Cutting Complaints.... Ugh,

wungun

Member
Gotta hate it when you drop 1000 kcal daily, and you don't lose an ounce of weight in your first week!
 
I assume you did a two week period of calories at maintenance or did you just drop 1000 kcals from your bulk intake?
 
I did an SD at maintenance, yes...
Probably just fluctuations... Scales are showing a bit of loss now.:)
 
A little late but something to watch when cutting is to manage your sodium levels. Many people don't pay attention to how much sodium they are taking in but if you are using something like MyFitnessPal to track your calories, you can easily track your sodium intake as well. Try cutting back your sodium intake - don't go too low, you need sodium to survive, but you are most likely getting plenty.
What are you drinking? A lot of drinks have significant levels of sodium if you are drinking fair amounts. Obviously drinking water can cut that sodium out. Getting "enough" water can also help reduce water retention.
 
Try cutting back your sodium intake - don't go too low, you need sodium to survive, but you are most likely getting plenty.

@Totentanz

You mention cutting back on sodium but not too low, I currently consume around 2500 - 2800 mg of sodium per day the majority of it (~2000 mg) via spicy chicken - I know they recommend 2000 - 2500 mg per day but what in you opinion is too low
 
The common recommendation for heart health is 1500 mg a day or less, but honestly, I think that's kind of low. 2000-2500 is probably fine. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you are going way over 3000 mg a day, which is very easy to do depending on what you eat. And if that's the case, just cut back on some of that stuff to get it back down around the 2000s somewhere. The link between sodium and heart problems is somewhat dubious. I'm definitely not trying to say that you should cut intake down for health reasons. This is purely to try to reduce excessive water retention while dieting.

Now too low of sodium is probably not a concern unless you are running a lot, like hours a day, and drinking tons of water too. If you are doing something like that, you'd want to get more sodium, of course. There may be some cases when dieting where you might want a little more sodium as well. I've found with keto type diets or even PSMF style, increasing sodium (as well as potassium, magnesium, etc) seems to help combat the fatigue you can feel on those diets.
 
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