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I'm not exactly sure if I should call this dieting, but I want to lose a reasonable amount of weight (in as healthy a manner as possible) this summer while studying diligently for the October LSAT. How doable is this? Should I brace myself for any potentially unfavourable results?

On the one hand, I will be eating healthier (more vegetables, less (red and fatty) meat, reduced sugar intake, drinking more water) while exercising more (running and going to the gym), which I suspect will improve my energy levels and ability to focus and think. On the other hand, I fear there might be some adverse effects. In the past, I might have been eating more than necessary, so I aim to lessen the food I consume. Will this have any dire consequences as I am changing my lifestyle? I realize this question might be out of the scope of the TLS forums, but I'm sure someone has some words of wisdom to spare.

Essentially, I wish to maximize my efforts in both fitness and LSAT studying. If anyone has any tips and tricks that worked for them, that would be greatly appreciated.

I did something similar; if anything, I think I performed better than I might've otherwise. No adverse effects.

Plus, I planned a cheat meal for exam day after the test, so I had that to look forward to.

It sounds like you're planning to be really healthy about it so I think you'll be fine, as long as you don't change your diet/lifestyle in general too quickly.

Effects on learning are probably negligible, just make sure you eat enough calories in October.

I totally get this.

On the one hand, exercising before you study can help you to concentrate when you are sitting at a desk for hours...

On the other hand, sitting at a desk for hours is awfully hard when you don't have snacks nearby.

I always have this battle during finals, when I'm camped out in the library. I find that going to the gym first thing in the morning for 1-2 hours helps, and drinking lots of hot, green tea to quell my appetite. I think full-on dieting while full-on LSAT studying would be difficult. Something has to give. Perhaps if you focus more on gym time, rather than dieting, you can study harder and loose weight while still keeping up your caloric intake during studying.

it is fine as long as you don't do it drastically, 10% caloric reduction without eliminating essential carbs and fats is a reasonable plan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/0 ... 26320.html
http://www.fitbie.com/cardio/brain-boos ... -exercises
http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/running-brainpower
http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/ ... brainpower

Even if its just placebo effect, regular exercise can help you perform better on the LSAT.

One way it could hurt you is that, you have a limited amount of "willpower," and if you expend it on dieting and exercise, you may feel less motivated or willing to study.

a 500 calorie deficit shouldn't affect your mental game

The only thing you should do is research IIFYM.

Do not cut carbs below 100g/day or you're brain will fail you (at least for a few weeks, until your brain adjusts).

NoBladesNoBows wrote:

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:The only thing you should do is research IIFYM.

Do not cut carbs below 100g/day or you're brain will fail you (at least for a few weeks, until your brain adjusts).

I'm assuming you're referring to ketosis. I thought that required more like a 20g - 50g range?

I am referring to ketosis, and it does require a carb range of 0-50/g. Ketosis is effective. But equally effective is a simple 40/40/20 split of protein, carbs, and fat, and your mind and body feel much better doing so. Your body freaks out while making the ketosis transition and it is incredibly uncomfortable. If you follow a 40/40/20 split (or something similar) you can eat pizza every day and lose as much weight as one would in a ketosis state.

NoBladesNoBows wrote:

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:

NoBladesNoBows wrote:

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:The only thing you should do is research IIFYM.

Do not cut carbs below 100g/day or you're brain will fail you (at least for a few weeks, until your brain adjusts).

I'm assuming you're referring to ketosis. I thought that required more like a 20g - 50g range?

I am referring to ketosis, and it does require a carb range of 0-50/g. Ketosis is effective. But equally effective is a simple 40/40/20 split of protein, carbs, and fat, and your mind and body feel much better doing so. Your body freaks out while making the ketosis transition and it is incredibly uncomfortable. If you follow a 40/40/20 split (or something similar) you can eat pizza every day and lose as much weight as one would in a ketosis state.

Right no disagreement here, I was just asking for clarification on the idea that 50g - 100g of carbs a day would bring the negative side effects of a transition to ketosis, as I thought that that wouldn't happen until under 50g. I guess it's probably different from person to person though.

I see what you're saying now. For me if I dip below 100g I do have the negative side effects. The further down in carbs from that point, the worse those side effects are. My daily carbs are about 150g (lower than average but not incredibly low), so I imagine other people would start to feel those side effects around 100g as well.

In my experience, dipping blow 100g of carbs is when your body beings to say "hmmm getting low on these". So your cravings increase, you pull some glycogen from muscles, and you get small carb flu symptoms but you never really go into ketosis until you adjust to that carb intake. You also lose more water weight because of the fewer carbs. Kinda sucks because you ride the line between ketosis and normal eating.

I will have to try IF for the upcoming october test. I usually IF during the week because I sleep in on weekends. Its not too bad unless im doing really heavy lifting with HIIT. Then ill eat 24/7 to recover.

I've been bodybuilding and dieting throughout my 4 years in undergrad, and will also be cutting this summer while I study for the October LSAT. In my experience I've found that despite eating healthier foods on a cut, I generally have lower energy and less concentration (this is eating around a 500 calorie deficit 40% carbs 40% protein 20% fat.) This usually gets worse as the weeks go on, especially when I'm 12-16 weeks into a cut and studying after a workout. The thing is the body doesn't like change especially rapid weigh loss, so be sure to keep your caloric deficit at something reasonable like 300-600 calories, instead of 1,000. Dieting is suppose to be hard, which is perhaps why so many people give up on it.

However, I still think its fine to study and diet as long as you plan your day accordingly. Some things that I found to help my cognitive abilities are eating the majority of my carbs and calories around the time frame I set for studying. I also like to study before I workout, and have caffeine before study sessions, as well as snacks to keep energy levels up. For example, I'll start my day with breakfast and coffee, begin studying, then a protein bar and some low calorie/high carb snacks on hand to take midway through studying. Then I'll go to the gym and maybe hit the books again, and quit when I feel too drained.

In short, try to plan your day and meals around studying. I would go ahead and diet and while you study and if you feel like crap, raise your calories a bit, or postpone your diet until after the LSAT. Best of luck!