Where exactly does the metabolism come into play while cutting?

>>42895797
>But, if you just stopped eating all together, hypothetically your body would just burn the fat.
Yes, but it would also destroy your muscles, as whenever you exercise your muscles, they get damaged and need protein to get fixed. If they don't get protein, then they start to break down and wither away.
> But, isn't there some kind of factor where your body tries to hold onto fat if you stop eating all together?
Yes, it starts breaking down muscles to get energy from them eventually. Other than that, no.

>>42895797

The problem with not eating is you have no intake of nutrients that are not measured in calories.
I. e. vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements

>But, isn't there some kind of factor where your body tries to hold onto fat if you stop eating all together?

google starvation response. If you starve yourself, your basal metabolic rate will go down, the more energy reserves you lose, the less calories your body needs.

Read the sticky, it explains this shit my dude.

>>42896157
>>42897560
I see, thank you.
Yeah, I guess the best option when cutting is just to eat healthy.

>>42897604
You know, I didn't even notice the sticky. My brain kind of just filters things out that are written in all caps.

>>42895797
>I've seen a lot of people on /fit/ say you should eat around 1500 calories a day while cutting.
The deficit depends on your measurements, body composition and activity levels. There is no one-size-fits-all number.

>But, if you just stopped eating all together, hypothetically your body would just burn the fat.
Of course, but if you're not getting enough calories respective to your body reserves or if you're not eating enough protein - your body will also burn muscle. What you eat on a cut is important as how much.

>But, isn't there some kind of factor where your body tries to hold onto fat if you stop eating all together?
Not in the way most people think.

Your body runs on very tight tolerances - the most your body can save by downgrading your immune system etc. is about 5%.

If you eat way below your TDEE or not enough protein your body will start consuming muscle to get the missing calories or lacking protein. Less muscle means lower metabolic rate. But that not the same as your body simply turning down a metaphorical thermostat and starting to violate conservation of energy like some idiots think when they say "starvation response."

Another mechanism to save energy is mentall - in response to hunger your energy levels drop ie. you feel less inclined to take the stairs rather than the elevator etc. This obviously can be overcome to some degree by willpower; but everyone willpower has limits - just like even the most patriotic solider will eventually succum to PTSD no matter his desire to keep on going.

Also, keep in mind that every kilo of fat can only provide so much energy per day - liposis has hard limits just like any other bodily function.

Example:
>you weigh 100kg, 30%BF
>your fat mass is 30kg
>each kilogram of fat can release about 65-75kcal per day
>so your fat reserves can supply about 2100kcal of energy per day
>if your deficit is higher than that your body will start consuming muscle tissue no matter how much protein you eat

>>42898019
There's a good deal more to this than I thought there would be. Seems like I'll have to look up so more detailed information about it, and do things like find out my TDEE.

Anyway, thanks for explaining. Off to do some research now.