Post PCT diet

Hi,

Within the last week, I've finished PCT and I'm pleased with the mass gains I've made on my cycle, but along with that, I've added a fair amount of fat around my abdomen and chest which I'm keen on losing. I've devised a diet plan, keeping calories at maintenance level. The goal is to gradually incorporate cardio to reduce body fat. I want to keep the calories quite high to ensure I can keep as much of the gains i've made as possible. My proposed diet is below; does it need tweaking or am I good to go?

Stats
95 kg
16% BF
5"10

Macros

Protein: 200g
Fat: 80g
Carbs: 300g
Kcals: 3,200

Meal 1 - 100g oats, 1 banana, 1 scoop whey, 1 tbs peanut butter
Meal 2 - 3 eggs, 2 wholemeal rolls
Meal 3 - 200g brown rice, 1 chicken breast, 1/2 avocado and veg, handful of nuts
Meal 4 - 250g sweet potatoes, 1 tin tuna, veg
Meal 5 - 2 scoops whey, 1 banana
Meal 6 - 1 tub cottage cheese

This totals:-
Protein: 212g
Fat 81g
Carbs: 297g

I wouldn't recommend trying to cut or even going to maintenance during pct . your hormones are going to be super low and in the process of recovering , FOOD is going to be the most anabolic thing you can put into your body at this time and the more of it you can get in the more you'll be able to retain gains.

What he said

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Originally Posted by GearHeaded

I wouldn't recommend trying to cut or even going to maintenance during pct . your hormones are going to be super low and in the process of recovering , FOOD is going to be the most anabolic thing you can put into your body at this time and the more of it you can get in the more you'll be able to retain gains.

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Agreed, but I've finished PCT? Do you still not advise a maintenance diet?

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Originally Posted by Lee_1978

Agreed, but I've finished PCT? Do you still not advise a maintenance diet?

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get blood work, see how well you've recovered and make sure your health factors are all good (liver, kidney, hemoatocrit, cholesterol, etc.). if all is good and you've kept a decent amount of gains from cycle, then start at maintenance and ease into a cut.

keep in mind that a lot of whats hanging around your abs and chest may be water weight. you could try and shed some water first and see how you look. you can run a diazide or herbal diuretic for a few days, go no carb for a week, do a few depletion workouts, and see how things look with the water gone.

Gearheaded I’m a few weeks into a cycle and notice some, but not much bloat. Been doing more cardio then usual, i always lift with a sweatshirt or sweat pants. Sometimes i do both. I love the sauna or my hot tub after working out. Can keeping the bloat down help, or do you think all the extra sweating is counter productive to my gains at this point.

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Originally Posted by Clove1234

Gearheaded I’m a few weeks into a cycle and notice some, but not much bloat. Been doing more cardio then usual, i always lift with a sweatshirt or sweat pants. Sometimes i do both. I love the sauna or my hot tub after working out. Can keeping the bloat down help, or do you think all the extra sweating is counter productive to my gains at this point.

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if your just getting started on cycle and your goal is grow, then I wouldn't worry about a little bit of bloat at this point. it only takes a week or two to shed it later on. sweating out some water is not a bad thing per se, its a form of detox. When your on cycle your body has a greater ability to hold onto electrolytes and minerals, so your not as likely to dehydrate. if the bloat is causing too high of blood pressure though, then thats a different story.

What exactly are depletion workout gear headed?

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Originally Posted by 1moreset024

What exactly are depletion workout gear headed?

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its a workout that is meant to deplete as much muscle glycogen as possible. when you deplete muscle glycogen and don't consume carbs your body begins shedding water. carboHYDRATES aide in bringing water into cells along with glycogen. if your body needs water it will begin pulling from extra cellular water stores. Depletion workouts speed up the process.

example of depletion cardio.
HIT for 25 mins on a spin bike. the legs hold a ton of muscle glycogen. High intensity training will require a ton of glycogen to be used.
this is the opposite of LISS (low intensity stead state) cardio walking on a treadmill. an hour of this will burn hardly any muscle glycogen

depletion weight training session - would be hitting the weights with lots of supersets and drop sets in the 10-15 rep range. super setting say back and chest together will burn through a ton of glycogen. where as doing just heavy triples and doubles on Bench press would not.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GearHeaded

its a workout that is meant to deplete as much muscle glycogen as possible. when you deplete muscle glycogen and don't consume carbs your body begins shedding water. carboHYDRATES aide in bringing water into cells along with glycogen. if your body needs water it will begin pulling from extra cellular water stores. Depletion workouts speed up the process.

example of depletion cardio.
HIT for 25 mins on a spin bike. the legs hold a ton of muscle glycogen. High intensity training will require a ton of glycogen to be used.
this is the opposite of LISS (low intensity stead state) cardio walking on a treadmill. an hour of this will burn hardly any muscle glycogen

depletion weight training session - would be hitting the weights with lots of supersets and drop sets in the 10-15 rep range. super setting say back and chest together will burn through a ton of glycogen. where as doing just heavy triples and doubles on Bench press would not.

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I'm training like this now and getting phenomenal results with it! Also allows me to get in more carbs on training days without putting on fat which for me is easy to do when eating carbs. Also feel like this style of training brings out separation in the muscle more than perhaps a more traditional style of training.