John or anyone. John states in an earlier post that muscle loss did occur in his dieting phase. So, in retrospect and for those of us who are curious, how to avoid losing muscle while dieting for fat loss.

I am getting ready for my 1st Natural BB comp and am 19 weeks out. I am using a spreadsheet that calculated my height, current weight, age and activities to guide me in consuming 1100 to 1400 cals per day to lose fat. I just don't want to make a mistake in my dieting phase and would love it if someone could share their experiences regarding this so I know what to look out for.

God, this post is all over the place. Sorry, I was in a hurry when I typed it. Try to hang with me and please excuse the disjointed, sloppy writing. :o

Basically my two biggest mistakes were that I did not eat enough food, and I that I did too much cardio (7 days a week, 45-50 minutes @ 80% MHR until I switched to HIIT). The only reason I gained strength during my initial fat-loss phase is because I was weight training and I was a complete newbie. I think I lost some of that muscle towards the end of my initial fat-loss cycle due to my extreme cardio workouts and lack of calories. Oh, another biggie: I was not eating meat back then, and plant-based protein is inferior to animal-based protein for building muscle.

I just finished a 2 month cutting cycle done the right way. This time I did not lose much, if any, mass. In fact my leg strength grew considerably during this latest cut, despite my reduced calories. In fairness the strength gain in my legs is probably due to two factors: MAX-OT training and I have good leg genetics (my legs have always been very powerful and respond quickly to training.) Anyway, I think the reason I did so well cutting this time and didn't lose much mass is because I did HIIT cardio just 3 times a week, ate enough food, got plenty of quality protein, took glutamine and did heavy weight training.

Good luck with your cut and your BB comp! :)

Its pretty much impossible not to lose muscle mass when losing weight, but you can minimize it.

Step up your protein intake, at least hit the one gram a day, every day.

Split your meals up throughout the day, eat as often as possible. If there's always food in your body, your body won't need to breakdown muscle for resources

Take glutamine, 5g when you wake up, 5 g after your workout, 5g before you go to bed.

Gobble down vitamin C like its going out of style, if anything it will help keep your immune system strong while you cut.

Keep lifting the same weight that you were before you were cutting. IF you were doing 10 reps of 180 on the bench while bulking up, try your hardest to stay at that level while you cut.

A lot of people have been fooled into thinking that its better to train more reps with less weight when you cut, thereby increasing definition. Definately not true, and I know there's a few threads out there talking about this issue

Gobble down vitamin C like its going out of style, if anything it will help keep your immune system strong while you cut.


Is the immune system benifit the only benifit? Or is there something else C will do for you?

Vitamin C to some extent protects cell integrity, and is a great antioxidant. Doesn't really compare to protein or glutamine in terms of preserving muscle, but its cheap, and it adds a little extra

*edit: in other words, its worth buying

Well, I guess that I will trust what science tells us. I like tangable proof however, I will simply have to experience this first hand.

Ok, So I'll eat 1180 to 1400 cals, 50p/30c/20f that's 182gr of protien at 114lbs that is 1.59g/per pound. Is this sound???

Cardio, 3/days X 25/min treadmill intervals.

Already taking 3g divided 3 X/day and you are suggesting 5g 3 X/day. Is that too much for my body weight or do you stick to that? I am currently taking 120mg of C/day plus 500mg of Ester -c. Is this sufficient???

Vit C for the most part is mostly about how often you take it, rather then how much at any given time. Just keep in mind that its also water soluble and takes less then 4 hrs for it to flush out of your body. Plus most people get a decent amount of C from their diet too. I personally used to take 2-3 grams a day, but its personal preference for the most part. Keep in mind I'm also 165 lbs