t this mean nutrient partitioning is worse? Maybe I’m misunderstanding something.
I’m not sure what exactly you’re saying (or thinking), but I’ll try to explain a bit differently. While nutrient partitioning is compromised by both excess adiposity and body fat levels dropping below a set point, I would not expect individuals who have recently lost body fat to have worse muscle gain than those who are obese.
That seems to contradict what you said earlier in this thread:
Jordan Feigenbaum:
…there’s a significant amount of data suggesting weight regain immediately following weight loss tends to replenish fat stores first prior to muscle
If I lose body fat (assuming I did not go below some very low threshold), and now my body is going to replenish fat stores first, doesn’t it mean that my partitioning is worse? That’s what I’m trying to understand.
Not really, no. I said that people who lose body fat will tend to defend their body fat levels and prioritize replenishing body fat when gaining weight-perhaps more so if their isn’t a “maintenance period”, but perhaps not. The degree that this happens, for most anyway, depends on how threatened the body fat set point gets.
That said, they’ll still do better than an obese person.