Simple Cut

TerrorFirmer

First of all, I did read all the stickies, but I didn't see any specific to cutting, so apologies if it is there and I passed over it.

Well, anyway, my 'bulking' phase is going relatively OK and I'm getting a lot stronger (currently 92kg, bench 1rm 108kg) but I'm carrying a lot - too much - fat. Ever since I was young actually, I have a tendency to put on fat in the worst places - it gathers on my lower stomach, backside and waist almost exclusively! Of course, part of this is due to me eating a lot of excess crap I didn't really need too, I wouldn't try and deny that, but it just doesn't seem to gather on my upper body at all...

So, my current diet would look something like this for the next while, trying to strip off some fat....I'd appreciate any opinions?

8am: Bowl Porridge, 2 slices wholemeal bread with butter, some juice, some milk. Here of course I take all my multivitamins and oils.

10:30: Protein shake with milk, some fruit

1pm: Chicken wrap

4pm: Chicken wrap, or just pure chicken fillet

6/7PM: Chicken, with small amount of rice or pasta

8PM: Fruit

11pm: Protein shake with milk


Now the only immediate problem I see with this is that I'm taking in very little carbs, I know some clean carbs are necessary but I'm just wondering what the best time is to take them and what exactly is best to eat? I'm aiming to not take in any carbs after about 7, aside from a bit of fruit...

Oh and - of course, I will be doing some cardio as well throughout this, probably 30-40 minutes a day of light stuff.

Thanks.

Wood

Well there's about 11/12 gr of carbs per cup of whole milk

20-30 in an apple depending on size

Nearly 40gr per wrap, and 40-50gr per cup of rice/pasta

So you're taking in about 200-300 grams per day, depending on the amount of milk/pasta. Which personally i think is a lot, and in my opinion, you should be getting more protein. But that's just me, and i'm sure others here will say something different, but take everything on board

On a cut i'd normally try to take in about 100gr on a training day and less on an off day. But i would not advise anyone to do that if they have not tried cutting before.

But it's worked for me, i gained a shed load of muscle and lost a severe amount of fat. All my lifts have dramtically increased over the last 6 months.

But what worked for me will probably not work for you. Just try to mix it up as much as possible until you find something you're comfortable with, be it low carb, 40/40/20, paleo, and most importantly stick to it.

Best of luck bro.

Al_Fernz

Yeah, looks like your getting excessive amounts of Carbs in there to me.

I would change my breakfast if I was you. Take away either the porridge or the bread and add a decent source of protein e.g eggs.

Get some Green veg like brocolli and spinach into too.

Hanley

Carbs seem high, overall kcals seem low, and where's the fat??

Work out your maintenance calorie needs, take away 15%, split it up into a ratio of 40:30:30 protein:carbs:fat over 6 meals. Work from there!

JM MARCONI

Im also thinking of cutting now. Id just did a calculation there and these were the results.

Maintenance: 2702 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 2161 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss: 1621 Calories/day

Im 21, 6"2 and weigh 90kg.

Can anyone who has done a cut recommend a good daily diet based on those calories?
Thanks

TerrorFirmer

Thanks for the replies. I must give it a more detailed look later on.

I never really gave a crap about what I ate so didn't specifically count my intake, usually consisted of this:

breakfast: Large bowl cereal, shake, toast with butter and jam
snack: 2xcereal bars
lunch: chicken sandwich and pint of milk
snack: chicken sandwhich + water
dinner: meat + veg/potatoes/rice/past
snack: milk, biscuits, chocolate etc
bed: shake

so I assumed that by dropping a large portion of those carbs while trying to keep as much protein as possible I'd see a reduction in fat. looking at it now OK there was a bit too many carbs in there so where it says chicken wrap I'll try replace that with chicken fillet and fruit, or something. The rice would have only been about a 40g portion, just a small about of carbs.

so far today I'm looking at:

breakfast: small bowl cereal, two slices toast, juice. (will add eggs from now on instead of 1 slice wholemeal)
pre-training (1hour): shake
post-traing: shake, 30mins low intensity cardio
lunch: 2 chicken fillets and 1 pint skimmed milk hour later
Dinner: (will be) 2 chicken fillets, 40g of brown rice
snack: fruit (suggest a good protein source here? I hate tuna, and I hate nuts...)
pre-bed: shake

edit: oh, and I will get flax seed oil or something similar soon...




Thanks for the help.

Hanley

JM MARCONI wrote: »

Im also thinking of cutting now. Id just did a calculation there and these were the results.

Maintenance: 2702 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 2161 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss: 1621 Calories/day

Im 21, 6"2 and weigh 90kg.

Can anyone who has done a cut recommend a good daily diet based on those calories?
Thanks

At 6'2 and 90kg I doubt you've all that much to "cut" to. A cut is a bodybuilding term. It's severe and designed to strip away fat as quickly as possible. It's not sustainable, and it's not very pretty. Sounds like you're just looking to lean out.

