About to start cutting, diet advice.

[Pinefresh]

Hi all, this is my first post although I have been lurking around for a while now.

The past six months I have been 'bulking,' I have noticed some good gains around the chest, shoulders and back. Unfortunately I have been off work for the past 3 weeks due to an operation which left me unable to work out in the gym and it limited my diet quite alot.

My gym partner who has not been off for 3 weeks and has continued to make good strength/size gains is now keen to start cutting, this is fine with me.

The next few months will conist of

Weeks 1,3,5,7,9:
Monday: Upper Body
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Lower Body
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: Upper Body
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Day Off

Weeks 2,4,6,8,10:
Monday: Lower Body
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Upper Body
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: Lower Body
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Day Off

Im 5ft,11 and I weigh 12 stone. my typical daily diet when I was trying to bulk was;

breakfast - porridge and bananna and whey protein shake
snack 9.30am - cold meat sandwiches, bannana
snack 12.30pm - cold meat sandwiches, yoghurt, crisps, bannana
snack 4.30pm - tin of tuna and salad cream in a sandwich
dinner 6pm - roast beef, potatoes, carrots.
snack 10pm - tin of tuna.
bedtime - whey protein shake.

My question is should I be eating the same, more or less when I am trying to cut back (whilst still getting stronger)

Thanks for any advice!

[Ordinary_Chap]

The truth is for most its unrealistic to get stronger on a cut, if you're lucky you'll stay where you are in strength terms.

It's difficult to say anything about the diet as it shows no portion sizes and cold meat can mean litterally anything.

My best advice would be for you to calculate your BMR and then work out how many calories you need to cut a day. 500 is usually fine for most who aren't after crazy cutting and if you do you'll lose muscle and strength most likely anyway.

Once you understand a bit better how many calories you're using and taking in you'll be in a better position to manage the cut. To understand calories per food either use an app on a smartphone, use one of the many websites that does it or manually work it out.

All the best,
Lee

[Driller]

Have you tried the fish and rice-cake diet?

[sparks_E39]

I could not eat that much in one day, I eat around 1800-2000 calories.

[Bing o]

I think I'd rather die than have that diet. I'm sure the bread (6 slices a day) isn't helping, and the OP doesn't mention booze intake, which is probably the worst form of calories anyway?

[deadmau5]

Agreed that diet looks painful.

[markh1]

Obviously I have no idea of your current body composition but you must be pretty slim (certainly in body building terms) to be 5 foot 11 and only 12 stone.

You can't carve a masterpiece out of a pebble...

If I were you I would continue bulking but keep the diet as clean as possible.

Also vary the amount of food you eat each day to keep your body guessing, e.g. on training day and the day after eat pretty much want you want and get in as many calories as you can. Then other days really cut back the carbs.