I know bodybuilding scene and science says that you cannot build muscle while in a deficit, but hear me out; my theory implies that you are able to maintain 1oo% muscle mass and may be able to gain a very small amount.

It’s not the most optimal if your goal is to gain size of coarse, but think about it the other way around: If your goal is to reduce body fat and maintain muscle mass when you don’t necessarily have a timeframe, would you be mad if you were to potentially gain some muscle mass?

As a disclaimer, I’d just like to disclose that I do not have any degree in sport science (I wish, but maybe later..), I have a certificate as personal trainer and a habit of researching biomechanics through med studies on google when I get bored. Started about a year ago when I decided on debuting in bikini fitness. The competition was just meant to be “good for experience” so I did the coaching myself. Did some research and put together a normal prep plan, reduced calories by 500 per day. Couple of weeks later implemented re-feeds to keep metabolism at it’s toes and not plateu. The refeeds re-tracked me to find out about carb-cycling, this was the moment I got hooked on how to hack performance with nutrition and I can’t at like a normal person anymore.

Coming into my second prep I decided to do carb cycling from the start, but not exactly like last time, with the amount of additional energy required from work I was afraid to lose muscle mass when reducing carbs too low some days.

I work at a warehouse, mainly driving a forklift and stacking boxes, some boxes are heavy and some are not. Sometimes I’m just driving around. It’s hard to tell exactly how many extra calories are required, but could be 200-400 per hour. Here’s also where it started getting complex, because your body isn’t like the tax office that just takes a bunch of calories at the end of the day, no as you move your body burns calories (converts molecules into energy but no need to go into details for nerds)

So not only do I need to adapt energy intake accordingly per day, also per hour. Because I will not burn the same amount of calories hour to hour, yes it will even out at the end of the day, but I feel like it’s better to have enough energy to work and lift weights rather than when I’m just at home relaxing or similar. When physical activity increases (yes even if it’s just boxes, because your body can’t tell if it’s a box or dumbbell) the need for energy increases. As you know, energy comes from food and our primary energy source is glucose which is easiest accessed through carbohydrates. If there’s an insufficient supply of carbohydrates, there’s other ways of obtaining energy.

— Break down stored fat molecules for triglycerides
— Break down muscle protein for amino acids

Fat is broken down in a calorie deficit when there’s enough amino acids present, muscle tissue is broken down in extreme deficits when there’s lack of both carbohydrates and proteins. So imagine what would happen if I cut carbohydrates & calories too low on a day at work.

Lifting weights and continuous use of our muscles causes stress and tears that needs to be re-built through something called muscle protein synthesis.

It’s important to keep up the intensity of your workouts throughout prep, not with the intention to grow necessarily, but because our body might think we don’t need the muscles to survive. Bodybuilding is all about our muscles, so it would be pretty foolish to lose muscle mass for weight loss when you have a nice supply of fat sitting around your waistline.

So we need protein & carbohydrates, but how much and how often? Protein synthesis is pretty short lived, 4-5 hours after a meal. Insulin about 2-3 hours. Insulin is needed to unlock cells to use amino acids and glucose. It’s always present in a normal person, even hours after a meal, but bodybuilding is about being optimal for maximal effect. So keeping protein synthesis always active requires a meal every 3-4 hours. Different protein sources take different time to absorb, but general rule of thumb is 10g of protein per hour.

I would never train fasted, it’s not the best for fat loss and it’s definitely not good if you aim to maintain your muscle mass since you have nothing but glycogen to rely on energy for.

There’s glucose stored in muscles as muscle glycogen, available for energy at higher intensity or when there’s not enough supply in the blood stream. Only to last for about 20 minutes of intense activity tho. Your body can access and convert triglycerides into energy after about 20 minutes, but it can also liquify some muscle mass to release amino acids and use for energy. Most likely won’t happen, but it’s unnecessary to risk it. So how to prevent this?

1. Eat enough carbs & protein before your workout

2. Bring intra workout such as maltodextrin + amino acids

Carbs are generally very limited on a cut, so we need to use them where they are needed the most, in my case at work, around workout and before bedtime.

Why before bedtime? You see metabolism is the combination of catabolism and anabolism, breakdown of molecules and building new structures. These happen simultaneously in our body at all times.

Catabolism is for example carbohydrates being split into glucose molecules our cells can use to produce ATP, another is breakdown of adipose tissue to release triglycerides to use as ATP, in simple terms fat burning.

Anabolism is amino acids from protein that builds our muscles, that triggers protein synthesis.

Protein synthesis happens at all time, but can be boosted by:

— Consuming protein, especially prior to or post workout
— Resistance training
— Release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

Human growth hormone is released at night time while we sleep, so majority of muscle recovery occurs while we sleep. My theory is that → If you eat in a slight surplus before you sleep, your body can use those calories to restore and possibly build new muscle fiber while you sleep and eat in a deficit during daytime will keep you in a deficit that will burn fat while you are moving and being active.