New to FT not New to Training

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks Scott, I have made some slight tweaks but so far I am happy with the body's adaptation, key thing is I don't want to add fat so I'll monitor that and adjust as necessary.

If I consume less kcal then I burn I'll be fine, adding more kcal to be slightly above my maintenance is where I want to be, I am I guess looking for muscle memory rather than brand new tissue.

Thanks for the input.

Muscle rounds tomorrow!

You're welcome.

If you're looking to just get back whence you came physique-wise, then that's cool.

I'll caution against being overly conservative when it comes to diet at times when you could (if you provided the kcal) gain new tissue: There is a phenomenon I've notices a few times over the years (we're talking 15+ yr of being online and longer working with clients) whereby you can sort of miss a window of opportunity for growth.

The extreme example of this is someone who holds back on caloric intake for many many months while making good strength gains and then is boggled as to why when adding kcal the size does not come on as one might expect. I can't say for sure that I know why this is, but I think that one can miss out on the interaction between anabolism and neurological strength gains by limiting the anabolic actions of food.

Where one is left then is with a smaller, but stronger physique with a metabolic set point based on that level of size. When then trying to get stronger, there is less room to do so (d/t the law of diminishing returns / an eventual plateau in strength in general and at that size).

While there is a greater stimulus in a sense from being stronger the novelty of the stimulus in getting stronger (which will happen less rapidly) is diminished, and thus the training stimulus itself is less effective in promoting muscle growth.

At the lighter weight / lesser muscle mass overall, b/c of limiting kcal intake one time, there is less metabolic capacity to accept large amounts of incoming nutrients to drive metabolism without creating an excess the means fat accumulation.

You are eating 4000kcal d/t limiting caloric intake compared to 5500 in someone who has progressively increased food, so this means less protein, less insulin, etc at a given caloric excess that produces a acceptable amount of fat gain, especially at the smaller size.

This acceptable amount of is course a matter of personal preference, too, but for someone who wants to become VERY VERY VERY Large in the long run, holding back on kcal during what will could a good growth spurt / and is a time when strength will be increasing quickly (which happens with FT) can defeat this long term goal to some degree.



-S