I will be SDing for a little over a month, and I want to know how many calories I should be eating during this time. Should I eat at maintenance? I want to keep as much muscle as possible, so should I eat slightly above maintenance? Also should I change the protein to carbs to fat ratio during this time or keep it the same?
Diet during SD
- Thread starter Curt
- Start date
jvroig
Super Moderator
Hey Curt 
One month, that's about 4 weeks... that reminds me of an interesting study on isoenergetic dietary protein restriction, 4 weeks was the test period for the subjects, grouped into two, group one had ample protein intake, group two had only the mean minimum adult protein requirement (that means pretty much restricted protein, unlike us who get in excess of 100g of complete protein). Although those who were in the protein restricted diet got 81% lower fractional synthesis rate of myosin heavy chain (MHC) proteins in their lats (that was the only muscle they tested on), they surpisingly got a 68% lower rate of 3-methylhistidine excretion with protein restriction (suggests myofibrillar protein degradation was lower - of course, they didn't test on bodybuilders specifically, so that's an important factor; I'll have to go through it again, I just remembered it now that you mentioned the 4-week SD and protein amount).
So I could say "eat loads of protein", or "eat just enough", or "eat at a certain specific level", but the fact would remain that, for such a period of time, you can't 100% escape muscle atrophy probably no matter how you eat.
If you don't mind getting some fat, then eat a lot. That's the most straightforward approach that might make sense at the moment. You won't look like you are chiseled in stone, but that's the only thing you can do to make sure FSR in muscles don't go to hell and you start losing muscle because of lack of training.
Regards,
-JV
One month, that's about 4 weeks... that reminds me of an interesting study on isoenergetic dietary protein restriction, 4 weeks was the test period for the subjects, grouped into two, group one had ample protein intake, group two had only the mean minimum adult protein requirement (that means pretty much restricted protein, unlike us who get in excess of 100g of complete protein). Although those who were in the protein restricted diet got 81% lower fractional synthesis rate of myosin heavy chain (MHC) proteins in their lats (that was the only muscle they tested on), they surpisingly got a 68% lower rate of 3-methylhistidine excretion with protein restriction (suggests myofibrillar protein degradation was lower - of course, they didn't test on bodybuilders specifically, so that's an important factor; I'll have to go through it again, I just remembered it now that you mentioned the 4-week SD and protein amount).
So I could say "eat loads of protein", or "eat just enough", or "eat at a certain specific level", but the fact would remain that, for such a period of time, you can't 100% escape muscle atrophy probably no matter how you eat.
If you don't mind getting some fat, then eat a lot. That's the most straightforward approach that might make sense at the moment. You won't look like you are chiseled in stone, but that's the only thing you can do to make sure FSR in muscles don't go to hell and you start losing muscle because of lack of training.
Regards,
-JV
1) I have no choice. My gym membership has expired and I won't have access to a gym until I go to university in the fall. Also, I just did a high frequency program with negs and metabolic stress techniques so I don't think it's such a bad idea for an extended SD.[b said:
2) I've read through the FAQs, but I don't check them every time before I make a post. I don't think my question is addressed in the FAQs anyway.
3) To be honest I didn't really track calories as closely as I should've during bulking. I just made sure I got healthy fats and ate plenty of protein and complex carbs. I was steadily gaining weight throughout bulking, so I was eating enough. I was just wondering if, during SD, I should take away calories from carbs instead of protein (should I still get 1 g protein/lb during SD?).
I guess I'll just eat at maintenance and accept that there will be some muscle loss.
Also I see no reason to use creatine during SD, unless that will somehow help to preserve muscle.