Gym & Misc Breakthelines 10 Week Cutting Log

[Breakthelines]

Hi guys BTL here, I'm wanting to start a cutting log on here to get advice and feedback as I begin a new 10 week journey on Easter Monday.

A little background on myself to begin; 18 months ago I was lazy, grumpy and sick of my life. I was 109kg and 30%+ body fat.
I am currently 90kg and 15% body fat, this was achieved through better eating and exercise.

Stats : 28 Yrs Male, 186cm, 90.1kg & 15.1% body fat.
Training: 5 day weight lifting split and 5km running before each session. I burn between 1100-1300 calories each session and my maintenance calories are 3000-3100.

I am going to drop my calories to 2400-2500 consisting of 250g Protein, 200-225g Carbs & 67g Fats. I'll be eating 4-5 meals a day and I'll be training at night.

The aim is to get my body fat down to 10%, thus allowing me to bulk during term 3 of the school year.
I'll be putting up my daily calories in take and calorie output, daily meals, training sessions, cheat meals and weekly weigh ins. I'll include photos every 3-4 weeks.

Any support and advice would be appreciated as I go along.
Thanks and light weight baby!

 

[chrstphrwnstn]

I believe your initial maintenance calories are quite high based on your stats. Your maintenance estimate should be diet-based rather than exercise-based as it is impossible to determine the amount of calories you actually burn during exercise.

Based on your stats, I'd imagine that your maintenance would be around ~2500kcal, so your daily goal should be to get under that number (-500kcal/day is a pretty common goal). Whether or not you want that to be via eating less, or continued cardio is up to you.

Personally, I find a caloric deficit reliant on cardio difficult to adhere to. I also find it more time-consuming and expensive (food ain't cheap!). I would aim for 2000kcal on training days, 1700kcal on rest days (200g protein/day, the rest 50/50 carbs/fat). This would net you a weekly deficit of ~3500kcal, which is roughly 0.5kg of fat loss per week (10 weeks at this deficit should get you down to ~11%). By all means, if you enjoy your cardio, continue doing it. Just make sure you adjust your calories accordingly.

Best of luck!

 

[Breakthelines]

I believe your initial maintenance calories are quite high based on your stats. Your maintenance estimate should be diet-based rather than exercise-based as it is impossible to determine the amount of calories you actually burn during exercise.

Based on your stats, I'd imagine that your maintenance would be around ~2500kcal, so your daily goal should be to get under that number (-500kcal/day is a pretty common goal). Whether or not you want that to be via eating less, or continued cardio is up to you.

Personally, I find a caloric deficit reliant on cardio difficult to adhere to. I also find it more time-consuming and expensive (food ain't cheap!). I would aim for 2000kcal on training days, 1700kcal on rest days (200g protein/day, the rest 50/50 carbs/fat). This would net you a weekly deficit of ~3500kcal, which is roughly 0.5kg of fat loss per week (10 weeks at this deficit should get you down to ~11%). By all means, if you enjoy your cardio, continue doing it. Just make sure you adjust your calories accordingly.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the feedback. I have been running 3000-3100 for about 8 weeks now, got the info using harris-Benedict equation and have stayed the same weight doing the same activity level described above. That's why I have based my calculations around that. See how it goes I guess, worst case I have to drop some more food. I am using a suunto HRM during my sessions, that's where I got the calories burned number from, takes weight, height and fitness level into account. Apparently they are quite accurate..?
Thanks again.

 

[Drumroe]

Hi guys BTL here, I'm wanting to start a cutting log on here to get advice and feedback as I begin a new 10 week journey on Easter Monday.

A little background on myself to begin; 18 months ago I was lazy, grumpy and sick of my life. I was 109kg and 30%+ body fat.
I am currently 90kg and 15% body fat, this was achieved through better eating and exercise.

Stats : 28 Yrs Male, 186cm, 90.1kg & 15.1% body fat.
Training: 5 day weight lifting split and 5km running before each session. I burn between 1100-1300 calories each session and my maintenance calories are 3000-3100.

I am going to drop my calories to 2400-2500 consisting of 250g Protein, 200-225g Carbs & 67g Fats. I'll be eating 4-5 meals a day and I'll be training at night.

