Hi all, I finally got my working out back on track and am looking for help and critique in getting my nutrition back in check as well. So I workout 4x a week and do some form of cardio 3-4x a week for about 1hr/1.5hr each. My stats are: 6’ - 180lb ~20-25% BF. After using different calculators and guess work from my month of Dec I came up with a maintain value of 2200-2300 calories.
Cutting TOTAL
2000Cal ~147P, 224C, 52F
Slow Bulking/Maintenance Meal Plan
NEW TOTAL
2600Cal ~157P, 339C, 70F
Faster Bulker Plan - 200-300Cals more
Same as Slow Bulking, add dinner carbs and snack nuts
I’m thinking that the working out and cardio will subtract another 200-300 Calories a day so Ill be at 1700-1800 Calories giving me a relaxed 500 calorie deficit when cutting. Im thinking of do that to get back down to 165-170 and under 20% BF before I change the meal plan to slow bulking. Is my thinking correct or should I just stay around 2300-2600 until August when I want to start cutting for my cousin’s wedding?
The one thing I thought about that might not be so good is that Ill be have over 2500mg of sodium a day because of my lunch. Is the sodium really going to hurt me that much in the short/long run? My main question is if I should be cutting first or not to get to a lower BF before trying to lean gain? Or am I just thinking too much and just wait to cut when August comes around?