Is it possible to lose fat TOO quickly? Yep. Find out how both too fast and too slow don't give you optimal long term results! This is a sample of the exclusive content that can be found on RP+! renaissanceper...
Summary: Renaissance Periodization supports weight loss targets between 0.5% and 2% of total body weight per week. 2% will be too aggressive for the vast majority of people to sustain, and 0.5% will be too small for the vast majority of people to measure, let alone to be motivated by it. Therefore, 1% of body weight per week is likely the sweet spot for most people, most of the time.
Mike: “My brain isn’t operating well right now” *Gives an in-depth, detailed and lengthy discussion lasting over 30 minutes straight without stopping* Me after 8 hours sleep & not dieting: “Yeah my brain isn’t operating well either” *Takes lion’s mane, creatine, caffeine for cognitive boosts unnecessarily* Mike you are the man, I gotta level up clearly if this is what you look like when you’re down! 💪🏼👊🏼 We can all dig deeper is what you taught me here (although don’t dig too deep and ruin sustainability! 👀)
Shit I’m two days into a cutting phase and can barely type this shit on a 500 cal/day deficit. I’ve never been in a deficit before, and my body obviously doesn’t like it much 😢
I shouldn't have been high during this video. I zoned out when Mike was talking about democracy and I had to recheck the video to make sure I was still watching a fat loss lecture.
I love his honesty. He tells us we don't have to do as aggressive a deficit as he does. He admits he can barely think about anything besides food and that he does not feel like throwing a ball at the oark with his kids. I will take his advice about staying sustainable.
Wish I’d followed this advice a year ago. Dumped 50lb in two months by fasting, really bad idea, could not function most of the time, lost most of my muscle and it’s taken the last eight months to get to the point where I feel I can start to try finish off what I’d started. If I’d gone slow I’d be done by now 😡
@@JustMe-999a so you're telling me you lost 1.6 pounds per day for two whole months and could still train hard? How much did you weigh before? 800 lbs?
Dude, I love this guy so goddamn much. Between the guidance him, Nippard, Cavalier, Natasha Aughey, and a few others give (for fucking *free* no less) I've gone from my highest weight (230lbs/~30% bf) to my lowest (185lbs/hovering at 20%) during quarantine.
I used to fight amateur mma and I know all about these quick extreme cuts. I'm 6'1" and once fought at 135. At weigh in the day before the fight I wasn't quite sure where I was. I knew what I was doing, but not very cognitive of it. Afterwards I had to be taken to the back to be hooked up to electrolyte drips and passed out. That was almost 3 years ago, and I felt the impact endocrinology of being that lean for 2 years afterwards. Understandably that was my last fight.
Dude the change in your language use during the peak of your contest prep is pretty interesting. Like using the word “consuming” etc when you normally would have said ‘eating’. Cool.
I made so much damage over years by decreasing my intake so radically:( I wish I had told these 15 years ago. I learned so much from dr. Mike; my beliefs changed but feels like it is late for me now in my 40’s
As a 6-2 265# male, the frustration is to even get 1% per week (2.5 lbs) I can only eat 1900 calories a day (some days less). Anything more than that and I'll maintain or even gain. Oh, and I lift 3-4 days a week and cardio Mon-Fri. Only thing I can figure is I work a desk job. So my body isn't really burning that many calories outside of when I'm lifting.
Well unfortunatelly you are not burning that many calories even when lifting...I suggest you try to raise your step count for a day, even if you have to do it forcefully, just go for a one hour walk everyday, it will help you for sure if its only thing you change.
I've raised training frequency to 7 days a week, decreased calories below maintenance, and eating clean af for the last 4-5 weeks and I just looked at my data and i've maintained an exact 1% loss the entire time (excluding water cut in prep week). Finally feel like I am doing something right lol. I would like to lose faster, but if it means I can keep my delts I'll take the slow and steady approach :D
@@H3c171 I was only running it for a couple months. Not insane if you're balancing frequency, volume, and intensity. I was doing relatively easy sessions very frequently accumulating volume. Muscle retention wasn't an issue.