The aim is to get my body fat down to 10%, thus allowing me to bulk during term 3 of the school year.
I'll be putting up my daily calories in take and calorie output, daily meals, training sessions, cheat meals and weekly weigh ins. I'll include photos every 3-4 weeks.

Any support and advice would be appreciated as I go along.
Thanks and light weight baby!

When you say 5km running, is this just a continuous run, or is interval training involved? While a 5km run is okay a couple times a week, I'd be looking at doing more interval running and sprint training, as it is a lot more beneficial for fat loss.

 

[Breakthelines]

When you say 5km running, is this just a continuous run, or is interval training involved? While a 5km run is okay a couple times a week, I'd be looking at doing more interval running and sprint training, as it is a lot more beneficial for fat loss.

Hey Drumroe thanks for the reply. I run 5km steady state and also HIIT. Normally 3 steady state and 2 HIIT. The HIIT is normally 1:1 or 1:2 depending on what body part I'm training.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Andre]

I am going to drop my calories to 2400-2500 consisting of 250g Protein, 200-225g Carbs & 67g Fats. I'll be eating 4-5 meals a day and I'll be training at night.

If you are looking to cut then look at the Intermittent Fasting thread. For cuts it's better than the old 4 - 6 meals a day routine. Also if you are cutting High Fat - Low Carb would be better than High carb, low fat.

 

[cptkirk]

getting from 15 to 10% will be way harder then getting from 20 to 15


i think you need scale back food and activity because if this plan doesn't work you've got nowhere else to go - give yourself some wiggle room

so over 10 weeks develop a progression for food, gym and running...stick with 1 progression until it stops then move to the next one but only change 1 at a time

 

[Breakthelines]

getting from 15 to 10% will be way harder then getting from 20 to 15


i think you need scale back food and activity because if this plan doesn't work you've got nowhere else to go - give yourself some wiggle room

so over 10 weeks develop a progression for food, gym and running...stick with 1 progression until it stops then move to the next one but only change 1 at a time

I'm confused. I train like this all the time and have for the last year, nothing has changed in that regard. All I have done is decrease my calories from my maintenance. Should I eat more and decrease slower?

 

[Shupe]

Should I eat more and decrease slower?

I think so. Reduce slightly until you stall, and then reduce again. Same with your cardio activity - start light until you stall, and then gradually make it more intense.

 

[cptkirk]

how long have you held 15% for?

 

[Breakthelines]

how long have you held 15% for?

Si

how long have you held 15% for?

Since November last year.

 

[cptkirk]

give me a look at your proper training schedule and i'll have a look at how you should go forward

 

[Poetic Justice]

Subbed keen to follow this as I will be commencing a 100 day challenge to myself in a few weeks time.

Out of curiosity, I always find that people are able to calculate this total daily expenditure and what not and don't know how to do it myself.

I don't know how to establish what my maintenance calories currently would be and how to establish what amount of calories I would need to be taking in to cut. And thermore how those calories are broken down between proteins fats and carbs. What's the best method you reckon?

Cheers

 

[cptkirk]

generally.....

20cals per kg of bodyweight is your maintenance calorie number

so start there and use a similar breakdown of macros (protein, fats and carbs) that you have now

from there keep the cals at 20/kg/bw and gradually alter your macros where you want to probably work carbs down to 25% of total and see how you go with that

set protein at 1 - 1.5g per kg of bodyweight and the rest is fats

as you lose wt, which i assume is your goal, then recalculate your macros

 

[Shupe]

I'll be putting up my daily calories in take and calorie output, daily meals, training sessions, cheat meals and weekly weigh ins. I'll include photos every 3-4 weeks.

I call bullshit.

 

[Poetic Justice]

generally.....

20cals per kg of bodyweight is your maintenance calorie number

so start there and use a similar breakdown of macros (protein, fats and carbs) that you have now

from there keep the cals at 20/kg/bw and gradually alter your macros where you want to probably work carbs down to 25% of total and see how you go with that

set protein at 1 - 1.5g per kg of bodyweight and the rest is fats

as you lose wt, which i assume is your goal, then recalculate your macros

I'm amazed that by that at 83kg that means 1660cals per day. I sometimes eat double that (not unhealthy stuff) and still maintain weight. Interesting to note though!

