Experts Help - Cutting Diet

[gunn81]

What's up everybody! I've been reading this board for awhile but never decided to post until now.

Here's my dilemma: I'm currently trying to diet down for a natural competition this summer. I'm currently 5'8" ~180 lbs. @ 9% bf (caliper method). I started dieting in January (started off around 12% bf) following a CKD with bi-weekly refeeds, however I recently switched to a typical pre-contest bodybuilding diet (50% protein 30% carbs, 20% fat) as I started to lose too much lean muscle mass during the tail-end of the CKD. I workout utilizing a four day split (back/bis; shoulders; legs; chest/tris) and perform cardio at least four times a week either after my workout or first thing in the morning.

Here is a sample of the diet I'm following. Let me know what you think in terms of # of meals and # of calories (too high/low)as I seem to have hit a plateau in my fat loss efforts - been stuck @ 9% for about a month). The only carbs I eat are low/moderate GI (oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice, green veggies, etc...); protein primarily consists of chicken, protein shakes, mrp's and fish and i take efa's to keep my fat intake at a reasonable level.

Breakfast
Protein 39
Fat 6
Carbs 33
Total Calories 342

Lunch
Protein 45
Fat 7
Carbs 40
Total Calories 403

Snack
Protein 39
Fat 3
Carbs 17
Total Calories 250

Post-Workout
Protein 44
Fat 4.5
Carbs 30
Total Calories 336.5

Dinner
Protein 60
Fat 8
Carbs 40
Total Calories 472

Pre-bedtime
Protein 0
Fat 14
Carbs 0
Total Calories 126

Total
Protein 227
Fat 43
Carbs 160
Total Calories 1931

Thanks again for your help!!

[Tryska]

what you are eating at each meal specifically is equally important as the macro breakdowns. could you tell us what is in each meal? thanks!

[the doc]

curious as to what evidence you had to say the ckd was causing muscle loss.

[gunn81]

Tryska, here's a pretty good breakdown of what I eat and it's pretty much the same everyday:

Breakfast
protein shake + 1/2 cup oats

Lunch
2 chicken breast + medium sweet potato + green veggies

Snack
mrp

Post-Workout
protein shake + high gi carbs

Dinner
2 chicken breasts + 1/2 cup brown rice (uncooked) + green veggies

Pre-bedtime
flax oil + protein

[gunn81]

doc,

my bf% hit a plateau and at the same time i started to lose lean muscle mass (i was tracking both weekly). after my workouts started to suffer, i decided it was time to switch things up. i'm not saying that i won't ever try it again, but for me i feel a lot better on my current diet and so far i'm maintaining my bf% while keeping my lean mass. my problem is that i can't seem to get below my current bf% without sacrificing too much muscle.

[Tryska]

that's pretty decent, except i'd swap cottage cheese for that whey in the pre-bedtime meal. Casein is slower release then whey, and can hold you over a bit better til the morning.

also, is it possible you've plateaued because you are not eating enough cals? try bumping up cals by about a 100 or so, maybe up to 200, and see if that kickstarts you. right now your eating at roughly BMR. considering training 4 days a week, plus cardio 4 days a week, i'm guessing you are not eating enough to maintain your metabolism, and decrease risks of catabolism.

[Tryska]

also..how much simple sugar is in that mrp?

[gunn81]

thanks for the reply tryska and i'll try to implement both of your suggestions. i also think that increasing my calories a little might help jumpstart my metabolism.

[gunn81]

not much, i'm taking in 30 g carbs post-workout with 10-15 being simple sugars.

[Tryska]

so what's in the MRP?

[gunn81]

the mrp contains 42g protein, 17g carbs (4g simple sugar), 3g fat

[Tryska]

that's not bad. i think you prolly just need to bump the cals up some.

[ericg]

looks like trys has it all under control!!!

[Budiak]

Swap that chicken for Tuna, and try to get dietary fat in there instead of the sat fat that is in chicken breast. Even skinless chicken breast has some sat fat in it, a few grams a breast, and sat fat is not what you want while cutting. Most of your fats while cutting should come from dietary fats, but it looks to me like you are only getting 14 grams aday from dietary fat sources and the rest is from saturated fats.

I'd say to switch to cottage cheese, but some people retain water from eating too much dairy. I do, I know that much. I'd switch to Tuna, 4 cans a day wont hurt you, although some people think its too much, for whatever reason. Poisoning or some trash like that.

BTW I dont think people eat enough sweet potatoes. Its the most underrated of all of the po's.

[Tryska]

i agree. sweet potatoes rock. except when they got those stringy fiber things int hem...

[The_Chicken_Daddy]

Originally posted by Budiak
and sat fat is not what you want while cutting.


Why?

[Budiak]

Isnt saturated fat the bad one?

If I'm taking in 40 grams of saturated fat while cutting, I'll lose as much fat as if I were taking in 40g of mono and polyUNsaturated fat, I see, and I'll be much healthier for it.

Unless of course all of the advice I've been given is lies, and UNsaturated fat is good for me, which would boggle my mind. Dietary fat...good for me? What a fool I've been! The bottle of flax in my refridgerator has been holding my doom! I'll flush it, I will!


Go eat a zombie, glutton.