I need Help with cutting guys.

[poloblue22]

Alright guys I need help with cutting back. I read the sticky on cutting and understand the fundementals. First of all here is where I am at right now.

Weight - 221lbs
BF - 18.9% - 19%

My goal is to get my body fat down to around 13% while keeping most of my strenght/muscle. I am a college student so I can only really get three meals a day and my cafe serves a lot of carbs. My question is what should I have in between the meals that will keep my metabolism up and also how many calories should I be taking in a day. Also I was looking into Carb cycling as an option.

As far as my training itself, how much cardio should I be doing and what about my reps and sets for weights. Should I lift as hard as I am right now and do less reps or lift light and do more sets and reps.

As for supplements, I take 6caps of fish oil a day and 2 tabs of multi vitamins.

 

[poloblue22]

Anyone any suggestions?

 

[garethhe]

Anyone any suggestions?

Here's what I would do if I were in your shoes...

The first thing I would do is figure out how many calories I am burning daily. One useful measure is called the Basal Metabolic Rate--this will tell you how many calories your body is using just to stay alive, basically. Then, add the calories you are burning through your normal daily activities. Finally, add whatever calories you are burning through cardio/weight training.

There are a ton of websites out there that have calculators for just this sort of thing. I've been using www.fitday.com for this, among other things. For an example, I've been burning about 3500 calories per day (my "maintenance rate").

Once you know your maintenance rate, then the basic rule of thumb is to take in 300-500 fewer daily calories than your maintenance rate. It is generally believed that a larger calorie deficit will lead to significant muscle loss. This is exactly what happened to me last year when I got overzealous in my weight loss program. I did A LOT of running, and I've calculated that I was running at about a 1,800 DAILY calorie deficit. I got shredded, but also lost a lot more muscle than I should have.

About your weight training, while cutting it is important to lift heavy. If, instead, you lift light with more reps, your body will lose incentive to keep your current muscle. Basically, your body will say to itself "okay, we're not using these particular muscles, so lets convert them into energy to make up for this calorie deficit" (aka catabolism). Realistically, being on a sustained calorie deficit will hurt one's endurance (at least, for most folks), so you might well find yourself doing fewer reps than you would be able to on a bulk. Nonetheless, keep those weights at least as heavy as before to protect your muscle.

About your cardio, my suggestion is to do as little cardio as you can while still getting results. The problem with prolonged steady-state cardio is that it promotes muscle catabolism. Say you go running for an hour. Once your glycogen stores are depleted (say within 20 minutes), your body will have to turn to one of two places for energy: your body fat, or your body muscle. With steady-state cardio, your body will dip into both. HIIT--"high intensity interval training"--on the other hand, is a great way to cardio while on a cut. For example, if you were to run, try running as fast as you can for a short period of time, then jog for a while to recover, then run as fast as you can again, then jog for a while to recover, and so on. It is short in terms of duration (thus minimizing catabolism) but long on metabolic boosts (that is, HIIT will speed up your metabolism long after you're done exercising).

There are quite a few threads here that discuss all the stuff above in much more detail. Whatever might interest you, search it. And if I've messed anything up in the details, anybody, please go ahead and correct me.

Good luck to you!

 

[poloblue22]

Well here are some of the figues I just want to make sure I have these right.

My BMR = 2240.4

According to the calculator my Daily calorie intake should be around 3397.5

And my target weight lose is around 2lbs per week, and it recommended I cut 500 calories per pound I want to lose, since I want to lose just a bit over 2lbs to be in my goal range that would be a decrease of 1200.

So if I didn't do much of lifting or anything here would be the figures.
DCI = 3397.5
-BMR=2240.4
-decrease of calories = 1200

The daily deficit would be -42.9 but this will increase according to what I am doing that day.

 

[NEW_IN_THE_GAME]

I would say protein bars, shakes, and meal replacements between meals. Half way between meals have a scoop of protein in milk or water. And before bed have a low carb mrp with water.

 

[garethhe]

Well here are some of the figues I just want to make sure I have these right.

My BMR = 2240.4

According to the calculator my Daily calorie intake should be around 3397.5

And my target weight lose is around 2lbs per week, and it recommended I cut 500 calories per pound I want to lose, since I want to lose just a bit over 2lbs to be in my goal range that would be a decrease of 1200.

So if I didn't do much of lifting or anything here would be the figures.
DCI = 3397.5
-BMR=2240.4
-decrease of calories = 1200

The daily deficit would be -42.9 but this will increase according to what I am doing that day.

You're taking your maintenance rate (3400) and taking away your basal rate (2240) and then taking away 1200 to end up with a negative deficit. This math does not make sense to me.

From what I understand, you're saying you want a 1200 daily calorie deficit, in order to lose a bit over 2 lbs per week. That part makes mathematical sense. Your maintenance rate is apparently 3400 calories. Take your goal deficit away from your maintenance rate, so 3400-1200=2200....making 2200 calories your goal for daily intake. Isn't that the bottom line?

If so, you might want to try that out for a couple weeks, tracking your weight once per week (at the same time of the same day on the same scale, etc), and seeing how your weight moves. If you're indeed losing a bit over 2 lbs per week, then you'll know all the numbers are perfect. If you've lost less or more, then you can adjust accordingly from there.

One word of caution, if you have a 1200 daily calorie deficit (and doubly so if you're not hitting the weights hard), you should expect to lose muscle as well as fat. And the more muscle you lose, the slower your metabolism will become. In the long run, this tends to become a vicious cycle. This is why slower weight loss (such a 1 lb per week) is advised for some.