While maintaining a weekly calorie deficit, is it possible to have a large calorie surplus on (or before) the day you wish to replicate your 1-rep-max numbers on your 3 favorite exercises?

https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/dumbbell-shoulder-press/lb

On the strength standards website, does this shoulder press exercise mean with no leg drive? I watched a Jeff Nippard video (or similar creator) a while back that said it's almost impossible to not let your legs boost your strength, which is why you should always do seated version unless you are in a country or sport where standing shoulder press is the norm or customary variation (such as in military or firefighters).

I've never tried the standing version for that reason but I'm curious as to why the strength-level website doesn't have the seated version, and I'm unsure if my seated numbers can compare directly to the standing version or if most lifters add their data with 10% boosted weight via leg drive?

Keep going 👏. I refer to strength standards to see how much others lift at each bodyweight and aim for half of elite level 😆

So it's possible to comfortably press 60lbs at 220lb.

Just to sidestep a bit, why do you want to prioritize this lift over losing weight which can be argued to be more important for health?

Now that a few days have passed since my failed 60lb lift, I'm not as bothered by it anymore. I can still do triples (3 reps) of 50lb and I find that enjoyable and immensely satisfying, even on a hard deficit. 💪

Weight loss is now top priority with respect to physical fitness. Also, if I can hit 60 pounds at a much lower weight (at 220lb bodyweight), that will be more impressive than hitting it at 265 (my current weight). Plus it gives me a new challenge to pursue once I reach my target weight of around 220ish.

Just to sidestep a bit, why do you want to prioritize this lift over losing weight which can be argued to be more important for health?

ketogenic weight lifter performance

It seems quite non mainstream for lifters to not be omnivores. Do you know any elite lifters who are carnivores or keto especially strongmen?

Yeah, I'm a big keto nut. I started the !ketogenic.online community. But I'm NOT a high powered athlete or lifter, so I can't personally speak to adaptation recovery.

I became complacent and put dieting as my 6th or 7th priority in life rather than top-3

Yeah, Carb benders are a hazard for me as well.

My reason for asking is because Peter Attia said it took him 3 years to replicate his gym numbers and cardio fitness (like with running or HIIT) when trying to become fat adapted.

Yeah, the Volek and Phinny papers on fat adapted metabolism and endurance athletes are probably the most topical here.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2017.10.010 - Keto-adaptation enhances exercise performance and body composition responses to training in endurance athletes

Compared to a HC comparison group, a 12-week period of keto-adaptation and exercise training, enhanced body composition, fat oxidation during exercise, and specific measures of performance relevant to competitive endurance athletes.

Adaptation does take time (but in the literature I don't see anything mentioned longer then 3 months), there is some small benefit to micro carb loading for endurance athletes even if they are fat adapted (10g carbs when bikers bonk).

I'm not aware of any papers on ketogenic weight lifter performance.

Have you also done keto? I started in March 2024 and lost about 110 pounds until January 2026 when I became complacent and put dieting as my 6th or 7th priority in life rather than top-3. My reason for asking is because Peter Attia said it took him 3 years to replicate his gym numbers and cardio fitness (like with running or HIIT) when trying to become fat adapted.

You are 6 days into keto (<20g carbs per day). It takes about 3 months to become fully fat adapted. During that time your lifts will suffer a bit.

However, I don't think a calorie deficit is necessary when your already doing keto, if you have fat to burn you won't be as hungry and stop eating early anyway.

the parent comment was exceptional.

as someone who appears to respond very, very well to training and hard sparring in a carb deprived state, I can honestly say its a seriously decent option if your body is so inclined.

BCAAs before any hard activity have been the go-to for me and, as long as my aerobic conditioning is where it needs to be, I actually perform better - faster reactions, more predictable round to round power endurance.

this is, of course, only my anecdotal reporting here, so mountains of salt required.

Great response, thank you. Here is my 26 month weight loss graph: https://i.imgur.com/QbOusoM.png

Basically I lost 100 pounds then regained 20 lbs during the last 5 months. I will try to research on how to reach 90% max glycogen levels but this looks promising:

* Aim for 5–10g of carbs per kg of bodyweight over the refeed window (36 hours prior to your 1-rep max attempt)

For your main quetion - yes. Daily calorie deficits basically matter not at all. What matters is the deficit over weeks or months or years.

And yes, being in a calorie deficit will typically result in weaker lifts.

However, the bigger factor at play here is almost certainly the low carbs. Carbs are the main way your body supplies your muscles with glycogen and without that, your lifts will typically go down. The vast majority of bodybuilding research suggests that carbs are good for muscle growth and maintenance. There is some emerging science and some anecdotal evidence that low carb diets can work in a hypertrophy context - but my take is that it may be good during a cut (so good for you), it probably isn't ideal for bulking.

