How to Avoid Low Sex Drive Dieting
One of the most common issues people fall into while in a fat loss phase is low sex drive dieting.
What is low sex drive dieting? Basically, it is when a person cuts calories super low, does tons of cardio, and basically runs himself into the ground. It inevitably leads to decreased libido and sex drive. I actually hear about this quite often from men in their late teens and early twenties and all the way up to men in their 40’s, 50’s and above. I, myself, have even undergone periods of time in the past where I fell into the trap of low sex drive dieting since I didn’t know any better! Definitely not the best way to live your life as a 20-something year old, especially when you want to be able to enjoy yourself and master the lifestyle component of fitness.
And what’s the point in running around with 6 pack abs if you feel like a neutered pup? Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?
After all, we’re all driven by sex and the sooner you come to terms with that, the better off you’ll be. If you don’t believe me then perhaps you need a lesson in human evolution and an understanding in our two greatest biological imperatives, survival and replication.
As I mentioned earlier, my past fat loss efforts often left me with a low sex drive due to dieting. Fortunately these experiences are what led me to design the Movie Star Masterclass, my fat loss course that allows you to build muscle, support natural testosterone levels, and increase libido on a diet while leaning down to a low body fat. If you haven’t already picked up that program, definitely do so, the results so far have been ridiculous. Now in this article, I’m going to share some tips that will help to naturally increase libido on a diet and help raise your testosterone levels, even while undergoing a diet.
Why Does Sex Drive Drop On A Diet?
There are multiple reasons why you experience a low sex drive while dieting. But generally speaking, anytime you’re in a negative energy balance (taking in fewer calories than you burn), you enter a catabolic state and testosterone levels drop. In fact, if you look at it from an evolutionary standpoint, it actually makes complete sense that you would have a low sex drive while dieting. In times of famine when food shortages are short, there would be very little sense in reproducing.
So does this mean that you can’t get lean without losing your sex drive?
You definitely can get lean while maintaining a high sex drive! However, if you want to go the crash diet route and eat very little food, then be prepared for a very low sex drive. This is because big energy deficits crash testosterone and sex drive. That being said, I’d argue that leaning down to the 8-12% body fat range (men) is actually great for your testosterone levels and sex drive.
This is because body fat contains aromatase, an enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen. As a result, having higher body fat levels equals more estrogen floating around and less testosterone. For this reason, maintaining a low body fat with sufficient calorie intake, should allow for higher testosterone levels.
The Tape Measure Test
Here’s a simple test to see how desperately you need to drop body fat. First thing in the morning, take a tape measurer around your waist at bellybutton level. Have relaxed posture, don’t suck in and don’t push out. If your waist is 50% of your height or larger then you should focus on leaning down. This will have a profound effect on improving your health and testosterone. This is because higher body fat levels are inversely proportional to testosterone levels.
Therefore you should diet to drop body fat. In this case, I give you whole – hearted permission to go lower in calories than I typically recommend. As low as 10 calories per pound of goal bodyweight. Once your waist measurement is less than 50% of your height then you should focus on dropping fat slowly, one pound per week. The eventual goal is to get your waist to 45-46% of your height. This is when you’ll look really sharp and from there you can raise your calories to maintenance.
7 Ways To Increase Libido on a Diet
How do you avoid low sex drive dieting? The following tips will help mitigate any down regulation in testosterone and libido from dieting. I should mention, these tips will only really work if you’re dieting properly! You should be eating at an appropriate calorie deficit with an optimal ratio of proteins, fats and carbs.
Additionally, you should be performing frequent high carb refeed days to boost leptin and anabolism as you get leaner. For an in-depth program for getting completely chiseled without obsessing and without destroying your libido, three words, Warrior Shredding Program. Once you have all that dialed in, then the following tips will serve very beneficial.
1. Emphasize High Quality Proteins and Fats
Animal protein should be a staple in your diet. Chicken, beef, salmon, eggs and dairy protein are great at promoting natural testosterone levels and are also high in nutrients vital to health, testosterone production and muscle building. I also recommend consuming a moderate amount of fat from avocado’s, nuts and butter/oil (coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia nut oil) as fats play an integral role in health and testosterone. With that said, don’t go too crazy on the fats and fatty protein sources as they’re also very high in calories.
