Cutting/weight-loss diet and workout advice

[gizzykid]

I am trying to get in the best possible shape for a particular event which is around 6 weeks away.

For the last 3 months or so I have been trying to bulk up as much as possible by eating a whole bunch and doing heavy low-rep lifting.

I managed to go from 70kg to 76.5kg (at 5'5" I am not the tallest dude), adding several kilos of muscle but also a couple kgs of fat.

My gym routine looked something like this:

Sunday: Chest and rot. cuff

Monday: Back

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: shoulders

Friday: Arms

Workout time usually 1hr 15mins

No cardio

A typical days eating was:

6:30am: Protein shake with two eggs

7:45am: 1 cup (dry) of oats

10:30am: 1/2 a 485g can tuna in a sandwich

12:30pm: 1.5 Chicken breasts and 1 cup brown rice

3:15pm: 1/2 a 485g can tuna in a sandwich

6:30pm: (post-workout) Protein shake with banana and large scoop peanut butter

8:00pm: 1.5 chicken breasts (or equivalent portion of steak) and 1 cup brown rice.

Was also taking a cycle of creatine which I have now finished.

Two weeks ago I started trying to diet in order to lose some fat and gain more definition for the event.

However, as this is the first time (after bulking up last year and the beginning of this year) that I have tried to cut down I am a little unsure of just how to do it.

I want to lose as much fat as possible in the 6 weeks left to me without losing muscle.

My gym workout has not really changed apart from a slight shift to higher rep lifting:

Sunday: Chest and rot. cuff

Monday: Back

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: shoulders

Friday: Arms

Workout time usually 1hr 15mins

However I have added 4 days of Cardio a week as follows:

Monday: 25mins HIIT at 6:00 before breakfast

Tuesday: none

Wednesday: 40mins jogging at 5:45am before breakfast

Thursday: none

Friday: 25mins HIIT at 6:00am before breakfast

Saturday:40mins jogging at 8:30 before breakfast

Sunday: None

Days eating now typically looks like this

6:30am: protein shake

7:45am: 5 scrambled eggs and 1/4 cup (dry) porridge

10:30am: 1/2 a 485g can tuna with a little lite mayo and relish

12:30pm: 1.5 chicken breasts

3:15pm: 1/2 a 485g can tuna with a little lite mayo and relish

6:30pm: (post-workout) Protein shake with banana and some natural yoghurt

8:00pm: 1.5 chicken breasts with a salad

9:30 protein shake.

Have looked into thermogenics/fat-burners but am not yet convinced they are worth it. What are your thoughts on these?

I seem to be making some progress with this change in diet and added cardio but it is not as fast as I would like.

I know many of you have been in the same situation in the past so I appreciate any help you can give me?

Can you please give some critique on my workouts/diet or any advice on how to speed up the process etc.

Sorry this is so long but I thought it was better to give too much info than too little.

Cheers

[freestyla365]

Looks good bro.What about sum healthy monosaturated fats bro? Like almonds or other nuts?

Almond Shake:

handful of almonds

protein powder

milk

1 tbspn low fat/carb cocoa like jarrah choc

milk

Grind almonds and blend.Rich creamy shake.Low carb, good fats and hi protein.Perfect later on in the day.

Nuts help with weight loss because of their nutrient density. A body that is well nourished no longer craves food

Also lite cottage cheese is a real thumbs up. Mix it with natural pb and protein powder before bed. Should fuel your muscles throughout the night and help with your weightloss as you dont wanna go more than 3 hours without eating in general and starve your muscles.Keeping that metabolism up is the key and small frequent meals im told helps. Good luck man been down that road keep up the efforts and update your progress

[bob26]

get rid of the banana and yoghurt out of your post workout shake if you are trying to lose the fat :wink:

also just make sure that your protein powder doesn't have too many carbs or fat in it & also as freestyler said get some lite cottage cheese and have that before bed instead of your shake as it will take your body a long time to break it down and will feed your muscles most of the night..

i am actually for this next month going to cut my 10pm meal in half and have half of it at 10pm & the other half at 3am to see how this reflects in results.

also training wise i have done very similar to what you are doing in the past along with similar diet & have always found that i burn muscle off at about 1/3 and fat @ 2/3. Or even the other way around (2/3 muscle and 1/3 fat)if the diet didn't have enough protein in the early days before i knew how important it was...

weighted circuit training is what i have been doing on my cardio days which has allowed me to lose body fat at a reasonably fast pace with virtually no muscle loss...

