ExRx.net

Hi all,

Aiming to have a 3-5% body fat reduction by loosing 6-7lbs over the next 8-10 weeks (starts Monday, lowered my sugar right down this week to get ready but not dropped cals)

Quick things I have in mind:
-Breakfast will be 3 eggs for the next 10 weeks, oh the boredem :)
- I snack on cheddar and fruit at the moment - this will become chicken/tuna and broccoli monday
- I intend to eat peanut butter when I am hungry instead of milk, I will increase omega 3 capsules, basically Im going to take 6 a day - that sound sensible/about right factoring in the extra omega 6 intake?
- currently fluctuate between 3000/3500 calories, occasional fluctuations (weekend can be a bit random, less scheduled) - the cut will be 2500 calories max, possibly 2000. Are those numbers reasonable?
- Refeed on Wednesday and Sunday - Wednesday 3000 calories including milk, Sunday as high as 3300. Is this an excessive amount for a refeed or does it sound right?

My routine:
I currently do 5/3/1 with pretty generic accessory not worth specifying - body builder back/shoulder stuff, make sure I hit triceps twice blah blah.
I will be choosing my favorite/most benneficial 1-2 accessories and keeping them up - but I will be dropping 2-3 accessories to allow for HIIT/complexes.

Hope this isnt too long winded but heres the routine then...

Mon:OHP - Tricep overhead cables - Rear/lat flies Complex
Tue: Deadlift - Pullups - Dumbell rows - HIIT (Not looking forward to this day )
Th: Bench - Cable Ab pullins - Dumbell incl bench - Complex
Fri: Squat - Cleans - Rear delt flies/rows - HIIT

Oh... my macro ratio - not much change - My carbs will come from green veg and the occasional piece of fruit - Broccoli and kale a-plenty. Gunna make sure I get sardines in twice a week too - easy enough...

Anyway - cutting "noob" - give me your tips/critique of my amazing plan - anything I have missed/anything you found useful?

Ta

Looks good. Add some veg and herbs, etc to the eggs to make them more interesting.

I'm not a big fan of peanut butter or peanuts in general. Better would be to snack on mixed nuts, almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazlenuts and cashews. Best are the ones that come in the shell. When you have to crack them before eating, it's easier not to just mindless eat them. From a cutting point of view, it may not make a difference, I'm thinking long term health. At the very least, get all natural PB as normal stuff has added hydrogenated oils and sugar. Of course you have to stir up the oil. Keep it in the fridge.

Why low dairy? You have cheese and milk in here. Do you have issues or concerns?

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

nuts are very high calorie, just sayin...

Small amounts can help in fat loss since they are more filling than the same amount of carb calories and they provide nutrient that help control cravings.

http://www.drbriffa.com/2008/10/06/why- ... principle/

Robert, don't worry too much about the O6 in nuts. It's usually accompanied with vitamin E which prevents oxidization of the O6 which is what causes the damage and raises your LDLs. The fish oil won't hurt, but it's not as good as fish.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
_________________
Thanks TimD

Yea thats a good point, I should add spinach to my eggs - any herb tips? off the top of my head can't think of one for breakfast eggs.

I don't have milk and cheese in the cut plan - I do now (current diet), but I am replacing cheese with lean meat (reasonably lean anyway - It wont be too strict - but mostly chicken), and the milk with peanut butter, or as you say, mixed nuts, budget permitting! :).

The no dairy thing is a long story (so feel free to skip this bit ) - I am going through a process of elimination in my diet to see if it improves my complexion/blood pressure/energy levels - they aren't horrendous or in need of medical attention but I feel for the effort I put in to my training, the quality and balance of my diet etc, I should be better off. The next suspect is not enough sunlight though, between September and march working as late as 6pm I essentially never see daylight - I might spend one "day" out at the weekend, but the only thing I can do for that is $h1t like a Red/blue lamp or UV (i.e. sunbed) or even a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lamp and to be honest I doubt they would do the trick, obviously not the blood pressure.

Anyway, all part of a bigger picture, a vague one at that, to work at/experiment with training and diet to find out if I can improve things, whether they be mood, energy levels or aesthetics.

Yea no worries, I get quite geeky with my numbers/spreadsheets so I have a decent idea of what calories are in what, and in the end, it doesnt matter how many calories are in something as long as you understand how much its contributing to your calorie budget.

OK, that makes sense. It is a good idea to try an elimnation diet since dairy could very well cause some of those problems. I was going to suggest butter and whey+cream instead of milk while on a cut. While you're on the elimination diet, consider coconut oil for cooking.

There are a number of herbs that you could try that will give different flavours. Parsley is an easy addition, mild flavor, goes good with garlic. You could try chile style eggs with oregano, cumin and cayenne. Basil would be good with tomatoes if you want a little italian flavor. Tumeric would give a little Indian style. Try a different herb or spice each time and see how it tastes, then try some combinations. Different ones seem to go with different vegetables so experimentation is good.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
_________________
Thanks TimD

dill pairs well with eggs

so do mushrooms

hollaindaisse, yum.