When you’re eating to reach a low body fat you need to strike a balance. Just because fat and cholesterol is beneficial for health and testosterone, doesn’t mean you should go off into the deep end and eat bacon, eggs and nuts all day long. Take the middle road, it works much better. My strategy is to have a moderate amount of fat with my meals. If I’m eating very lean protein sources like chicken breast then I’ll include more added fats from butter/oil, avocado’s or cheese. If I’m having a fattier protein source like beef or eggs then I’ll limit any additional fats.
2. Eat Moderate Amounts of Starches
People seem to misunderstand carbs entirely. Many people are even under the misguided impression that carbs make you fat and are damaging to health. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Higher carb diets have been shown to be more favourable for testosterone levels. Unfortunately, when dieting, carbs can’t be too high because then you will start to eat into the calorie deficit that you’re trying to create to drop body fat. The point, however, is to avoid low carbohydrate diets which are damaging to testosterone, quality of sleep and training performance. Low carb = low libido or sex drive.
In fact, if you ever do some searching around the paleo forums, you’ll hear about plenty of men complaining about losing their sex drive since switching to a paleo diet. Just Google, “paleo low sex drive.” The same is true if you search in Google, “can’t sleep paleo.” In that case you’ll read story after story of people struggling to sleep at night with a paleo style diet.
It wasn’t until I started consuming moderate amounts of carbs each and every day from potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, rice and even delicious ice cream and gluten free cereal that I was able to sleep like a baby at night and maintain my image of being a borderline sex addict.
3. Make Time for Ample Amounts of Sleep
It’s important to realize that your body makes much more testosterone during shuteye than when you’re awake. For this reason, longer sleep times are often correlated with higher testosterone levels. Ideally aim for 7+ hours of sleep per night. Less than 7 hours and your testosterone levels may drop, likely causing a decline in sex drive. If for whatever reason you’re incapable of getting an ample amount of sleep then don’t worry, follow the other tips and you should have no trouble raising testosterone to high levels.
4. Soak in the Vitamin D
Vitamin D plays a powerful role in testosterone production. Ideally get 20 minutes of sun exposure a few times per week to naturally maintain high vitamin D levels. If you don’t have access to the sun then it’s probably a good idea to supplement with a good quality Vitamin D3 supplement. Aim for 3000 IU’s per day. I recommend taking vitamin D in the morning because some people may have difficulty sleeping if they take vitamin D at night.
5. Get Your Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc
Calcium, magnesium and zinc all play an important role in testosterone production. If you have a deficiency in any of these minerals then you’re making it harder on yourself to promote healthy levels of testosterone. Keep in mind, if you’re eating plenty of meat and dairy then you won’t need to supplement with calcium or zinc.
Magnesium is one of those minerals that can be tricky to get and for that reason supplementing with 5-10mg of magnesium citrate per kg of bodyweight is probably a good idea and may boost testosterone. Magnesium is also commonly deficient in athletes, especially people who are training while undergoing a diet.
If you’re not consuming much calcium in your diet then supplementing with calcium will also help. Lastly, if you’re not eating meat and want to maintain high testosterone levels then you definitely want a zinc supplement. However, if you’re into fitness and eating protein then you’re zinc levels are probably fine.
6. Cut out the uhm… uhhh… PORN
It’s been well over a year since I completely stopped watching any and all porn. To be honest, it wasn’t very difficult to quit. Ditching porn is far easier than changing your eating habits and dropping body fat. Since letting go of porn, I find myself more and more turned on by real life women. Oh and having real life sex is actually totally better too. I’m not going to talk about this too much, I think it’s better that you do your own research on the subject and make your own decision.
7. Get Outside of Your Head
If you think you have a low sex drive it’s possible that you’re just not fully immersing yourself in the moment. For instance, you’re with a girl, things are heating up and instead of getting turned on and acting through your own masculine intentions, you do the exact opposite. You retreat into your head, you start thinking about everything that could go wrong and you begin to judge yourself and quickly become insecure and sexually uninterested.
In fact, in this day and age, it’s strikingly common for young guys to have trouble getting it up the first time with a girl. The root of the problem is psychological in nature. And the cure is simple. Stop giving a shit….. I know, I know, but you give lots of shits! I get it, you want to impress the girl and be a total tomcat in the sack. Hell, your ego depends on it! But you must understand that this mentality is the absolute root of the problem.
Banging isn’t a performance, it’s an expression of one’s self at it’s most deepest level. Being dependent on a certain outcome, i.e impressing the girl, will poison your ability to enjoy yourself and become immersed in the moment. Ironically, when you stop caring about being really good or impressing the girl and you stop feeling like you’re being judged, well that’s when the sex is incredible!