But there are a few things to know about low carbing. First is that there is an adaptation period where your body must learn to run on fat as fuel rather than carbs. During this period, expect basically all your metrics to go down, especially aerobic and glycolytic work. Adaptation, depending on the person, tends to take 2-8 weeks. Also note that you should either be paying close attention to getting enough electrolytes in your diet, or else supplementing electrolytes, as electrolyte depletion is a big driver of the "keto flu". Another thing to note about low carb is that it still follows the biggest rule in weight loss - it only works as long as you keep doing it. If you lose 100 lbs on low carb, then start eating carbs again, you will gain back 100lbs, if not more. If you want to have regular, large cut and bulk cycles, maybe this is ideal for you. But if your main objective is to achieve and maintain a healthy bodyweight, then you will either need to stick to your low carb diet for the rest of your life, or else have some sort of tapering period where you reintroduce carbs but pay a lot of attention to fat gain - which will likely be extremely difficult. For most people, a far more sustainable solution is to build up the weight maintenance habits during the weight loss process. That way you practice the habits until they are effortless, and the weight will just fall off. A final note about low carb - most people recommend that during your adaptation period, you don't restrict calories. Just eat to satiety with low carb meals. You'll lose a ton of water weight anyway, and it isnt unlikely that you will eat below maintenance just based on satiety. Honestly, if you are low carbing, I would recommend just eating yo satiety forever until you stall out on the scale. After all, why kill yourself when you are already headed in the right direction? Anyway, not restricting calories makes it easier on the body and mind to get through the adaptation period, so you should probably do it.

On the topic of low carb lifting again - while some report no change (or even an increase) in their numbers after the adaptation period, most people will see a noticeable drop in glycolytic lifts. Aka, bodybuilding

As you lose weight, it’s inevitable that you will lose some strength.

Right, that's the default presumption. I'm fine losing strength everywhere else except this one exercise though. I'm willing to lose weight more slowly or carb cycle or do anything else. My current strategy is to lighten my lifts and drop volume dramatically to minimize losses during this diet, while acknowledging that aggregate strength losses are likely inevitable. It's frustrating and I hate it.

Do you workout every day? And do you do just strength or also cardio?

I go the gym daily unless I have a prevailing reason not to. I miss probably 2-3 days per month but. I aim to do zone-2 cardio for 30 minutes 4-5 times per week but lately have been only doing 2-3 times per week due to the hot weather. During the cold months, I'd walk 2 miles daily. But now I don't enjoy it due to the hot weather, hence I go less.

20g carbs per day while doing sports is very low. It is possible your glycogen stores are depleting and making it harder for your muscles to keep working throughout your workout. So maybe also increase carbs on the days around your workout.

This is what ai said also, so I mildly carb loaded last night and this morning with a medium sized red potato of 150g raw weight (about 25g of carbs per potato) and I meticulously counted 8 gummy worms about 20 minutes before my workout (another 25g of carbs). After all, how much glycogen should I need if I'm doing a 1-rep max and it's my very first exercise upon arrival at the gym after 5 minutes of stretches and easy warmup? Maybe having maximum glycogen gives you more strength than suboptimal glycogen? During the 1-rep max, your muscles use ATP because the muscle fibers (actin & myosin) cannot use glycogen nor glucose. They require mitochondria elsewhere to phosphorylate ADP into ATP iirc.

(ai caveat: For a lift lasting ~1–5 seconds, the dominant energy system is the ATP-phosphocreatine system.
Stored phosphocreatine rapidly donates a phosphate to ADP to regenerate ATP throughout the lift)

Maintaining strength with such a large deficit will always be super difficult, and remember that also weight moves weight, so don’t compare your pbs in weight as you shed pounds but in percentage bodyweight. The first weeks will be the toughest as your body adapts. Good luck!

Thanks!

Just my opinion but I would level it out a bit, you don't need that large a surplus to feel good for your workout, maybe just no deficit wednesday and 250 cal thursday.

Do you workout every day? And do you do just strength or also cardio?

20g carbs per day while doing sports is very low. It is possible your glycogen stores are depleting and making it harder for your muscles to keep working throughout your workout. So maybe also increase carbs on the days around your workout.

Finally, also eat slightly more just after your workout so your body feels it can put energy into muscle growth.

Maintaining strength with such a large deficit will always be super difficult, and remember that also weight moves weight, so don't compare your pbs in weight as you shed pounds but in percentage bodyweight. The first weeks will be the toughest as your body adapts. Good luck!