The riad trip analogy is funny, because it shows how differently I think about road trips. I look for the route that's all 2-lane and with the maximum amount of twists, turns, wiggles, and elevation change. Miata, top down, Initial-D soundtrack, and just flow over the country like water down a stream. I can drive roads like that for longer than I can hold the steering wheel on the freeway. And I'm a trucker, so I can roll down the freeway a LONG time. For me, a road trip is nothing like dieting. One I enjoy enough that I made a career of it, the other has been my arch nemesis since I was 10 years old.
Guys this advice is fucking solid trust me! I have been 8 percent body fat. I did an extreme weight, lost 20 pounds in a month. I cut down 3 to 4 inches on my waist, but man the headaches I got(not too much). My body can burn and gain fast buttttt I would recommend middle man, you keep good amount of gains
I can loose fat really easily but for me it‘s super difficult to gain weight properly. I was 86kg (191lb) and lost 16kg (35lb) in 13Weeks so over 2% per week and it was easy af. Went from roughly 23% to 12% body fat and never had a craving and only one cheat meal and my mood was fine. Ate only huge salads with lean meat (chicken or beef) and drank a lot of water plus intermittend fasting for as long as i could (mostof the time 18-20h). So i am not afraid to „dirty“ bulk right now because the muscle is so much harder for me to gain than to loose fat.
Love this topic and love the insight Dr. Mike! When you say losing above 1% per week may affect fat loss... does this take into account ppl that may be above 25% bodyfat.. like 30-35% bodyfat?? Do you think they can benefit from a faster rate like 1.5% to 2% to get back to someone normal levels and then cutback or do you believe muscle can still be lost with someone with high bodyfat?
Hey mike I’d like if you could possibly do a video for people with 100lbs to lose? I was 310lbs at the start of October and I’m currently down to 270 as of 1/29. I’d like to get to about 180-190 as fast as possible but I also know you advise against rapid fat loss for the rebounding effect most people have. I have no intentions on rebounding and have a massive amount of will power. I would greatly appreciate a video addressing people in my position. Thanks for the great content regardless!
@Wordsmith 430 that was 8 months ago. I’m happy to say I’m down to 225 atm and starting another cut to reach 200 in the next few months. Took 2 total diet breaks lasting a couple months. Haven’t rebounded at all 🤙🏻
@@aaronbryant6591yeah update us man how are you doing ? If you rebounded somewhat it's okay or maybe even rebounded a lot is okay too it happens to a lot of us .
@@BigDees19 I decided to do a pretty long maintenance phase tho as my appetite did get a bit uncomfortable. No rebound luckily i kept my calories as close to maintenance as possible.
Man. Hundred of millions of years? Yes, l believe in the Bible and l believe in lifting weights. Face palm. But, l love ya! 🎉 God bless you and your wife and thank you for the free education. You have added value to my life through your teachings.
Is the 1% figure adjusted every week, or do you just calculate it at the beginning of the weight loss period? From the example Mike gave he only used the initial figure... which seems imprecise.
He has a playlist on fat loss where he goes more into the cycles of fat loss then maintenence. Throughout your diet you will reassess your weight and then take 10% of that new weight. I know you commented a while ago but hope you found the answers you were looking for
It takes a bit of time for me to get adjusted to a diet. I feel low energy, moody, and in a mental fog for a few weeks. I use a calorie tracker / food diary to track what I’m doing and adjust it.
I don't even need to use the date on the videos, I just gauge how much hair mike has left in the thumbnail. To use a poorly articulated reference, it's like the rings on a tree, accept hair. Speaking of which i love onion rings anyways. Love you buddy.
KG > pound > gram. Unless you have a really good digital scale, the day to day or week to week difference will be too small to register on a traditional scale.
