diet vs cardio for cutting?

[cgb6810]

I know that diet and cardio are a part of any good cutting/dieting program. But, my question is, would you be better off eating more carbs and consequently doing more cardio to lose fat or doing less cardio and tightening up your diet? Which would save more muscle or give an advantage at competition time?

Im currently cutting for my first contest and Im hitting cardio 3 times a week and weight training 5 days a week. Im actually ahead of schedule and dropping the weight has been much easier then I expected. In fact, Im adding some carbs (and an occassional steak) to slow things up to no more then 2 lbs per week. I lost 4lbs last week and that just seems too much(my trainer says if I lost it, I needed too). Im 9 weeks out and need to lose 10-15 lbs.

Thanks guys!

[Frank Reynolds]

Just curious.. How many min of cardio do you do each session? And also what is your protein/carb/fat ratio now?

[T-Bone]

You can cut up completely without cardio. Diet is more important in my opinion. Others opinions will vary.

[Beelzebub]

i would say cardio is damn near mandatory (especially pre-contest), but diet is way more important. JMO.

[cgb6810]

Just curious.. How many min of cardio do you do each session? And also what is your protein/carb/fat ratio now?

Im 5'8" and weigh 200 lbs right now. I started at 212 lbs-4 weeks ago.
The diet my trainer prepared gives me about 250 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbs. Im not sure on the fat. Probably 30 grams or so? I add a tablespoon of PB in my oatmeal and I eat 2-yolks a day. My daily meat is either chicken breast or fish with an occassional steak.

I started with 35 minutes of cardio and just this week I bumped it up to 45 minutes as suggested by my trainer. He has me riding the bike.

[Sheesh]

I say diet. You can do all the cardio you want but you won't lose **** unless you're eating right or you're doing enough cardio to outweigh any dietary neglect.

[Lean One]

Both are equally important, but what needs to be considered is the intensity, frequency and duration of your cardio. Theese variables will affect what your nutrition should look like. ie, carb intake and timing.

[exnihilo]

I'm fat so don't listen to me

I think that people shouldn't **** with diets that work well for them. Dial your diet in for gaining, then add cardio and use ECA/etc till you start dropping.

[wimpy]

hands down it is diet. i'm a fla. nutrition client, and i have lost more fat now that my diet is in check then when my diet was not right but i was doing ass loads of cardio.

[Frank Reynolds]

hands down it is diet. i'm a fla. nutrition client, and i have lost more fat now that my diet is in check then when my diet was not right but i was doing ass loads of cardio.

How long have you been on? What did you lose?

[wimpy]

How long have you been on? What did you lose?

see my diet log

wimpy's diet log