Cutting Diet. Thoughts please

[gizzykid]

Haven't posted much but have been lurking in the background for the last year or so.

I'm 5'5" and weigh 75 kgs. I would say that my BF% is roughly 12-13% at the moment.

Looking at getting down to around 8% or so in the next 8 weeks if possible (might be a bit optimistic).

The last cutting cycle I did was a very low carb, high protein, mod fat diet but I ended up losing quite a bit of muscle so am looking at trying a higher carb cutting diet this time.

I do a 5-day workout (low rep-heavy) split and cardio around 4 times a week.

Cardio alternates between 50mins of low intensity (60%) treadmill and 20mins of HIIT.

I have estimated my caloric baseline as roughly 2500-2600 cals.

For the last week or so I have been eating somewhere around 2600 cals a day to try to ease my body into the future calorie deficit. I have just started the real cutting diet.

My daily intake is as follows (identical each day):

6:30 - M1:

Whey Protein: 30g

Milk: 250ml

Oats: 1/2 cup (blended in shake)

Flaxseed oil: 1 dessert spoon

TOTALS - 474cals, P=41g, C=42.5g, F=16g

7:30 - M2

5 cooked egg whites.

TOTALS - 85 cals, P=18g, C=1.2g, F=0g

10:15 - M3

Chicken breast: 100g

Brown rice: 50g (cooked weight)

TOTALS - 216 cals, P=32.5g, C=10g, F=4g

Cardio(Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat)

1:00 - M4

Tuna: 150g

Lite Mayo: 15g

TOTALS – 168.5 cals, P=34.5g, C=2.5g, F=2g

3:15 – M5

Chicken breast or lean beef: 100g

Brown rice: 125g (cooked weight)

TOTALS - 290 cals, P=34g, C=25g, F=5g

Workout(except Sat and Sun)

6:30 – M6

Whey Protein: 30g

1 Banana

Creatine

TOTALS - 232 cals, P=26.5g, C=29g, F=2.5g

7:30 – M7

Chicken breast or lean beef: 100g

Brown rice: 50g (cooked weight)

Broccoli: Lots

TOTALS - 280 cals, P=36.5g, C=23g, F=5g

10:00 – M8

Milk: 125mL

Casein protein: 35g

Lite Cottage cheese: 150g

Flaxseed oil: 1 dessert spoon

TOTALS - 407 cals, P=47g, C=22g, F=14.5g

Daily Macros:

Calories = 2150cal

Protein = 270g

Carbs = 155g

Fats = 54g

Also taking Scivation Xtend (BCAA's) before and during workouts.

Can anyone offer me any advice or possible improvements to this diet and exercise programme?

What changes should I be making to this diet on the days I don't workout?

[NZ_Guy]

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

[gizzykid]

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

Yeah I did think about that but I have read a lot about making sure you get some good carbs in the hour window after a workout so I decided to keep the brown rice in the Post WO meal.

What does everybody think about keeping the cottage cheese in my last meal.

I have always been of the opinion that its good to have some slow digesting food just before bed to try to keep that metabolism high. I'm sure others have some thoughts on this?

[Yeah-Buddy]

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

Thatl work to get rid of weight but also do a real good job of getting you skinny and losing a lot of muscle.

[mike27]

definatly keep the pre bed food if it fits into your daily calories need!

i have caesin and milk pre-bed, i tryed the cottage cheese, but cant stomach it otherwise i would

[gizzykid]

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

Thatl work to get rid of weight but also do a real good job of getting you skinny and losing a lot of muscle.

Yeah thats what I found last time I tried the whole low carb diet. Lost quite a bit of muscle. Definitely don't want that to happen again, not after working so hard to put it back on again.

definatly keep the pre bed food if it fits into your daily calories need!

i have caesin and milk pre-bed, i tryed the cottage cheese, but cant stomach it otherwise i would

Sweet that makes me feel better, really didn't want to give that cottage cheese up. Yeah I initially couldn't stand the stuff. But now I just chuck it in the blender with my super quad and it goes down great.

[gizzykid]

How about my overall calorie intake and Macro ratios? Does anyone see anything glaringly wrong with them?

I structured the diet around the following link I found:

http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton-the-most-effective-cutting-diet.html

Pretty informative page and made sense to me.

[NZ_Guy]

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

Thatl work to get rid of weight but also do a real good job of getting you skinny and losing a lot of muscle.

Oh ok, seems to be working fine for me but I guess everyone is different.

[bob26]

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

Thatl work to get rid of weight but also do a real good job of getting you skinny and losing a lot of muscle.

Oh ok, seems to be working fine for me but I guess everyone is different.

have to agree with NZ_Guy on this one. Lots a protein with bugger all carbs can work really well to lose bodyfat without losing alot of muscle mass if you stay away from low intensity long cardio sessions & go for high intesnity weighted circuits instead.