 

[evo]

If you are looking to cut then look at the Intermittent Fasting thread. For cuts it's better than the old 4 - 6 meals a day routine. Also if you are cutting High Fat - Low Carb would be better than High carb, low fat.

this

read the IF thread and halve your carbs.

 

[cptkirk]

IF is lifestyle dependant - i could never do it so it wouldn't work FOR ME...if i was aiming for fat loss and nothing else i'd still opt for 4 - 5 meals/day but go low cal and/or carb

 

[evo]

IF is lifestyle dependant - i could never do it so it wouldn't work FOR ME...if i was aiming for fat loss and nothing else i'd still opt for 4 - 5 meals/day but go low cal and/or carb

Come on dude. you could easily not eat before lunchtime. there is more than enough glycogen in your liver to get you through any morning workout activity.

And even the most active person rests one day a week. Even God. thats the day you could do a 24 hour fast.

 

[Drumroe]

Come on dude. you could easily not eat before lunchtime. there is more than enough glycogen in your liver to get you through any morning workout activity.

And even the most active person rests one day a week. Even God. thats the day you could do a 24 hour fast.

Well anyone COULD do it, but as he said, its lifestyle dependant. I'd personally hate it, and would much prefer eating 4-5 meals a day aswell.

Anyone COULD do 3-4 hours of exercise a day aswell if they wanted to lose weight, but its about doing it in a way you still enjoy and fits around your lifestyle.

 

[cptkirk]

Come on dude. you could easily not eat before lunchtime. there is more than enough glycogen in your liver to get you through any morning workout activity.

And even the most active person rests one day a week. Even God. thats the day you could do a 24 hour fast.

not a chance - I'm starving in the morning and work early hrs...I like food

 

[laaazer]

I'm amazed that by that at 83kg that means 1660cals per day. I sometimes eat double that (not unhealthy stuff) and still maintain weight. Interesting to note though!

20 calories per kg of body weight does not seem enough at all. so at my current 67kg, that means maintenance would be 1340 calories for me... meaning if I had more than this every day, I should be gaining weight. However, I am not gaining any weight at all. In fact, I lose weight if I take in less than 1800-2000 calories a day. The 20 kcal/kg weight is definitely off. Unless you meant that the 20 kcal/kg is a rough calculation of your BMR (basal metabolic rate). 1340 calories as my BMR is definitely reasonable.

 

[cptkirk]

20 calories per kg of body weight does not seem enough at all. so at my current 67kg, that means maintenance would be 1340 calories for me... meaning if I had more than this every day, I should be gaining weight. However, I am not gaining any weight at all. In fact, I lose weight if I take in less than 1800-2000 calories a day. The 20 kcal/kg weight is definitely off. Unless you meant that the 20 kcal/kg is a rough calculation of your BMR (basal metabolic rate). 1340 calories as my BMR is definitely reasonable.

you've got to factor activity in after that but most people do a lot "useless" training that uses up precious growth calories so you might need to streamline your training too if you're 1 of them

 

[Nickos66]

If you are looking to cut then look at the Intermittent Fasting thread. For cuts it's better than the old 4 - 6 meals a day routine. Also if you are cutting High Fat - Low Carb would be better than High carb, low fat.

As evo mentioned - this.

If you have the discipline, it's flawless for weight loss. I was in a bit of a slump and tend to stack on the extra weight pretty easily. I'd let myself down for a few weeks and needed to cut for an event in only a week. strict IF'ing and LCHF got me down 4 kilos in a week to easily within my target and the lowest i've been for 15 years at 66.5kg's. Besides the mental side of things, it was pretty effortless overall, I only managed to train twice that week for an hr or two on top of this.

 

[Poetic Justice]

As evo mentioned - this.

If you have the discipline, it's flawless for weight loss. I was in a bit of a slump and tend to stack on the extra weight pretty easily. I'd let myself down for a few weeks and needed to cut for an event in only a week. strict IF'ing and LCHF got me down 4 kilos in a week to easily within my target and the lowest i've been for 15 years at 66.5kg's. Besides the mental side of things, it was pretty effortless overall, I only managed to train twice that week for an hr or two on top of this.

Did you document what you ate? I'm sure a few people could really use that information if it was so succesful for you..