Calorie restriction

[Yura]

How is this method supposed to work? If you eat for example even less calories than your basal metabolism? I can see how this will work in lab or monks in mountains. But how this should work in stressful modern life style. When you need to work etc.? The goal is to speed up metabolism. How you can do this on low calories when you are basically constantly in catabolism? How can your fatigue, hypothyroid, slow digestion etc.. improve if your body don't have enough energy? I can see how fasting or intermittent fasting can works. By giving the body chance and time to clean. But at the end of the day you need enough energy to live the life you want and to have have energy you want. I see people here eating less than 2000kcal. It is crazy. They all have symptoms of undereating. Especially if the person is young man and not some 70yo lady.. I mean this is really crazy..

I know that it is not just about calories, but I am sorry. If you are 25 yo male and you are eating like 1700 kcal. Which is probably lower than basal metabolism. You can't expect to feel good and to have energy for life.. If some study says otherwise I really don't give a shit.. Like I said I can see how this can work in lab, stress free monks in mountains or some crazy people who are doing nothing just laying on the beach and meditating. Or for somebody with cancer etc.. But show me healthy active young male who is actually working and eats like 1800kcal? He would collapse sooner or later.. Probably with symptoms like a lot of people who are trying to eat "healthy", who are doing detoxes, fastings all the time.. Minnesota Starvation Experiment - Wikipedia
This is a good example what is doing 1600kcal a day to healthy males.. I am not saying go eat like a pig. Overeating is probably even worse, but guys. It is all about give the body what he needs. Not just micronutrients, but calories as well.. If you want to have good laughter(he is really funny). I highly recommend Matt Stone and his blog or his podcasts. He is not science guy. He is doing a lof ot stupid things. But in terms of crazy calorie restrictions, slow metabolism etc.. His is spot on..
Blog - 180 Degree Health He was especially helpful in terms of salt intake and fluid intake in slow metabolism. He even uses some machine which is measuring sodium in the urine. So you know how much are you losing and how much salt or water you need.. At the beginning I was freezing cold when I was not eating enough salt and when I was drinking a lot of water.. It is amazing when you start drinking by thirst and when you have enough sodium in the system.. Last thing what you want with hypothyroid, low cortisol, aldosterone etc.. is low salt, high water, high potassium. Like juices etc.. It will crush your sodium, blood pressure, you have freezing cold hand and feet an you can barely walk..

 

[MNK99]

I think I'll go eat again rite now.

Caloric restriction for a short time below maintenance (and therefore far below TDEE) isn't so bad. It cannot be sustained forever for optimal results though. The more non-lean a person is, the bigger the deficits they can afford. When I was 250lb (very overweight) I could lose weight *like that*. Different from cutting bodyfat at 180lb, 6ft. I got pretty close to ripped with major deficits (only after correcting many bad habits in training and diet), but needed energy for hard workouts and day-to-day life, studies, and work... so I ate above Maintenance slightly and below (more significantly) on rest days. I only did that for 4-6 weeks. I do admit guilt in undereating. It took several years to break that habit after going from fat to relatively thin. Thin isn't that great either (though it's better). Lean and strong is ideal. I had sort of a "former fat guy syndrome" in my early 20's. Obviously you can't run 6miles, 8 miles, 10miles, 12 miles, etc obsessively to get a better physique, but I was addicted to the change and also runner's high from 16-20 or so. I lost most the weight fasted. It taught me a lot... but I had to reteach myself proper fitness also after that.

I was guilty of undereating when I over-relied on cardio and didn't understand nutrient timing, and the effects of intermittent fasting, and training to maintain LBM in "cuts" and training to gain LBM, while minimizing fat gain in "bulks". I never really bulked and cut that significantly, except a few times - where it was necessary to put my body in a state of recomposition. Some minor caloric restriction isn't going to kill anyone I don't think. A fully grown man eating 1000 everyday below maintenance... it can take 6 weeks or so, to train at higher calories.

I reset my metabolic "set-point" several times, because of that bad under-eating habit. It usually worked quite quickly, but was very mentally stressful at first, because I didn't actually know for certain that I would adjust to higher calories without gaining bf%. I did this at like 2000 calories to 2700 and 3300 calories or so. Before ever starting alternate day fasting.

I also habitually intermittent fasted bc I got used to and obsessed with seeing physical improvements, but also because it helped digestion and focus/mood/work in the day. Before pfs... at least. Strength training provides the stimulus for change, but results are made in the kitchen as well as in rest. Far more efficiently than cardio.