Cutting diet

[Murphman9]

This thread is a follow up to my cutting cycle thread I order to provide additional details on my diet and try and improve it as best I can. I workout heavy in the morning and do arms or abs at lunch 6 days a week and I run 3-4 times a week in the evenings. I’ve been running a modified version of the contest preparation diet available on this site.
Preworkout meal
Protein drink and a peanut butter sandwich - whole grain bread. Carbs-50, Protein -60, fat-15 calories 590
Post workout meal
9 eggs (3 whole, 6 whites)
Two pieces of whole grain toast- carbs -55 protein - 50 fat 7 calories 525
9:30 meal
8 oz chicken breast, 1 cup green beans, 1 oz almonds carbs -12 protein - 50 fat- 14 calories - 420
11:30 meal- Preworkout
Protein shake and turkey sandwich
Carbs - 25 protein -41 fat - 5 calories 370
1:15 meal - post workout
Same as 11:30 meal
3:30 meal
Protein shake - carbs 0, protein 25, fat 1 calories 110
6:30 meal
8 oz of chicken carbs 0, protein 45, fat 0 calories 230
9:30 meal
Protein shake - same as 3:30 meal
Daily totals- carbs - 162, protein -327, fat 41 and calories 2747

I do this 6 days a week, I load on carbs Sunday which daily totals carbs-472, protein 300, fat 125 and calories 3306.

So my average daily total for a week is carb 206, protein 323, fat 39 and calories 2826. I updated a few things which is why the totals are a little different than what I posted in the other thread. The goal here is to reduce body fat % while continuing to build muscle. Any and all comments welcomed. Thanks

[Windex]

This thread is a follow up to my cutting cycle thread I order to provide additional details on my diet and try and improve it as best I can. I workout heavy in the morning and do arms or abs at lunch 6 days a week and I run 3-4 times a week in the evenings. I’ve been running a modified version of the contest preparation diet available on this site.
Preworkout meal
Protein drink and a peanut butter sandwich - whole grain bread. Carbs-50, Protein -60, fat-15 calories 590
Post workout meal
9 eggs (3 whole, 6 whites)
Two pieces of whole grain toast- carbs -55 protein - 50 fat 7 calories 525
9:30 meal
8 oz chicken breast, 1 cup green beans, 1 oz almonds carbs -12 protein - 50 fat- 14 calories - 420
11:30 meal- Preworkout
Protein shake and turkey sandwich
Carbs - 25 protein -41 fat - 5 calories 370
1:15 meal - post workout
Same as 11:30 meal
3:30 meal
Protein shake - carbs 0, protein 25, fat 1 calories 110
6:30 meal
8 oz of chicken carbs 0, protein 45, fat 0 calories 230
9:30 meal
Protein shake - same as 3:30 meal
Daily totals- carbs - 162, protein -327, fat 41 and calories 2747

I do this 6 days a week, I load on carbs Sunday which daily totals carbs-472, protein 300, fat 125 and calories 3306.

So my average daily total for a week is carb 206, protein 323, fat 39 and calories 2826. I updated a few things which is why the totals are a little different than what I posted in the other thread. The goal here is to reduce body fat % while continuing to build muscle. Any and all comments welcomed. Thanks

Overall protein is too high. Protein is the hardest macronutrient for the body to digest and it can only handle so much at a time. Excess simply gets eliminated. Unlike carbs and fats, it is not a fuel source and doesn't translate directly into energy. Everyone is different, so there is no magic number, but somewhere between 200-250g would be where you would want to land.

Too much of your protein intake is coming from shakes. It's a pretty poor source - food is King and will always trump a powder. It has been discussed a few times on the forum but the short version of why the powders are poor is :

- Proprietary blends allow companies to hide ingredient composition, meaning even if you buy a whey isolate protein powder, it could be 40% whey isolate, 39% soy protein and 21% whey concentrate. Not good value for your money when 79% of each serving is the lowest quality protein source available.

- Bare minimum FDA control

- Russian roulette for how the ingredients are even sourced to begin with. Supplement industry is all smoke and mirrors. Imagine if I told you the average 5lb tub of Protein is $5 to make - what quality would you expect for $5.

- Only one serving of vegetables in the day, you want to have a lot more than that and diversity your options. Micro nutrition is arguably just as important as macro nutrition. Extremely important for performance and overall health

- You are missing saturated fats - red meat or full fat meat is good as is butter. Doesn't have to be a high amount but you want some.

- Whole wheat bread is subpar as a carb source because it's heavily processed. I would upgrade to ezekiel or P28 bread, substitute for better carb sources, or buy bread from a local bakery directly rather than the supermarket.

[Murphman9]

Thank you Windex. I am on board with cutting down the protein- I've made some adjustments:

- Upgraded Bread - Going with Powerseed - Daves Killer Bread
- Swapped out chicken on my 3rd meal for Ribeye Pork Chops - Increased fat and decreased protein slightly
- Took out a few shakes
- Added another serving of green vegetables on my 3:30 pm meal - probably broccoli.

This takes my daily totals down to the following figures 6 days a week :
Carbs - 164
Protein - 267
Fat - 94
Calories - 2832

I'm very concerned with adding any more carbohydrates- that's the one thing i know about my body- they stick to me; which leads to my next question- considering the amount of exercise I am doing and the gear intend on running (mentioned in the AAS forum) under this plan, should i still carb load on my off day or should i run this 7 days a week? Or cut back on carbs on the off day?