Question: I'm about 119 lbs (5'5" male, quite lean, been training pretty regularly for the last 8 months or so), and I'm trying to gain some muscle. You have recommended elsewhere that if you're trying to gain weight, you should aim for about 0.25% of your bodyweight per week. Now you can imagine why it might be difficult to track 0.25% per week in my case, given my current weight. The only solution I can think of is to go into a greater caloric surplus. But if I do that, I risk losing visibility of my abs (it took me quite a while to get to this level of leanness, so I would really prefer not to throw away everything I've worked so hard for). But in that case, what do you recommend I do? I'm genuinely perplexed. One day I think I'll start massing and eat heavy, and the next day when I check the mirror and see some fat, I feel the compulsion to plunge myself right back into a deficit and try to balance out the surplus from the day before. I'm basically see-sawing at this stage.
Sounds a bit like ab anxiety, 119 is malnourished you need to watch Mikes muscle gain videos. 300/500 kcal surplus and solid training for the next year at least for you
After abstaining from any refined sugar products: candies, pastries, all empty calories, only black coffee, etc, I had a cup of vanilla ice cream; cheap stuff; and it was like the best thing I'd ever tasted in my life. After that it was back to "meh". At the same time I couldn't get enough of it. That was the red flag.
I think years of training, with periods of diet etc has made me very sedentary outside of training. I don't know how unhealthy this is, but I think it could be. Even though I recognise it, the reality remains, I really like to be immobile outside the gym or cardio.
16:15 This is the big issue I've been having. I keep ending up in this state of not eating all day and just having this massive urge for calories, and I keep ordering pizzas and eating them. I'm not even dieting at the moment and I'm experiecing the negative effects of starvation mode.
good explanation, I'm trying to get to 160, I'm at 167 now. 2000 cals a day to start off, I burn about 3000 a day. I lift and run 5 days a week. What do you think?
So on the RP App do I set the settings to normal from aggressive? I am "overweight" martial artist with 20% Body Fat. Should I got the half of 1% weight loss so super slow route or can I get away with .5 to 1% normal route without sacrificing my performance during practice. I was always a husky kid and never been lean in my life. I just want to be the most lean and optimal for my weight class.
Thanx for the lecture!! Ketogenic diet worked for me regarding weight loss and keeping up the energy levels during cut. Will probably not work for everyone. My friend who rides bike almost every day went the low fat way and it worked out fine for him....
Well at the risk of being too generalistic if there is a time tested principia that rules over nearly both all positive and negative changes in organic life is the disruption of homeostasis. If you arent achieving this temporary disruption at least to a somewhat significant degree chances are you are achieving exactly "fuckall" since there is not enough stimulus for adaptative mechanisms to kick in. Basically hormetic challenges are goated
Barely related factoid, but the U.S was NOT the first modern Republic. Corsican was. In fact, the was of independence was partly inspired by the events in Corsica, with plenty of prominent people affiliated with the Boston sons of liberty naming children after Pasquale Paoli and soldiers in the war of independence using his name as a rallying cry. America is the longest-lasting modern republic (though maybe not for long), as France, seeing the effect Corsica was having, sent Napoleon to destroy the republic.
If you are not in a hurry what about diet breaks? Any added benefit besides psychological relief? 1 week diet at 1% deficit and then 1 week at maintenance cals.
Psychological relief wouldn't be necessary that often if dieting properly. You can eat alot of food while cutting and not be hungry. I find those who seek frequent breaks either diet too hard or simply want their tasty comfort foods often and can't stand many weeks in a row without splurging.
