Cutting question..

[abel13]

This my first real attempt of cutting and had to 2 questions. I been lifting probably 3 years or so now and i eat really clean with one cheat meal a week. However, i never counted calories, i pretty much just eat every 3 hours but extremely clean. My current stats are

33yro male
210lbs
14% bf

Supplements are -(on TRT) 200mg test a week, 1mg of femara (AI) a week, clomin 3 times a week. OTC milk thistle and i drink 1 gallon of water a day (im notorious for caring my gallon jug).

Routine- I lift 4-5 times a week. Usually my routine is 4 sets of 8-12. Every 3rd month ill do a couple of weeks of 5x5. Every once in awhile ill do a week of sets of 100. My cardio is terrible, i hardly do it. I will start for cutting though. (I know, shame on me).

Numbers- so my TDEE seems to be 3229. So minus 500 as recomended deficit I should be consuming 2729cal a day. Going to do the 40/40/20 split. so looking at pro-1091/carb 1091/fat 545

My questions are this. I work crazy hours. My job requires me to work 12 hour shifts and i work 3 in a row (weekends). So ill be up prob 18 hours the days i work with only 6 hours of sleep in between. How do you calculate your diet around this? surely 2729cal for 18 hours is not enough (i dnt think). Do i add in an extra meal? Is the 2729cal meant for a 24 hour period or the time from you wake up till bed? I cant seem to find anything about this on the net.

My second question is- is cheating 1 meal a week a no-no? I read a lot about having to "refeed" and etc. I really dont want to eliminate it cause it kinda destroys social life but i will for awhile if total screws up results. Not exactly sure how refeeding works. Is one cheat meal to much or to little, etc.

Hopefully you all can set me on the right track. Goal is to get to 10-11% bf so i think it should not be that difficult. Like most males all my Bf is adipose crap. My arms, legs, back are extremely tight, hard to even measure with calipers. just want to drop my soft looking belly and tighten up chest.

Thanks for your responses

[Papiriqui]

Calories are for a 24 hr period. I get my 8 hrs of sleep but eat every 2 hrs from the moment i wake up to the moment i go to sleep. 1 cheat meal is okay just depending on what exactly it is and what is composed off. 1 entire pizza for a cheat meal or mc donalds is definitely a no no. Get a diet worked up and post it so we can better help instead of guessing.

[abel13]

Thanks for the reply! Ill post a diet next as soon as i get this cal thing figured out. Im in excellent shape, stomach is flat, but soft, so wanted a harder look. Just was concerned about 2700cal not being enough for an 18 hour shift. Once i am reassured that is correct, ill design a diet. As everyone else im paranoid of losing any muscle since im definitely an endomorph. ...As for cardio im going to start doing it every day (except leg day). Alternating between HIIT and fat burning cardio.

[Papiriqui]

I eat 2200 for 16 hrs workout 2 hrs in the morning and 1 hr cardio in the afternoon, it might actually be to much unless you've been using this amount and still are dropping weight. The timeframe is not as important as the amount of calories you burn daily due to work, workouts, etc

[tboney]

Why are you using letro for a (high) trt dose of test?
Why are you taking the clomid during your cycle? I know some guys do but curious what your reasoning is?

[--->>405<<---]

using katch/mcardle formula for calc tdee i get u @3300cals..

if i were u knowing wat i know how that formula works id run:

2500cals
375g pro
125g carbs
56g fat

keeping carbs at or below 20% total cals will optimize ur ability to burn fat.. refeed every 14 days. a refeed is where u keep pro and fat the same and increase ur daily carbs to 250-300g for that 1 day.. this will help keep ur metabolism from getting sluggish..

u may be thinking 2500cals is too low (since u were skeptical at 2700) but it should be fine.. esp considering ur protein is so high.

i started my cut at 213lbs 22%bf and ran 2150cals with no loss of muscle (actually gained some).. u will be fine til u get to 10%.. then muscle loss may become more of an issue... but at 2500cals i dont see u havn a prob..

cardio 5-6 days per week 45mins am fasted or PWO.. (or throw in some HIIT a day or 2)

another excellent fat burning cardio routine is:
5min warm up
10mins HIIT
5mins complete rest (allows FFA into blood)
20-40mins moderaTE
5min cooldown

also when ur progress slows u will fare well to consider cycing carbs...

[abel13]

Awesome advise as usual. I used some random BMI/TDEE calculators to get my numbers so i dunno how accurate it was, Ill adjust to your numbers 405, thanks. Had a hard time guess my activity level, kinda fell in between 4-5. Ill start putting together a diet and post for review, i have strong will power and already been eating clean so there is no issue there, just need to drop some cal intake i think.
As for your question Tboney, i only been on trt 4 months so not an expert at it. I have ran cycles before, but obviously never long term like this. The dr i see said to stay on the clomid if i wanted children (stay fertile) cause obviously staying on test for long term will shut me down HARD. So thats strictly what im taking clomid for. The letro is because when i got my 3 month lab work back my E2 was slightly elevated, i dnt have the number in front of me but i want to say like 38. Also had a little nipple tenderness along with a small lump after my first 3 months. He started me on letro low dose to obviously inhibit test conversion. Its still a balancing act at this point but i think we will end up going lowering the weekly dose of test which i dont want cause of coarse you always tend to think "more is better". The dr claimed i was just really prone to converting. It all sound legit to me and i was just doing what i was told, cant say if its absolutely correct or not, hope thats answered your question.
Also, i assuming that my PWO shake is included in my TDEE. Its the only protein shake i drink per day. I usually throw in a half of banana, almond milk and a small spoon of ice cream to restore my glycogen. (A friend told me about that about a year ago and seemed to make different on my energy levels for the very next workout.) Should i refrain from all sugars during cutting or is PWO shake an exception?
thanks again for all the helpful tips

[tboney]

Awesome advise as usual. I used some random BMI/TDEE calculators to get my numbers so i dunno how accurate it was, Ill adjust to your numbers 405, thanks. Had a hard time guess my activity level, kinda fell in between 4-5. Ill start putting together a diet and post for review, i have strong will power and already been eating clean so there is no issue there, just need to drop some cal intake i think.
As for your question Tboney, i only been on trt 4 months so not an expert at it. I have ran cycles before, but obviously never long term like this. The dr i see said to stay on the clomid if i wanted children (stay fertile) cause obviously staying on test for long term will shut me down HARD. So thats strictly what im taking clomid for. The letro is because when i got my 3 month lab work back my E2 was slightly elevated, i dnt have the number in front of me but i want to say like 38. Also had a little nipple tenderness along with a small lump after my first 3 months. He started me on letro low dose to obviously inhibit test conversion. Its still a balancing act at this point but i think we will end up going lowering the weekly dose of test which i dont want cause of coarse you always tend to think "more is better". The dr claimed i was just really prone to converting. It all sound legit to me and i was just doing what i was told, cant say if its absolutely correct or not, hope thats answered your question.
Also, i assuming that my PWO shake is included in my TDEE. Its the only protein shake i drink per day. I usually throw in a half of banana, almond milk and a small spoon of ice cream to restore my glycogen. (A friend told me about that about a year ago and seemed to make different on my energy levels for the very next workout.) Should i refrain from all sugars during cutting or is PWO shake an exception?
thanks again for all the helpful tips

I see. Letro is just harsh for me as an AI.... I had to use it once for a case of gyno but as an AI during trt I use aromasin .

[--->>405<<---]

Awesome advise as usual. I used some random BMI/TDEE calculators to get my numbers so i dunno how accurate it was, Ill adjust to your numbers 405, thanks. Had a hard time guess my activity level, kinda fell in between 4-5. Ill start putting together a diet and post for review, i have strong will power and already been eating clean so there is no issue there, just need to drop some cal intake i think.
As for your question Tboney, i only been on trt 4 months so not an expert at it. I have ran cycles before, but obviously never long term like this. The dr i see said to stay on the clomid if i wanted children (stay fertile) cause obviously staying on test for long term will shut me down HARD. So thats strictly what im taking clomid for. The letro is because when i got my 3 month lab work back my E2 was slightly elevated, i dnt have the number in front of me but i want to say like 38. Also had a little nipple tenderness along with a small lump after my first 3 months. He started me on letro low dose to obviously inhibit test conversion. Its still a balancing act at this point but i think we will end up going lowering the weekly dose of test which i dont want cause of coarse you always tend to think "more is better". The dr claimed i was just really prone to converting. It all sound legit to me and i was just doing what i was told, cant say if its absolutely correct or not, hope thats answered your question.
Also, i assuming that my PWO shake is included in my TDEE. Its the only protein shake i drink per day. I usually throw in a half of banana, almond milk and a small spoon of ice cream to restore my glycogen. (A friend told me about that about a year ago and seemed to make different on my energy levels for the very next workout.) Should i refrain from all sugars during cutting or is PWO shake an exception?
thanks again for all the helpful tips

i put ur activity at moderate. 5days per week doing exercise. if ur doing less than that u will need to eat less cals than i suggested.

im on trt as well (8months). 160mg per week split into 2 shots every 3.5 days. i also take 750iu hcg also split into 2 shots the day before each inject. i also take arimidex at 2mg per week. one pill the day after each inject. letro for trt is new to me.

the main goal of cutting is burning fat. sugar causes release of insulin into the blood which halts ur ability to mobilize fat. dont eat any carbs except complex while cutting on a strait low carb diet. IMO. (with the exception of lowfat cottage cheese before bed).

low carb PWO IMO = 2scoops pro powder or lean meat and 1/2cup oats...

[abel13]

Ahh, i gotcha, great advise! Do you take your TDEE and divide it into 6 meals (so every meal is like 500cal) or do you just adjust as the day goes on? example..Let say your at 2200 cal and your TDEE is 3000cal. You decide to go to bed early this particular day, do you try to adjust the last couples of meals to meet your TDEE or just skip the meal cause you went to sleep early, putting you in a greater deficit for the 24hours?

[Papiriqui]

Ahh, i gotcha, great advise! Do you take your TDEE and divide it into 6 meals (so every meal is like 500cal) or do you just adjust as the day goes on? example..Let say your at 2200 cal and your TDEE is 3000cal. You decide to go to bed early this particular day, do you try to adjust the last couples of meals to meet your TDEE or just skip the meal cause you went to sleep early, putting you in a greater deficit for the 24hours?

If your at 2200 calories forget about TDEE!!! TDEE is for you to have an idea of what you need in order to maintain weight, cutting or bulking is a whole other animal. If you are at 2500, 2700 stay with that and again forget TDEE. Now what i do and i think most people do they do the pre and post workout meal to be some what high in carbs in comparison to the other meals. Other than that i do divide my chicken into 6 equal parts, egg whites, beef patty all that make 8 meals with the carbs as well.

[--->>405<<---]

Ahh, i gotcha, great advise! Do you take your TDEE and divide it into 6 meals (so every meal is like 500cal) or do you just adjust as the day goes on? example..Let say your at 2200 cal and your TDEE is 3000cal. You decide to go to bed early this particular day, do you try to adjust the last couples of meals to meet your TDEE or just skip the meal cause you went to sleep early, putting you in a greater deficit for the 24hours?

i dont so much care about keeping every meal even. when cutting get ur carbs in meals 1, pre workout, PWO. other than that it doesnt matter too much IMO. u need to build a diet and stick to it 7days per week. i typically eat the same 6 meals everyday. i know today (friday) what im eating next wednesday at meal 3 cuz i know its the same thing im gonna eat today at meal 3.

PLAN DUDE PLAN.. ur not gong to get a whole lot of variety with ur daily meals. variety comes in the form of a cheat meal which shouldnt exceed 1 meal per week. get used to it. unless u have all kinds of free time u want to spend calculating difft food sources and cooking...

[abel13]

Yeah, pretty much what i been doing last 3 years. I cook in huge bulks and have premade meals for when ever im hungry. The meals are extremely clean. If anything i eat TO many green veggies if that is possible and i eat lower carbs. Brown rice, sweet pots, oats, any ocasional wheat bread is my only carbs ingest, besdies cheat meals. I drink a couple of cups of egg whites throughout the day to boost my protein. To be honest, besides cheats, i dont even eat for taste. My real weakness is spoons of peanutbutter, i prob eat way to many of those for 200cal a bite. Like i was saying, I eat really good and im in excellent shape, just wanna try to get to god mode. My belly is extremely flat but no definition really and kinda soft, plus need a new goal, been platuaed for awhile. I know its all down to just getting my numbers correct and stepping up cardio. Thanks again for advise

[jpowell]

How long in advance do u guys cook? I usually go abouy 3/4 days...kinda kinda worried bout the food after that!

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[Papiriqui]

I cook chicken for 3 days, egg whites (scramble) every night, lentils for 5 days, sweet potato 7 days. No problems with those things, been doing it for months!!

[abel13]

Anyone happen to have a quick diet routine they can make or cut/paste up. Having a difficult time making my numbers right without going over in carbs or fats. Hate be lazy but im seem to be TERRiBLE at this. Want to go off of what 405 suggested with a lower calorie intake then 2500. Thinking 2300cal a day. No dairy plz...

Also at what point do most people switch up to carb cycling? Is there a certain BF% you that is idea?

Thanks again for all your help. Stepped up cardio to 5 times a week with 2 of them being HIIT. No results really yet but its only been 2 weeks.

[--->>405<<---]

1. diet ur gonna need to come up with

2. carb cycle when u plateau