If im on an aggressive cut, what is the best source instant carbs so that i will have energy in gym before workout

I started gym to recompose my body, i started workout a month ago at 107kg. Now im 103.7kg. Everyone says i need to take 1.6 to 2.2g of protien in my diet per my body weight which would mean i need to take 150g to 220g of protein daily. I got my dexa scan results and im at 50% bodyfat. So when people mean 1.5 to 2.2g per body weight, is actually the for the body weight? Or for fat free mass?

I have done a few rounds of RFL in the past with good success, but unfortunately let myself go again and I'm ready for another round.

I've been working outdoors a lot right now and we're in the triple digit temps and I lose a TON of water from sweat. I drink lots of fluids but still find it tough to stay hydrated. I'm hesitant to start RFL again under these conditions. Do you think I'll be fine as long as I stick to the proper electrolyte intake suggested in the diet, or would I be better off doing a more traditional calorie deficit diet until it's no longer miserably hot outside?

Edit: thank you everyone for the tips. Much appreciated!

I'm targeting the high end of calories, so between 900 and 1000? For those who get at least 20g of fiber a day, what are your tips.?

I’ve been doing net carbs but honestly I have no idea if it’s supposed to be total or net 😅

Hey,
Lyle Mcdonald’s book says to run RFL max. 10-12d as cat. 1 dieter. Is this information still up to date?

If yes: I’m on TRT. Could I extend it then? Would also add low dosed T3 if I’ve to.

Lmk please

Have been doing lyle mcdonalds PSMF since February, with one week long refeed in April and Saturdays as maintenance days. Ive come down from 196 - 170lb over that time. I have been pretty strictly following lyles recommendations between the book which ive read cover to cover a couple times, and the newer podcast with Solomon.

I have been stuck hovering between 174 and 170lb for the last month back and forth and absolutely cannot break a new low. Is this just a case of trust the process and keep going, would taking a week at maintenance help, im starting to second guess myself now.

Some background for reference:

I am a male, 5'7, and have been been lifting and tracking my food for about 10 years total, but only the last 5 have I really locked in and properly trained. Currently lifting on a 3x a week program for RFL, 175g protein per day plus some veggies i eat with my meals. My usual day ends up being 8 - 900 cals between the chicken breast, egg whites, and whatever veggies I include plus some fat free Greek yogurt. No cardio as recommended, and based on caliper measurements about 18% BF. I got 17% but I'm rounding up.

Sorry for the essay but I'm trying to give as much info as possible, any suggestions would be appreciated. Any further clarification I'm happy to provide in the comments.

I’m getting better, stomach pain significantly reduced from yesterday when it started. Stools were green and I didn’t eat any veg.

Should I raise to maintenance for a day or 2, and then continue or should I just continue on PSMF? Appetite is low right now so it’s pretty easy if it’s fine to continue.

I am a 40yr old male. I’m 6ft. tall and currently weigh 210lbs. I exercise about 3-5x a week. I meal prep on Sundays and eat the same exact thing on weekdays.

Total caloric intake is about 2500 calories. Which is about my maintenance calories. May be a little under.

Macros:
Protein: 190g
Carbs: 221g
Fats: 87g

Breakfast:
2Kodiak pancakes
3Large eggs
1 Tablespoon of peanut butter
4 small chicken sausage links

Lunch:
100g of sweet potatoes
100g of Jasmine rice
4.5oz of chicken thighs

Dinner:
Same meal as Lunch

Snacks:
Builders protein bar
3 pretzel rods
Two scoops of BPN protein powder

Supplements:
Creatine
Beta alanine
Multi vitamins
Electrolytes powder as needed depending on workout and how much I sweat.

I am having an issue where whenever I’m on a diet I have very low energy levels even though I’m not in much of a caloric deficit. My diet on the weekends is more flexible so I’m eating things that are more readily available given our crazy schedules with the kids. My energy levels feel normal over the weekend but by end of day Monday I start to feel drained and definitely by Tuesday I can really feel it. The rest of the week after that I’m just trying to survive and be present for my job and family but it’s been hard.

I feel like something in my body is depleted but I can’t point my finger on it. I thought it might be electrolytes or vitamins so I started taking both but don’t see any improvement. I’ve been to quite a few doctors and they haven’t told me anything worth looking into. I did bloodwork. Everything looked good except vitamin D. They prescribed vitamin d that I take once a week but no difference. I’ve checked my blood sugar and blood pressure and it’s always within a normal range. I want to continue exploring a professionals opinion but idk who to go to anymore. It feels like they’re all just trying to get money out of me with no resolution.

Came on here hoping someone could share some guidance on where to go from here. I want to continue eating healthy but I’ve been tempted to eat like crap bc that’s when I feel I have the most energy.

I've started this week and I've been consuming 180 grams of protein daily. I meal prepped chicken breasts and broccoli. Around 20 grams of carbs with the 400 grams of broccoli daily. I'm currently 280 pounds. 5,7'' male. Above 40% body fat. Going to the gym 3 times a week for full body workouts and walking around 7k steps on weekdays and 15k steps on weekends. Just water, sparkling water, and black coffee. I have some electrolytes too. Planning on at least 90 days. Should I up the protein?