Mike, What if you are 30% - 35% body fat, is it ok to start at a high percentage loss and reduce the percentage lost by a factor of .2% in intervals of 4 weeks as time goes on? Example: 4 weeks @1.8% lost per week 4 weeks @1.6% lost per week 4 weeks @1.4% lost per week 4 weeks @1.2% lost per week After this maintain at 1% per week. Can muscle be maintained at this pace? I am a 6’5 Endomorph with a large bone structure and I started losing at 322lbs. The goal is 242lbs. I believe this can be reached in 20 weeks in a healthy way. Does this sound radical for losing weight and maintaining and maybe even building some muscle? Please help.
Yes, FDA says obese people can safely lose more than 1% per week. I think 1.5% or 2% is the upper limit, but I don't know for what body fat percentages. Some people say losing weight has so many health benefits at your size that it is worth losing muscle. How much progress did you make in the last 6 months?
@@stargazer2042I don't think he's ever commented on obese weight loss because 1 he's not a medical doctor he's careful to not give health advice other than being too heavy is unhealthy and losing weight is healthy in that context. The research seems to show that losing weight quicker in that population is better on average because it's relatively easy to maintain muscle when that big and it's motivating to see rapid results. HOWEVER In terms of sustainability of weight loss over time, more severe energy restrictions often result in rebound weight gain from insatiable hunger. So tread carefully. Since you have a 25% weight loss goal I'd recommend losing that in 3 phases. Take 10 weeks to lose 10% 33lbs or so. Increase diet foods to maintenance levels for 8 weeks maintain that weight loss. Then take 8 weeks to lose 8%. Maintain that for 6 weeks. 7 weeks to lose the last 7% then boom u lose the weight slowly lots of breaks should be little to no hunger during any phase and learned habits to maintain a certain weight many times. Another caution of losing alot of weight rapidly is gallstones. No bueno
It is incredibly clear that you were dating her video Dr. Mike. The pace at which you are speaking is significantly slower, although just as concise. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience!
aw look at baby dr. mike. Like a fresh-faced bambi. Anyways can't wait to finish this meso-cycle and begin my first healthy cut instead of crash dieting. I ended up with weird water retention last time and didn't work out during a 60 lb fat loss phase and ultimately just regressed my muscle gain and threw my homrones out of wack. Live and learn huh?
Lol, losing weight sucks, and talk about dead on balls accurate with the _closer he gets to his goal of 200lbs, the more he may have to grind..."_ Way too much truth in that statement. I decided to lose weight again after a 100lbs or so weight gain during the lockdowns. 295 to 261 was so, so easy. I barely tried. I just started paying attention and kept to a calorie count. Beyond simple. 20lbs, half of which was probably water in month one, but cool. 10lbs of water is still 10lbs I didn't have to carry around. Then April 10th came, that was the _reckoning day_ for me so-to-speak. I bought this electric ab stimulator belt. Not for a 6-pack, that's silly. I bought it for my back which was a mess, and the muscles always cramping made the healed fractures, 3 fissures, 4 bulging discs (2 lumbar, 2 cervical), osteoarthritis w/narrowing all over the place and of course, sciatic; Well it made life miserable and things like standing for over 30 seconds or taking more than 15 steps borderline tear inducing. The stupid thing worked, and I had zero excuses to not exercise again. So I started walking more. I hadn't gone over a half mile in the entire 2.1 months of my trying to lose weight, but on my first walk, I noticed 1.5 miles in that my back simply did not hurt. No decompression stops, no sciatic pain shooting everywhere, no constant severe _toothache_ pain in my spine (that's the best way I can describe it, it was so bad. Man, I don't wish that pain on anyone). Within a few weeks every walk was between 3 and 7 miles, and they were daily. Not one missed day since that I can recall. Rain? I put a raincoat on myself and my dog. Work? I grab my cell, earbuds, a notebook, wtv paperwork I might need and a pen then head out (my phone is networked to my office PC as well). A month later I was back at the gym for the first time since 2008. Now I'm at 219.7lbs as of a few days ago, and I'll be darned if losing 2lbs/wk is not getting more, and more, and more