Who is on a cut?

[torkins]

Cut started this week. Pray for me my friends.

[Allentown]

2 scoops of whey plus 8 oz. of milk

Aside- one scoop of MyProtein isolate in something like 12oz of milk basically won't blend well with a typical screen shaker. Clumps everywhere, regardless of how long you shake it. How you getting 2 scoops into 8oz?

[JohnHelton]

2 scoops of whey plus 8 oz. of milk

Aside- one scoop of MyProtein isolate in something like 12oz of milk basically won't blend well with a typical screen shaker. Clumps everywhere, regardless of how long you shake it. How you getting 2 scoops into 8oz?

I add about 4 oz. of ice and then put it in a blender. Pretty thick but good.

[JohnHelton]

Cut started this week. Pray for me my friends.

Good luck. We are here for you.

What are your goals?

[Allentown]

I add about 4 oz. of ice and then put it in a blender. Pretty thick but good.

Ah.

[torkins]

Cut started this week. Pray for me my friends.

Good luck. We are here for you.

What are your goals?

I went from 165->176 over the past 16 weeks going into my first meet. Went fine (seems like 50/50 fat/muscle) but now I want to trim my belly cut down to give me more room to grow without getting too fat. Not sure how far exactly I want to go, want to look fairly trim and not get as much of a belly next time, so maybe down to 160 this time?

I'm interested by these RP templates. In general my plan is just "eat less, mostly protein and carbs, low fat". What is the real benefit of these templates?

[JohnHelton]

Cut started this week. Pray for me my friends.

Good luck. We are here for you.

What are your goals?

I went from 165->176 over the past 16 weeks going into my first meet. Went fine (seems like 50/50 fat/muscle) but now I want to trim my belly cut down to give me more room to grow without getting too fat. Not sure how far exactly I want to go, want to look fairly trim and not get as much of a belly next time, so maybe down to 160 this time?

I'm interested by these RP templates. In general my plan is just "eat less, mostly protein and carbs, low fat". What is the real benefit of these templates?

@dcw has crushed it on those templates. I'm doing more of the flexible dieting, IIFYM, approach. I think that works well too if you remain compliant. I am coming around to Avatar Nutrition being good in that regard. At first I didn't want to follow their instructions (problems with rules and authority), but recently I have been doing it and it works. Like the RP Templates, everything is easier when you have less variability in your diet. You figure out what works meal wise and stick to it. I've also figured out that I can't drink alcohol and lose weight. When I drink (extra calories), I then start eating more (extra calories). I have also been weighing daily, only thinking about my 7-day rolling average as my weight. This has helped me be able to see the real trends in my weight and recognize what is working and what isn't.

[dcw]

Thanks for the shoutout, John!

The number one benefit for me with the templates was compliance. As ironic as it may seem around here, I took a DTFP approach and just trusted that, since these templates are very popular and have high reviews, the templates would work if I was 100% compliant. This kept me from messing with things from a “diet programming” sort of perspective, and made it easier not to cheat. Plus, I’m not the type of person to spend money on something and then not use it (frugality FTW!) so I kind of had to see it through, lol.

YMMV on the above, obviously.

The other notable things are how the diet progresses as you get further into it (even transitioning back to maintenance), the established meal frequency and macros that are adjusted depending on when you train, and the TON of supplemental info that is included.

I agree with John that it’s simpler with less variety. I eat the same thing everyday, and I pick foods that are easy to titrate the amounts of to make prep easy. But, if you need variety they have cookbooks that have a lot of recipes with the numbers included.

The templates + a food scale + MyFitnessPal + compliance = high likelihood of success.

Tl:dr - Much good. Would recommend.

[quark]

The templates + a food scale + MyFitnessPal + compliance = high likelihood of success.

A caloric deficit and compliance are key.

The templates, food scale and myfitnesspal all seem be be tools to help compliance.

I haven't tried any templates or the like. I've found myfitnesspal and planning the day's eating in advance to be extremely helpful for compliance. I enter the day's plan in MFP in the morning. Thinking about food rather than blindly and rigidly following a plan seems to decrease compliance. Without a food scale, you're just guessing and will likely guess wrong.

