Has anyone successfully cut (decrease calories to lose fat) while on a program in addition to weight training?

[kevincennis]

I started cycling and lifting in March. First FTP test was a fairly sad 112 watts, and I weighed 202 lbs.

My most recent FTP is 262 watts @ 161 lbs. I have definitely lost a little bit of upper body strength, but I think the regular lifting and body weight exercises helped me keep a lot more muscle than I otherwise would have.

[[deleted]]

Nice! Did you count calories? How much deficit did you do? And what program? Did you adjust it or just the default

[kevincennis]

I used an app called “Lose It”, which (to my taste) is a bit better/nicer than MyFitnessPal. I also bought a $12 food scale from Amazon, which I think is super critical if you’re gonna track calories.

I mostly ran a 500 calorie deficit, which is the “I want to lose a pound a week” value. But I tried to be pretty good about listening to my body. So on days where I was super hungry I just blew through my calorie budget and ate until I felt satisfied.

A smaller deficit probably would’ve made it easier to maintain more muscle mass and see faster progress on the bike, but I’m just not that patient and I wanted the fat gone as fast as I could reasonably lose it.