Good cutting diet with minimal muscle loss?

[imageWIS]

Just as the title says... any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Johnny_5]

leangains

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by Johnny_5

leangains

That site is a mess... how can anyone understand WTF he is ranting on about is beyond me

 

[HenryFlower]

http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html This is the gist. Even simpler for fat loss. Training days: eat maintenance + 10-20%, following the protocol above that fits your lifestyle the best, biggest meal PWO, higher carb PWO Rest days: eat maintenance - 10-20%, lower carb Always high protein (at least 1 gm/lb) 2-3 training days per week, no more. Fasted walking or very slow low intensity stuff is fine, no high intensity stuff outside of weight training. Target an average weekly caloric deficit of 3500 calories (lb/week) if you are 10-15% BF, higher if you are chunkier, lower if you are leaner. It's pretty much that simple.

 

[Lagrangian]

It's great if it works for you.. Having done IF myself I can say that it's probably not for everyone.

The thing that will get that fat off is a caloric deficit - whether you want to accomplish that by, say, cutting out all carbs is really up to you. What I will say is that you want to have an adequate dietary protein intake (think 1g/lb LBM), which helps in preserving some of that lean mass. Also it'd probably be quite useful to do strength training to hold onto that muscle while leaning out.

 

[indesertum]

I'd say something like eat up between 1.5g and 2g of protein per lb bodyweight. make sure you eat lots of veggies, enough to get 25, 30g fiber per day and 1g potassium.

calorie count. go in to up to 30% deficit. If that turns out too hard add more calories. It might also be easier the other way. start at 10% deficit and ramp up every two weeks.

make sure you eat at least 75g carbs a day. ramp up to 1 to 1.5g per lb on work out days.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by HenryFlower

http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html This is the gist. Even simpler for fat loss. Training days: eat maintenance + 10-20%, following the protocol above that fits your lifestyle the best, biggest meal PWO, higher carb PWO Rest days: eat maintenance - 10-20%, lower carb Always high protein (at least 1 gm/lb) 2-3 training days per week, no more. Fasted walking or very slow low intensity stuff is fine, no high intensity stuff outside of weight training. Target an average weekly caloric deficit of 3500 calories (lb/week) if you are 10-15% BF, higher if you are chunkier, lower if you are leaner. It's pretty much that simple.
How can cardio be bad when cutting?

Originally Posted by TrH

It's great if it works for you.. Having done IF myself I can say that it's probably not for everyone. The thing that will get that fat off is a caloric deficit - whether you want to accomplish that by, say, cutting out all carbs is really up to you. What I will say is that you want to have an adequate dietary protein intake (think 1g/lb LBM), which helps in preserving some of that lean mass. Also it'd probably be quite useful to do strength training to hold onto that muscle while leaning out.
IF seems to work, however, when I'm hungry I get headaches and have no energy whatsoever, so I don't think IF will work for me.

Originally Posted by indesertum

I'd say something like eat up between 1.5g and 2g of protein per lb bodyweight. make sure you eat lots of veggies, enough to get 25, 30g fiber per day and 1g potassium. calorie count. go in to up to 30% deficit. If that turns out too hard add more calories. It might also be easier the other way. start at 10% deficit and ramp up every two weeks. make sure you eat at least 75g carbs a day. ramp up to 1 to 1.5g per lb on work out days.
I usually get my potassium from bananas, I eat 2 a day, however, I read that due to their high sugar count, its best to cut out fruits as much as possible while cutting. I'm pretty much set when it comes to bulking, but during my last bulk I never went into cutting mode (bulking took forever since), and then moved to NYC, so long winter + crappy job (no motivation to hit the gym) + eating badly (sugar) = too much BF %. I no longer have my job, so I have nothing but time to get back into shape.

 

[Cary Grant]

UD 2.0 works well for many if you push as hard in the workouts as he suggests and find the sweet spot on the diet. I've actually gained a small amount of lean mass during the current cut and strength is up.

But it's not easy.

 

[HenryFlower]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

How can cardio be bad when cutting?

