Loss of size during SD

C

Curt

New Member
I'm just over a week into SD, and already I've noticed a very alarming loss of size. Unfortunately I don't have a scale right now, so I'm not sure of my exact weight, but I have lost significant size on my arms. My SD will have to continue until early September (over a month in total) because my gym membership expired and I won't have access to a gym again until I start at university. I can't stand the idea of losing all my gains from not working out.

As a side note, I'm not taking creatine during my SD. How much of the size loss could this account for?
 
I lose at least 5 pounds during the SD, like this week. :mad:

I get it all back during the 15's though.
happy.gif


I always end my 15's at the previous weight when I finished the neg's.
 
Curt and liegelord,
I recently completed a 12 day SD and I cannot say I lost any noticeable size. I may be incorrect, but I do not believe muscle tissue should deteriorate so quickly, unless the body has been starved for days (which I'm sure yours wasn't ;) ) . I suspect any decrease in size must be the loss of an ephemeral effect of training, such as swelling. Does anyone have any research that demonstrates how quickly a muscle would degrade if calories remain at maintenance?
 
Hey :)

One month won't wipe out all your gains. Just be sure to keep up a proper diet.

Don't eat much over maintenance, still eat enough protein.

It would be a good idea to provide some muscle stimulation since this is a long SD. Do push-ups, vary your hand-placing to hit more muscles. You may even do explosive push-ups to increase your strength. Just do them until it is a week before you start training again. For that last week, don't do any of the push-ups to make sure all your muscles get deconditioned properly.

The point here is fractional synthesis rate, in muscles of course. To keep that up, we need nutrition and enough muscle stimulation (training). If you go without one, you are still ok. But minus both of them, that's a bad idea, which is why we don't SD while cutting.

So just make sure you eat well. And adding in the exercises I mentioned wouldn't hurt. But the more important thing is eating well. Those pushups won't do you squat if you don't eat well.

Regards,
-JV
 
i did two weeks of SD and didn't lose any size.
I lost about 1 pound of bodyweight over those two weeks. I did play a lot of sports though, i'm not sure if that had any effect or not.
 
What are you allowed to do when you SD?

Can I do light cardio? Can I stretch? Do I need to cut back on food intake?
 
If you are bulking, even the light cardio should be avoided, although it is acceptable. It would only hamper the deconditioning of your legs a bit.
I'm not sure what the consensus is on stretching, but I don't think it could hurt, but given the choice, I'd avoid it.
Regarding eating, if you are bulking, you should eat the way you've been eating for the first two days of your SD, then eat at maintenance.
When considering my SD I always think of it this way: The optimal SD in the most practical sense here on Earth would be for me to go to my bed, lay there, never move, have my girlfriend bring me food, avoid getting up for the bathroom at all costs, etc, etc.
Moral of the story: SDs are better when they're longer than shorter and the less activity involving muscles, the better. I know it's hard to sit around for 12 days but it's all for the noble goal of hypertrophy. ;)
 
Hey :)

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]What are you allowed to do when you SD?

Do I need to cut back on food intake?
Click to expand...

No, don't cut back on food. Since you don't train on SD, giving your body less food will make you lose muscle faster.

For SD, just go on with your life. No need for drastic changes or anything. All you have to avoid is regular training (and a few rare things that may be equivalent to that, like doing 100 pushups on the middle day of your SD or something). That's it. Don't worry about anything else so much.

Regards,
-JV
 
According to Jules, very intetense stretching (PNF) can bump up the RBE. If you're going to stretch, keep it fairly lightly. Don't do static stretches, either. Work on some light active stretching.

I doubt you have to worry too much anyway, though.
 
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