Are My Low Days Too Low?

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hey guys, trying to lose some body fat but still be able to get it done in the gym and slap on any muscle I can during my fat loss. I’m currently about 210lbs So I have a calorie cycling approach and am curious if anybody else has had success with something like this. For starters I fast and only eat two meals a day not including my workout nutrition. My training for each day is as follows.

Heavy Training Day - 3 Days a week. 50 Pull ups, 5X5 of one of the following (deads, squats, bench, dips and shoulder press) 3X10 auxillary exercise, usually arms or abs. 100 push ups completed throughout the day.

Complex/Cardio Day - 2 Days a week. Set of complexes based off of the posterior chain using a routine found on T-Nation. 45 minutes incline walking. 100 push ups throughout the day.

And my nutrition is as below.

Heavy Training Day
Meal 1 - 8oz steak, 8oz, chicken, spinach, italian dressing, full fat cheese, 1/2 cup nuts

45 min Pre Workout - Finibar
During Workout - Purple Wraath
Post Workout - Surge Recovery

Meal 2 -
5 Cups Rice Chex
2 Scoops Whey Protein Powder
2 Cups chocolate almond milk

Totals for the day 3450 Calories, 115 Fat 213 Carbs 268 Protein

NUTRITION for Complex day AND off day

Meal 1 - 8oz steak, 8oz, chicken, spinach, italian dressing, full fat cheese

Meal 2 - 3 Scoops Whey Protein

Totals for the day 1380 Calories, 50 fat 13 carb 191 protein

One one training day per week I blast calories even higher as a cheat day.
The following day I engage in a full fat. So it breaks down as 3X training days with one also being a cheat, 3X low cal days a 1X no calories.

Now that you have all the information, my question is if it matters that I have a 2000 calories difference between my training and rest or complex days. Any glaring issue I am missing? Looking for advice from people who have actually done calorie cycling like this and/or are sub 10% bodyfat.

2

what is your current body fat percentage? how long have you been doing this training and nutrition program? I am currently going from 15% to sub 10% doing 16/8 fasting and cycling calories between 2500 on workout days (basic 3 day split) and 1700 on non workout days. Not cycling macros though and keeping protein at 240g day. Fat acnd carbs get split equally calorically. Then I plan to add a 24 hour fast from Sat 10pm to Sun 10pm.

3

I’m doing calorie cycling, but following a different approach, but it is working (I’m losing app. 1-2 lbs per week since JAN 1st).

Training days 4x week @ 2400-2500 calories, which is maintenance for me. On off days 3x/week, I am at 500 below maintenance (1900-2000 calories, most of the reduction comes from carbs and the rest from fat). I do some sort of conditioning on training days, usually stair runs or Airdyne for 30-45 minutes.

If I overdo it on one day, I make sure to compensate the next day so that, for the week, the total caloric intake is balanced out for the targeted deficit, which allows me to not obsess over the single daily minutia - if I’m a few hundred over from a special event or an evening snack.

4

I rather count on a weekly basis.

Much easier.

5

I’m estimating but I have to be about 15% or so right now. I have been doing this for a few weeks now.

6

I mean weekly I probably hit about 17000. As my cheat day is hugely an extra 3000 calories. Which is pretty in line with 10-12 calories per lb of body weight to lose fat. I’m just curious if I’d be better off using a flat 2400 calories instead of doing a high mixed with very low.