[MPhelps]

Yeah I use measuring cups so I'm pretty loose compared to a scale. Plus most food is measured in weight and I think when it's entered by volume in myfitlesspal it may be a guesstimate. The thing that gets into my light OCD is whole fruits and veggies because it varies so much. Still losing about 1-2 LBS a week, so so far so good

[cwd]

Woke up hungry this morning, which means I got my portion sizes right for dinner last night.

My oatmeal was *so tasty*. Seriously, I enjoyed that bowl of oats/nuts/fruit/whey as much as the fanciest restaurant meal I've ever had.

An often-overlooked benefit of cutting is how good the food tastes.

[broseph]

Woke up hungry this morning, which means I got my portion sizes right for dinner last night.

My oatmeal was *so tasty*. Seriously, I enjoyed that bowl of oats/nuts/fruit/whey as much as the fanciest restaurant meal I've ever had.

An often-overlooked benefit of cutting is how good the food tastes.

Sometimes this. But other times, if I let myself get really hungry and crave-y, it’s like I have to choke down “diet” food. Chicken breast and vegetables may as well be cardboard at that point, and I end up eating a small portion. This is especially true at night.

[cwd]

Woke up hungry this morning, which means I got my portion sizes right for dinner last night.

My oatmeal was *so tasty*. Seriously, I enjoyed that bowl of oats/nuts/fruit/whey as much as the fanciest restaurant meal I've ever had.

An often-overlooked benefit of cutting is how good the food tastes.

Sometimes this. But other times, if I let myself get really hungry and crave-y, it’s like I have to choke down “diet” food. Chicken breast and vegetables may as well be cardboard at that point, and I end up eating a small portion. This is especially true at night.

Yep -- dinner was chicken breast + veggies, so I was craving carbs this morning. Oatmeal + fruit is carbs.

Not a whole lot of it though - I'll be hungry again by 10:30...

[Wilhelm]

I was just a hair above 195 this morning.
Averaging 2,500 calories a day.
Fully fed and watered is 200 plus a maybe a little at points.

I think i am fine doing this all the way to my meet.

Second to last hole on my belt is the new normal.

[broseph]

I was just a hair above 195 this morning.
Averaging 2,500 calories a day.
Fully fed and watered is 200 plus a maybe a little at points.

I think i am fine doing this all the way to my meet.

Second to last hole on my belt is the new normal.

Strong work, W.

It's funny how satisfying lifting-belt-hole-gainz are. I've never been so tempted to get a Pioneer Cut as during this current cut.

[Allentown]

It's funny how satisfying lifting-belt-hole-gainz are. I've never been so tempted to get a Pioneer Cut as during this current cut.

Pioneer cut would also be great for those of us who sometimes lift before dinner, and sometimes after.
Another downside to a lever belt... I probably could have gone (back) down a hole for my pre-dinner session yesterday. But it was too tight a week ago for a post-dinner session.


I'm pretty much done cutting, and plan to wobble around at 230 +-3lbs for a while, mostly modifying milk consumption. 227? All milk in my protein shakes. 232? All water. Hopefully I can recomp/drop waist inches while adding arm inches.

[broseph]

Hopefully I can recomp/drop waist inches while adding arm inches.

The Holy Gainz Grail. I too hope to begin my crusade in a few short weeks.

Here's to choosing wisely!

[Allentown]

The Holy Gainz Grail. I too hope to begin my crusade in a few short weeks.

Here's to choosing wisely!

No kidding. If I'm training and doing cardio, gain 5lbs over a month, at least half is gonna muscle, right? Then I drop 5lbs, more than half will be fat, right? EZPZ?

[ch]

I’m on an unscheduled but much needed diet break. It’s hard to stop when that needle is so close to 200 (202.2 is my lowest weigh in). If I went with kilos I wouldn’t have this problem right now.

My biggest issue is that when I play sports my appetite increases, especially after a game. Also beer in the locker room.

I’m tempted to run an RP template just so I have something to adhere to. The easy losses are over.

[michael]

No kidding. If I'm training and doing cardio, gain 5lbs over a month, at least half is gonna muscle, right?

Five pounds per month is probably way too fast. I think 1 pound per month is more realistic. If you gain 5 pounds over 5 months half might be muscle.

Think about it. That's still 5 pounds of muscle in a year. Who actually does that after a few years of training?