Summer Cut

BigEasy87

New member
Hey guys I am beginning my first cutting cycle. I am currently around 12% bf and would love to drop to 9 - 10 % within the next 8 weeks.

I am working out 5 times a week, taking breaks on weekends. I am doing cardio and introducing HIIT training 4 times per week.

My diet consists of mainly lean chicken, turkey, ham, fresh vegetables, creatine monohydrate, whey protein (Consuming 225 grams of protein per day and roughly around 2700 cals)

I welcome any suggestions and input, as I am fairly new to this

Thanks
 
My meals look like this

Breakfast 10 a.m. - 3 Egg Whites, 4 oz chicken breast
Lunch 12:30 p.m. - 6 oz turkey breast, small salad with vinagarette dressing
Snack 3:30 p.m. - 6 oz chicken breast, one cup of steamed vegetables
Workout - 5:30 pm
Post Workout - 35 gms whey protein, 2 tablspns of creatine mono
Snack - 8:30 pm 6 oz chicken breast and half cup of white rice
Snack 12:00 a.m. - 2 tablespns of creatine mono, 35 gms whey protein

Its kind of bland, but I'm not really sure what I can and cannot eat, so I keep it simple
 
think about switching the snack at 330pm with your post workout 830pm snack. get the carbs in before workout/earlier in the day and not later at night, my 2 cents.
 
you could cut out the chicken breast in the morning and replace it with something lower in cals......cottage cheese maybe wheat bread for some carbs with your protein from the eggs. the main point is that you need to "cut" cals somewhere. simply put your body needs so many cals just to function, anything above that you will gain anything below that you will lose.......when you cut though, DO NOT cut too many cals at one time, usually 200-300 a week.....your body needs to adjust, otherwise it will think it's starving and you will not lose weight at all. do you know your maintence cals?
 
BigEasy87 said:
My current maintence level for cals is around 3000
Click to expand...

simple enough then man. eat at 2700 for a week and see what happens. just make sure you do not cut protein too low....if anything make an adjustment in your diet that will effect all things (carbs, fat protein).....do the math
 
BigEasy87 said:
Then do I continue to reduce calorie intake, as the weeks progress?
Click to expand...

i good general rule is to see where your at after a week or even better 2 weeks. but it depends on your body and how it adapts to the cal reduction. my for example is slow in adjusting, so i stay strict on a plan for 2 weeks until i make another reduction. your's might be different.....dunno. the idea is to do it slow and BE PATIENT....don't try and rush this thing, it will happen. and by the way, for bulking should you deceide to do it in the future, is the same thing just in reverse
 
You have NO fat in your diet. Why? It is important to be eating healthy fats like natural peanut butter, avocado, olive oil and coconut. You should be eating some on a daily basis. Not only do fats help with the keeping hormone levels normal, but they also help with curbing your appetite. And they don't make you fat if eaten in moderation, just like any other healthy food. Even if it means bumping up your calories a little, you will do better with a well balanced diet than a non-fat diet.
 
like your breakfast the 3 eggs and chicken breast change it to like 4eggs and a tbsp of peanut butter or something like that man ya kno gotta work with your body by trying different things to see what works and i would have a like half scoop protein shake before your workout so you got some carbs and protein in u b4 and give ya some energy and then after your workout instead of 35 grams go close to 50 thats your window of opportunity to feed your muscles
 
look for different things to spice up ya diet too you said its kinda bland like salsa in your rice or mix the chicken an everything together its pretty good try to switch it with healthy things spices an stuff I know for me 8 weeks same food I have to switch it a little or I have no desire

Mozilla/5.0 (Danger hiptop 4.0; U; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050920
 
BigEasy87 said:
My meals look like this

Breakfast 10 a.m. - 3 Egg Whites, 4 oz chicken breast
Lunch 12:30 p.m. - 6 oz turkey breast, small salad with vinagarette dressing
Snack 3:30 p.m. - 6 oz chicken breast, one cup of steamed vegetables
Workout - 5:30 pm
Post Workout - 35 gms whey protein, 2 tablspns of creatine mono
Snack - 8:30 pm 6 oz chicken breast and half cup of white rice
Snack 12:00 a.m. - 2 tablespns of creatine mono, 35 gms whey protein

Its kind of bland, but I'm not really sure what I can and cannot eat, so I keep it simple
Click to expand...

