How can I preserve muscle while cutting?

[sdmlsu1]

Don't start counting your cardio time until your heart rate hits 120bpm.

[lordworm88]

Keep your cardio HR below 140bpm or you will burn muscle and fat.

What? I read somewhere on this forum that the fat burning zone for my age was between 140-160 if I'm under that wont I not be burning fat?

^^^^^Where did you hear this? Don't take any more advise from whoever told you that.

Losing weight, until you get to a fairly low BF%, is a simple matter of calories in - calories out. According to what you posted above, you're only taking in about 1700 - 2000 cals and your carbs are way too low to be at that much of a calorie deficit. That's not nearly enough energy to sustain your muscle mass, especially without a re-feed day to replenish muscle glycogen. If you lose more than 2 lbs a week, you're being counterproductive as you're losing LBM and BF at the same rate. I'm sure you don't want to be 20lbs lighter at the same BF%.

IMO, the best way to lose BF while sparing muscle mass is to eat at or slightly below your TDEE or maintenance cals while doing 6 - 10 hrs of cardio per week. Your muscle mass needs fuel to sustain itself, so keep calories as high as possible while creating a calorie deficit via intense cardio everyday or even twice a day if possible. 20 min on a bike is essentially worthless and IMO is irrelevant.

Everyone is different, but I like to do 1 hr a.m. med intensity cardio after a protein shake or just BCAA's depending on current BF%. That way you're burning a ton of cals in a somewhat depleted state while having the rest of the day to feed the needs of your LBM.

What would be my maintenance calories at my weight? How could I calculate that? My bulking diet had around 3000 calories. Also would you think 1 hour of walking AM fasted with aminos count as a good cardio? At least as a start? To be completely honest I've hardly done cardio in my life...

[FireGuy]

When your BF gets up there you are going to burn muscle with the fat. My advice is get your BF down and keep it down regardless if you cycle you'll retain more muscle.

If anything it's the opposite, when you have an abundance of bodyfat your body is much less likely to break down muscle tissue for energy.

Keep your cardio HR below 140bpm or you will burn muscle and fat.

Please stop with the false blanket statements. On leg day or even back day my HR is pretty close to 140 or above the entire session, does this mean I am burning away muscle during my workout too?

Don't start counting your cardio time until your heart rate hits 120bpm.

I am pretty sure your body starts burning calories prior to your heart rate getting to 120. Judging by your posts I am guessing you have bought into the fallacy that the only effective way to get lean is by staying in the "fat burning zone"

[sdmlsu1]

What? I read somewhere on this forum that the fat burning zone for my age was between 140-160 if I'm under that wont I not be burning fat?





What would be my maintenance calories at my weight? How could I calculate that? My bulking diet had around 3000 calories. Also would you think 1 hour of walking AM fasted with aminos count as a good cardio? At least as a start? To be completely honest I've hardly done cardio in my life...

Your maintenance cals will have to be figured out through trial and error. Pick a number and start, it takes time to figure it out but everyone has a different metabolism so its an individual thing. When all things are equal, strict diet. hydration etc. and your not gaining or losing much more than water weight you have it, keep in mind water will fluctuate your weight so be aware. AM cardio on an empty stomach will definitely work the best. As far as the AM aminos I'm not really sure how much it will help. I use 12 grams of Amino powder in my intraworkout drink but I run insulin pre workout. Someone else will have to comment on the AM empty stomach aminos.