Instead of starving himself for the first 5 months @ 1400 cals/day, would his progress (of BF reduction) have been faster or slower at ~2000 cals/day?


i'm well, well aware that eating so few cals was a total mistake, but im curious what it meant in terms of his gains (or losses). merely retention of less lean body mass?

I am not John, but I notice that my fat loss effort was better when I was on a 2000+ kcal diet, instead of the 1200 kcal that I used to do before... I would strongly advice to stay on the 2000 kcal first, then reduce or add as necessary... :tucool:

In general it depends on your metabolism. On how many calories you burn every day. If your body needs 3500 calories/day going down to 1400 calories/day will burn lots of LBM.

But if you have been on a diet and loosing weight for perhaps 6 months or more your metabolism could be very slow(depending on your plan/diet). And in that case you might need to go down to 1400 calories/ day if you want to loose any more fat/weight at all. This is because your body adapts and can slow down metabolism alot when doing that.

The alternative, if you realize that your metabolism is very slow, is to stop cutting/trying to get lower BF%. And start bulking to add LBM and speed up your metabolism. Do that for a few months and then start cutting again. At least that is what I would do. Because I think eating 1400 calories/day or less is to painful. I cant endure it more than a few weeks even if the diet is healthy and well planned. I need to eat more to feel good and be happy with my life.

Regards!

I think his progress of body fat reduction was probably faster at 1400 calories a day, but he lost a lot of valuable muscle that took such a long time to put back on that it really wasn't worth it.