my cutting diet...please critique...

[pumpseeker]

Roughly 2,700 calories...
250 protein
330 carbs
40 fat

Meal 1
7:30am
11 egg whites (1 yoke) w/ fat free cheese
1 cup oatmeal w/ sliced banana
1 xenadrine rfa
WATER

Meal 2
10am
MRP...1 Prolab Lean Mass Matrix Shake (40P, 40C, 8F) mixed w/ 1 scoop Swole (creatine blend) and 5 grams glutamine

Meal 3
12:30pm
2 cans tuna mixed w/ fat free mayo
2 potatoes w/ skin
1 cup veggies
1 xenadrine rfa
WATER

Meal 4
4pm
MRP...1 Prolab Lean Mass Matrix Shake

Meal 5
6:30pm
Postworkout Shake...Prolab NLarge2 (50P, 85C, 8F) mixed w/ 1 scoop Swole and 10 grams glutamine

Meal 6
7:30pm
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup (measured dry) brown rice
1 cup veggies
WATER

Meal 7
10pm
Protein shake...2 Scoops Prolab Whey Isolate mixed in WATER/OJ (48P, 10C, 2F)


I'm also doing 30 mins of high intensity cardio 3 x weekly and lifting 5 x weekly. Trying to drop BF to 5% by mid April. Stats are...6'2", 208 lbs at about 10% now.

[yellows2k]

To me it seems like carbs are a little too high, maybe go down 250g of carbs, 300g of protein and like 50-60g of fat.... or something of that nature...

Other than that, I would say the quality of foods is good...

[pumpseeker]

I tried to cut my carbs gradually each week beginning 1 month ago. When I got down to 220 grams per day, I started to lose a lot of strength and energy. It kind of messed with my head so I upped the carbs a week ago back to 330 and I'm feeling much better now. However, I know I need to cut carbs down more to lean out so I think my plan will be to decrease them again but allow 2 days per week to "carb up" to keep my sanity. What do you think?

I will up the protein and fat a bit too. I need to get some flax oil.

[Steele]

pretty good diet. i agree with yellows2k, the carbs are alittle high. I am in a precontest diet and i am doing 300 protein, 250 carb, and 75 gram fat. the energy went down, but i somewhat adjusted and take ephedrine preworkout.

[yellows2k]

Originally posted by pumpseeker
I tried to cut my carbs gradually each week beginning 1 month ago. When I got down to 220 grams per day, I started to lose a lot of strength and energy. It kind of messed with my head so I upped the carbs a week ago back to 330 and I'm feeling much better now. However, I know I need to cut carbs down more to lean out so I think my plan will be to decrease them again but allow 2 days per week to "carb up" to keep my sanity. What do you think?

I will up the <a href="http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/listproducts.php?style=category&value=PROTEIN" target="_blank">protein</a> and fat a bit too. I need to get some flax oil.

I had the same problem...but I upped the protein and fat and then my strength increased.. a little...

Why don't you eat 330g of carbs on workout days and on your off days, cut it down to like 250...

[BIG TEXAN]

I like yellows plan here.....

[pumpseeker]

Originally posted by yellows2k
Why don't you eat 330g of carbs on workout days and on your off days, cut it down to like 250...

I only take off 2 days a week so this wouldn't be enough low carb days to cut, I don't think.

I was thinking I might drop the carbs to 200-250 on off days AND a few on days and keep them around 330 2-3 days a week, like leg day especially. WDYT?

[yellows2k]

OK how about this....on leg and back day, your biggest muscles, why don't you eat 330, on regular training days besides leg and back eat 250 and on non training days eat 180-200...give that a try for a month and see where it takes you...

[pumpseeker]

thanks for the advice yellow. sounds good

[pumpseeker]

A trainer at my gym told me last night to take in about 2,000 calories broken up into 150 g. Carbs, 250 g. Protein, 55-60 g. Fat (30%C/50%P/22%F) every day except the day before and day of leg day. On those days, I should load carbs, taking in 2,900 calories with 350 g. Carbs, 250 g. Protein, and 55-60 g. Fat (50%C/35%P/15%F).

He also mentioned I should do low intensity cardio (135 BPM or less) 3 times per week. According to him, higher intensities would burn away muscle tissue.

Any opinions on this cutting plan?

[durbin22]

I would dump the banana in meal 1 and potatoes in meal 3. I would also think about getting rid of the swole. Creatine tends to put on water weight. You look cut in your atavar. How much more cut do you want to get?

[pumpseeker]

Thanks for the tip durbin...That pic was taken in November and my BF was actually around 10-12%, I've lost about 12 pounds since then but a lot of that was water weight. My BF is now at 8%. I'd like to drop it to 5%, fully shredded, and bring out the veins.. striations.. lower abs

[yellows2k]

Originally posted by pumpseeker
A trainer at my gym told me last night to take in about 2,000 calories broken up into 150 g. Carbs, 250 g. Protein, 55-60 g. Fat (30%C/50%P/22%F) every day except the day before and day of leg day. On those days, I should load carbs, taking in 2,900 calories with 350 g. Carbs, 250 g. Protein, and 55-60 g. Fat (50%C/35%P/15%F).

He also mentioned I should do low intensity cardio (135 BPM or less) 3 times per week. According to him, higher intensities would burn away muscle tissue.

Any opinions on this cutting plan?

Did he actually take into account your metabolism, body weight, body fat and what not? Or did he just pick a random number 2000...I'm 160lbs and when I cut I take in 2200 calories...you have much more lean mass and weigh more and only take in 2000? That seems kinda fishy.....

