I have spent the last 7 months bulking up on about 3200 calories a day. My results were pretty successful - I gained 15 lbs., and about 9 of those lbs. were muscle.

Now I'm backing down on my calories slightly in order to burn off a bit of the excess body fat. My maintenance is around 2800 - 2900 calories a day. I have reduced them slowly - from 3200 to 2800 per day in one week, and then from 2800 to 2300/2400 a day the next week.

The problem is, now that I'm taking in between 2300 and 2400 calories a day, I am absolutely starving!!! I literally feel like I'm wasting away. I would think a 500 calorie deficit below maintenance would not be enough to generate this kind of hunger, but perhaps I'm wrong?

Is my body just getting used to the calorie deficit, and should I wait it out a few weeks, or should I raise my calories right now? My goal is to get from 13% BF to 10% BF and not lose ANY of the lean mass I gained over the winter.

I usually let my body guide me (within reason) as to when and how much I eat. I'm not on any special cut, but I do maintain, quite successfully (even veryy slowly losing fat and gaining muscle) with this method. If you're hungry, eat. If you plan to eat X amount of food and you're not hungry for it all, don't eat it all.

Try it for a couple week and see how your body reacts. If you see yourself not losing fat, then go back to what you're doing now and just figure out a way to curb hunger. (Drink water, eat less calorie dense foods, etc?)

make sure your eating a good amount of green veggies.. they help make you feel full, what are you eating and when?

make sure your eating a good amount of green veggies.. they help make you feel full, what are you eating and when?

Yeah, I love my green veggies :) Here is a sample day:

Meal 1

1/2 Cup Oatmeal
2 Tbsp. Natural Peanut Butter
6 Egg Whites

Meal 2

1/2 Cup Oatmeal
Apple
2 Srvg. Whey Protein

Meal 3

1 Chicken Breast
2 Cups Broccoli
1/4 Cup Almonds

Meal 4 (pre and post workout)

2 Srvg. Whey Protein
1/2 Cup O.J.
1/2 Cup Oatmeal

Meal 5

1/4 lb. Turkey Meat
Broccoli/Aspargus/Zucchini
Salad
1/2 Tsp. Olive Oil

Meal 6

1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese
2 Tbsp. Natural Peanut Butter


Total Calories: 2356
40/30/30 PCF


This is approximately 300 calories more than I was taking in last year at this time. I weighed the same, but had less muscle mass. I'm wondering if my body is just getting used to the calories deficit. It's weird because towards the end of my bulk, I was really having a lot of trouble choking down 3200 calories of clean food every day. But now... I'm hungry! LOL.

I think you are correct, that your body is just adjusting... your diet looks good, your getting a good amount of everything... I'd just strugle through for a couple of weeks and see if your body doesn't adjust... if you still feel hungry all the time you may need to up your calories a little bit... but give yourself some adjustment time first ;)

Personally, I think you decreased calories way too fast. You dropped nearly 1000 calories/day in just 2 weeks. Whereas you went from 3200 -> 2800 in a week, I think you would be better off doing 3000-3100 for a week, then 2900-3000 for a week then 2800-2900 for a week, etc until you hit your cutting range. Eating almost 1000 calories less per day in just 2 weeks time is a huge adjustment for your body. It's said that your body reacts better when the change is gradual as opposed to so abrupt.

Anyway, that's just my take on it. :gl:

Personally, I think you decreased calories way too fast. You dropped nearly 1000 calories/day in just 2 weeks. Whereas you went from 3200 -> 2800 in a week, I think you would be better off doing 3000-3100 for a week, then 2900-3000 for a week then 2800-2900 for a week, etc until you hit your cutting range. Eating almost 1000 calories less per day in just 2 weeks time is a huge adjustment for your body. It's said that your body reacts better when the change is gradual as opposed to so abrupt.

Anyway, that's just my take on it. :gl:

Hmmmm... I guess I didn't think of it that way. I thought of it more like I'm only dropping 60 - 70 calories per day until I reached my cutting range. I typically deviate that much per day just from variances in my breathing ;)

If you're still hungry, I think it would be beneficial for you to add more calories, maybe another 200 calories. Otherwise, there might be a slight chance that you'll lose some of your muscles due to the catabolic process. Great advice from Karatetricker, "Listen to your body".

I realize this too when I cut a few weeks ago... I was consuming aound 3000-3500 kcal daily (didn't actually count) then for cutting I immediately dropped dpwn 2500 kcal then drop it to 2000 after a week. Because I drop calories too fast, my body didn't have time to adjust yet, that's why it sends a signal of being hungry!

Next time, I think it'll be better to drop calories by 200-250 kcal rather than 500 kcal, and see how the body reacts to that :nod: I know I would... :d_tongue: