First Cutting cycle - not sure abt diet.

[adude006]

I'll be starting my first cutting cycle of Test E at 600, EQ at 500 and var at 100mg, 12 weeks cycle. Var is for 8 weeks.

All previous cycles (5 cycles until now) were bulk cycles so the diet was easier to plan. Now i'm trying to cut down from 11% and gain lean mass too.

But i''m not sure how many cals to aim for while cutting on-cycle and what macros to use. My bulk cycles were 4000 cals at 50% protein, 35%carbs, 15% fats. Off cycle calories have always been between 2000 to 2500 at 60% protein, 20%carbs, 20% fats. Works well.

[redz]

Why dont you start by giving us some stats....

[adude006]

5"7, 160 lbs, 11% fat.

[jamyjamjr]

Welcome to the diet forum....

if you have not already done so, post up your stats

age
weight
height
bf
goals.. be specific

please take the time to follow these directions, they will better prepair the both of us for the critique and tweaking of your diet..

you need to figure our your BMR (this is the basal metabolic rate of your body... which means if you were to do nothing all day, ur body would burn these many calories)

once u'v figured out your BMR, u need your TDEE (this is your total daily energy expenditure, it's based upon your activity level)


But first things first, please post up your current diet.. you have to be brutally honest about what you've been eating on average for the last few weeks so i know where your metabolism is at..
please include macros

MACROS = pro/fat/cal/carb of every meal and a daily total on the bottom
you can use fitday . com to help you our with this... be as detailed and specific as possible

please include the time of when u eat and the time of your workout

example:

6am pro/carb/fat/cal
10 egg whites 50/0/0/200
1/2 cup oats- 3/50/2/218
53/50/2/418


REMEMBER

1g protien - 4cal
1g carb - 4cal
1g fat - 9cal
1g alcohol - 8cal (some would argue 7)



also tell me what your workout reg is...



BMR formula #1 (if you bf is high, use this one... you need an accurate bf reading)


BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)



in order to figure out your bmr, you need to know what your lean body mass is.. so, in turn, u need to know what your body fat percentage is...

if you dont know your bodyfat percentage, go to your gym and get tested (please dont use electronic scales to get your bf checked, they're horrible)

if you cannot find a gym to get tested at, please post up a picture for estimates, we're pretty good at it (you also have the option of pming it to me if you have more then 25 posts)

Total weight x bf in decimel form = total bf weight

Total weight - total bf weight = total lean body mass

if your total lean body mass is in lbs, u can divide it by 2.2 to get it in kilograms..

for example..

i am 6'4 275lbs at 14% bf... so i would multiply 275 by .14 (converted from percent to decimal)= 38.5lbs

275 - 38.5 = 236.5lbs lean body weight

236.5 / 2.2 = 107.5 lean mass in kg

370 + (21.6 x 107.5) = 2692 BMR (this is high for the average person, im a big guy)




BMR formula #2 (only to be used if your bf is low)

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )


female BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )


TDEE

Once u have you bmr, u need to calculate your TDEE, this is simply done with some multiplication...

you can multiply it by an activity number to figure out your daily caloric expenditure, be honest here as this is the very cornerstone of your diet, if you are between two of the below activity levels then just multiply by a number in between them

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:


If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9



Once you have your TDEE, i need you to watch these videos

Milos Sarcev "Secret of the Pro's" on Nutrition

So you wanna learn how to Diet?

this video will give you a great idea as to what your diet should be looking like and the foods you should be eating..

it's also very informative as to how dieting works and what you need to be doing..


once you've aquired this vast knowledge and done what i'v asked of you, please post up a new diet for critiquing and finalization...
please include macros and times just as before...


try to remember that dieting is not an overnight thing.. it takes time and patience....

[adude006]

I keep my diet simple.

Ofcycle is:
Eat every 3 hrs. Alternate between:
(1.5 scps whey protein + ***** fats) & (Chicken breast/steamed vegs). Carbs is only 3 meals a day - oats for with the shake/*****s, and potatoes/whole gain bread with the chicken alternating. I don't do macros per meal, too busy throught the day to deal with all this but I go by the day & re-evaluate by around 5-6pm where i stand for the day and how many more cals/meals i need to get in to reach my day's calories: total comes to 2000 calories on off days and i try to touch as close as possible to 2500 on workout days with 60%protein, 20% carbs % 20%fats. So it's about:
300gms protein, 100gms carbs, about 40-45ish grms fat on non workout days, and
375gms protein, 125gms carbs, 50-55ish grms fat on workout days.

Bulking on-cycle diet is: Meal every 2 hrs and every meal is 1scp whey + 1 chicken breast + potatoes/brown rice or whole grain bread. Fats are *****s, nuts & peanut butter alternating with each meal. I have fat free milk with every meal that i eat at home. I eat 1 cheat meal a day too, usually like a foot long subway or 2 burgers, etc for the remaining cals. Here i break my day calories into: 50% protein, 35%carbs, 15% fats. I'v found this works best for me. Minimum fat gains, good lean size and just enough carbs to keep me going for my workouts without any fatigue issues. When i up thecarbs then i gain fat. When i lower it to around 20%ish i feel weak during my worouts.

Bulk cycles were all good, hardly put on any fat and gained good lean size. But now I want to get as ripped as possible and get as close as possible to the low single digits. The closest i can get to 0% fat from 11% the better, while either maintaining or gaining some lean mass. I don't want to sacrifise much mass to lose fat. I'm only giving it a 12 week cycle, after that ill continue cutting down naturally but it will be nice to cheat a bit with gear and get a heads up!

The way i see it: I can stay at my current cals: 2000-2500 & do shits loads of cardio and maybe gain or maintain lean mass with the gear. I can cut by going downto 1500 cals and still maintain mass with the gear or i can cut by increasing my cals to about 3000 and gain some solid lean mass too with the gear. Based on the cals my cardio/workouts will be planned.

[Klimax]

If after 5 cycles you're weight is 160lbs, your diet with so much pro is not so good as you say.

[adude006]

Who said that just because you take gear you have to be 200+? I prefer being light and dont want to put on weight. I was 190 max when i was on bulking cycles upto last yr & my goals were to get big.

Now I want to be light & as ripped as possible. I prefer looking like Brad Pitt (with more muscles & more ripped) than Ronnie coleman. It's more healthy in the long run and gets me laid much more now than when i was bulking up like a gorilla.

[jamyjamjr]

yea but after 5 cycles being 160 is poor bud.. what's the point of cycling in the first place.. mind you im not trying to flame, its more concern then anything

[Zapp]

When I ran my last cutter for my comp...I never counted calories and ate all of the clean protein I wanted. Just made sure to keep my carbs below 125g everyday.

[Klimax]

Who said that just because you take gear you have to be 200+? I prefer being light and dont want to put on weight. I was 190 max when i was on bulking cycles upto last yr & my goals were to get big.

Now I want to be light & as ripped as possible. I prefer looking like Brad Pitt (with more muscles & more ripped) than Ronnie coleman. It's more healthy in the long run and gets me laid much more now than when i was bulking up like a gorilla.

I don't say that you should be like ronnie after 5 cycles. I think that for your goals (be light) you've wasted 5 bulking cycles.