Quote:
Originally Posted by chassis
Sounds like you have a good handle on calories in-calories out balance, well done.
I am on an intentional multi-year gradual glide path down in weight, 1-1.5lb per year lower, approximately. It would be nice to add some muscle mass, but feeling good overall from a fitness point of view. Good food quality and quantity, and enough exercise to keep the glide path gliding.
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I do... to a certain extent. Saturday nights I allow myself indulgence, at which point anything goes. If I don't do this, the tedium gets too much. Plus, it's also a great moment to fill in any nutritional gaps.
But to be honest, I'm getting really fatigued with being in deficit (most) of the time. There are nights where I will "binge" on some extra apples, nut butters, cottage cheese, or the buffalo chicken I make. I get regular body scans, and over time I was able to figure out I was starved for protein. Each successive scan, while showing fat loss, would also show small amounts of muscle loss. Once I increased my protein intake, I not only was able to arrest the muscle loss while being in deficit but reverse it. Nothing major, but riding that line of fat loss almost always brings corresponding muscle loss.
But I'm at a point now (mentally and emotionally) where I am ready to increase my calories and start finding my surplus where I can start making some meaningful strength gains. It won't be much. I'm 50, and most of my increases in weight come from efficiency in motion. But I am certainly capable of gaining more muscle than I am currently. I'm just obsessed with this current push to 8-10%, though. I don't have a good reason. It's more of a "bucket list" type line item than anything.
Quality, clean food makes such a difference when eaten over a long period of time.