Cutting excess fat while on 5/3/1

Hi everyone!

My question is on appropriate dieting while on the 5/3/1 (yeah I know but I don’t have access to a Prowler here in Singapore. Gah.). I have a meet coming up in 5 months time, and I am training with Joker sets and First Set Lasts.

On the “5” weeks, I am more relaxed on Joker sets (avoids working up for singles) and puts more volume for FSL, along with assistance lifts. On “1” weeks it is the opposite, and “3” weeks the volume allocation is somewhere in between.

As I am really fat right now (5’11, 194 pounds @~20% bf), I would like to do some cutting on the fly in order to fit into a lower weight category of 182 pounds. My question is, along with the deload week, should I cut on the “5” weeks, where I would get in more volume and hence greater fat loss, or the “3” and “1” weeks, where I try and attempt for higher singles due to more Joker sets? My major concerns would be muscle loss if I cut on the “5” weeks, and stalling in strength and lift maxes if I cut on the “3” and “1” weeks.

Considering that my meet is coming soon, what would be the best course of action? I would also love to hear suggestions outside of any of the quite possibly myopic ones I’ve made.

Thanks to all who have read this post!

I would not “cut”. Hopefully you haven’t made up your mind to this effect already. You aren’t “really fat,” you are just soft and undermuscled, and that will not be remedied by a cut. Get your nutritional house in order, and focus on building your strength base and developing muscle mass (both of which take a long time,) and your body composition will take care of itself.

If you can be patient you will get a much better result in the long term. With the body composition you described, I doubt you are pursuing a national or world record, or qualifying for IPF worlds, so I don’t see where weight class is relevant. Do not sacrifice long-term progress to fit into a weight class.

Should I cut on x week vs y week? quit pussyfooting around. get it over with and get on with your life. that joey waters guy knows his shit–fat loss is diet. I define diet not as restriction, but as what you eat, kinda like the discovery channel. “The alaskan brown bear eats primarily a diet of salmon and blah, blah…” Rather than restricting food, I prefer substitution. Don’t just cut your carbs.

Replace them with red meat and as much as POSSIBLE. For your bodyweight, go with at least 3lbs of red meat per day and 1.5 sticks of butter (preferably in the form of garlic butter sauce, but if you just want to eat the butter with your hands or whatever, cool). Do this for a month. The weight will drop. After a month, get on a moderation plan (that which is outlined in 5/3/1 will work very well) that prevents you from getting fat again.
-If it’s tough to get beef in singapore, order the v-diet shit from this site. it works.
-can’t order the v-diet shit in singapore either!? research fatty fish i guess…

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I agree with what has been said. If you are 5’11" and 194 with 20% body fat, work on cleaning up your eating, not restricting it. With 5 months to work with, you have plenty enough time to drastically improve your lifts and your composition without retarded dieting, etc. eat lots of meat and veggies, cut out the processed crap, and build your strength. In fact, you might even be better doing about 3 cycles of BBB before then, and then go back to jokers for the last few cycles before the meet. That way you can concentrate on adding muscle for a while.

I would develop good eating habits.