Trying to cut to 8-10% with this diet, what are your thoughts

[philbiha]

150 lbs
5 ft 5

Im currently along 17-19% body fat

I go to gym 5 times a week, doing weight lifting
I do 3 times a week HIT training on an empty stomach (take bcaa, l-cartine before), sprints with a parachute, and sprints uphill

Here is the diet im going on, I would like to know what you guys think of it, what i should decrease or add

I plan on doing this for 3 months



36111

I eat 6 meals a day

Thanks, phil

[TT Eric]

Not enough protein, at your weight and level of activity I would go for 225g+.

Eric

[philbiha]

Should i increase the amount of proteins in each meal?

or

Should i have another chicken/fish meal? And add more protein shakes?

[TT Eric]

It's better to divide the protein and fats intake evenly in your meal. If you have 6 meals per day then take 40g of protein per meal.

Eric

[shortfatugly]

Are you taking any stims? eph and/or caffeine?
How old are you? how many years have you been training?
how long are your workouts? what is your workout pace? is it " go go go" or do you rest 1.5 - 2. minutes between sets?
what exercises do you do in your weightlifting? sets / rep scheme?
have you dieted like this before, especially while maintaining this amount of activity?
do you know what its like to eat 1200- 1800 Calories per day?

not trying to be sarcastic; not many people who are new to dieting understand what it is like to eat that little bit of food.
even seasoned competitors may dread the diet but realize it must be done so suck it up and get it done.

just wondering what level you're at in this.

[philbiha]

I take green tea in the morning
25 years old
Been training for a while, just finished 4 years with the army infantry (mostly cardio, circuit training, ruch marches) (started weight lifting 6 months ago)
I never had this type of diet before, and I just started today and its been good no craving (used to eat whatever)
Flat bench press, incline, decline, cable fly, dumbbell bench press, pushups, dips
Dumbbell curls, barbell curls, chin ups, incline dumbbell curls, barbell curls, machine curls
Shoulder press, Arnold press, shoulder press on smith machine, lateral raises
Pull ups, back raises, lat pull down, barbell shrug,
Squats, leg presses etc
The most common exercise for each muscle group
8 reps 3 sets
Sometimes i do drop set, i try to have very low rest time

3611336114361153611636117

Sorry my camera is shit...

[warlock]

Your cortisol seem to be really high.

Ditch the HIIT for low intensity cardio


I take green tea in the morning
25 years old
Been training for a while, just finished 4 years with the army infantry (mostly cardio, circuit training, ruch marches) (started weight lifting 6 months ago)
I never had this type of diet before, and I just started today and its been good no craving (used to eat whatever)
Flat bench press, incline, decline, cable fly, dumbbell bench press, pushups, dips
Dumbbell curls, barbell curls, chin ups, incline dumbbell curls, barbell curls, machine curls
Shoulder press, Arnold press, shoulder press on smith machine, lateral raises
Pull ups, back raises, lat pull down, barbell shrug,
Squats, leg presses etc
The most common exercise for each muscle group
8 reps 3 sets
Sometimes i do drop set, i try to have very low rest time

3611336114361153611636117

Sorry my camera is shit...

[philbiha]

I have been told that HIT cardio is alot better then low intensity cardio and that it will burn more calories...

Any explanation?

And also why do you think i have high cortisol levels

[Praetorian]

HIIT cardio is fine depending on your diet. You need carbs in your diet in order for HIIT not to burn muscle. If you are not having carbs then low intensity fasted cardio is the way to go.

Your meals should be balanced and equal. Three shakes and three whole food meals is fine. Go for 45g protin per meal + 15g fat + carbs only from trace source such as nuts, nut butters, veggies etc.

Avoid stimulants as they will cause an increase in cortisol and hence muscle loss. Some caffeine is ok but limit it to 200mg before cardio and 200mg before training.

Cardio should be done every day starting say 20min and increasing each week or two depending on fat loss.

P

[philbiha]

100 grams of chicken = 25 grams of protein


Is this correct?

[shortfatugly]

Warlocks comment about cortisol is based upon the fact that you carry belly fat while showing upper abs and the belly fat is low.

it doesn't have to be skyhigh or out of the range either: it could be high at the wrong times or not drop enough when it should fall.
mine was too high all the time , closer to the maximum but still in the range and didn't make a 'good fall " in the evening.

it takes a while to figure it out and then to do things to reduce the impact that cortisol has.
cortisol levels are higher in the morning than they are prior to sleeping, reaching a lower limit some hours after you have fallen asleep- for most people, most of the time.

and to make matters confusing, your cortisol levels may not be actually 'high', they may be simply too high for you.

we may be getting ahead of ourselves with this however, you should still be able to get rid of the belly fat- despite this being the place where you carry it.
if you were to take a picture from the rear, you may also carry fat on your upper hips/outer lower back. it's often the case.

so if you've just finished infantry training, when you were under a bit of stress , sleep deprivation, excessive exercise and whatever, then you may have some troubles. you haven't mentioned that you've noticed an increase in the belly fat after your infantry training, so I suspect that it's always been there.



you have picked a very stressful combination of low calorie diet & moderately high volume training protocol with the additional stress of high intensity interval cardio.

and 3 months of this.


