Cut, Bump and Blitz for a Female

Diet and Nutrition
1

Alright, so I’ve recently been trying to change up my nutrition. I’ve been in the process of trying to lean out and now I’d like to build some muscle but still somewhat maintain my lean figure. I’ve also always wanted to try carb cycling.

I love the idea of a planned out schedule of cut days and refeed days. I came across this cut, bump and blitz nutrition and it seemed pretty ideal for me. I’ve been having a hell of a time creating the ideal nutrition plan for it though.

I’ve 120lbs, 5’4 Female. If you guys could take a look at least and give me some ideas, feedback and advice…that’d be awesome. This is only my nutrition for cut days…bump and blitz days I’ll just add the necessary adjustments.

Meal 1 - 1 Cup Egg Whites, 2 cheesesticks, 1 serving peanut butter.

Meal 2 - 4oz chicken

Meal 3 - 5oz chicken with 30 calories of green veggies

Meal 4 - Protein Shake

Meal 5 - 5oz chicken with 60 calories of green veggies

Meal 6 - Casein Protein Shake

Pre Work Out - 15g dextrose
Post work out - 15g of dextrose

This totals out to be 1320 Calories, 185g Protein, 37g Fat, 60g Carbs

My bump day will be the same except Meal one will not include cheesesticks and it will include one cup of oatmeal. ill increase my servings of veggies and my meal three will have 40g of starchy carbs and my meal four will include a piece of fruit.

2

Looks good. I’m a big fan of carb cycling–worked really well for me. Best of luck, and be sure to post updates.

3

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Looks good. I’m a big fan of carb cycling–worked really well for me. Best of luck, and be sure to post updates.[/quote]

I started it on Monday and Im really excited to see how it works out! Im a little conflicted on what to eat on my blitz day though. Should I indulge in some dirty carbs or stay pretty clean?? Getting in 480g of carbs is going to be a difficult task. I have the first 250 covered but the other 230 are going to be challenging. Whats your advice??

4

How about semi-dirty? I’m thinking low-fat, high-carb treats–eg, angel-food cake with low-fat chocolate ice cream, low-fat pop-tarts, etc. Nom.

5

Liv, Welcome!

Thanks for posting. I’m really interested in how this works for you. I’ve been futzing around with trying some carb cycling myself, although my plans are on hold at the moment. Don’t ask. I want to go at it in earnest soon.

I was curious about how long the cycle is. How many low-carb days you will try before you bump carbs? I assume the blitz part is a refeed. Will you let your calories go up a lot on those days? How often, and are they timed with training? My problem is I really, really like big refeed days, and then I like to sit around the pool with a book. :slight_smile:

As for you plan - I calculated the macros on your cut days as listed. Your percentages are 56p/18c/25f. It’s low carb for sure, but I think you have enough fats in there. At least 25% is often used as a guideline for optimal hormonal function I believe. 56% pro is high, but I’m often higher than the average bear on my protein percentage too. I think a lot of smaller women are in that boat, and I don’t think it’s a problem. Go to it! Let us know how it goes.

Also, there’s a Directory of Women’s Logs thread in the Powerful Women Forum if you want to connect with some of the other women here. We’re a bit spread out so if you put up a log, please post up a link or stop by and introduce yourself.

Puff

6

I realize that this is essentially your ‘low’ day, but even though your food choices seem quite sound, this seems quite a low amount of total calories IMO. While I can’t cite the actual studies, Berardi’s trusty ol’ PN book smartly points out that when your caloric intake reaches near the 1000-1200 calorie range, your resting metabolic rate drop drastically.

Other texts have proposed slightly higher ranges from such extreme cutting of calories, but the point is that you can only drop ingested nutrients so far before you do serious damage to your metabolic rate as well as get no closer to your fat loss goals.
Also, the fact that your tallying calories from your green vegetables means that due to the fiber content, the actual amount of useable nutrition you’re ingesting is even less than your proposed #s.

While your non-cut day has a bit more carbs (good call), I would guess that the overall calories aren’t much higher.

Where did you get the number you used to calculate this diet?

S

7

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Liv, Welcome!

Thanks for posting. I’m really interested in how this works for you. I’ve been futzing around with trying some carb cycling myself, although my plans are on hold at the moment. Don’t ask. I want to go at it in earnest soon.