Recovery is a ***** with a caloric deficit. If you want maximum fat loss, crank it up, but if you want to hold on to or even gain lean mass, don't do that.

 

[darnelled]

I've been on the "4 Hour Body" diet for 2 weeks with good results.

My wife got the book and I thought it would be interesting to try since I'd still be able to eat as much as I wanted of certain foods and lose bodyfat.

The gist of it is this- eat as much protein and vegetables as you want. You must cut out all things white such as made with flour, rice, sugar, milk and all fruit for 6/7 days then eat anything you want on the 7th day. You can have no alcohol besides 2 galss of red wine per day also.

I have been lifting with cardio for years and just stuck at about 15% body fat right at my waist. I wanted to lose those last few, most difficult pounds. I continued my workouts without change and have lost 5 lbs so far and am around 12% body fat now.

 

[indesertum]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

How can cardio be bad when cutting?




IF seems to work, however, when I'm hungry I get headaches and have no energy whatsoever, so I don't think IF will work for me.

I usually get my potassium from bananas, I eat 2 a day, however, I read that due to their high sugar count, its best to cut out fruits as much as possible while cutting.

I'm pretty much set when it comes to bulking, but during my last bulk I never went into cutting mode (bulking took forever since), and then moved to NYC, so long winter + crappy job (no motivation to hit the gym) + eating badly (sugar) = too much BF %. I no longer have my job, so I have nothing but time to get back into shape.

it's mostly starches and fructose in bananas, which really doesn't matter as long as you're eating under maintenance.

 

[otc]

Originally Posted by HenryFlower

Fasted walking or very slow low intensity stuff is fine, no high intensity stuff outside of weight training.

That **** sounds miserable...

I want to be fit to better enjoy my life. What kind of shitass plan has you only lifting weights and doesn't let you go for a long bike ride or play a few rounds of tennis and a game of soccer?

Are you so concerned with how your muscles *look* that you would prefer to not be able to use them for their intended purpose?

 

[indesertum]

how's your diet going op

 

[fuji]

Originally Posted by otc

That **** sounds miserable...

I want to be fit to better enjoy my life. What kind of shitass plan has you only lifting weights and doesn't let you go for a long bike ride or play a few rounds of tennis and a game of soccer?

Are you so concerned with how your muscles *look* that you would prefer to not be able to use them for their intended purpose?

Who says pushing weight isn' t the intended purpose of muscles? Doing cardio will slow your recovery meaning you can't lift as much weight. Its not just about how your muscles look, doing cardio will make you weaker.

 

[Jr Mouse]

Originally Posted by TrH

It's great if it works for you.. Having done IF myself I can say that it's probably not for everyone.

The thing that will get that fat off is a caloric deficit - whether you want to accomplish that by, say, cutting out all carbs is really up to you. What I will say is that you want to have an adequate dietary protein intake (think 1g/lb LBM), which helps in preserving some of that lean mass. Also it'd probably be quite useful to do strength training to hold onto that muscle while leaning out.

Originally Posted by indesertum

I'd say something like eat up between 1.5g and 2g of protein per lb bodyweight. make sure you eat lots of veggies, enough to get 25, 30g fiber per day and 1g potassium.

calorie count. go in to up to 30% deficit. If that turns out too hard add more calories. It might also be easier the other way. start at 10% deficit and ramp up every two weeks.

make sure you eat at least 75g carbs a day. ramp up to 1 to 1.5g per lb on work out days.

You guys are spot on about the calorie intake. That's the main issue with fat loss. You have to cut the calories.

Where I struggle with is the 1.5 to 2g of protein per lb of bodyweight indesertum mentions. That's a lot of protein if you are a larger guy! I'm 6'6" and weigh 205. I can't imaging trying to down twice that in grams of protein. That's 400 grams in a single day. Even 1.5 seems like it would be a challange. I know protein is important in building muscle, but the math here seems unrealistic for all but the most serious bodybuilders. Never-mind consuming that much protein while cutting overall calories at the same time.

Just my two cents.