Some general guidelines to calorie cycling and maximing progress

[Mac173]

Don't be afraid to have days at 3100-3300, especially right now while you are off and your body is used to 4200. Maybe do two at 2900, then one at 3100, then one at 3300, then back down to 2900 - it doesn't really need to feel like dieting when you are makiing a drop of 100kcal a day like that. You will still notice losing bf and changing it day to day like that it won't slow things down - it'll just keep you from noticing a drop in strength in the gym.

I only start getting strict once I feel I need to and the fat loss has slowed.

I feel so good on low cals though, always have.
Energy increases and that sluggish feeling goes away.
I think all that heavy eating just wipes me out.
I'm having carbs for only first 3 meals of the day totaling 155g.
Last 4 meals p and f only.
Proteins over 300, mostly redmeat, turkey breast, cottage cheese and ANPB.

 

[Nathan]

I feel so good on low cals though, always have.
Energy increases and that sluggish feeling goes away.
I think all that heavy eating just wipes me out.
I'm having carbs for only first 3 meals of the day totaling 155g.
Last 4 meals p and f only.
Proteins over 300, mostly redmeat, turkey breast, cottage cheese and ANPB.

I typically feel about the same and the drop in calories is welcome and at first it feels like a natural progression.

FC - I found hte info over the years in varius places, mostly websites I think though I don't have any in particular to recommend.
I don't plan my diet actually. I know more or less what foods I should be eating and I worry more about the total NUMBER of calories I eat each day, and try to get at least 1g/lb of bodyweight in protein. I try to have some protein in each meal, or at least no more than two small meals apart.

 

[FriendlyCanadian]

I typically feel about the same and the drop in calories is welcome and at first it feels like a natural progression.

FC - I found hte info over the years in varius places, mostly websites I think though I don't have any in particular to recommend.
I don't plan my diet actually. I know more or less what foods I should be eating and I worry more about the total NUMBER of calories I eat each day, and try to get at least 1g/lb of bodyweight in protein. I try to have some protein in each meal, or at least no more than two small meals apart.

Cool thanks very much for the advice, I'd love to obtain your guru level of dieting one day, hehe.

what would you recommend for a beginner as far as planning goes?

a week plan?

day plan?

wing it?

 

[Nathan]

Cool thanks very much for the advice, I'd love to obtain your guru level of dieting one day, hehe.

what would you recommend for a beginner as far as planning goes?

a week plan?

day plan?

wing it?

I would always go with a day plan and simply tweak individual meals if you get bored with it from day to day. It's best if you know your best options food-wise that way you know what to take out and what to replace it with when you need a change. It really isn't that complicated and mostly I am approximating and rounding off to holy hell. Every meal I round off to the nearest 100th calorie pretty much if I feel like I have no idea what I've eaten in a day and I am thinking about eating another large meal. For example, let's say I am at the end of the day and I want a big steak which is like 800kcal, it takes me 60 seconds to add 400kcal or so 7 or 8 times to figure out that if I have the steak, I'll be at around 4000kcal for the day. If I add it up and am at like 3800kcal, I'll go with a couple tbsps of ANPB instead or a can of tuna or a protein bar.

 

[FriendlyCanadian]

I would always go with a day plan and simply tweak individual meals if you get bored with it from day to day. It's best if you know your best options food-wise that way you know what to take out and what to replace it with when you need a change. It really isn't that complicated and mostly I am approximating and rounding off to holy hell. Every meal I round off to the nearest 100th calorie pretty much if I feel like I have no idea what I've eaten in a day and I am thinking about eating another large meal. For example, let's say I am at the end of the day and I want a big steak which is like 800kcal, it takes me 60 seconds to add 400kcal or so 7 or 8 times to figure out that if I have the steak, I'll be at around 4000kcal for the day. If I add it up and am at like 3800kcal, I'll go with a couple tbsps of ANPB instead or a can of tuna or a protein bar.

Cool thanks again, I'll do that, appreciated again.

going to tweak it with the thought of cycling in mind, great thread, I'll k you when I can. =)

you can probably do that so easily because from the looks of things you've had great control on your nutrition for a while and you're obviously very informed.

 

[tshoot]

I feel the same way, about 4 weeks into a bulking type of diet I feel like I make the best muscle vs. fat gains. After that, more of it seems to be partioned to fat. Same with a dieting cycle, first couple of weeks seems to strip away the fat and then after that the muscle seems to go faster.

 

[Nathan]

Cool thanks again, I'll do that, appreciated again.

going to tweak it with the thought of cycling in mind, great thread, I'll k you when I can. =)

you can probably do that so easily because from the looks of things you've had great control on your nutrition for a while and you're obviously very informed.

I definitley got better at it as I went. It was a slow progression but when I first bit the bullet and made the effort to really watch what I was eating, that is when I started to notice a big difference.

 

[FriendlyCanadian]

I definitley got better at it as I went. It was a slow progression but when I first bit the bullet and made the effort to really watch what I was eating, that is when I started to notice a big difference.

working on biting this bullet, working on it really hard... ugh..

also bumping this thread because everyone should have a read.

 

[Mac173]

I definitley got better at it as I went. It was a slow progression but when I first bit the bullet and made the effort to really watch what I was eating, that is when I started to notice a big difference.

Planning out a good diet is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Before my cycles I will figure out a diet to eat all cycle that contains a specific amount of cals,p,c,and f all depending on what my goals are for that cycle.