Hmmm, This would almost qualify you for a keto diet, which is by far the best diet for Muscle preservation. If you cut out the white rice and keep your carb intake below 30 grams/day, you will be in ketosis within 12-16 hours. Through ketosis, you could easily loose 1.5-3 pounds of fat/week. Looking at your diet, you don't have to change much.
 
BigEasy87 said:
Hey guys I am beginning my first cutting cycle. I am currently around 12% bf and would love to drop to 9 - 10 % within the next 8 weeks.

I am working out 5 times a week, taking breaks on weekends. I am doing cardio and introducing HIIT training 4 times per week.

My diet consists of mainly lean chicken, turkey, ham, fresh vegetables, creatine monohydrate, whey protein (Consuming 225 grams of protein per day and roughly around 2700 cals)

I welcome any suggestions and input, as I am fairly new to this

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would eliminate the creatine while cutting.Creatine retains water.
 
H8duke said:
I would eliminate the creatine while cutting.Creatine retains water.
Click to expand...

It mainly affects intracellular water, not subcutaneous, if he's been using it for a while it's probably doing more good than harm;)

In some people creatine can cause bloating but I don't think he'd be using it if it did.

BigEasy87 said:
My meals look like this

Breakfast 10 a.m. - 3 Egg Whites, 4 oz chicken breast
Lunch 12:30 p.m. - 6 oz turkey breast, small salad with vinagarette dressing
Snack 3:30 p.m. - 6 oz chicken breast, one cup of steamed vegetables
Workout - 5:30 pm
Post Workout - 35 gms whey protein, 2 tablspns of creatine mono
Snack - 8:30 pm 6 oz chicken breast and half cup of white rice
Snack 12:00 a.m. - 2 tablespns of creatine mono, 35 gms whey protein

Its kind of bland, but I'm not really sure what I can and cannot eat, so I keep it simple
Click to expand...

The guys have already given you some great advice, all I'd add is...

...your diet looks a little low in dietary fibre. Fibre from primarily green, leafy vegetables, salads and (some) fruits can help to fill you up and are often pretty low in calories. This is pretty important when cutting, you want to be burning as many calories at each meal as possible (from something called 'Thermic Effect of Feeding'), eating more of these foods helps achieve that.

You could throw in some vegetables or a salad at breakfast with your chicken breast or make a spanish omelette with vegetables.

Throw some fruit instead of the white rice as your 'pre-workout' snack.

Just take your cut slowly, watch the scale and measurements and add in more cardio before you drop the cals again.

Hope this helps mate.
 
UKStrength said:
It mainly affects intracellular water, not subcutaneous, if he's been using it for a while it's probably doing more good than harm;)

In some people creatine can cause bloating but I don't think he'd be using it if it did.



The guys have already given you some great advice, all I'd add is...

...your diet looks a little low in dietary fibre. Fibre from primarily green, leafy vegetables, salads and (some) fruits can help to fill you up and are often pretty low in calories. This is pretty important when cutting, you want to be burning as many calories at each meal as possible (from something called 'Thermic Effect of Feeding'), eating more of these foods helps achieve that.

You could throw in some vegetables or a salad at breakfast with your chicken breast or make a spanish omelette with vegetables.

Throw some fruit instead of the white rice as your 'pre-workout' snack.

Just take your cut slowly, watch the scale and measurements and add in more cardio before you drop the cals again.

Hope this helps mate.
Click to expand...

From MY experience,I tend to bloat while on creatine.Therefore, when I cut,I go off it.
 
H8duke said:
From MY experience,I tend to bloat while on creatine.Therefore, when I cut,I go off it.
Click to expand...

Fair enough mate, no offense ;) I'm a lucky bugger and never got the 'bloat' and none of my clients have ever experienced it, especially with these newer micronised creatine powders.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top