I was curious about how long the cycle is. How many low-carb days you will try before you bump carbs? I assume the blitz part is a refeed. Will you let your calories go up a lot on those days? How often, and are they timed with training? My problem is I really, really like big refeed days, and then I like to sit around the pool with a book. :slight_smile:

As for you plan - I calculated the macros on your cut days as listed. Your percentages are 56p/18c/25f. It’s low carb for sure, but I think you have enough fats in there. At least 25% is often used as a guideline for optimal hormonal function I believe. 56% pro is high, but I’m often higher than the average bear on my protein percentage too. I think a lot of smaller women are in that boat, and I don’t think it’s a problem. Go to it! Let us know how it goes.

Also, there’s a Directory of Women’s Logs thread in the Powerful Women Forum if you want to connect with some of the other women here. We’re a bit spread out so if you put up a log, please post up a link or stop by and introduce yourself.

Puff [/quote]

Hey girl. Im excited to see how it works out as well. My cycle will look like this…Monday and Tuesdays will be my cut days, Wednesday will be my bump day followed by Thursday and Friday being cut days, Saturday being my blitz day followed by Sunday, Monday, Tuesday being cut days and so forth. My bump day, I up my carbs to 250g and on my blitz day I up my carbs to 480g. My blitz day will actually be my rest day and Ill utilize my carbs on Sunday for leg day. My calories will most likely be in the 3000 on blitz day.

8

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I realize that this is essentially your ‘low’ day, but even though your food choices seem quite sound, this seems quite a low amount of total calories IMO. While I can’t cite the actual studies, Berardi’s trusty ol’ PN book smartly points out that when your caloric intake reaches near the 1000-1200 calorie range, your resting metabolic rate drop drastically.

Other texts have proposed slightly higher ranges from such extreme cutting of calories, but the point is that you can only drop ingested nutrients so far before you do serious damage to your metabolic rate as well as get no closer to your fat loss goals.
Also, the fact that your tallying calories from your green vegetables means that due to the fiber content, the actual amount of useable nutrition you’re ingesting is even less than your proposed #s.

While your non-cut day has a bit more carbs (good call), I would guess that the overall calories aren’t much higher.

Where did you get the number you used to calculate this diet?

S[/quote]

On my bump day, I actually up my calories to 2140 calories and on my blitz day, i’ll probably be somewhere in the 3000…considering the large amount of carbs Ill be taking in. Im aiming for 1.5g of protein per lb, .5g of fat per lb and .5g of carb per lb on my cut days. However, from what I’ve been reading, cut days on carb cycling…your fat should be pretty low…so as you can tell…its a little less than .5g per lb.

The only way I can really up my calories is by increasing my veggies…which increases my carbs to more than .5g per lb or increase my protein. Which I could do. Before I started carb cycling…I ate 6 meals a day and around 100g of carbs, 150-160g of protein and around 32g of fat. Id add one cheat meal a week with this nutrition (Just some background info).

9

Here’s my bump day, for some more info.

Bump Day

Meal One
1 Cup Egg Whites
1 Serving Peanut Butter
1 Cup Oatmeal

Meal Two
4oz Chicken
271g Green Veggies

Meal Three
5oz Chicken
81g Green Veggies
2 Pieces of Whole Wheat Toast or 5oz Sweet Potato

Meal Four
Protein Powder
Large Banana Or Apple

Meal Five
5oz Chicken
271g Green Veggies

Meal Six
Casein Protein

Pre Work Out - 7 Tbsp Dextrose
Post Work Out - 7 Tbsp Dextrose

Meal One
140 Calories, 27g Protein, 2g Carb
190 Calories, 9g Protein, 16g Fat, 7g Carb
300 Calories, 10g Protein, 6g Fat, 54g Carb

Meal Two
130 Calories, 24g Protein, 3g Fat
100 Calories, 3g Protein, 17g Carb

Meal Three
160 Calories, 30g Protein, 4g Fat
30 Calories, 1g Protein, 5g Carb
200 Calories, 10g Protein, 3g Fat, 40g Carb

Meal Four
120 Calories, 24g Protein, 1g Fat, 4g Carb
120 Calories, 31g Carb

Meal Five
160 Calories, 30g Protein, 4g Fat
100 Calories, 3g Protein, 17g Carb

Meal Six
120 Calories, 24g Protein, 1g Fat, 3g Carb

Pre Work Out - 115 Calories, 35g Carb
Post Work Out - 115 Calories, 35g Carb

Total Macros
2140 Calories, (780 Calories) 195g Protein, (333 Calories) 37 Fat, (1000 Calories) 250g Carb

10

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I realize that this is essentially your ‘low’ day, but even though your food choices seem quite sound, this seems quite a low amount of total calories IMO. While I can’t cite the actual studies, Berardi’s trusty ol’ PN book smartly points out that when your caloric intake reaches near the 1000-1200 calorie range, your resting metabolic rate drop drastically…

While your non-cut day has a bit more carbs (good call), I would guess that the overall calories aren’t much higher.

