Is this a decent cutting diet???

Pen1987

I've a solid knowledge base when it comes to resistance training and building muscle, but cutting fat and diet I'm a little bit lost. This is the diet I've been on for the last week... could someone with more knowledgable on these topics critique it for me please. Any pointers would be apprieciated.

I think my BF is somewhere around 12%, I've a poorly defined six-pack and want to REALLY cut the fat over the next week. I can afford more time in the gym if that would bring quicker definition.


Bowl cereal in the morning (10AM)

Fruit - apple (12 midday)

Gym between 1 and 2.30 (1 hours resistance - 30 mins cardio)

2 Chicken breasts in a wrap (3PM)

Dinner (4 baby potatoes 2 chicken breasts - 5.30PM)

Handful of dried fruit (7.30PM)

Plus 4 pints of water and 1/2 litre milk over the day...


Much Gracias...

Esse85

Aim to do 40 mins unfueled cardio about 5 times a week, with heart rate about 130, just at a steady rate. If you go too hard you'll risk losing muscle as your unfueled. Do weights in the evening.

What kind of cereal is it? You should have some protein here also.

A protein shake with glucose would be better to have after the gym as it would be absorbed quicker than the chicken wrap.

Aim to get some essential fats in your diet like salmon, nuts, peanut butter or supplement with omeaga 3 oil caps

Apart from that, drive on...

Degsy

Pen1987 wrote: »

I've a solid knowledge base when it comes to resistance training and building muscle,

Hmm,tbh,i'd be surprised if you managed to build any muscle at all based on your protein timings.Your diet conatins two portions of two chicken fillets twice and thats it.
You have no protein for your breakfast(when you need it most),and the amount of quality protein in a wrap would be pretty poor at best.
The rest of the day you're depriving your muscles of much-needed amino acids.
Even on a "cutting" diet you'd need far more food than whatyou're eating and far more proetin spaced evenly throughout the day.
How much muscle have you gained,from what to what and what sort of resistance training are you doing?

Al_Fernz

Esse85 wrote: »

If you go too hard you'll risk losing muscle as your unfueled. Do weights in the evening.

Why would you recommend LIT cardio over HIT cardio for fatloss? Can you explain how performing less intense cardio for longer periods provides a smaller catabolic effect and more fat loss than shorter more intense cardio sessions please?

Is there any particular reason why you need to cut some body fat in the next week. I'm guessing its a holiday? Either way this article might give you some food for thought (I think I posted it on another thread started by you a while ago):
http://www.t-nation.com/article/body..._in_6_days&cr=

brianthebard

Esse85 wrote: »

Aim to do 40 mins unfueled cardio about 5 times a week, with heart rate about 130, just at a steady rate. If you go too hard you'll risk losing muscle as your unfueled. Do weights in the evening.

What kind of cereal is it? You should have some protein here also.

A protein shake with glucose would be better to have after the gym as it would be absorbed quicker than the chicken wrap.

Aim to get some essential fats in your diet like salmon, nuts, peanut butter or supplement with omeaga 3 oil caps

Apart from that, drive on...

Shouldn't he be dropping as much simple sugars as possible? As degsy said, more protein. Also, why go unfueled if theres a "risk" of losing muscle due to excessive cardio work? Why not just have less carbs overall in a day and do the cardio at a reasonable rate and with some fuel in the body?

Pen1987

Thanks for the replies lads. More opinions/debate would be greatly apprieciated...

Degsy wrote: »

Hmm,tbh,i'd be surprised if you managed to build any muscle at all based on your protein timings.Your diet conatins two portions of two chicken fillets twice and thats it.
You have no protein for your breakfast(when you need it most),and the amount of quality protein in a wrap would be pretty poor at best.
The rest of the day you're depriving your muscles of much-needed amino acids.
Even on a "cutting" diet you'd need far more food than whatyou're eating and far more proetin spaced evenly throughout the day.
How much muscle have you gained,from what to what and what sort of resistance training are you doing?

Ive gone from benching 30KG to benching 100kg in 1 year and one month, while maintaining my weight between 75 and 80Kg, (currently at 76Kg), with a 2 month gap in the middle where I was on crutches after a knee reconstruction/recovery and couldnt train. My other lifts were unmeasurable because I'm still recovering from the op, cant deadlift and can only squat 50KG.

As I said I have little knowledge of diet, very very basic. I'm prepared to lose muscle in the short term if it helps me lose 3/4% BF, I gain muscle easily and my appetite stops me gaining fats, especially when I eat clean.

Basically I need to spread out my protein more over the course of the day in order to lose BF%'s yeah?

