Cutting Diet Check-Up

[Seraven]

Hey, everyone.

I know the rules, and I've lurked here for a little while so I'm hoping I'm not breaking any rules. That being said, I realize there have been other cutting threads, but as this is a personal diet check-up I assumed it would be OK to make a new thread.

On to the goods:

I'm trying to cut right now, and I've been playing around with a particular diet for several months now but I'm going to be changing it up... hopefully for the better. I was hoping you guys could look it over and tell me whether I'm getting enough nutrition, etc. to continue cutting fat and still maintain, if not strengthen, my muscle mass.

This is my diet Monday/Wednesday/Friday for lifting (60-90 min.) days:

Meal 1:
1 Cup Oats
250 mL Soy Milk
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 Multivitamin

Meal 2:

1/2 (85g) Chicken Breast
45g Whole Wheat Pasta or 45g Brown Rice
100g Broccoli

or

3/4 Cup Oats
1 Scoop Whey

WORKOUT HERE (60-90 MIN.) about 60 min. after solid meal, or 30 min. after liquid meal.

Meal 3:

1/2 Cup Oats
1 Scoop Whey
1 Banana

Meal 4:

1 Can Tuna or 1 Salmon (Or Fish) Fillet
1/2 cup Beans
1 Tomato
100g Spinach

Meal 5:

1 Kiwi
100g Blueberries
100g Cauliflower
60g Snow Peas
100g Celery
1 Pepper

Meal 6:

125g Cottage Cheese
30g Almonds

Total: Approx. 1900-1950 Cal

On Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday/Sunday it'll be essentially the same, except I'm going to switch Meal 5 with Meal 2 or Meal 4 so that I have more energy when either I, go running or go to martial arts (60-120 min.) after what would be meal 5. Should I be getting in more carbs before doing cardio? My problem is that when I go to martial arts I usually finish at around 8:00-8:30, meaning I can only eat one more meal before I go to bed between 10:00-11:00. Is that sufficient? I guess I'm trying to make this progress, but I'm hoping I can maintain a healthy diet, thus the inclusion of the fruits and vegetables. If they impede in any way, I can change it up however.

Also, I'm thinking about changing Saturday to another lifting day -- would that be better? And, of course Sunday is rest. Also: if it matters, I'm 17 years old, so maybe that'll help your judgment.

Thanks for reading this, and hopefully you guys can help me out.

EDIT: Oops, I guess I should also mention that I'm 5'5" and weight 137 lb.

[Unreal]

Are you losing weight? Are you getting 1g of protein per LBM? .5G of fat?

1900 cals with that activity level is low. The only fat I see is 1 tbsp of olive oil and 30g of almonds, then small ammounts from meat. Low fat can cause hormone issues. You may stop menstrating or wierd stuff like that on a really low fat diet.

I assume you are a girl since your cutting at 137lbs.

[Seraven]

Actually, I'm not.

I don't actually want to lose weight; I want to cut fat and add muscle mass. I was under the impression that that was the definition of cutting, not necessarily dropping pounds.

About the fat issue, what would you suggest I change? It's true that I'm getting fat from almonds and olive oil, but I'm also getting it from the tuna, fish and, to a lesser degree, the soy milk. That's probably not enough, but that's why I started this thread to begin with.

Maybe I should be bulking instead, I don't know. I'm fairly new to weight-lifting, etc. and before that I only used to do martial arts so I'm mostly just estimating everything.

Thanks.

[Unreal]

Cutting means dropping weight, perferably fat while trying to minimize muscle loss. Recomp is what your going for, which is losing fat while adding muscle at the same body weight. This is tough to do. Whats your bodyfat % roughly? It can't be that high at 137lbs. Cutting and bulking are two words thrown out way too often. You just need to get into a solid diet and routine, and eat enough to support gains unless your obese and want to trim down.

Just read more and you'll get an idea. All the articles on the main page is a good start.

[Seraven]

I honestly don't know what my BF% is at, but I imagine it's around 14-15% or so. I'm fairly skinny, but there's still some stubborn fat, especially around my thighs and ass and, to a lesser degree, my chest area.

I think I'm going to try and eat 2-3 eggs in the morning with my first meal, and see if I can't add 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter somewhere... where would you recommend? Saying all of this, do you think getting between 2300-2500 calories would be better in my case?

Thanks a lot, man. You've been a great help.

[Built]

Cutting does, indeed, mean dropping weight in the form of fat. What you appear to be after is that mythical state called "recomposition" - for this, you eat at maintenance and train hard. And pray.

What is maintenance for you?

PS I'd ditch the soy milk.

[Seraven]

That's something I have to figure out, actually. I'm assuming it's somewhere between 2000-2200, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

Any reason why I should cut the soy milk? I have no problem doing it, I'm just curious why you say I should. I may add 2-3 eggs instead of it in the morning, if that works.

EDIT: OK, so I calculated my maintenance and apparently it's about 2700. I'm actually very surprised by this, but I guess it would explain a few things...

Here's the calculation so everyone can see:

BMR = 66 + (13.7 X 60 kg) + (5 X 165.1 cm) - (6.8 X 17) x (1.7 Activity Multiplier) = 2716.43

That's crazy.

[Built]

Phtoestrogens, goitrogen - stick to fermented soy products if you eat soy.

Maintenance isn't a calculation - it's a measurement. You track your food during a period where you neither lose nor gain. Take the average and voila - your maintenance. To cut, drop by 20%.