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Critique my cutting plan

ElevenBravo77

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Hey guys,

In the process of cutting from 23%, goal is to get back to 10-12% and see how I feel, then go from there.

I'm on 150mg test Cyp/week (TRT) and will soon be starting a SARMs cycle of Ostarine, Cardarine and Stenabolic, along with Cardazol.

I lift 5x a week upper/lower split ranging from heavy 3-5 reps to moderate 8-12 reps and do HIIT 3x week. Not much of a runner so my cardio usually consists of sled push, tire flip, sledgehammer swings, battle ropes, etc. I do some light jogging or cycling on my non-HIIT days.

The plan is to take a pretty aggressive diet approach and start at about 1000 calorie deficit with a 18hr fast/6hour feed IF protocol.

My starting macros will be:
1.25 gram protein per lb bodyweight
.4 gram fat per lb
Fill the rest with carbs
(I've considered low carb and even keto but I think I'm going to start with the above)

Any changes or suggestions?
 
You sound like you have a good plan to start though a 1000 calorie defecit is more than I'd recommend. 500-700 should be plenty
 
don't eat in a deficit everyday. the whole idea behind IF and how it works at getting the body to a healthier body fat # isn't because you eat in a deficit everyday. it is about fasting and the effects it has on your hormones, insulin, glucagon etc. if you eat in a huge deficit everyday you will drop some weight initially but then gain it back over time so it is pointless

so do the IF, eat in your window.. eat CLEAN foods, but don't you dare count calories. you should actually cycle your calories when doing IF, that is something that nobody ever talks about. so counting them is going to bite you in the ass.. just eat clean man.. you aren't gonna get fat off healthy food.
 
You sound like you have a good plan to start though a 1000 calorie defecit is more than I'd recommend. 500-700 should be plenty

Thanks, I know 1000 is pretty extreme. I've got another thread where I talk about how I've let myself go the past couple years. I've never been over 15% in my life and was usually under that. I know how to eat to maintain a healthy body fat or even lose a few percent but I've never been in this position before and it seems almost insurmountable.
 
Diet and cardio... According to you you're not really into cardio so your diet is going to have to pick up the slack. At 20% bf you have a significant challenge on your hands. I suggest rekindling a relationship with cardio and get it out of the way before you even touch the weights when you get to the gym to have any chance of being successful.
 
don't eat in a deficit everyday. the whole idea behind IF and how it works at getting the body to a healthier body fat # isn't because you eat in a deficit everyday. it is about fasting and the effects it has on your hormones, insulin, glucagon etc. if you eat in a huge deficit everyday you will drop some weight initially but then gain it back over time so it is pointless

so do the IF, eat in your window.. eat CLEAN foods, but don't you dare count calories. you should actually cycle your calories when doing IF, that is something that nobody ever talks about. so counting them is going to bite you in the ass.. just eat clean man.. you aren't gonna get fat off healthy food.

Thanks for the advice Steve! I really appreciate it. I've use IF successfully before but as I mentioned to Rick above, I've never been in this situation with such a huge hill to climb in front of me. I've only needed to maintain or lose 2-3% occassionally. Now I'm staring 10+% in the face.

I love IF because it fits well in my lifestyle. I'm not a breakfast person, I have a desk job so I don't like eating lunch and getting back to my desk feeling like I need a nap. When I was on IF previously, I would workout at about 2pm then eat from 4-8pm or so. It worked great.

Now I work out first thing in the morning so its going to be a little harder. I don't want to go hours after my workout without food. That will be tough, especially on heavy lifting and HIIT days. On the other hand, if I start my feed right after, my entire window will be while I'm at work which I'm afraid could lead to shortcuts and less than ideal foods choices.

It is nearly impossible to change my gym time now. Plus I feel so much better when I lift first thing in the day.

Any suggestions for timing?

Thanks!
 
Diet and cardio... According to you you're not really into cardio so your diet is going to have to pick up the slack. At 20% bf you have a significant challenge on your hands. I suggest rekindling a relationship with cardio and get it out of the way before you even touch the weights when you get to the gym to have any chance of being successful.

Thanks man. And its not that I'm not into cardio, I've just got some joint issues that flare up when running hard. When I do circuits on the ropes, tire, hammer and sled, my heartrate gets up to 160+ sometimes so I am getting the cardio in, just not traditionally. I'll go hard for a couple minutes then slow down to catch my breathe and let my heart rate get back down in range then hit it again. I usually do this for 15-30 minutes or until the gym starts spinning 😁
 
Thanks man. And its not that I'm not into cardio, I've just got some joint issues that flare up when running hard. When I do circuits on the ropes, tire, hammer and sled, my heartrate gets up to 160+ sometimes so I am getting the cardio in, just not traditionally. I'll go hard for a couple minutes then slow down to catch my breathe and let my heart rate get back down in range then hit it again. I usually do this for 15-30 minutes or until the gym starts spinning [emoji16]
I recommend doing the stairmaster. It's low impact and very effective. 30 minutes every day and you'll get results. You don't have to do all that crazy other stuff and risk injury.
 
I recommend doing the stairmaster. It's low impact and very effective. 30 minutes every day and you'll get results. You don't have to do all that crazy other stuff and risk injury.

Never tried the stairmaster, I'll give it a shot. I've tried the elliptical but the motion feels unnatural and I just don't feel like I get a good workout. My gym does have a rowing machine and I use that occassionally as well.

The bad part is I used to love to run, especially trail running when I was out in Colorado. Not sure if it's age weight or both but running doesn't agree with my knees and hips anymore.
 
Never tried the stairmaster, I'll give it a shot. I've tried the elliptical but the motion feels unnatural and I just don't feel like I get a good workout. My gym does have a rowing machine and I use that occassionally as well.

The bad part is I used to love to run, especially trail running when I was out in Colorado. Not sure if it's age weight or both but running doesn't agree with my knees and hips anymore.
I honestly could only do 10 minutes the first day on the stairmaster. Over a period of a few weeks I was able to get up to a half hour. It's great and it works really well. A lot of the pros use the stairmaster for contest prep and now I know why. Low impact and effective. Put on your favorite Netflix show and get to stepping.
 
...Any changes or suggestions?

Not necessarily. I think you've thought this out pretty well.
One thing that caught my eye is your protein intake which I would bump up a bit especially during the "harder cutting" phase.

Also, I would definitely not go keto unless it's absolutely necessary.
 
One thing that caught my eye is your protein intake which I would bump up a bit especially during the "harder cutting" phase.

Yea I was thinking about that as well. I am going to target a little more.

Also, I would definitely not go keto unless it's absolutely necessary.

I have conflicting feelings on keto. I have experimented it with it in the past and at times I felt great. I'm still not convinced it's healthy in the long run though. I prefer to go lower carb sometimes and stay away from sugar and refined carbs as much as possible. Going to look into carb cycling as well.
 
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