25 grams protein ? it depends on what you buy .
Those flash frozen chicken breasts that people usually buy ( as it's cheaper ) is about 18% protein so you can round up to 20 grams protein / 100 grams chicken, if you want.
if you are buying actual chicken breasts then good quality chicken is 25-30% protein.

[shortfatugly]

36118

in this picture, is your stomach distended on purpose? did you simply completely relax your belly?
do you have any injuries to that area ?
or is this a result of your shitty camera?
I am not being a dick about this, perhaps the image is distorted or is something to do with the camera.
But it appears that you have more fat/significant protrusion on one side of your stomach than on the other.

[philbiha]

it is probably the angle that the picture was taken on...

i was flexing in that picture...

i do not buy frozen chicken breast, just regular ones

so your saying i should eat 40gram protein, and add more complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, sweet potatoes) to my diet and do slow pace cardio?

if i would weight my chicken (uncooked), to 6 oz or 171 grams would that equal to 40 grams of protein?

I know your not being a dick, you dont have to say it everytime, your trying to help me out and i appreciate your comments

[shortfatugly]

it is probably the angle that the picture was taken on...

i was flexing in that picture...

i do not buy frozen chicken breast, just regular ones

so your saying i should eat 40gram protein, and add more complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, sweet potatoes) to my diet and do slow pace cardio?

if i would weight my chicken (uncooked), to 6 oz or 171 grams would that equal to 40 grams of protein?

I know your not being a dick, you dont have to say it everytime, your trying to help me out and i appreciate your comments

I think it was a group effort :

Eric gave you the advice to increase your protein. it seems reasonable to me.
Dieting advice is always tricky as everyone responds differently- I keep my protein to 2-3 g/kg bodyweight ( depending ) then I eat moderate carbs and probably higher fat than some people would recommend- keeping saturated fat to about 10-30% of my total fat intake ( ~ 100 g/day ). Its not like I measure everything or walk around weighing my food. My fat comes from a variety of sources- almonds , cheese & dairy, avocados, cashews, plant & fish oils and whatever else.

Warlock noticed the fat being localized primarily in the lower belly.
Praetorian & Warlock gave the advice on cardio , carbs and diet / fat intake

The longer lower intensity cardio is a good idea for many people who have that sort of fat distribution.
Once the belly fat comes off, you can gradually introduce the HIIT stuff back in there.

There's some good people on this site. Their experience and knowledge is given freely.

you are not very heavy, you are young and you probably will do all that volume of work simply because you can. you will probably wear yourself out by doing all that stuff.
you do need more calories as you will fall apart eating only 1200 Calories. every 1800 Calories per day- doing that much work, and that high intensity cardio- will be difficult to maintain.

it would appear that you are on a ~1000 Calories/day deficit diet. That's a heck of a weight loss if you are able to keep that going without any interruptions for the entire 3 months.

Are you planning any refeed days - controlled cheat meals or anything like that?
Is there something coming up in 3 months that has prompted you to give this a go?

yes. 170 grams of chicken would give you about 40-50 grams of protein.
Many people us myfitnesspal.com or something similar. This allows them to keep track of their food intake. What program did you use for that first pic of your diet?

[philbiha]

Ok so up the protein, increase in calories, low cardio everyday 20 mins
There is nothing in 3 months, its my goal to be 8-10% and i really want to achieve that....
Prolly a cheat meal after 4 WEEKS

I am a noobie so im trying to gain as much knowledge as possible to increase my chances of achieving my goal

[Praetorian]

If you want to gain as much knowledge as possible you came to a good place. See all the posts on my forum and go over them...this will take some time but most of your questions will be answered.

If you are looking to cut and keep it simple then running keto diet like Dave Palumbos keto for a 200lb man is ideal. Half hazardly adding calories and cheat meals is not the best idea...what you need to do is create a baseline and move forward from there. Also worrying about fat distribution is unnecessary because spot reduction doesnt work. Fat will come off from everywhere and depending on your trouble spots ie lower abs, glutes, lower back etc it just takes more time. Limiting stress is a good idea so is getting 7-8 hours solid sleep every night.

What you need to understand is dieting is not all about calories because your hormones are affected by specific macros independent of calorie count. As an example the hormonal affect of a baked potato of 200 calories is vastly different compared to the hormonal affect of 200 calories from steak. Also lets say you work 5 days a week and walk to the subway...do you discount those calories burned on the weekend when you dont work? Counting calories is inefficient at best. What you want to do is measure your macros so you know how much protein, fat and carbs you are eating and can adjust these levels accordingly.

As i said before a very easy way to start is to run DP's keto diet for 200lb man. Start 20min brisk walking every day before breakfast. Train with weights 4-5 days per week. Have one high carb refeed meal once per week starting two weeks into the diet. Doing this will allow you to get used to measuring food, preparing meals, training and doing cardio on a schedule.

You wont lose an ounce of muscle doing this and you will feel much better. Most people over 10% body fat are insulin resistant to some degree so dropping the carbs will actually help you boost insulin sensitivity and will keep you leaner when you go back to trying to build muscle.

P