DIET HELP

Diet and Nutrition
1

Okay so I stopped messing around with my diet recently and decided to try and seriously strip off some fat

My BF% at the moment is 13.74 at 88kg of bodyweight
My macros have been…

at least 250g protein

130g Carbohydrate

120g Fat

I Lift three times a week, train with my rugby club twice a week and play on the weekend.

My question/questions are do you think with the training i have to do each day, do I need to alter my macros ?

And… I’ve read through articles on elitefts
T-Nation etc. and many support the notion of cutting up before bulking. Is it worth dieting down to about 10% and then bulking, or would it be more beneficial for me to bulk up for a while and then cut up when I have more LBM ?

2

Is your lifting for rugby? If you were training for a sport my guess would be your nutrition and level of training is in place to make you better at the sport.

How did you get such an accurate measurement for BF?

Bulking and cutting guidelines should be determined when you’ve determined what LBM you want to carry and iterate over the course of months to achieve it. Numbers like 10% are arbitrary and are based more on you than what we think.

3

Looks excellent for non-training periods, but I’d increase the carbs within the peri-workout window

4

My lifting is for rugby focusing on strength & power mostly with size just gradually coming on. and my nutrition is to help me with my sport, last time I managed to drop some of the puppy fat I held on to I got quite a bit quicker, so I was hoping by getting down to a respectable level would give me that increase again (And see if there are some abs under there)
using a 9 site pollocks caliper test I know its not deadly accurate I really think it’s higher more in the mid to high 14% range.
And I need to ideally be at a weight of 15 stonne within the next couple of years to play the sport at a higher standard, so a lower BF would be good, but I’m unsure of whether to cut down now and then start packing on size, or forget about deiting down for now and bulk?

5

I’d just bulk. I think the concept of dieting down before bulking only applies when you’re like 20% or higher.

6

youre 1kg heavier than me . what you wrote in your op is almost the same as what i do but i have a bit less fat and when im dieting that has me losing about 1 lb ( half a kilo) a week . its slow but i only lose a tiny amount of muscle or strength .

i IF (16/8) when dieting and all my training is fasted except for 10g bcaa pre w/o then 75% of my daily carbs are directly pwo the other 25% 2 hours later and the rest of the day all other carbs are from veg’s .
when bulking ill go to about 18% then switch n get back down to about 10% .

7

I’d just eat for your sport. Keep training, keep lifting and eat enough food to supply your energy needs. If your goals aren’t physique oriented (i.e competing in body building) I don’t understand why you would be so concerned about bf%. If you start looking fatter than you like train more or eat less, it’s pretty simple.

8

Okay I think I’ll probably try bulking up a bit and just keep and eye on my bodyfat via the calipers and adjust as needed.

At the moment I haven’t really been putting a restriction on fats as long as its over 90 grams and not at a ridiculous amount it’s been fine, if I bring carbs up would the fats need to come down ??