Final Comments on low sex drive dieting
As you can see, just because you’re cutting doesn’t mean you have to forgo a big portion of your sex life. In actuality, with these tips in place, you may start to have some of the most mind blowing sex ever! And if you’re currently in the midst of a long, drawn out dry spell well then implement these tips and start going out and approaching girls more often. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to the women who you’re currently not having sex with right now.
Oh and if you want to get into incredible shape without letting your training and nutrition take over your life and without killing your sexual desire, well then you should most definitely be following my Movie Star Masterclass!
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“carbs can’t be too high because then you will start to eat into the calorie deficit that you’re trying to create to drop body fat” – this doesn’t make any sense. Any calorie you eat “eats into the calorie deficit”. It’s not a good idea to have high carbs due to 2 things – A) They instantly shut off fat burning pathways because carbs/fats are competing energy sources in the body and carbs are infinitely easier for the body to use. B) They promote higher insulin levels. If you’re not getting your macros and timing right, the possibility is much greater.
The other problem is they promote water storage in fat cells which is going to mask fat loss. Which leads to lack of adherence to diet.
Great article, though i’ve never had that problem.. Quite the opposite actually!
im not cutting, but on a lean bulk diet, and my sex drive is way out of control.. Its killing my focus on a lot of other things, cause my brain always find a way to think og sex.. Any advice in maybe decreasing it, or just getting it under control?
Cheers man!
Sex drive is going to be quite high on a bulking program. Enjoy it haha!
What brands do you take for Vitamin D and Magnesium, Calium, and Zinc?
Magnesium, calcium and zinc I do Jameisons. Vitamin D, I get the drops.
hey greg after i get off my diet when will my sex drive return
I eat diary like quark and cheese everyday, do you think i need to supplement with calcium?
Right know i take vitamin-d, magnesium and some fish oil.
You’re probably getting enough calcium.
hi!
great article .
i have been working out 4 more that one year and got nice result my body fat % 9.8 i guess it good .. but now i got one psycho problem .. like u said ( dont give shit ) , i am not married uet , i got bad thought about my self performance with y future wife after 1 year . the cause is my friend is just married and he told me about his performance and how much he was great . so now i become so afraid about me self and i guess he is so better than me ….. these bad thought , i cant fight ,,,,, any advice ?????????? thanks
Hey Hassan,
First of all, the fact that your friend has to brag about how he’s so good in the bedroom pretty much means he’s not good at all and is actually insecure.
Secondly, don’t worry about your performance. Hell, stop thinking of it as a performance! Sex is about massive self expression. What do you have to offer a women that no one else does? Hassan! No one can give her you! Only you can do that. So be confident in yourself and do exactly what turns you on because that’s what will turn on the girl.
Also most women are far more understanding than you think. So keep that in mind. There’s no reason why you have to have amazing sex with a girl the very first time.
Do you take any multivitamin Greg? and what are your toughs on them,
Nope I don’t use multi’s! They’ve overrated.
Me to :) i just stick to the basic stuff like fish oil, vitamin-d and magnesium.
How do i know if i need to supplement with magnesium? Right know i eating a diet with meat, wedgies fruit and some diary.
It’s possible you’re low in magnesium. You could start taking some magnesium citrate for a few weeks to see if you get any benefit.
I gonna give the magnesium a chance :) how many grams of fish oil do you recommend each day?
2g of combined EPA/DHA
I get around 1,2 gram from the fish oil i take each day.
That’s good
How many grams of fat is 2 gram of combined EPA/DHA?
I get about between 80-100 gram of fat from the food i eat but i dont know how extra gram of fat i get from the fish oil i take. I take about 2 gram of combined EPA/DHA.
Usually about 6-8g of omega 3’s.
What is a good fat free/ low fat ice cream? The ones I have tried dont taste that great. They just all taste like corn syrup. I’m sure that is not good for the body.
Thanks.
I get chap mans frozen yogurt vanilla icecream. It’s damnnn good! Especially when you let it melt a little bit so it becomes soft and creamy.
hey greg. saw your dip vid and was wondering what your sets and reps were. Is it that you do 2 or 3 warm up sets and then do a max set of 5 and then lower weight for say 3 sets of 5 Or do this weight 5 x 5. Thanks
I did two warm up sets
Bodyweight x 5 reps
90 lbs x 3 reps
Then did my first set of 180 lbs for 5
then second set of 145 lbs for 8
Do you know how long (roughly) would your IF protocal take if I am at 10% body fat, 125 lbs, 5’2″?