2 oz crab meat

30g Fage 0%

Cucumber

Salt to taste

Umami seasoning, to taste

Mix crab meat seasoning and yogurt in a bowl. Split the cucumber in half and scoop the seeds. Add the seeds to the crab mix and mix some more.

Put the crab mix on the cucumber halves. Enjoy!

It's like 79 calories, 14.5 g protein, 2.6 net carbs, 0.6g fat

Hey hows it going, currently on day 7 of my psmf journey

however the main issue has been my sleep, ive averaged roughly 3 hours of sleep for the past 5 days.

i supplement 3mg melatonin and 400mg magnesium glycinate yet nothing works.

any tips?

past 2 days ive cut down my caffeine entirely yet that hasnt helped aswell

I have never been a smoker but I hear nicotine is really good. What do you use?

I have a history of gastro issues so I am afraid to try a glp1. If I do I might try the wegovy pill. Thoughts?

I'm certain that we are all aware of the precautions in order to prevent possible physiological damages during very-low-calorie diets, like supplementing minerals (electrolytes), micro-nutrients and sufficient protein (if protein-sparing fast). Especially electrolyte-disorders through hypokalemia can cause fatal arrhythmia in combination with cardiac stress & extreme hypophagia. But I'm currently reading some papers discussing sudden death amongst obese dieters on VLCDs and these cases have never been fully clarified. Some of the deceased were monitored more or less actively, but changes in ECG were just ignored; some used unfortunate formulas with incomplete protein; majority of them was female; not every death was linked to the diet itself afterwards - there hasn't been a full explanation ever since, besides making changes to the diet, to make modern approaches/formulas/protocols safer. The only truth seemed to be that medical supervision is crucial.

What is your opinion on that matter? Many, especially in this forum, seem to undergo this procedure on their own without assistance & I couldn't find any recently recorded deaths despite the huge popularity of VLCDs.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6372663/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7223697/

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/01.CIR.60.6.1401

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7275462/

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2008/188/6/safe-year-long-use-very-low-calorie-diet-treatment-severe-obesity

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/28/archives/data-suggest-tie-between-15-deaths-and-liquid-diet.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/29/archives/doctor-says-reports-tying-deaths-to-liquid-protein-are-premature.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/12/24/doubts-on-protein-deaths/ec1b9e5a-c611-4ffd-916d-7d863f5feaaa/

I did a couple months ago cycle last year and lost 150lbs. I plateau so I did a “reset” where I basically ate at maintenance for a few months. Gonna get back on cycle.

Status Female 39 430lbs 12.5mg of Zepbound
HAVE to eat 30 grams of fiber a day or will have stomach issues

What would be my goals? Last time I basically lived off of egg whites, and a little bit of salsa

*edit I would like to do RFL

Im having so much trouble sleeping and wake up each night due to indegestion! Down a lot in mere days so I want to continue but I feel so terrible overnight. Any advice?

Are test levels quickly tanked on this diet?

I was considering adding minimum fat intake to maintain hormonal function which would be counter intuitive to trying to create largest deficit possible since it would increase daily cals by 500ish

I’ve been putting McCormick Umami Seasoning on just about everything. It’s great in broths and with fat free cottage cheese in particular. I’m not much of a cook and actually hate it, so anything to make this easier is a win for me.

I do see sunflower oil in the ingredients, but I imagine it’s negligible.

Salt, Mustard Bran, Onion, Garlic, Paprika, Black Garlic Powder, Shiitake Mushroom, Chilean Mushroom, Parsley, Sunflower Oil, Tomato Powder, Basil, Black Pepper, Marjoram & Sulfiting Agents.

Currently running a final round of rfl to get giga shredded. My diet is fish oil pills and baked chicken tenderloins. Each one is 2.9oz and I have 10/day 2 at a time, eaten with my hands like string cheese dipped in hot sauce. Occasionally I’ll get an edge of a tender that’s crispy and I want more of that but don’t wanna add any cals. How do? Should I just burn tf outta them in the oven?

I just finished about 10 days drinking cooked egg whites for dinner. I felt disgusted by the end of it.

I'm about to do another "cycle" of 12 days and realized that tandoor chicken tikka seems to be a pretty lean cut of chicken but tastes amazing. Thinking of ordering it from a restaurant.

Is this likely a safe PSMF option?

Can new lifters who are actually training to failure actually build some muscle mass on this diet? I’ve heard some say it here before, not sure how true it is? Whole food diet, 4x upper lower 2x sets to failure on each exercise, whole foods of protein, large deficit.

I am a person who has relatively low self-discipline. I have been trying to stick to PSMF fasting diet. However the main issue is that my workplace has a lot of free chocolates and pastries, so I often snack at work and gain weight.

