Off week dilema

Hi folks,


As I posted earlier I joined a gym after little more than a year of having little physical activity. My goal still remains cutting and after 5 weeks I went from 176 lbs. to 170-169 lbs. My diet was based mainly in the number of meals per day, timing, portion & how they were cooked. As well water intake was increased dramatically and salt, white bread, tortillas, non-natural juice etc. was dropped. Must importantly I quit smoking and really HIT THE CARDIO DEPOT. (Side note: People are telling me how thin I look and that I look much better like that.... Simply hypocrisy maybe??)

I'm a strong believer on resting for a week after 5 or 6 weeks of intense lifting, but I'm not so familiarized with the diet during the off period...

Would it be wise to eat things in this time period that I wouldn't eat during my diet just to impact my metabolism by adding extra calories and some what make my body guess of what the hell is going on??? I'm not going to eat like pig or anything I would simply have cheat meals respecting portions (NO SUPER SIZES) ... During this week I will not lift at all I will only do moderate cardio simply because it relaxes me a whole bunch!

P.S. Hopefully someone will tell me that I could just to feel rewarded for my hard work during this past weeks.

Thanks in advance!

CHEERS!!!

Why don't you just do a deload week insteand of resting?

Never thought about it... To my understanding your body needs rest at some point, eventualy more than the normal 2 days or so I read.... Also this will prevent it will keep your body guessing to my understanding.

Thak you for your advice! Any idea on the diet side??

the whole "body guessing" thing is a myth, however it's true that a rest period is a need to keep steady progress and relieve your body of the stress of heavy lifting but it doesn't mean inactivity as mvsf1 pointed out a deload week every 4-6 weeks is a better idea.It can be as simple a do the same you are doing but use less weight, to the point it's easy.
IMO if your diet isn't structured in cycles (carb loading/depleting or whatever) then you could keep it the same or maybe reduce your calorie intake in the same measure you're reducing your exercise. If you're already in a calorie deficit (cutting) i wouldn't even bother to change anything. Oh and I'd reserve any cheat meal for heavy lifting days so i'd keep it clean on deaload weeks, but that's me.

Cheers

Thanks Storm

I will keep in mind your tips.

CHEERS!!

You're new to training - burnout is going to be more mental than physical. Keep training.

Before I stopped lifting I pushed weights for almost 2 years and went from 150's to 180's... So I know a thing or 2 but eventually EVERYONE has a different opinion in what works and what doesn't.. And yes you are correct at this point I'm more mentally wasted from lifting/cardio/deiting rather physically. I have read more than a dozen articles of people saying to eat like a god a day or 2 while dieting and go back to your diet afterwards just to pick up your metabolism. Does it work dont really know since like I mentioned I NEED HELP WITH THE DEITING SUBJETC. What I do know is that it feels awsome to eat things that I wouldn't normaly eat while I lift. It sure does bring my stress levels back to normal wich.

So basically I'll take the week-off and forget about the diet during this time to feel a sence of reward for loosing 5-6 lbs. in less than a month!!! Would I gain any weight for doing this?? Maybe yes, but I'm sure I will NOT gain the lbs. I lost in a month for not lifting and dieting in a week.

PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I"M WRONG

Cheers!!