Where did you get those figures? The "fat loss" one is about 20% under maintenance, which imo is almost a bit too low. The "extreme fat loss" number's 40% below maintenance, which is WAY too low unless you're purposely looking to lose muscle mass....

JM MARCONI

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2005/12/26/how_to_calculate_your_daily_calorie_needs.php
Your right Hanley, I dont need to lose alot of fat apart from my hips and lower back. I really hate how they look. I work out really hard and have made big gains and lost alot of fat but those areas are not losing any.
Any suggestions?

Hanley

That calculator's a bit bandy!! There's not even an option for 4x a week training... Seems pretty limited really, but as they said, it's a starting point!!

13-14kcals per lb of bodyweight's usually a decent enough starting point if you're looking for a simple calculation (which for you would be around 2,500-2,700 per day.).

You don't want to jump too deep into it at first. Depending on what you're eating habits are like now, just cleaning them up and making more sensible choices might be enoguh to get the weight moving. If that's not the case start with about 2,700kcals per day and split it up 40:30:30 with protein:carbs:fats across 6 meals (that must be like the 5th time in 24 hours I've said that here!!). If that doesn't get the weight moving then drop off maybe another 100kcals.

As a point of reference, I went from around 92kg w/ 15-16% bodyfat to 86kg w/ 10ish % bodyfat over the course of 8-12 weeks (Can't remember exactly) last year doing exactly what I said above.

JM MARCONI

Thanks Hanley. Do you have your daily meals that you ate during that period posted on boards? I do eat quite clean apart from the odd thing now and then.

Hanley

Eh yeah, they're around somewhere actually. Let me try and dig them up for ya. I do have a meal plan done out for myself too that adds up to 2,900kcals that I can throw up if I can't find my original one.

JM MARCONI

Thanks man, really appreciate it.

Hanley

Just had a dig about... The best I could come up with is this; (now keep in mind, it's not in anyway fancy, or probably even the most "nutritious" way of eating going, but it did work well for dieting purposes. You might want to add a multi-vit on top to keep the bases covered there)

Breakfast: (10am for me)
Bowl of Special K
Chopped up banana
Chicken fillet

1pm:
2 scoops of Big Whey
1 apple

4/5pm:
1 slice of brown bread
2 desert spoons of 100% natural peanut butter
1 chicken fillet

7.30-8pm:
1 scoop of RAM
1 scoop of big whey

10pm:
3 slice of roast beef (or some other type of meat)
3/4 cup of mash potato
1/2 cup of turnip or some other veg

12am:
1 pint of milk
1 scoop of Big Whey


That all comes out to be about 2,650kcals. 272g protein, 200g carbs, 80g fat. Or 42:30:28. That's just what I've done before. And it's quite similar to what I'd do now if I was looking to drop a bit of weight (altought now I'd up the kcals by about 300 since I'm heavier).

No guarantees it's gonna work for you too, but hopefully it gives you an idea of where to start.

JM MARCONI

Thanks alot. I think I might switch the early morning chicken fillet for eggs though!

Hanley

JM MARCONI wrote: »

Thanks alot. I think I might switch the early morning chicken fillet for eggs though!

Just make sure you're switching it to something with a relative similar macro profile. The same goes for everything in the above actually. They're just foods I used because they're uber quick and handy to have and prepare!

Vegeta

Hanley wrote: »

Just had a dig about... The best I could come up with is this; (now keep in mind, it's not in anyway fancy, or probably even the most "nutritious" way of eating going, but it did work well for dieting purposes. You might want to add a multi-vit on top to keep the bases covered there)

Breakfast: (10am for me)
Bowl of Special K
Chopped up banana
Chicken fillet

1pm:
2 scoops of Big Whey
1 apple

4/5pm:
1 slice of brown bread
2 desert spoons of 100% natural peanut butter
1 chicken fillet

7.30-8pm:
1 scoop of RAM
1 scoop of big whey

10pm:
3 slice of roast beef (or some other type of meat)
3/4 cup of mash potato
1/2 cup of turnip or some other veg

12am:
1 pint of milk
1 scoop of Big Whey

I think posts like this are excellent. Thanks dude.

Quoting numbers for calories is all well and good but people (me included here) need to see what it actually means in real food terms.

Struggling with body fat again lately, it seems to go on much easier than it comes off

TerrorFirmer

Nice post, thanks for that. I'm still working out the finer points of mine, don't want any muscle to waste away...though even already based on a rough ratio, I'm feeling so hungry....guess I'm having to get used to less carbs. Will see how the next few lifting sessions go. And I'll get back here after a few weeks and see how things are going.....thanks for the help

TerrorFirmer

Well it didn't go so well. I lost quite a bit of fat but also lost quite a bit of muscle with the coinciding college/work hell of this semester. Dips and curls every once in awhile meant my arms aren't too bad but my shoulders/back/everything else gone to hell entirely. Going to start a no nonsense regime once i'm finished college this coming tuesday. I haven't been to the gym properly since close to six months. Just use my bed for dips/small db's for curls.