Brianthebard wrote:

simple sugars

Which foods contain these, I presume its not the same as normal sugar thats in white bread/cakes/sweets etc... what are the advantages of loading up on these? Thanks

conceited

A low carb diet will do that no bother
For example eat porrdige instead of wheetabix or whatever your eating.
Have an omelet with egg whites every day.
100-200grams of carbs a day for a week and you'll loose it.As was said more protein.
Add some carbs before your workouts.
Add in some cardio aswell if you like.

Esse85

Al_Fernz wrote: »

Why would you recommend LIT cardio over HIT cardio for fatloss? Can you explain how performing less intense cardio for longer periods provides a smaller catabolic effect and more fat loss than shorter more intense cardio sessions please?

Is there any particular reason why you need to cut some body fat in the next week. I'm guessing its a holiday? Either way this article might give you some food for thought (I think I posted it on another thread started by you a while ago):
http://www.t-nation.com/article/body..._in_6_days&cr=

Because if he's doing an hours resistance training, this is surely to build muscle/tone up

By doing LIT unfueled, he wont be risking burning the muscle he has acquired during his resistance training.

Esse85

brianthebard wrote: »

Shouldn't he be dropping as much simple sugars as possible? As degsy said, more protein. Also, why go unfueled if theres a "risk" of losing muscle due to excessive cardio work? Why not just have less carbs overall in a day and do the cardio at a reasonable rate and with some fuel in the body?

Whey + glucose is fine after a weights session, cutting or bulking.

I also suggested more protein.

There's only a risk of losing muscle unfueled if you over do it, sticking at steady state e.g HR @130 unfuelled is fine

To answer your second question because the above method is more effective than what your suggesting, because he will be increasing his intake of calories if he were to fuel the cardio, thus minimalising fat loss which is his intentions.

prodigal_son

Its not possible to run your body on 100% fat burning, Usually 50% is the max, the rest of the energy will have to come from somewhere regardless of intensity.

Not to mention that you might trigger your body to store fat for the next time.

Your body will burn pure fat the best, when you give it 50% of the energy from food, and you wont trigger the body to enter its fat storing phase.

It may take slightly longer to achieve your goals, but they will be longer lasting if you take in some cals before cardio of any kind.

I bought an exercise bike, and a skipping rope, take in about 50% of the cals i need before in quick burning carbs. Exercise and lost about 15kg of fat in 4 or 5 months, and actually put on more muscle than i ever had before by doing weights now and again.

It was pretty easy, but needed dedication. Never starved myself once.

Al_Fernz

Esse85 wrote: »

Because if he's doing an hours resistance training, this is surely to build muscle/tone up

By doing LIT unfueled, he wont be risking burning the muscle he has acquired during his resistance training.

So doing a cardio session "fueled," means that he loses the muscle he has gained in the last year?

Lets park the fueled/unfueled and time of training issues because I wasn't asking about them.

I can't understand why you are saying that LIT is better than HIIT. Following your logic, an individual performing cardio training at high intensity runs the risk of using muscle tissue stores as a source of fuel. Following on from this you seem to be saying that working at less of a rate for longer ensures that only your fat tissue is used as fuel.

OP here is a good article from somebody that knows their stuff on the merits of HIIT training and it's role in fatloss (NSFW possibly?)
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1756065

celestial

prodigal_son wrote: »

Its not possible to run your body on 100% fat burning, Usually 50% is the max, the rest of the energy will have to come from somewhere regardless of intensity.

Not to mention that you might trigger your body to store fat for the next time.

Your body will burn pure fat the best, when you give it 50% of the energy from food, and you wont trigger the body to enter its fat storing phase.

Makes no sense. Listen lads, do HIIT, HIT, LIT or whatever you want. Unless you're fasting and doing serious amounts of cardio I wouldn't be worrying about muscle wastage. Seriously like.

Pen1987

Thanks lads.

I've always had a 'this cant be rocket science' attitude to building so I'm going to take the same attitude to cutting down, it hasnt failed me yet. I cant really imagine muscle falling off me like strips of chicken so I think I'll just stick to the basic diet I've stuck up in the first place, spread out my protein intake and continue my cardio, maybe adding in some HIIT areas, so of like runners do with fartlik training. It should work out. Thanks again.

corkcomp

celestial wrote: »

Makes no sense. Listen lads, do HIIT, HIT, LIT or whatever you want. Unless you're fasting and doing serious amounts of cardio I wouldn't be worrying about muscle wastage. Seriously like.

+1 - the majority of people do not wake up with EMPTY glycogen stores