This week, I was scheduled to work remotely on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday afternoon, I left the office and drove to an Airbnb, arriving in the late evening. I planned to stay in the Airbnb until Sunday. I only brought my work laptop and diet-approved foods.

The Airbnb which I booked is located in a rural area. So, there is no nearby restaurant or grocery store (no easy way to satisfy my cravings). Also the price is cheaper, since it's in the middle of nowhere. Luckily they had Starlink internet :)

My daily routine was simple and enjoyable. In the morning, I would go for a light jog (1 hour) outside. I would come back and make myself some green tea and take my supplements. During lunchtime, I would drive to a gym and do some strength workouts. Then I would drink a protein shake. In the afternoon, I would do some hiking nearby (1-2 hours). In the evening, I would have my "main meal" which consisted of precooked chicken breast.

Thursday and Friday were good. I didn't mind eating my chicken and I had high motivation. I guess I was busy with work, so not constantly thinking about food.

Saturday was tough. Since I had the day off, I drove further away to go on a longer hike. I felt light-headed and weak. My cravings grew stronger and I was in a bad mood. Driving back from the hike, I was on the highway and decided not to get off at the exit for my Airbnb, because I wanted to eat restaurant food and give up on my diet. I kept driving until I reached the city and I routed the GPS to a Korean fried chicken restaurant. I parked in the parking lot and saw that there was a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant right next door. I am not religious but I really thought God was sending me a signal. So I went to the sushi restaurant and grabbed only sashimi plates (which is mostly just protein). If you know how these types of restaurants operate, you can imagine that my final bill was enormous. But it was worth it to maintain my PSMF diet.

In an ideal world, I would book an Airbnb on an island with no grocery stores, so I remove all temptations. Nearby me, there are plenty of such islands which have a lot of vacation rentals, but they are on the expensive side. Anyways, I think staying in the countryside is the next best option. The only downside is you need to spend time researching where is the nearest gym. Lastly, I was having to go to the store to buy gallons of drinking water because I didn't realize the tap water would not be drinkable at the Airbnb, and whenever I walked into the store and saw the chocolate chip cookies and croissants from the bakery section, my cravings intensified. So, it is best to prepare all the food/drinks in advance, in order to avoid going to any stores. Airbnb is actually quite expensive, but for people like me with low self-discipline and extra cash to spend recklessly, I guess it is a worthwhile tradeoff.

I brought along an InBody (H3O) machine, so I also measured my stats:

Weds morning: 163lb bodyweight. This bodyweight is before having any food/drink for the day.

Sat night: 159lb bodyweight, of which 2.9lb is fat loss and the rest is muscle loss. This bodyweight is after eating my sashimi dinner.

BTW this is InBody H3O machine, which is not as accurate as the InBody clinical machines at your local gym.

Starting weight: 96,3kg

Goal weight: 80kg

Target date: 01.09.2026 (September 1st)

Plan: relaxed PSMF / keto, weight lifting, Muay Thai, walking

I'll update this post daily and will post weekly summaries in the comments.

Week 1

Day 1 - 19.06.26 - 96,3kg - PSMF, weight lifting, 15km walk

Day 2 - 20.06.26 - 96,3kg - PSMF, 13km walk

Day 3 - 21.06.26 - 96,5kg - PSMF, 25km walk

Week 2

Day 4 - 22.06.26 - 96,9kg - PSMF, Muay Thai, 10km walk

Day 5 - 23.06.26 - 96,5kg - PSMF, 10km walk

Day 6 - 24.06.26 - 95,2kg - PSMF, Muay Thai, 13km walk

Day 7 - 25.06.26 - 95,3kg - PSMF, 18km walk

Day 8 - 26.06.26 - 94,8kg - PSMF, 10km walk

Day 9 - 27.06.26 - 95,1kg - free meal, 20km walk

Day 10 - 28.06.26 - 95,0kg - free meal, weight lifting, 20km walk

Week 3

Day 11 - 29.06.26 - 95,2kg - PSMF, Muay Thai, 7km walk

Day 12 - 30.06.26 - 94,1kg - PSMF

Day 13 - 01.07.26 - 94,2kg - PSMF, weight lifting, 6km walk

Day 14 - 02.07.26 - 93,6kg - free meal

Day 15 - 03.07.26 - 94,6kg - PSMF

Day 16 - 04.07.26 - 93,4kg - free meal, 15km walk

Day 17 - 05.07.26 - 93,2kg - PSMF, weight lifting, 15km walk

Week 4

Day 18 - 06.07.26 - 93,0kg - free meal, Muay Thai, 5km walk

Day 19 - 07.07.26 - 93,3kg - free meal, 8km walk, 30min bicycle commute

Day 20 - 08.07.26 - 94,0kg - free meal, Muay Thai, 9km walk

I won't be continuing with the diet at this time due to unfortunate news that I got this week. Because of it I will have to switch my focus elsewhere. But I'm glad I lost 3kg of weight in a way that is sustainable to me. I will be doing keto until I have capacity for another PSMF run, which will probably be shorter, I think 4-6 weeks is a sweet spot. Thank you all and until then.