S[/quote]

Stu,

I’m interested in your opinion since you have so much more experience with this.

She’s 5’4" and 120.

Her calorie schedule is:

1320 Sun, Mon, Tues. 2140 on Wed. 1320 Thur, Fri. 3000 Sat.

Do you still think 1320 is too low on her cut days? Would you still be concerned with loss of muscle, and metabolic slow down? I would think she’d be alright, but as I recall, you started Cat out on closer to 1700 calories per day probably without any big cheat days?

11

@Liv- your ‘bump’ days look much better. Just glad to see there is some degree of fluctuation there as your ‘low’ #s were fairly low IMO. Your Blitz day has a pretty substantial amount of calories compared to your other days. Usually, people who engage in a cyclical approach will have their ‘high’ days closer to their actual maintenance intakes, or only a slight bit higher. Remember that your overall goal is fat loss, and while nutrient bump ups can provide a lot of benefit, you don’t want to go beyond the point of what is helping into what becomes indulgence. While I understand your desire to get in as many carbs as you can, realize that with such a large amount of carbs on that day that you can drop your protein intake with no ill effect. I’ve had high carb days myself where I’m choking down 400g a day, and my protein intake is maybe 200-225g for the entire day (and I usually weigh about 205 lbs). This balancing act of macros still gives the body what it needs, provides a little ‘hormonal reset’, and the added mental break is amazingly helpful during the long slow process of intelligent fat loss.

@Puff- I believe that you can certainly drop #s pretty low (provided adequate nutrition of course) for a day or two here and there, but I’ve always erred on the side of caution with my own approach. Cat’s average (‘baseline’) days during her recent prep were between ~1750-~1850. Her low days never dropped below ~1500-1600 but obviously I shuffled macros around as we needed. Her ‘high’ or refeed days were closer to ~2000-2100. Now, while the basic calorie breakdown may not seem like a huge variance, the carbs differences were very different.

My personal approach with my clients as well as myself was to have a plan. The idea of following a diet and then a big ‘cheat’ day with no real rules (like I’ve seen many inexperienced people do) risks the possibility of going over that line where the added influx of nutrients serves a beneficial purpose in the overall process.

S

12

1320 cals @ 120# is 11 cals/lb, which is not crazy-low for a cut day. And she won’t run this low more than three days in a row, so it’s not likely to push her off a hormonal cliff.

Per Puff’s calcs above, Liv will consume 1320 cals five days/week, 2140 one day, and 3000 one day, for a weekly grand total of 11,740. This averages out at ~1677/day, or 14 cal/lb/d. Assuming maintenance needs of 15 cal/lb/d (on workout days), she will run a weekly caloric deficit of 11,740 - 12,600 = 860 (if she exercises every day). So from a weekly perspective, her deficit plan is VERY conservative, and would be expected to produce fat loss at a rate of just under .25 lb/week.

So while I’m not as concerned as Stu about the 1320 being too low on the Cut days, I do share his concern about 3000 being too high on the Blitz days.

(Edited to correct a BIG math error.)

13

After a week of doing carb cycling, I can tell you that it’s enough to show me that I don’t like it!

I’m not a fan of having to plan out my work outs around my nutrition. I can say, after my blitz day, I had a killer leg work out. Anyways, for trying to put on size, I can see that this will not be ideal for me. Thank you for all your input though! It helped a great deal.

14

@Liv- Ideally you could just keep the same basic diet every day, with just a slight adjustment to peri-workout #s. For example, my basic contest diet (low, medium and high days) would entail the same meals each day, BUT what I would take before and during my training would change. Low days would involve 1 Finibar before and just MAG-10 during. Medium Days would be 3 Finibars and Anaconda and MAG-10. High Days would be 3 Finibars and Anaconda + MAG-10 + Surge Workout Fuel.

So the differences in my daily totals would be solely coming from the small period around what my training for the day was scheduled to be. Not really as complicated as some people might think it would be :slight_smile:

S