But lets say 2000 IS 500 below maintenance for you and you do this for 5 days, so that would be 2500 below maintenance right? Then you take in 2 days of 400 over your maintenance, which in this case is 2500...
So the 2500 minus the 800 would give you a caloric deficit of 1700 for the week...which is half a lb of fat....

[saboudian]

alright here are my suggestions.

Meal 1, drop banana, replace with protein shake

If you want to get an even leaner look, i would drop anything dairy and the creatine.

I'm pretty curious why you have 5g glutamine at second meal. Usually the only times i take glutamine is before and after cardio/workout and 5g before sleep, and never more then 5g at a time.

I don't like decreasing things gradually, i prefer to cycle carbs, that way my metabolism is always high. Shouldn't need to go kill yourself on workouts, you're cutting so i would doubt no matter what you do you will not gain any muscle. I don't do anything fancy in my workouts when i'm cutting, stick to a few basic exercises and get out. If you're too tired that you need carbs, take the day off, rest, and get in there the next day. Don't give into carbs, you're workin out not to gain muscle but just to maintain it.

I might think about either dropping the mayo altogether, or just goin to regular mayo, i don't like it when they mess around with my food and take stuff out and put different things in and supposedly make it "better" for you.

Thats about it for me.

[pumpseeker]

Originally posted by saboudian
Meal 1, drop banana, replace with protein shake

Even with the 36 grams of protein I'm already getting from the eggs?

If you want to get an even leaner look, i would drop anything dairy and the creatine. What do you think of waiting until 5-6 weeks out to drop the creatine (so I can maintain strength longer)?

I'm pretty curious why you have 5g glutamine at second meal. Usually the only times i take glutamine is before and after cardio/workout and 5g before sleep, and never more then 5g at a time. Didn't put much though into it...I was just trying to space out the servings...is that bad?

Shouldn't need to go kill yourself on workouts, you're cutting so i would doubt no matter what you do you will not gain any muscle. I don't do anything fancy in my workouts when i'm cutting, stick to a few basic exercises and get out. If you're too tired that you need carbs, take the day off, rest, and get in there the next day. Don't give into carbs, you're workin out not to gain muscle but just to maintain it. Good advice here...thanks Saboudian!

[yellows2k]

Originally posted by pumpseeker
Even with the 36 grams of <a href="http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/listproducts.php?style=category&value=PROTEIN" target="_blank">protein</a> I'm already getting from the eggs?

I would just drop the banana, too many carbs and and high GI...that's me personally...

If you want to get an even leaner look, i would drop anything dairy and the <a href="http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/listproducts.php?style=category&value=CREATINE" target="_blank">creatine</a> . What do you think of waiting until 5-6 weeks out to drop the <a href="http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/listproducts.php?style=category&value=CREATINE" target="_blank">creatine</a> (so I can maintain strength longer)?

I drop dairy when I am cutting also along with bread...Creatine I use until I get to the desired body fat then I stop using....

I'm pretty curious why you have 5g <a href="http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/listproducts.php?style=category&value=GLUTAMINE" target="_blank">glutamine</a> at second meal. Usually the only times i take <a href="http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/listproducts.php?style=category&value=GLUTAMINE" target="_blank">glutamine</a> is before and after cardio/workout and 5g before sleep, and never more then 5g at a time. Didn't put much though into it...I was just trying to space out the servings...is that bad?

If you wanna space it out, 5 in the AM, 5 after workout, 5 before bed...if you even want, 5 before workout but IMO it isn't necessary..

Shouldn't need to go kill yourself on workouts, you're cutting so i would doubt no matter what you do you will not gain any muscle. I don't do anything fancy in my workouts when i'm cutting, stick to a few basic exercises and get out. If you're too tired that you need carbs, take the day off, rest, and get in there the next day. Don't give into carbs, you're workin out not to gain muscle but just to maintain it. Good advice here...thanks Saboudian!

[saboudian]

Proteins digest at different rates. Those eggs won't hit your body for at least an hour and a half. Being that you haven't eaten anything in several hours, and the fact that whey is pretty fast digesting protein(~1/2 hour)your body should soak it up right away. I beleive this will do the trick better then simple carbs when you're trying to cut, just like yellows said "high GI and too many carbs".

The creatine is your call, i beleive it takes 6 weeks for creatine to clear out of your system, but its your call.

As far as the dairy goes, alot of people attribute this to giving you "tough" skin. Some people beleive they might not have this problem, and will drink milk all the way up to the contest, its your call, but if you're not sure i would just cut it.

Nothing wrong with spacing out glutamine, its the spaces you put them in that matters. You want to take it when you are most worried about losing muscle, so where ever you beleive u might enter an anti-catabolic state, take 5g.

I just noticed u were takin OJ with your last meal, that definitely needs to go.

Just to make sure, if that is instant oatmeal in you first meal, i would definitely switch to plain old shitty regular oatmeal.

One last note, it is possible to gain muscle and cut fat without gear, but its just so incredibly hard and your gains will be so small its simply not worth it. The muscle you might gain during 3 months of cutting would probably be less then the muscle you could gain in 1 week of bulking.


Yellows, just wondering why you cut bread, does it make you retain water or something? Now that i think of it, i noticed i haven't seen it any cutting diets.

[yellows2k]

Yes, I have tried many diets and pretty much know what works and what's my weak spots....I cut out dairy during cutting and plan on cutting it out all together. Once I drink milk I binge on it and it leads me to eat ice cream for some reason...I can't control it....

And bread, yeah it makes me hold more water PLUS I don't feel full from it. I feel more full from a half a cup of oatmeal than bread, and if I'm not mistaken, if I am correct me, but I believe oatmeal is lower GI....

[pumpseeker]

thanks saboudian and yellow...I appreciate it