# Female desperate for cutting advice



## nads (Jan 1, 2016)

Hi this is my first post and would really appreciate any advice you can give me.

My weight = 80kg
Height = 5'7
I train 4-5 days a week and do minimum 30 minutes steady state cardio after lifting.

I have been training for over 3 years I want to cut but cannot afford a diet plan.
The one I had a couple years ago is:

Meal 1 - 3 whole eggs & 2 whites
Meal 2 - 125g chicken & 2 teaspoons of organic nut butter
Meal 3 - 125g lean meat and green veg & 25g almonds or cashews
Meal 4 - tin of tuna and 200g of potato (hour before training)
Meal 5 - white fish & sweet potato (after training)
Meal 5 - salmon & salad

All examples sometimes I swapped chicken for turkey or fish.

I was having no more than 80g carbs per day and having them split before and after training.
Any idea if I should do this plan again or try something different? Also what carbs are good before working out?  I read I should avoid starchy carbs before and just have them after.


Thanks guys, any help appreciated!


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## MrRippedZilla (Jan 1, 2016)

What were your results like on that plan? Did you find it easy to stick to, difficult, too limited, perfectly fine etc?

Also, do you have an idea of the total calories & macros in that meal plan?

I will say that the avoid starchy carbs stuff is complete bullshit so don't pay attention to it


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## jennerrator (Jan 2, 2016)

need more info as asked above but will say one problem is your carbs are pretty low


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## NbleSavage (Jan 2, 2016)

x2 on the macro question - what does all that look like? If I had to guess I'd think you around 2K cals, maybe 150 grams of protein?


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## PillarofBalance (Jan 2, 2016)

I would kill myself on 80 carbs unless I have like 65% of my cals from fat


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## ToolSteel (Jan 2, 2016)

30g of carbs was a lot easier for me than 80-100. Drastically.


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## SuperBane (Jan 2, 2016)

ToolSteel said:


> 30g of carbs was a lot easier for me than 80-100. Drastically.



Do tell????


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## nads (Jan 2, 2016)

It was difficult but I found it gave good results but I was like a zombie I slept at every opportunity I had.
Yes about 2k calls and 180g protein, I guess I'm just not sure how to structure more carbs into a diet and I can only train in the evening as I start work so early.


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## MrRippedZilla (Jan 2, 2016)

I had your maintenance at around 2,400 so 2k cals sounds about right since it puts you in a 15-20% deficit, which is perfectly fine.
180g protein puts you at around 1g/lb which, depending on your current bf%, should also be fine.

Honestly, if that plan worked for you and you were ok with low carbs then by all means go with it again.
If you found that it really hampered your energy levels then increase them a little bit and drop some fat to stay at the same caloric level - I think this is the better choice because you shouldn't feel as tired as you were at such a small deficit.

Beyond that, I wouldn't get too caught up on the small things like carb choices, carb timing, etc.


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## jennerrator (Jan 2, 2016)

nads said:


> It was difficult but I found it gave good results but I was like a zombie I slept at every opportunity I had.
> Yes about 2k calls and 180g protein, I guess I'm just not sure how to structure more carbs into a diet and I can only train in the evening as I start work so early.




I have some formulas in my thread on how to get to calories/macros...it's a starting point...a great one 

I will find it and paste it in here 

Question is, do you want to cut and maintain or are you cutting for a show etc....?


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## jennerrator (Jan 2, 2016)

Formulas used:

BRM - 655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years) = BRM

TDEE (based on training 3-5 times a week) - BMR x 1.5 = TDEE

Macros:

Body weight x 1.25 = protein per day

Body weight x .45 = fat per day

Grams of protein per day x 4 + grams of fat per day x 9 = total calories you will consume daily in protein and fat

TDEE - total calories consumed daily of protein and fat = total calories you will consume daily in carbs per day

Total calories from carbs per day (/) 4 = grams of carbs per day


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## ToolSteel (Jan 2, 2016)

SuperBane said:


> Do tell????



Around the 100 mark I was constantly craving carbs, feeling sluggish and crappy. Once you get down to ~30 it's like your body says oh hey maybe I'm not actually dying, this isn't so bad. 

When I would carb load on the weekends I'd go crazy. Anything and everything. Ice cream, pizza, a little beer, pastries, you name it. 
Then back to ~30g a day mon-fri. Lost 50# in about 3 months while gaining strength.

In case you're curious here's what my weight looked like once I added the carb loads. You can literally see yourself fill out in a matter of hours.


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