difficult. I walk further, I train harder, but damn if it is not near maximal effort to get that 2lbs/wk, and that was with me adjusting my goals *DOWN* bc the pace I was at was just too much. Idk why, the calorie allotment is only down a couple of hundred, so it's not like I went from being able to eat 2250 calories and lose 3lbs/wk to 1500 kcals to lose 2. Nope, I actually have almost exactly the same allotted to me daily depending on whether or not I go to the gym that day, and that is only 150-300 calories extra. So why is it so much more taxing mentally? I assume it's because of higher Ghrelin levels and lower Leptin levels. I'm still in a good mood, everything _works,_ and my lifts are still going up but things that were exceedingly easy before, like eating what I have planned or sticking to the right amount of calories? There has been more than a few days where I had to force myself to stick to it, or include the 3 chocolate chip cookies I ate at 3am when I woke up feeling like I was going to throw up I was so hungry. Or thinking about food 24/7. Things I simply did not have to deal with after the first week. It was like each one came back to kick me in the face, reminding me every 5 minutes that they were still around. Yep, it can be a bit of a chore. Still, over 75lbs in 6 months works for me, along with 10"'s off my waist, my chest only lost 3"'s, my quads actually grew but I don't really store fat on my legs or ass, so I am still plugging along. One really shitty thing is when I see my weight go up at the end of the week. I *know* logically that it's just fluid and I literally could not have gained body mass. I weigh everything, count things down to the ketchup, so it simply is not possible. Doesn't matter. The Spock in me goes into hiding and I get Scottie saying _"Screw the diet lad, have some whiskey and lamb chops."_ Ahh well, 39lbs or so to go and it's back to pre-pandemic normal eating again, with a few adjustments for my renewed vigor on the exercise front. Now it's just a matter of motivation for those weeks where it shows that I went from, say 219.9 to 221.1 or wtv it happens to be. Slow and steady..._sigh_ Lol, how about fast and done? I am so close to just doing a _"7 day water challenge"_ at this point. It'd be nice to drop 10lbs of body mass in a week. Unfortunately I know 2 or 3 pounds of that would be muscle which would just defeat the purpose. For *me* at least. Good luck everyone, and good work. Mike, figure out some magic diet super hack for us. Like _"Brown Fat Apple Cider 1 day 9lbs _*_Gone!_*_ vinegar. Get your bottle now for $39.99 +$45 shipping and handling..."_
About survival mode, what about the fasting studies showing metabolic rate increasing with no food. Thinking is that if there is NO food then body ramps up to give you energy for gathering foods. Could it be that if you get to little food, you manage energy better and become more sedentary, while if there is no food at all your activity get increased to give you mental and fysical energy to make that hunt. Or could it be that no food shifts yourself to Fats and there is an huge amount of bodyfat avalible when you are overweight?
From one of those studies "data in humans is sparse or non-existent as to whether intermittent fasting regimens impact energy expenditure among free living adults" Any change in metabolic rate during dieting is small and it's mostly affected by body size. Basal metabolic rate is tightly regulated and long term dieting may decrease it 10s of calories a day more than otherwise estimated by body size. Mechanistic masturbation is fun but doesn't accomplish much. Losing body fat need not be over complicated by fantastical extrapolations from mechanisms.
What does he mean by energy expenditure goes down i wont be doing a lot of work? or even if i do my body will spend less energy compared to what i used to
Both, primarily the first one though. You'll just naturally down regulate your acitivity level over time which leads to the biggest reduction in engergy expenditure but your body will also try to use less energy when doing things ie not heating you as much during the day. Also you'll just be smaller which also decreases caloric expenditure since there is less mass to move around.
Why complicate things? Although eating calories relative to energy expenditure is a good idea. For instance suppose you walk 2k steps a day and don't train 5 days a week. Keep calories lower on those days. And if you lift and walk 10k steps other days eat 600-800 cals those days while staying in the same negative energy balance.