Cheers Stuward and hehe yea Oscar, unfortunately my mad obsession with mayo will also be taking a hit during this phase. Ahh well... only 10 weeks worth give or take a couple.. always have my refeed days for a bit of *cringes at the weight watches term* "cheating"

hollandaisse for me is just Eggs + Butter + Lemon juice, cayene pepper, nutmeg, fresh herb (terragon), s&p

You will learn a lot about yourself by cutting bodyfat. Instead of giving you a specific workout, calorie target, or macronutrient profle, I will pass on a few words to keep in mind.

1. Don't think you know how much weight you have to lose. I know some people who lose 6 lbs and they tighten up and look great. Others drop way, way, way more than they ever thought they needed to. It depends on how much water and internal fat you carry--water especially.

2. Be willing to change your diet. You have chosen a relatively low carb route, which is popular right now. Some people live perpetually on meat and veggies and feel fine. Others feel like they are going to pass out, their muscles go flat, and their workouts suffer. You have to figure out what works for you and don't just stick to something because it's in vogue. There were and are plenty of people who get ripped on low fat, higher carb diets and feel great. (Am I the only one who remembers bodybuilding in the 80s and 90s? Ha)

3. Know the difference between muscle loss and strength performance. I've never been as strong at under 6% BF as say 10%. Part of that is loss of bulk from around joints. As you lose fat and fluids from all over your body your joints will hollow out and you will lose compression. That compression helps in strength performance--how much you can lift. Theoretically, you could have as much protein elements firing, but the loss of joint compression alone would cause your lifting performance to suffer. It also means that your joints will not be as stable, so you have to be extra cautious. Fast twitch bodies with low bodyfat are built for speed and agility--think sprinter/ wide receiver. Fast twitch bodies with bulk--fat and water- are built for power--think strong man/powerlifter, linebacker. If you're going from 7% to 5%, things won't change that much in this regard. If you're going from 12% to 6%, the difference could be dramatic. The other way you lose strength, of course, is if you're burning off muscle. Knowing the difference is a bit of art.

I've done it the wrong way--lost muscle. I've done it the right way--didn't lose much muscle. The difference for me, was adopting a lifestyle change, versus bulking up and then trying to diet--basically staying lean year round and then only losing 5-8lbs when I want to look sharp. That's what I would recommened even though I said I wouldn't recommend anything.

4. Know when to stop. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make. They reach their goal, and then keep going. That's when you really flatten out and start to lose muscle. In other words, don't starve yourself.

5. Be willing to change your program. HIIT is big now. Complexes are part of the HIIT movement. Like diet, find what works for you. You might find HIIT doesn't for a variety of reasons. You might like long slow cardio and a traditional weight lifting routine--which works too (e.g. walk, bike, swim, or other cardio for 45 minutes in the morning and lift weights 3 days a week after work). It's not just what works, it's partly what you enjoy and what you will stick with. Not everybody enjoys HIIT. Some like getting in the zone on a steady cardio session, and that's ok.

So, in sum, if you are new to cutting, then welcome to the journey. That's the point of my post--you will learn so much about your body when you lose bodyfat. It's kind of a self actualization experience. I think that getting and staying lean tells you what your "true weight" is, what your muscles really look like, what foods jive with your body and mind. So many people force themselves to be a heavy weight, when, in reality they are a middle weight or even a light weight--that eats too much. You can find that out about yourself when you lean out. It's easy (and fun) to eat 4,000 calories a day and lift heavy weights, but leaning out requires a lot of thought, commitment, and self exploration. Congrats on the undertaking.

that's a really interesting post. I didn't know that about the vitamin E, but I'm glad you said that. I eat a TON of nuts and I was worried about the O6

I eat a lot of real fatty meat when cutting. It lets me get full on much less food. With lots of carbs I can eat 2K calories in one meal no problem. Fatty meats, it would be just about impossible for me to eat half that. Then just eating enough to be satisfied, that's a whole other story. I can eat 400 calories of it, and be fine. So I think it not only give you a bit of metabolic advantage due to the slower digestion and lower efficiency, but allows you to eat much less and stick with it.

Kept getting half way through responding and getting swamped at work!

Appreciate input guys and all the pointers from Drake - It will be about experimenting I wont be too stubborn :) but I have found in the past HIIT did really help the BF% but that was from something massive like 21%>16% so who knows when I start to get into the 11-13% area - I love to cycle and its getting warmer now, wont be long until I go to work (6-7 miles) so that should add to the typical cardio aspect.


That does worry me a bit - but I'm going for a somewhat safe 10-11% body fat, and *hope* your loss issues were going from around that to 6-7% (i.e. not much risk of me suffering the same fate). I also hope that 8-10 weeks is a good steady pace.

But eventually I think I will have that approach, the "generally lean" all year round. Because to be honest my strength goals have never been massive, just to comfortably pass above average (using the EXRX standards for intermediate) - a couple of my lifts are a fair bit higher now, so I'm happy, I definately feel stronger than 95% of my friends (sounds egotistical but I'm just comparing myself to general population / my former strength for the sake of progress measuring) and that's all I was going for - practical strength and a decent sort of manual laborer grip/core strength (as I'm a lazy office worker :) ). So it would be more of a rough but fairly clean carb cycle then.

I don't expect myself to be much stronger next year, but I expect to be leaner - better form - slightly lighter and fitter in a cardio sense - I have the patience to do it right but obviously not the experience so ... same old same old, lift eat and learn!