Questions on cutting ( My first time )

[Poirot]

Hey guys, My shoulder has been injured for some time, I've been going to the gym now for around 3 weeks, and feel nothing in my shoulder whatsoever, so i've decided to continue my cut. Just a few questions, I tracked my fitday yesterday, and to my surprise I only ate around 1700 calories at the end of the day. Mind you I was very comfortable ( Not feeling hungry ) Is this Ok for cutting? I was eating around 4k a day when I bulked up. I mean can I actually gain fat from eating too few calories? Also how many carbs would be "allowed" for a 172lbs male while cutting? And if its not tooo much trouble, can somone post an example Ideal cutting meal plan for a day? I Could not find one anywhere : /

Just a little background info, Started lifting seriously Jan 10 2006 at 150ish 18% BF ( Skinny fat? lol ) Bulked up to 190ish, ended the bulk at 22% BF, Started cutting, Hurt my shoulder slightly but continued lifting, Later I Hurt my shoulder pretty bad, I thought I needed surgery for a possible rotator cuff tear, over the last 3-4 months it healed naturally as I stated above. During that time I still lifted some weeks, some weeks I did not, and only with light weights when I did, and as idiotic as it was, I was lazy on my diet!!! IE PIZZA/CAKE lol, I lost 15 lbs and went from 190 down to 175. At 175, i'm not sure what my BF was but I felt "Fatter" then when I was at 190, so I decided that I did not want to bulk at what felt like 20%+ BF, so I started cutting again.

Mabey the above info will help with my first questions, dunno.

But anyway! If this has been asked already sorry! I just feel like I've wasted too much time, and want to take the proper steps now and not screw up.


EDIT ::: Since I asked for an example diet for 1 day, i'll give you an example of what I"M eating for 1 day.

I wake up,

Meal 1 : Whey protein shake, Bowl of irish oats mixed with 1/2 cup applesauce.

Meal 2 : 1 cup of Eggwhites

Meal 3 : 1 chicken breast w/ veggies ( Peas Or greenbeans mostly )

Meal 4 : Meal 4 is mainly more or less a snack, Like a handful of Pecans.

Meal 5 : Chicken or some form of meat mabey 5-6 oz w/ veggies

Meal 6 : 2 spoonfuls of almond butter w/ a class of milk <-----Is that a meal? lol

Also, one more question, Is regular ground beef bad while cutting? I grill it mostly to drain the fat, If it drains fat.

Thanks!

[bjohnso]

You need to figure out your maintanence calories before you do anything (IMO). Going from 4000 to 1700 is going to be disastrous. Figure out your maintainence by tracking everything you normally eat for a week, add up all the calories for that week and divide by 7. If you didn't lose or gain anything then that is your maintanence (I don't know how the **** to spell maintanence, forgive me). You should be getting at least a gram of protein per lb of bodyweight and at least .5g of fat per lb of bodyweight. Fill the rest of the calories in with carbs. Ground beef is fine for cutting, because dietary fat doesn't make you fat - calories make you fat.

[bjohnso]

Also, baby that shoulder. Make sure you do plenty of rotator cuff warmups, and do a search in the powerlifting section for the "H-roll."

[Poirot]

Thanks for the replys guys, Yeah i'm babying the shoulder :) Massaging it every night to hehe, Question, when you said going from 4000 to 1700 can be "disastrous" What could happen to make it disastrous? I guess i'm just not sure how I should "feel" while cutting hehe, I'm almost afraid to feel full after I eat hah.

[bjohnso]

Thanks for the replys guys, Yeah i'm babying the shoulder :) Massaging it every night to hehe, Question, when you said going from 4000 to 1700 can be "disastrous" What could happen to make it disastrous? I guess i'm just not sure how I should "feel" while cutting hehe, I'm almost afraid to feel full after I eat hah.

I guarantee your strength will hit bottom and dig in, you'll lose muscle in record time - that is, if you would be able to stick to 1700Cal a day, which you almost certainly won't (that's not an insult or anything, but that's like a starvation diet).

Feeling full is good. You want to eat foods that make you feel full while you are cutting.

[Slim Schaedle]

Bjohnso is correct.


You are maintaining your current mass and strength with 4,000 calories.

What do you think is going to happen by cutting that by 57 percent?

175 pounds and cutting?


You need to clean up your diet, get a consistent training program down, pick a calorie amount (like 3,500 maybe) and eat that nukber for at LEAST 1 month.

Maybe two.

See where that takes you and you can make an informed decision once you learn what is going on.