Take for what? Don’t understand the question.
I’ve been implementing some of these changes in my daily routine while recomping, it’s really brought “the boys” back to life. I will say, magnesium before bed leads to some crazy ass dreams though! I had to cut back.
Hi Greg!
Does taking vitamins in the morning break the fast?
No but I’d recommend having them with a meal.
Who is the woman in the photo?
No idea… If you find out, tell her I said hi :)
Thanks for the article Greg. Haha, I wonder if my comment on the previous article prompted it!
Anyways, if I want to be able to thrust harder and longer, should I work on building my abs or my V cut?
Are there any foods that can increase my load so I have more impressive finishes?
Thanks man.
– Adam
Yes it did Adam!
Build your core and abs, training for the v cut will also help. Thrusting is a lot of abs and gluteus (hip extension), but generally speaking, it won’t take much strength to be proficient at thrusting. So you don’t really have to train specifically for that.
Your best bet is to focus on strengthening your pc muscle by flexing the muscle that ‘lifts’ your dong. This is the same muscle that you can use to stop yourself from peeing mid flow. It also helps to give you stronger erections, last longer and better finishes. I’d advise you work this muscle by contracting it 30x daily. You can also work on stopping peeing midstream.
Hey Greg,
For the past couple of months iv been following your shredding program and I have been gradually losing 1lb a week on average while my lifts have been going up nicely and consistently. Currently at 168lbs at around 13% bodyfat. Today I went into the gym and for some reason all the weights just felt so heavy. My warm up weights felt like a challenge, I just generally felt sapped of energy so i left the gym after the first couple sets of incline bench. Do you ever find you have days like this? I intend to try that workout again on friday hopefully feeling more refreshed. I would almost say that it seems like over training but im eating 2000 cals a day with I reasonable carb intake and the volume of my training is low.
Im doing a workout A and B
With incline bench 2 sets, shoulder press 2 sets, tricep extensions 2 sets and then lateral raises with the rest pause technique. And then identical volume for B. Your thoughts would be well appreciated. Cheers
I would recommend taking 3-4 consecutive rest days before hitting the gym again. That will help a lot! Also consider going up in calories for 3-4 consecutive days and eating about 15 cals per pound.
Hey Greg,
I know you’re a fan of Rusty Moore, so you probably got the info about his new diet program. Do you think it is reasonable to go down to 800 calories/day for 10 days straight? I know he talked about only eating protein to maintain muscle, but wouldn’t you lose muscle in this big of a deficit? Over the course of 10 days, most people would end up being in a deficit of almost 20,000 calories. I didn’t buy it and don’t think i would ever do this, but i was just curious and wanted to know your thoughts on it.
Thanks man
If you’re overweight, then you can probably maintain all of your muscle mass if you’re doing some strength training. If you’re already pretty lean, under 15% body fat, then you’re going to lose some muscle. Hard to determine how much but it’s inevitable with such low calories. You will lose mostly fat but there will be some muscle loss.
I personally would not go down to 800 calories for 10 days straight. It’s a pretty miserable experience. I would have to have a gun to my head to do it. Then again, actors do it all the time and sometimes for several months. But it’s hard to diet so hard then maintain. Usually rebounds ensue.
Awesome article!
Btw, When going low calories to drop the fat, what macro ratio would you use on this Greg?
When calories are low you want to keep protein very high to keep you full and satiated and to maintain muscle mass! I’d suggest 40% protein with 30% carbs and fats.
Do you recommend a maintenance week (maybe 2 weeks) after the agressive dieting or should I just continue dieting but on a slower pace (with higher cals ofc)
Tnx allot!
Yah that’s not a bad idea! I would definitely advise it.
what macro ratio would you suggest when when going higher calorie to gain weight?
I’d suggest 25-30% fat, 30% protein and 40-45% carbs.
Greg,
This article is spot on :). I see a lot of young guys online saying they need to boost there testosterone and the main issue is all in there head because they have put so much pressure on themselves to perform.
Crash diets and lack of sleep can really kill your sex drive. I prefer the slow and steady method :).
– Trevor
Great article Greg,
My waist is 29 for a height of 68, currently at 11% body fat I guess, and my weight is 144, I think I would be 10% at 141, so I need to eat 1410 calories right now? That woudn’t be too agressive if Im lifting heavy and doing HIIT?
