[Zen_Lifter]

Just wanting some feedback on the beginning stages of my cutting diet, I'm still eating 4000+ cals right now at the end of a bulking phase, but am cutting starting April 1st. I plan on slowly cutting cals down until I reach this diet listed below and then from there on keep my diet extremley strict. From there I'll lowly lower the carbs until I get down to about
275 g protein, 200g carbs, and 50g of Fat. I may go as low as 175g of carbs...depending on how weight loss goes.

The diet below is a 40:40:20 based on 3000 cals, what do you think? does this look ok? As the diet gets more aggressive I'll probably substitute something for the potatoe and then for the rice. As well as take out the 2 cups of milk. Keep in mind I'm currently 6' 206lbs. And will probably be closer to 210 when I start to cut. I also have a fast metabolism so 3000cals is not very much food for me. And I will probably lose a considerable amount of weight on this diet alone, before dropping carbs much further. Any problems you see with this diet?

Meal 1
1 whole egg
4 egg whties
oatmeal w/ 1/2 cup whey, skim milk

Protein 38 Carbs 37 Fat 9 Calories 390

Meal 2
1 scoupwhey
2 cups mlik
1 apple

Protein 48 Carbs 51 Fat 2 Calories 315

Meal 3
200g chicken breast
1 potatoe
1/2 cup green peas

Protein 52 Carbs 60 Fat 4 Calories 472

Meal 4
post workout shake (2scoups whey, 50g dextrose)

Protein 44 Carbs 56 Fat 2 Calories 460

Meal 5
200g chicken breast
3/4 cup brown rice

Protein 48 Carbs 37 Fat 4 Calories 369

Meal 6
Oatmeal w/ 1/2 cup whey, skim milk

Protein 20 Carbs 36 Fat 4 Calories 255

Meal 7
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup peas
1 tbs flax

Protein 18 Carbs 14 Fat 16.5 Calories 281

Meal 8
1 cup cottage cheese
1.5 tbs flax

Protein 30 Carbs 10 Fat 26 Calories 390


TOTALS: Protein 298 Carbs 301 Fat 67.5 Calories 2932

Also I will be lifting 4 days a week, and doing HIIT 2 or 3 times per week.

[Matthew D]

Use the BMR calculator in my sig to figure out the number of calories for baseline. Reason I am saying that is because the number of calories looks alittle high.. I couldn't calculate it with out your age. Anyway, the food choices look pretty good to me.

[Zen_Lifter]

Originally posted by Matthew D
Use the BMR calculator in my sig to figure out the number of calories for baseline. Reason I am saying that is because the number of calories looks alittle high.. I couldn't calculate it with out your age. Anyway, the food choices look pretty good to me.

dude, I dont need a calorie calculator to tell me how many cals I need to lose weight, although I do understand where your coming from. Of course I will get much more agressive than this but this is the beginning stages...first month probably. I dont plan on losing more than 1-2 pounds a week..and I know from experience that at least for the first few weeks, this will be no problem on this many calories. If it helps at all I am 21.

I've only cut one time before (last summer) and I was eating about 2400 cals a day, with 175 to 200g of carbs. And lost 15 pounds in a month and a half...which is much too fast in my opinion, and feel as if I lost a decent amount of muscle during the process. To top things off I was cutting from about 199 pounds instead of from about 210 this time around, so from this I am lead to believe that at least in the beginning I should keep cals a bit higher.

[Matthew D]

Okay.. just trying to help.. next time I will just pass your threads on by.... sorry I said anything.

[Zen_Lifter]

lol? I said I understand where your coming from, I was just explaining that I do need this many cals. It wasnt a personal attack.

[Zen_Lifter]

although, I did just try the calculator and my BMR is shown to be 3488 currently, and at a predicted 210....it is...3540...so even that diet is about 500 cals below maintenance which I think is a good place to start.

Thanks for your imput, as any comments are always welcome, my reply just came across that way.

[scotty2]

Good way to start Zen. The BMR calculator is a way for you to know exactly how many cals you would need for cutting or bulking. Apparently, because YOU know better, you don't need to derive a BMR.

