Most effective way to retain lean muscle while cutting

Just wanted to get some opinions on this topic. When cutting do you keep your caloric intake at a deficit or do you keep your caloric intake around your BMR and use supps and cardio to bring you into a caloric defecit. I would think by consuming closer to your BMR would allow your metabolism to run hotter and at the same time allow you to keep more lean mass during a cutting phase. I've read many different opinions on this subject and just wanted to see what is working for some people here.

And yeah the Title of the thread is supposed to say "Lean Mass" Oops!

Good question, give ya a good bump

Interested in the answer...

It's the cumulative effect of paying attention to a minutia of details.

(1) Losing the weight slowly
(2) demphesizing cardio and losing from diet
(3) I'm a big fan of the ketogenic diet but it's not for everyone
(4) This contradicts # 2 but high intensity cardio (20-30 min.) ups metabolism 25% for the next three hours; that said, maybe 2 cardio sessions daily one on an empty stomach in the morning. I emphasize cardio heavily myself and it works for me.
(5) The use of thermogenics
(6) cycling carbs and/or cals to keep from metabolism from slowing
(7) Keeping fats (saturated, monounsaturated) high enough for proper testosterone production
(8) AAS of course
(9) upping meals (e.g., 7-8)
(10) supplements such as 7-keto, omega 3, 6, etc.
(11) Getting some light protein preworkout (I like 20 gms of protein ala egg white)
(12) I'm sure I missed something here. Anyone want to add on?
(13) Is anyone familiar with Duchaine's Body Opus? I think he emphasizes ketogenic, high fat. I've never tried that and I'm not sure how common people follow his advice but if anyone has any experience with this....that can lead to some editional items on the list.
(14) Whey protein, I read in Muscular Development, has unique properties that fascilitate fat loss

What about cutting fat? think getting your calorie deficite from cardio and supps is more effective than having your calorie deficit built in to your diet?

You don't want to cut fat too much. Fat (saturated and monounsaturated) is the stuff testosterone is made from. I commonly read it's better to cut cals from diet over cardio but I rely on cardio with my metab. If you want to get radically ripped though, it's a matter of doing everything and sticking to a stringent diet. That's not easy to do. If it were you'd see alot more ripped dudes walking around right?

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Originally Posted by jdspinna

What about cutting fat? think getting your calorie deficite from cardio and supps is more effective than having your calorie deficit built in to your diet?

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You want to eat at maitenance and let your cardio and workouts create the deficit. Thats the best way to go about it.

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Originally Posted by Mike Dura

You don't want to cut fat too much. Fat (saturated and monounsaturated) is the stuff testosterone is made from. I commonly read it's better to cut cals from diet over cardio but I rely on cardio with my metab. If you want to get radically ripped though, it's a matter of doing everything and sticking to a stringent diet. That's not easy to do. If it were you'd see alot more ripped dudes walking around right?

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Thats not correct. Testosterone is synthesized from Cholesterol, dietary Choleserol has been shown to not have any correlation with ones Cholesterol levels. Fat plays a very small role in Cholesterol/Testosterone, because you're body does derive a small portion of Cholesterol from your diet, which is why extremely low fat diets have been shown to reduce total T levels. However these diets are far lower than most anyone would ever eat.

So a high fat diet in essence would slightly increase total test levels?

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Originally Posted by Giantz11

You want to eat at maitenance and let your cardio and workouts create the deficit. Thats the best way to go about it.

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I share the same opinion. It seems as if a lot of people who cut there calories below maintenance, who are not "supplementing", lose a lot more lean tissue when cutting than those who get their calorie defecit from their workout/cardio etc while eating their maintenance. I know there is no concrete answer for everyone but, that has been my general observation.

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Originally Posted by chest6

So a high fat diet in essence would slightly increase total test levels?

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Not really, since dietary fat does not effect total Cholesterol. Now if you are difficient in fats then yes it will hamper T levels. But if you are getting enough fats then you will not really be able to raise T levels. Insulin would be more potent in helping with T levels.

I think it is correct. I read about it in Muscular Development and a book my mens fitness called "the anabolic diet." Check it out yourself. Cholestral too is a component I read.

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Originally Posted by Giantz11

Thats not correct. Testosterone is synthesized from Cholesterol, dietary Choleserol has been shown to not have any correlation with ones Cholesterol levels. Fat plays a very small role in Cholesterol/Testosterone, because you're body does derive a small portion of Cholesterol from your diet, which is why extremely low fat diets have been shown to reduce total T levels. However these diets are far lower than most anyone would ever eat.

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