:wink:

[bob26]

I would be inclined to add 30g of protein extra into your day man & get rid 30g of carb.

Total Calories will stay the same.

get rid of the carbs later in the day rather than the earlier ones. If you still end up with carbs at lunch or after why not take them out of there & have more at breakfast.

Just my 2c or 5 :pfft:

[PeterDolan]

Don't do that until after your gains have slowed down though

[gizzykid]

I would be inclined to add 30g of protein extra into your day man & get rid 30g of carb.

Total Calories will stay the same.

get rid of the carbs later in the day rather than the earlier ones. If you still end up with carbs at lunch or after why not take them out of there & have more at breakfast.

Just my 2c or 5 :pfft:

Don't do that until after your gains have slowed down though

Yup was planning on dropping a few more carbs once the weight loss begins to slow down as PD suggested.

I will likely keep the carbs in the 3:15 meal to give me a little energy for my workouts and drop them out of the other meals.

Is this a good idea?

[bob26]

not 100% sure on this but depending on how fast you are wanting to drop your fat i think you will find that you are better to leave them out of that meal & have earlier on. If you are struggling with energy for the gym then put a tsp of coffee in your pre workout shake :wink:

I think having the carbs around your workout you are going to be using them to fuel your workout rather than using your fat you are trying to get rid of.

caffeine is probably your best source of energy whilst cutting, bugger all calories too :pfft:

[soundsgood]

I would possibly recommend bumping the chicken breast portions up to 150g but to be honest 270g protein at your weight should be more than enough. TBH I am impressed, your diet looks solid mate. Run it for a couple of weeks and see how you're going. Start dropping some carbs if you start plateauing.

Cutting carbs after a certain time is a bit of a myth. Studies have shown that the timing of the carb intake (except around workout times) is not as important as broscience would have you think. If the carbs you would like to consume fit in with your overall daily diet plan then eat them with your dinner. Dropping carbs after a certain time only works because it in fact just limits the amount of time you have to consume carbs and therefore limits the amount of carbs you eat.

[gizzykid]

Thanks for the advice guys.

not 100% sure on this but depending on how fast you are wanting to drop your fat i think you will find that you are better to leave them out of that meal & have earlier on. If you are struggling with energy for the gym then put a tsp of coffee in your pre workout shake :wink:

I think having the carbs around your workout you are going to be using them to fuel your workout rather than using your fat you are trying to get rid of.

caffeine is probably your best source of energy whilst cutting, bugger all calories too :pfft:

Yup would definitely try a bit of coffee before a workout but I hate the stuff so thats not really an option unfortunately.

Could get a pre-workout supp for the caffeine I guess but I'm starting to feel a little over-supplemented as it is haha. Too many bloody shiny containers in the cupboard makes me feel like I'm taking this gym game a little too far.

I would possibly recommend bumping the chicken breast portions up to 150g but to be honest 270g protein at your weight should be more than enough. TBH I am impressed, your diet looks solid mate. Run it for a couple of weeks and see how you're going. Start dropping some carbs if you start plateauing.

Cutting carbs after a certain time is a bit of a myth. Studies have shown that the timing of the carb intake (except around workout times) is not as important as broscience would have you think. If the carbs you would like to consume fit in with your overall daily diet plan then eat them with your dinner. Dropping carbs after a certain time only works because it in fact just limits the amount of time you have to consume carbs and therefore limits the amount of carbs you eat.

Yup I was a little reluctant to drop the protein below the 300g mark but they say all you need is 2-3g per kg body weight so I thought I'd take the plunge. I also find I get super hungry if I have too much protein and too little carbs so have kept the carbs relatively high at this stage. As you suggest, may adjust later if I start to plateau.

Thats interesting to know actually but makes sense I guess.

So you saying that when cutting it's a good idea to get some good carbs in before and after a workout but other than that timing makes little difference?

Some conflicting opinions here but i'm inclined to lean towards Soundsgoods advice because if nothing else it's easier for me to achieve haha (sorry bob26). But also because I checked out his pics and he is a bloody solid unit (so clearly knows his stuff).

[bob26]

Thanks for the advice guys.

not 100% sure on this but depending on how fast you are wanting to drop your fat i think you will find that you are better to leave them out of that meal & have earlier on. If you are struggling with energy for the gym then put a tsp of coffee in your pre workout shake :wink:

I think having the carbs around your workout you are going to be using them to fuel your workout rather than using your fat you are trying to get rid of.

caffeine is probably your best source of energy whilst cutting, bugger all calories too :pfft:

Yup would definitely try a bit of coffee before a workout but I hate the stuff so thats not really an option unfortunately.

Could get a pre-workout supp for the caffeine I guess but I'm starting to feel a little over-supplemented as it is haha. Too many bloody shiny containers in the cupboard makes me feel like I'm taking this gym game a little too far.

