Review My Plan for Cutting

Hello, firstly I would like to thank those who take time to read my post and help guide me through my first cut. I understand the importance of the time and knowledge that you are offering freely and have researched in depth before posting here so as to not waste it.

I have never done a cut before so what I would like is for those more experienced than I am at cutting, to review my plan and give me some tips/modifications.

Now let me explain my situation:

I´ve successfully bulked more or less cleanly for three years from 128 pounds to 172 pounds, right know im at 12-14% body fat and wish to go down to 8-10%. It may seem to many that i should bulk more before cutting but I wish to do it for three reasons:

  1. Im tired of permabulking and force feeding, i need a break
  2. My face has ballooned way too much and I wish to see myself as i was before in thtat aspect, kind of psicological
  3. I wish to learn, for when i do my next bulk and cut

I do not have enough money to buy Biotest supps right know and i am not a fan of calorie counting, thus my approach to dieting is going to be based on the following meal plan i have devised, adding or subtracting food after each weeks assessment of my weight (keping a journal of course).

DIET:

Here I have one question; im not sure how to do carb/calorie cycling on training or off days…like, by how many carbs to increase intake and when.

Meal 1: 40g oats with skimmed milk + enough whey to have 30g protein + 1 fish oil pill + multivitamin

Meal 2: 2 high protein fat free yogurts (20gprot 20g carb) + 5 walnuts

Meal3: 150 g chicken/pork + 55g basmati rice + 1 fish oil +veggies (dont count them as calories as thibadeu says)

Meal 4 (before training): 15 g whey (it has glutamine also) + 5g bcaas+5g creatine

Meal 5 (during training): 20g Bcaas in water)

Meal 6 (post training): 40-45 g whey and 40 g simple carbs (I know some say to take bcaas instead of carbs but it seems like too much Bcaa and I would like to favor carbs as Im acceptably lean which means i can take more carbs than if i were fat)

Meal 7: 200g chicken/pork + veggies with one tablespoon of olive oil + 1 fish oil

TRAINING:

My training is going to be strength focused to maintain or even gain strength. Done 3 times a week and cycling intensity throughout the weeks (Very heavy, heavy, moderate and light workouts) though always having a very heavy day each week.

An example of a week I have planned would be:

Day 1 (very heavy): Built for bad (thibadeus workout at 95% RM variation)

Day 2 (light-metabolic):

A1. Dumbell Bench press 12-15.
A2. Stepups 12-15.
A3. Dumbell row 12-15.
A4. Stiff leg deadlift 12-15.
A5. Crunches 12-15.

Done with no rest, 3 times

Day 3 (heavy):

Squat 3x4-6
Dumbell bench press 3x4-6
Weighted pullups 3x4-6
Biceps curl 3x12
Triceps extension 3x12

Thats about it, thank you very much!

You are cutting out most dietary fat which will lead to problems.

[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
You are cutting out most dietary fat which will lead to problems. [/quote]

What do you mean?

It seems low to me too, but there’s fish oil and/or olive oil and/or nuts in every meal except peri-workout.

Just trying to understand where you are coming from.

Why are you perma bulking? Why don;t you just tweak your diet? Clean it up?

You are at the body fat level that takes a little more discipline to maintain.

I don’t see anything “wrong” with it (fat free yoghurt (unless plain) is full of sugar, be careful), but only your body can tell if it is “right” for you.

The only thing I can say, is good luck.

[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
You are cutting out most dietary fat which will lead to problems. [/quote]

What changes would you recommend? That is, what foods to inclde and at what times?

[quote]JFG wrote:
Why are you perma bulking? Why don;t you just tweak your diet? Clean it up?

You are at the body fat level that takes a little more discipline to maintain.

I don’t see anything “wrong” with it (fat free yoghurt (unless plain) is full of sugar, be careful), but only your body can tell if it is “right” for you.

The only thing I can say, is good luck.[/quote]

I permabulked because i started out very skinny and have great trouble increasing weight as im an ectomorph. Thus it didnt make sense to cut if I didnt have at least some muscle. My diet is, in general, quite clean already as in my country we follow a mediterranean diet.

[quote]prometheus1 wrote:

[quote]JFG wrote:
Why are you perma bulking? Why don;t you just tweak your diet? Clean it up?

You are at the body fat level that takes a little more discipline to maintain.

I don’t see anything “wrong” with it (fat free yoghurt (unless plain) is full of sugar, be careful), but only your body can tell if it is “right” for you.

The only thing I can say, is good luck.[/quote]

I permabulked because i started out very skinny and have great trouble increasing weight as im an ectomorph. Thus it didnt make sense to cut if I didnt have at least some muscle. My diet is, in general, quite clean already as in my country we follow a mediterranean diet.[/quote]

And I’m also an ectomorph, but I have megamorph capabilities…

Just tweak your diet as needed. your body will tell you what needs to be done. Also, having a mentality of “bulking and cutting”, is counter-productive. Unless you are doing a BB show, just get the diet in order to reach your goal. No drastic measures needed.

