Monday, 2 July 2012

Structuring a cutting cycle

Many people want to lose their bodyfat and get ripped, but few know how to structure their diet in order to get the best results possible in terms of muscle retention and fat loss. So I thought I'd share the structure of any cutting diet with you and you can use this simple maths and a calculator to get exactly the right amount of macro nutrients and calories in your diet in order to get shredded in 5-8 weeks.

Okay so first things first you need to workout your calorie limit.
Find your body weight in pounds -(weight in kilos x 2.2) then multiply this number by 11. That is your max calorie intake per day!
For example I weigh 85kg, which is 187 pounds, so my max calories is - 2057kcals

Now onto the macro-nutrients.
Protein is simple it is a gram per pound of body weight, so mine would be 187g per day max.
Carbs is also reasonably simple to work out, multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 0.6, so mine would be 187 x 0.6 = 112.2 grams of carbs per day max.

This is where most peoples cutting diets fall short and they start to sacrifice huge amounts of muscle.
In order to lose weight you need to increase the amounts of healthy fats that you eat! This is true and heres why. In order to prevent cortisol atacking your muscles for an energy source yo ave to provide an alternative, this is usually carbs, but as we have reduced carbs in the diet, fats are the best alternative. Secondly if the brain detects increased fat cosumption and I mean healthy omega 3 fats and ployunsaturated fats then it is more likely to burn excess bodyfat as it is no longer a rare component of the diet.
So how much fat should I be eating? well you need to make your macronutrients equal your total calories, so you must first workout how much you have already from the protein and carbs.
To do this add both totals together, e.g 112.2 + 187 = 299.2
then multiply this by 4(the amout of calories per gram of carbs and protein) 299.2 x 4 = 1196.8

Then take this value away from your total calorie figure. 2057-1196.8 = 860.2
then divide this by 9 (number of calories in fats) to get the amount of fat in grams you should be getting in your diet. 860.2/ 9 = 95grams

So to sumarise
calories = 2057kcals (bodyweight x11)
protein = 187g   (bodyweight)
carbs = 112.2g   (bodyweight x 0.6)
fats = 95g           (left over calories / 9)

These figures represent the max values you should be taking per day, aim to get close to the fats and protein, but don't worry if you fall short on the carbs every few days, just don't go over this!

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