[YellowJacket]

It certainky did come off the wrong way......


No way in a cutting diet should your carbs be higher than your protein intake. Thats a lot of carbs to burn off to get to the fat stores and not a lot of protein to preserve lean muscle tissue. Have a table spoon of flax oil w/ breakfast and I hope that pre-workout meal isnt really close to your workout.

[Zen_Lifter]

Originally posted by scotty2
Good way to start Zen. The BMR calculator is a way for you to know exactly how many cals you would need for cutting or bulking. Apparently, because YOU know better, you don't need to derive a BMR.

Yah I know, bad way to start but like I said before it just came out wrong....

I'm sort of confused on one thing? i've always tried to find my BMR by trial and error...for eg. if my weight stays the same for a couple weeks at a given number of cals that is my BMR. This would be considered a more accurate measure of my BMR would it not? I was always under the impression that the calculators is just a place to start, and have made adjustments from there. Am i wrong in this way of thinking?

Agreed YJ, I plan on doing this for the first few weeks, because I think just drastically dropping from 4500 cals to a 2500 calorie 200carb diet would be a bad idea? what do you think? After weight loss comes to a hault I was planning on dropping it to
300g Protein 200g Carbs and 55g Fat. For the remainder of my cutting cycle...and see where it goes from there.

[scotty2]

Why would you try to find your BMR by trial and error? And how would you do it? What's more, why waste time when there's a formula laid out where you plug in some numbers. 500 cals below maintenance is where you should start. Looks to be about 3000, adjust accordingly as you lose weight.

[YellowJacket]

Originally posted by Zen_Lifter



I'm sort of confused on one thing? i've always tried to find my BMR by trial and error...for eg. if my weight stays the same for a couple weeks at a given number of cals that is my BMR. This would be considered a more accurate measure of my BMR would it not? I was always under the impression that the calculators is just a place to start, and have made adjustments from there. Am i wrong in this way of thinking?

The BMR formula isnt 100% accurate, but very close. Monitoring it by yourself is probably around 90% if you're very good, otherwise, that percentage drops. You're much better off plugging in the numbers, getting your numbers and everytime you losr 2+lbs figure it again, thats why we preaise Matt for the calculator, now we can do it in about 1 minute compared to half a sheet of paper.

Agreed YJ, I plan on doing this for the first few weeks, because I think just drastically dropping from 4500 cals to a 2500 calorie 200carb diet would be a bad idea? what do you think? After weight loss comes to a hault I was planning on dropping it to

Agreed. I thought this was the finalized plan. Taper it down, and then do you thing.

[RaulJimenez]

You are correct, the BMR is just a starting point , from there you just adjust your diet accordingly to your progress. Dropping from a 4000 calorie diet to a 2500 calorie all of sudden is such a drastic decline and it would result in muscle loss, you need to drop the calories slightly as you progress steadily.

[RaulJimenez]

You beat me to it YJ

[Zen_Lifter]

thanks for your replys....please dont think I'm a **** because of that first post...it was late and didnt re-read it. In fact, I would probably given someone the same sort of reply as matt gave me. It makes sense.

YJ, could you explain what is bad about the pre-workout meal? I usually have something like that about an hour before. You suggest I have over 300g of protein? I'm currently eating about 350g.

[YellowJacket]

Originally posted by Zen_Lifter

YJ, could you explain what is bad about the pre-workout meal? I usually have something like that about an hour before. You suggest I have over 300g of protein? I'm currently eating about 350g.

Well chicken breast takes longer to fully digest than any other food around. If I eat a large chicken breast and then attempted to perform well in the weight room, Id give up. That would make me sick, thats a personal qualm though. You want 1 gram of carbohydrates per .5lbs of bodyweight. A potatoe wont suffice. You want the majority of these carbs and protein in the form of liquid, just easier for your body to digest and assimilate. Mine looks like this:

8oz orange juice w/ 1 scoop whey
1/3 cup crushes oats in 5-6oz skim milk
homemade granola/protein bar*

*sometimes.