What would yo do if were me? If your answer is cutting more, how many calories? Or maybe build some muscle as I am not superlean but lean.
Thanks!!!
1400 calories is way too low……. That’s for agressive dieting only… That would be if you had like a 34+” waist at your height. I recommend dieting very slowly. More like 12 cals per pound of bodyweight.
Great article about a tabu topic, but a Nice Reading!
Just out of curiosity, you recommend not watching Porn, witch i tottally agree on. But what about pictures and stuff of your girlfriend/wife? Would that count as bad Porn as Well? Would it be okay to Use that along with faping, if you for some reason are not with your girlfriend/wife for an extended period of time? What’s your thought on that?
As always a pleasure Reading your wisdom, and i’m Excited to learn more about this kinobodyelite you mentiond in your blueprints!
Cheers man!
Well I’m no expert on the subject, but I will say that I don’t really use any pornographic materials… If I’m fapping it then usually I just use my imagination so to speak. I doubt pictures would be harmful at all, but I guess it depends.
I’ve been struggling with low testosterone for a few years now. I’m in my 40s but have a T level of a man in his 60s. It got worst after I started a calorie deficit. The upside to a low libido is that my mind is clear and I can focus at work, the gym, at reading and don’t get distracted by girls anymore. I don’t miss the sex, but I would like higher T level for better muscle gains.
Hey Greg,
Great article! WHat is the minimum amount of daily fat needed in the diet. Is it a % of calories or someone like me at 135lbs is a certain number of grams?
Also would a ZMA supplement provide the necessary Zinc and Magnesium?
Thank you
I would advise about 30% of calories from fat while on a diet. That should be enough to support hormonal functioning. Going higher will cut into protein and carb intake, which will backfire. You can go a bit lower than 30% but I would never go under 25%. I would get a Zinc, Magnesium, Calcium supplement. They often sell these at pharmacies and grocery stores for very cheap. It’s marketed as a bone supplement.
Im around 215 lbs at the moment something like 16-17% body fat. My waist is idd bigger than 50% of my height, im aiming towards 187-190 lbs as my goal bodyweight (hopefully around 11% Bf ). Till what weight do you think I should aggressively diet down to?
Tnx allot!
Aggressively diet down to the point where your waist is about 50% of your height or an inch under. So if you’re 6′ tall then you’ll diet down hard to about a 35-36″ waist. Then you should focus on taking it slower.
I’m around 5’11 at the moment so should i stop around a 35 inch waist? right now its around 37.8 inches
Cheers
Nope… If you want to look really good, you’ll need to get to around a 32″ waist. 35″ just means that you’re probably at a healthy weight/body fat.
haha yeah i know haha, sorry for the missunderstanding, i meant stopping at 35” in terms of agressive dieting, so when my waist is around 35” should I switch to a more slow cut approach. (that was the question
thanks in advance
Yes exactly!
Taking vitamin D in the morning? normally i’m fasting there, and I have always heard you should vitamins with a meal. Is this just another myth?
You can take vitamin D on an empty stomach. Absorption won’t be affected
Could i also take fish oil on a empty stomach?
yep
Hi Greg!
Good article.
Questions:
My goal weight is 155-160. Im at 185. So can i use the warrior routine with the 10 cals per goal bodyweight approach till i reach my goal?
When i reach my goal should i bump my cals to a warrior cut mode (12 cals per bodyweight) or maintenance? Also, if its cut or maintenance should i factor cals n macros at my new weight 155-160,or my original 185?
Sorry for all the questions. Do I make sense?
Thanx Greg for your help n wisdom!
Well you could do an aggressive cut down to 170-170 then I’d recommend slower fat loss down to 155-160. When you’re at those last 10-15 lbs your body is going to be more sensitive to big energy deficits.
So when i reach 160lbs i would then recalculate my macros for maintenance at 160lbs to find my new maintenace, cut calories correct?
Yes
Loved this post! Was hoping you would cover this topic. What is your thoughts on no fap?
I feel like it may be too extreme it’s probably better to just give up porn.
I did no fap for a couple months, it’s crazy, I wouldn’t ever do it again or recommend it to anyone! I’d recommend limiting fapping to once or twice per week max. But going longer than a week without ‘cumming’ can result in a drop in testosterone. Plus it’s just not fun!
Same here did no fap for months… Exact same experience and opinion as yours. No porn is the way to go.