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Originally Posted by Bytsi
Thanks - you hit on the exact issue for me - WHERE is that balance? If it's not either/or, where is the point of moderation for me? I'm struggling with how much of what to include...
If I stick exactly to NROL4W, will I lose fat? Not that gaining muscle is bad, but do I need to pick one OR the other, or can I focus on getting strong (or at least staying strong) and getting that increased RMR plus the metabolic work to get the fat off too? I don't want to go back to SS cardio - I much prefer to get it over with quickly (albeit painfully) with HIIT. But if that's going to drive my appetite up too high, then ????
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I'm trying to think of how to explain this.
Your metabolic rate is simply not going to swing very much in either direction. Studies on metabolic "damage" (lol) have shown that at worst, after long-term starvation, you're looking at about 30% off the baseline.
Likewise, exercise and dietary excess don't raise RMR *that* much higher.
The point is, activity isn't going to magically burn off fat just because you're doing more activity. The body still has to be in an energy deficit, and for most people, it'll be easier to just eat less than it would be to eat more with higher activity.
Your'e still looking at it as a binary on/off thing. It's a continuum.
If you're eating in a 20% deficit, you can get away with a lot more than eating in a 50-60% deficit.
Likewise, if you're doing HIIT work 2-3x/week along with a heavy lifting program, you're going to need to eat a *lot* of food, and I'd almost bet that the food intake will be more than any metabolic effects you'd get from the exercise.
It's not a matter of doing X or Y like they're discrete programs that you have to choose between.
Basically you have to pick a priority-- are you after fat loss or muscle/strength gains?
If you're after fat loss, then eat in a mild deficit, say 20% off your maintenance calories, throw in a decent lifting routine, a day of HIIT, and 2-3 sessions of lighter cardio for around 30-40 minutes.
What I'm arguing against here is the idea that if you do enough high-intensity activity, you'll just magically get lean -- and it's not the case.
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I don't know how much I should actually eat -- I did the calculations and got numbers, but I know that's just an estimate. Do I trust what my body says it wants (hunger-guided eating, as long as it's eating clean and hitting within the guidelines of my total macros) or should I be ok with staying hungry just to hit a certain daily caloric goal number (like 1600 calories)?
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Hunger guided clean eating will just make you gain weight. Self-reported dieting will just lead to over-eating. It'd be better to have calorie and macro targets to shoot for.
The entire point of a diet for fat loss is that you're going to be hungry.
Again, pick a goal. Do you want to get bigger and stronger? Do you want to be able to run sprints? Or do you want to lose fat?