[Windex]

Thank you Windex. I am on board with cutting down the protein- I've made some adjustments:

- Upgraded Bread - Going with Powerseed - Daves Killer Bread
- Swapped out chicken on my 3rd meal for Ribeye Pork Chops - Increased fat and decreased protein slightly
- Took out a few shakes
- Added another serving of green vegetables on my 3:30 pm meal - probably broccoli.

This takes my daily totals down to the following figures 6 days a week :
Carbs - 164
Protein - 267
Fat - 94
Calories - 2832

I'm very concerned with adding any more carbohydrates- that's the one thing i know about my body- they stick to me; which leads to my next question- considering the amount of exercise I am doing and the gear intend on running (mentioned in the AAS forum) under this plan, should i still carb load on my off day or should i run this 7 days a week? Or cut back on carbs on the off day?

What type of body composition tracking have you done before, if at all, and for what period of time?

One common trap is people look at the scale way too much. They add in carbs for example, then they see the scale go up 1lb and assume they are sensitive to carbs, but they don't realize their arms are 1/8th inch bigger, legs 1/8th inch bigger, calves 1/10th inch bigger, etc but the waist+gut stayed the same (just an example). Another trap is inconsistent measurements - some eats a big cheat meal of carbs+salt at 11pm at night, wakes up at 6am bloated to shit to do a weigh in and sees the scale tip.

I'm a fan of the frozen mixed vegetable bags - usually labelled with some type of "stir fry" (assuming you like every in the bag) because it makes cooking and prep easy, rather than trying plan out 50g of broccoli, 50g of asparagus, 50g of carrots, etc at each meal. It also creates a better micronutrition profile. At my costco, there are 2 different stir fry blends, and one "california style" (carrots, cauliflower, brococli). Between the 3 bags, there's something like 8 or so different vegetables.

Can't speak to your total caloric intake without knowing your TDEE - would recommend doing that calculation. Don't get married to the number, just use it as a guideline. Nutrition really comes down to subjective trial and error, which is just unfortunately a lengthy process that favors those who are patient. After the basic common sense, there is no one size fits all, otherwise; every bodybuilder would be eating the exact same 5-6 foods, at the same time, in the same order, every day.


After optimizing your diet you should run it for a while to see how your body adjusts to the food changes. For example, you make a bunch of changes and optimize your diet and it looks good on paper so you hop into a cycle right away. Then for the first week of your cycle your bloated 24/7 and can't train effectively, wake up in the middle of the night, etc. Then you end up backtracking figuring out where the problem is. Turns out changing from whole wheat bread to milk + cereal was giving the digestion problem.

I've never responded well to carb loading, everyone's mileage may vary. I did much better with a carb cycling + priming strategy before going ketogenic. The better your nutrition and training are set up before a cycle the more success you will have during a cycle.


My best cycle I've ever was with smallest dosage of gear I've ever used - it really opened my eyes to nutrition being the end all be all for changing the body.

[Murphman9]

Thanks Windex. I have not ran a body comp in a long time. The only TDEE research I've done is online caluclators- and they range from 2800 to 4200, which is quite a spread. I weigh myself and measure certain areas at the same time each week, and since my diet is fairly static week to week, I believe I am getting a consistent evaluation. Here recently I haven't seen much movement on the tape, especially around my mid section. I am pretty sure I need to kick the carb loading day and just run the base diet I've come up with 7 days a week. I would like to look into carb cycling, but I don't know enough about it yet to really implement it. Might be a good idea once I'm done with this cycle- tweak that out before running another later this year. I've never been great on dieting- historically lots of low carb, high fat and protein plans.

[Windex]

Thanks Windex. I have not ran a body comp in a long time. The only TDEE research I've done is online caluclators- and they range from 2800 to 4200, which is quite a spread. I weigh myself and measure certain areas at the same time each week, and since my diet is fairly static week to week, I believe I am getting a consistent evaluation. Here recently I haven't seen much movement on the tape, especially around my mid section. I am pretty sure I need to kick the carb loading day and just run the base diet I've come up with 7 days a week. I would like to look into carb cycling, but I don't know enough about it yet to really implement it. Might be a good idea once I'm done with this cycle- tweak that out before running another later this year. I've never been great on dieting- historically lots of low carb, high fat and protein plans.

There is a sticky at the top of the section with a solid TDEE calculator. The midsection is one of the first areas where fat goes on and one of the last it comes off - just Mother Nature's cruel joke.

[Murphman9]

Ran the TDEE calculation and came up with approx 3,700 calories. For now, I think the 2,800 diet I have will yield some good results. I’m increasing my cardio starting this week so hopefully that will help keep things moving in the right direction.

[Windex]

Ran the TDEE calculation and came up with approx 3,700 calories. For now, I think the 2,800 diet I have will yield some good results. I’m increasing my cardio starting this week so hopefully that will help keep things moving in the right direction.

If your TDEE is 3700 then being at 2800 calories will be counterproductive. When you drop calories too low, the body fights back because it thinks it's smarter than you. It tries to bring back homeostasis by going into starvation mode. This means you lose muscle and water instead of fat. (muscle weighs more, has higher oxygen, water and blood demands, etc).

Most people do 500 caloriess less the TDEE as a baseline and adjust from there. I would read the educational threads before cycling so you have a solid educational foundation. You don't want to be the guy that kicks himself in the foot 12 weeks later saying "if I knew this or that" and fall short on your goals.

[Murphman9]

Thanks Windex. I’ll add another meal into the mix and get the calories up over 3000. I spent some time reading a few sticky’s and it’s been very helpful. I’m going to be fluid with it and try to dial it in over the coming weeks.