Missed all my numbers Friday

[Fiddler]

Yeah, na, you are not eating enough. You think those strains are just a coincidence? Those are early warning signs, that's just the beginning.

I think you might be right. Another bad workout today. Short workout Friday, and dropped the extra lifts, plenty of carbs last night and this morning, OK on sleep, and I was still weaker than last week. Whatever has been working isn't working any more. I'll try increasing the diet for a few weeks to one Jordan recommended, see what happens. I may continue to convert fat, and that would be fine. Getting weaker is de-motivating, to say the least. This stuff's too much work to settle for that!

[Frankie]

I think you might be right. Another bad workout today. Short workout Friday, and dropped the extra lifts, plenty of carbs last night and this morning, OK on sleep, and I was still weaker than last week. Whatever has been working isn't working any more. I'll try increasing the diet for a few weeks to one Jordan recommended, see what happens. I may continue to convert fat, and that would be fine. Getting weaker is de-motivating, to say the least. This stuff's too much work to settle for that!

Good luck man, keep us updated!

[Fiddler]

Good luck man, keep us updated!

Thanks!

[Bigbrother24]

25 Year old here that has done TM on cut before and going on a cut currently honestly food plays a huge part in the success of TM I'm impressed you managed to keep going for 3 months without any issues.

I would advise to take a deload week where you eat at maintenance and then go back to 1 or 2 sessions ID and keep hitting that until you reach your ideal weight, advancing on TM on a cut is hellish once you hit a certain point (for me it's usually 77-76 kgs).
Good luck.

[Fiddler]

Well, I had plenty of extra adipose tissue to start with..... ;D

I've changed my diet to one Jordan recommended in an earlier thread, but it's still too early to tell how it's working. He has me eating about 300 calories more than I was, and eating more carbs on training days. Last week's workouts were short. Today's workout went OK, but it'll take at least two or three more weeks to see what happens.

Wish we'd had all this info 50 years ago. Seems like your body adapts to a calorie shortage over time, and metabolism slows down. I have a body comp scale that seems to be pretty reliable, and I'm not losing muscle - actually gaining, but I think the body just cuts down on available energy, makes you weak when a deficit goes on too long. I'm still learning, but I imagine that a very slow cut with careful attention to macros, as I'm doing now, or else some kind of cycling will turn out to be most effective.

[Fiddler]

Update: I've been following Jordan's recommendations on macros, eating what should be a tiny bit below maintenance (@1800 cal/day for me), with extra carbs on training days. I've also switched to a 4-day heavy-light split where I only do 1 heavy lift per workout, plus light-day lifts and assistance exercises for upper body. The combination seems to be working. I'm hitting scheduled lifts, bodyweight so far is essentially the same (maybe down a pound in 4 weeks), but body fat and waist measurement keeps going down reasonably fast and LBM keeps going up, ever so slowly. I'll give it a couple more months to see where it goes.

As long as I'm getting stronger and losing BF and circumference, I'm fine with that. All else being equal I'd rather be at 180-185lbs and 20% BF, than 160lbs with 20%BF, even at my age.

[Frankie]

That sounds fairly sensible