Slightly different approach to creating a deficit

Hi,

I’ve developed a somewhat new (at least for me) approach to creating a weight loss deficit which I though might be helpful to someone. I’ve been struggling to consistently hit my targeted calories and after a lot of thought I realised that a) my goals were probably too extreme and b) a traditional static deficit doesn’t work with my natural fluctuations in appetite.

I’m a short 5’3” female, 93kg (205lb) and fairly active (10-17k steps a day) plus heavy weightlifting for an hour three times a week. I have been shooting for 1500 cal a day or less and have just been completely unable to maintain that goal. I find if I restrict for too long I inevitability end up going off track for a month or so and seriously stalling my progress. I follow a 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule but still struggle with the restriction. I eat lost of protein and veggies, but honestly my love for broccoli is greatly enhanced with butter.

My current TDEE is somewhere in the realm of 2200 calories and interestingly I notice that when I got off track I tend to eat at maintenance naturally. With my original calorie goal that would equal a deficit of 700cal (okay for some but really affects my energy and performance). I’ll be okay eating 1500 for a day or so but end up extremely hungry on other days.

I decided instead to try to just eat at the calories it would take to maintain my goal weight (60kg/132lb & 1800 calories). This was so much easier to handle and I stuck with it for roughly a month. But, I was still noticing that I was really hungry on my lifting days. So what I’ve been doing the last few weeks is eating at a more extreme deficit on my rest days (~1400cal) and at maintenance on my lifting days (~2200cal) and then just 1800 cal on the seventh day. This allows me to have a running weekly average of 1800cal, recover really well and build strength at the gym, be comfortable to eat the foods I like in a sustainable way and still loose ~0.7kg (1.5lb) a week.

Hopefully, because I’m eating my maintenance calories at my goal weight I’ll be able to eat pretty similarly from now on and not have to continually decrease my intake. I might take me longer to got there, but I feel like I’m so much less likely to develop diet fatigue and gain the weight back.

submitted by /u/_nuudles_
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