so midterms and finals really rocked my shit. Both parts of the sem were a suuuuper intense grind (waking up 4am going to bed around 10-11pm and generally just study grinding pretty close to nonstop etc); stress and cortisol through the absolute roof. It’d be like 2-3 weeks at a time of skipping cardio and often even lifts.
Taking my last final shortly and I’ve got a solid 3ish weeks of break till next sem. Planning on spending the whole time on interview preps/application grind for banking + gym grind.
for my diet I’m aiming to hit 185g protein on about 1500 cals most days; maybe up to 1800 if I’m going batshit crazy.
gonna shoot for the whole 10k steps daily + 30min on elliptical + 30min-an hour of swimming + sprints as well) on top of training like a fuckin animal in the gym. Somehow I’m still at about 15-16% bodyfat right now despite eating absolute dog shit food for sustinence (think Taco Bell and bullshit like that) for the past 3 weeks.
normally do 225mg test/week; going up to 300mg just during this lil mini cut.
Am I gonna lose a significant amt of muscle running a pretty high cal deficit? Hoping the extra test lets me preserve sum gains and maybe manage to get down to like 10-12% bf over the next 4 weeks. Most likely not going to touch alcohol, pot, or any kinda junk food whatsoever during this time (except def smacking an In-N-Out and animal style fries first thing when I get home).
Thoughts tips suggestions appreciated
First-light 1d ago
I have no personal experience with AAS but this paper suggests that you should be fine with calorie restriction on your current dose https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6711889/ (200mg test E protected men from muscle loss on a 55% RDA calorie diet)
225mg/ week test C is TRT++ 300 has got to be a cycle. This is not my subject area but is there much benefit in mini cycles while calorie restricting? Is it worth using up a blast on?
financehardo420 21h ago
My only logic was just that a slightly higher dose for a little would like help preserve the muscle bit better; might just stick with 225 honestly
Whatsnext 1d ago
I’m starting my cut today on 1900c 180p. Cutting will usually take 8-12 weeks. The more aggressive you cut the more muscle you will lose. Like trying to eat overly low calories to lose weight faster will cause you to lose a higher % of muscle than a slower 8-12 week cut. Better to eat 300 under tdee. Weigh yourself everyday and take the average of the week to see how your weight fluctuates week to week. Track your food. If you are losing too slow (weekly) you reduce calories.
financehardo420 21h ago
I’m thinking basically just for these 3 weeks of break (and first week of next semester) I basically have unlimited time. 1500-1800 cal is just about a 500cal deficit just being sedentary or whatever. Instead of eating less food I was just gonna increase movement ie spam low intensity cardio + some HIIT swimming. If I’m still eating 1g protein/lb would it be super bad or nah?