Cutting via exercise

[ShockBoxer]

Is it really that unfeasible?

Currently there are four days a week where I do little more than walk to and from a bus stop, walk 10 minutes at lunch, and that's about it. Rather than dropping myself to 1700 calories, which I have this week and it doesn't feel like it's enough to keep a bird alive, frankly, there has to be something I can do on those four days instead to burn some calories without affecting my recovery, broiling away what little lbm I have, or hacking the hell out of my strength.

Eric Cressey once wrote that any lift under 50% 1rm doesn't really count as far as fatigue is concerned. Opinions on that? Because I wouldn't mind adding a few light lifting days or doing crossfit if it means not having to feel like **** on low cals.

[Anthony]

Absolutely possible.

Just like strength, your work capacity can be increased. Start low and gradually build up. You could do this by adding a day of activity on a current rest day. You could add a "mini hiit" session after a lifting session. Tons of methods.

Look into gflux. The basic principle is that a deficit from a higher energy balance is better than a deficit at a lower energy balance. 3000-3500 is better than 1700-2200, even though they produce the same deficit (the numbers are irrelevant, I just used them as example).

[galileo]

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=877549

That has some interesting points (perhaps somewhat sensationalist) about defeating your diet.

In my opinion, I would still craft a solid diet (diet does not mean deficit), and experiment week to week. If you find yourself losing strength and fat, add calories. If you are losing strength and no fat, adjust your workouts. If you are gaining strength and fat, lower calories. Keep adjusting until you hit the magic number where you're successful.

This will be my "maintenance" plan once I hit the bodyfat I want for the spring. A lot of HIIT and increased calories. Hopefully I can outsmart the caloric expenditure and continue to gain strength while maintaining or slowly losing additional bodyfat. We'll see how that works for my bodytype.

[ShockBoxer]

Certainly not the fast way to go about losing a few pounds, it seems, but my metabolism does NOT need the strain of a diet... my maintenance is already barely 2500. That's up from 1800 from when I first started training.

I've been meaning to incorporate a lot more metabolic conditioning into my training anyways to improve my cardiovascular system and overall endurance. As good a time and reason to start as any.