[gizzykid]

Looks good bro.What about sum healthy monosaturated fats bro? Like almonds or other nuts?

Almond Shake:

handful of almonds

protein powder

milk

1 tbspn low fat/carb cocoa like jarrah choc

milk

Grind almonds and blend.Rich creamy shake.Low carb, good fats and hi protein.Perfect later on in the day.

Nuts help with weight loss because of their nutrient density. A body that is well nourished no longer craves food

Also lite cottage cheese is a real thumbs up. Mix it with natural pb and protein powder before bed. Should fuel your muscles throughout the night and help with your weightloss as you dont wanna go more than 3 hours without eating in general and starve your muscles.Keeping that metabolism up is the key and small frequent meals im told helps. Good luck man been down that road keep up the efforts and update your progress

Cheers Freestyler,

Just ordered sum flaxseed oil, so hopefully that should take care of the mono fats.

Will also grab sum almonds and throw em in my shakes too.

Yeah was thinking of combining/replacing my night shake but just wasn't sure what with. Was a little sceptical of cottage cheese because I always thought it was pretty high carbs but just had a look and it has bugger all.

My super quad protein prob has more carbs haha. Will give it ago.

Cheers for the support brah

[gizzykid]

get rid of the banana and yoghurt out of your post workout shake if you are trying to lose the fat :wink:

also just make sure that your protein powder doesn't have too many carbs or fat in it & also as freestyler said get some lite cottage cheese and have that before bed instead of your shake as it will take your body a long time to break it down and will feed your muscles most of the night..

i am actually for this next month going to cut my 10pm meal in half and have half of it at 10pm & the other half at 3am to see how this reflects in results.

also training wise i have done very similar to what you are doing in the past along with similar diet & have always found that i burn muscle off at about 1/3 and fat @ 2/3. Or even the other way around (2/3 muscle and 1/3 fat)if the diet didn't have enough protein in the early days before i knew how important it was...

weighted circuit training is what i have been doing on my cardio days which has allowed me to lose body fat at a reasonably fast pace with virtually no muscle loss...

Yeah someone else just old me to drop the yoghurt too so will do.

So you're getting up in the night to eat again? Thats commitment bro, think I love my sleep too much to do that aye haha. Let us know how it works out though I'd be interested to know how effective it is.

Yup, keeping that muscle is tough alright, have just been trying to keep that protein intake super high aye.

So you been doin circuit training instead of running? Does that not get in the way of your regular workouts? Or are you using the circuit training as both your cardio and weight training?

[bob26]

get rid of the banana and yoghurt out of your post workout shake if you are trying to lose the fat :wink:

also just make sure that your protein powder doesn't have too many carbs or fat in it & also as freestyler said get some lite cottage cheese and have that before bed instead of your shake as it will take your body a long time to break it down and will feed your muscles most of the night..

i am actually for this next month going to cut my 10pm meal in half and have half of it at 10pm & the other half at 3am to see how this reflects in results.

also training wise i have done very similar to what you are doing in the past along with similar diet & have always found that i burn muscle off at about 1/3 and fat @ 2/3. Or even the other way around (2/3 muscle and 1/3 fat)if the diet didn't have enough protein in the early days before i knew how important it was...

weighted circuit training is what i have been doing on my cardio days which has allowed me to lose body fat at a reasonably fast pace with virtually no muscle loss...

Yeah someone else just old me to drop the yoghurt too so will do.

So you're getting up in the night to eat again? Thats commitment bro, think I love my sleep too much to do that aye haha. Let us know how it works out though I'd be interested to know how effective it is.

Yup, keeping that muscle is tough alright, have just been trying to keep that protein intake super high aye.

So you been doin circuit training instead of running? Does that not get in the way of your regular workouts? Or are you using the circuit training as both your cardio and weight training?

Yeah man i will be having my "mini meal" at 3am as from tonight, keep an eye on thread MY DIET, i have been posting my results in there as i go with it.

Keeping the protein high is the key dude.

I have been doing circuit training instead of running Yes, I just change the movements around depending on what is sore :nod: I have 3 days of weights and three days cardio, keeping them seperate.