I would possibly recommend bumping the chicken breast portions up to 150g but to be honest 270g protein at your weight should be more than enough. TBH I am impressed, your diet looks solid mate. Run it for a couple of weeks and see how you're going. Start dropping some carbs if you start plateauing.

Cutting carbs after a certain time is a bit of a myth. Studies have shown that the timing of the carb intake (except around workout times) is not as important as broscience would have you think. If the carbs you would like to consume fit in with your overall daily diet plan then eat them with your dinner. Dropping carbs after a certain time only works because it in fact just limits the amount of time you have to consume carbs and therefore limits the amount of carbs you eat.

Yup I was a little reluctant to drop the protein below the 300g mark but they say all you need is 2-3g per kg body weight so I thought I'd take the plunge. I also find I get super hungry if I have too much protein and too little carbs so have kept the carbs relatively high at this stage. As you suggest, may adjust later if I start to plateau.

Thats interesting to know actually but makes sense I guess.

So you saying that when cutting it's a good idea to get some good carbs in before and after a workout but other than that timing makes little difference?

Some conflicting opinions here but i'm inclined to lean towards Soundsgoods advice because if nothing else it's easier for me to achieve haha (sorry bob26). But also because I checked out his pics and he is a bloody solid unit (so clearly knows his stuff).

All good man :grin: I actually checked his pics out yesterday my self & was like damn thats one solid unit

I actually sent him a PM to say how much i liked the look of his off season diet.

As i said i am not 100% sure on what i said above but just know that it works for me.

So i have tried 150g carbs per day & lost fat rather than muscle mostly. But i did them all in the first 2 meals of the day.

What i never tried was having them in say the first meal & spreading the rest out or chucking them in before working out. But thats not to say that isn't going to work(i was just inclined not to f*ck with what was working). Would actually like you to do it this way & flick me a PM in a month or two's time to let me know how you are getting on so i will know how you get on & possibly use it in future Cuts.

Also man should have commented myself that your diet looks solid & i like that you are worked out your total cals & where they all come from. I do the same so you know where you are at & when adding or subracting certain things you can see where the difference is. Rather than just leaving it to "broscience".

[gizzykid]

All good man :grin: I actually checked his pics out yesterday my self & was like damn thats one solid unit

I actually sent him a PM to say how much i liked the look of his off season diet.

As i said i am not 100% sure on what i said above but just know that it works for me.

So i have tried 150g carbs per day & lost fat rather than muscle mostly. But i did them all in the first 2 meals of the day.

What i never tried was having them in say the first meal & spreading the rest out or chucking them in before working out. But thats not to say that isn't going to work(i was just inclined not to f*ck with what was working). Would actually like you to do it this way & flick me a PM in a month or two's time to let me know how you are getting on so i will know how you get on & possibly use it in future Cuts.

Also man should have commented myself that your diet looks solid & i like that you are worked out your total cals & where they all come from. I do the same so you know where you are at & when adding or subracting certain things you can see where the difference is. Rather than just leaving it to "broscience".

Yeah sweet dude I get what you're saying and fair enough you repping whats worked for you. I think if I ate all my carbs in the morning I would just get super hungry later on, particularly after a workout. Yeah I will give it a go with the carbs spaced out over the day like I have it and see what kinda results I get.

Cheers dude, this is the first time I have crunched of my diet and I was pretty surprised as to where most of the calories come from actually.

[JOSEF RAKICH]

Looks good bro, keep to that diet and you will get results looks like a good macros break down, always try keep most of the carbs in your diet at the most catabolic times of the day, for example morning/pre/post workout.

You should re-feed every 2 weeks as you get down to single digits i would re-feed every 1 week just to keep the leptin levels high, as leptin is mother of all fat burning hormones but when dieting this drops in attempt for the body to save stored bodyfat.

Personally, I wouldn't eat any carbs after 3PM. I am on a cutting diet at the moment and probably have roughly 60grams of carbs each day and it seems to be working well.

60g carbs per day sounds terrible, you either need to increase carb intake higher or may as well go all out on keto (which i dont recomend anyway) Also carbs after 3pm is bro-science, i eat carbs before bed it dosent make any difference. its all about hitting your macros and calories in VS calories out. Nothing wrong with carbs after 3pm.

[trainlikeadog]

60g carbs per day sounds terrible, you either need to increase carb intake higher or may as well go all out on keto (which i dont recomend anyway) Also carbs after 3pm is bro-science, i eat carbs before bed it dosent make any difference. its all about hitting your macros and calories in VS calories out. Nothing wrong with carbs after 3pm.

i agree bro. i eat a bowl of porridge before bed thats about 35g of carbs and keep low body fat

[PeterDolan]

i eat carbs before bed it dosent make any difference

To a point, as long as you don't have too much, it can F with your natural GH release when sleeping otherwise