  1. Start counting
  2. Forget what you know about clean/dirty foods

[quote]JFG wrote:

[quote]prometheus1 wrote:

[quote]JFG wrote:
Why are you perma bulking? Why don;t you just tweak your diet? Clean it up?

You are at the body fat level that takes a little more discipline to maintain.

I don’t see anything “wrong” with it (fat free yoghurt (unless plain) is full of sugar, be careful), but only your body can tell if it is “right” for you.

The only thing I can say, is good luck.[/quote]

I permabulked because i started out very skinny and have great trouble increasing weight as im an ectomorph. Thus it didnt make sense to cut if I didnt have at least some muscle. My diet is, in general, quite clean already as in my country we follow a mediterranean diet.[/quote]

And I’m also an ectomorph, but I have megamorph capabilities…

Just tweak your diet as needed. your body will tell you what needs to be done. Also, having a mentality of “bulking and cutting”, is counter-productive. Unless you are doing a BB show, just get the diet in order to reach your goal. No drastic measures needed.[/quote]

Im not doing anything drastic, when i speak of bulking i mean a caloric surplus (I´ve gained at a 0,5 pound week rate) and when i speak of cutting i mean keeping a caloric deficit.

As to counting calories, I do not think it necessary for my goal as i dont look to get to super lean levels and I think it can become obsessive. I do NOT wish to pass my life counting calories.

I know that some people say a calorie is a calorie and some dont, the fact is, if im going to be in a deficit (and thus, eating less) healthy foods will likely fill me more thatn dirty ones.

[quote]prometheus1 wrote:
Here I have one question; im not sure how to do carb/calorie cycling on training or off days…like, by how many carbs to increase intake and when.
[/quote]

This: The Carb Cycling Codex

If you don’t like doing the calculations, I made an Excel sheet based on that article that lays everything out for you… You just put in your info (weight, BF%, etc.) and it tells you how many calories you need to gain, lose and maintain, as well as how many grams of carbs/protein/fats to eat on high carb, low carb and moderate carb days and how to split them up. If you want it, PM me and I can email it to you.

[quote]JaggedG wrote:

[quote]prometheus1 wrote:
Here I have one question; im not sure how to do carb/calorie cycling on training or off days…like, by how many carbs to increase intake and when.
[/quote]

This: The Carb Cycling Codex

If you don’t like doing the calculations, I made an Excel sheet based on that article that lays everything out for you… You just put in your info (weight, BF%, etc.) and it tells you how many calories you need to gain, lose and maintain, as well as how many grams of carbs/protein/fats to eat on high carb, low carb and moderate carb days and how to split them up. If you want it, PM me and I can email it to you.[/quote]

I would love to have a gander at this spreadsheet however you can’t send PM’s unless you’re a level 5.

[quote]prometheus1 wrote:

[quote]JFG wrote:

[quote]prometheus1 wrote:

[quote]JFG wrote:
Why are you perma bulking? Why don;t you just tweak your diet? Clean it up?

You are at the body fat level that takes a little more discipline to maintain.

I don’t see anything “wrong” with it (fat free yoghurt (unless plain) is full of sugar, be careful), but only your body can tell if it is “right” for you.

The only thing I can say, is good luck.[/quote]

I permabulked because i started out very skinny and have great trouble increasing weight as im an ectomorph. Thus it didnt make sense to cut if I didnt have at least some muscle. My diet is, in general, quite clean already as in my country we follow a mediterranean diet.[/quote]

And I’m also an ectomorph, but I have megamorph capabilities…

Just tweak your diet as needed. your body will tell you what needs to be done. Also, having a mentality of “bulking and cutting”, is counter-productive. Unless you are doing a BB show, just get the diet in order to reach your goal. No drastic measures needed.[/quote]

Im not doing anything drastic, when i speak of bulking i mean a caloric surplus (I�´ve gained at a 0,5 pound week rate) and when i speak of cutting i mean keeping a caloric deficit.

As to counting calories, I do not think it necessary for my goal as i dont look to get to super lean levels and I think it can become obsessive. I do NOT wish to pass my life counting calories.

I know that some people say a calorie is a calorie and some dont, the fact is, if im going to be in a deficit (and thus, eating less) healthy foods will likely fill me more thatn dirty ones.[/quote]

It’s not like your life passes away in front of you when you count calories. Just learn the caloric weight of the things you eat, and keep a mental track. It doesn’t have to be a hundred percent precise.

Of course you want to make sure your deficit is kept. A banana and a piece of bread is enough to set back a 500 kcal cut.

At 185 lb, 177 cm., 12-15 % bf, I cut at 2500, sometimes going down to 2300 the last few weeks.
You’ll be surprised how little food that is! It is difficult to keep.

I will cut four to six weeks every 10 months or so and loose about 8 lb, making my waist 2 cm smaller and my lower abs stand out again. It also resets my metabolism, making for great gains afterwards.