What kind of time limit are we looking at here? Since you want to drop about 20 pounds, I would recommend dedicating between 10 to 14 weeks to achieving your goal. Here are some suggestions:
- Keep calories as high as possible as long as possible (as you mentioned). This should be based on how many calories you are currently consuming, which you didn’t mention. Don’t just pick a 3000 calorie diet. Figure out how many calories you’ve been consuming (on average), and deduct between 300-500 calories from that number. Now, stick to that number until your weight stalls for a period of 3-5 days.
As I’m sure you know, daily weight fluctuates wildly based on hydration, glycogen levels, carbohydrate intake from the day before, how much food is in your gut from the day before, etc., even if you weight yourself first thing in the morning. Therefore, don’t expect to be considerably lighter everyday. However, if your weight does not decrease for a period of 3-5 days, consider adding another 300 calorie deduction.
- If you’re going to do cardio, these are the two best options (IMO): fasted cardio, first thing in the morning OR HIIT after your training session (or on dedicated days, whichever you prefer). That being said, I don’t recommend cardio until much later in the process, maybe around 75% of the way through. From my experience, cardio really isn’t even necessary most of the time unless you’re looking to get very lean (think 8% or lower).
However, cardio does have its benefits and I do believe it should be done for many other reasons regardless of weight, so I would suggest after week 8, begin with 1-2 fasted cardio sessions lasting between 30-45 minutes a week OR 1-2 sessions of HIIT. Add time and/or sessions to your cardio regime as you see fit and continue to progress. The biggest takeaway with cardio is don’t just add a ton of it all at once - slowly introduce it to your regime and gradually increase it.
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Generally, what time do you train? How many meals do you get in before and how many after? This will determine how you should time your nutrients (disclaimer: I don’t think that timing nutrients has as drastic of an effect as many would have you believe, unless you intend on getting very lean, so this may not be applicable to you at all).
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As far as specific macros go, the diet you have outlined is 29% protein, 47% carbs, and 24% fat. My caveat about macro ratios is that I have seen very little scientific evidence that the composition of your macro profile makes any kind of difference in overall lean mass, although a lot of broscience/anecdotal evidence does exist.
Therefore, IMO, any reasonable macro ratio should be effective, and I wouldn’t necessarily worry too much about it. That being said, I have had good success with a 30/40/30 split of P/C/F, but it really depends on the person - some people prefer higher fat, some prefer higher carbs, higher protein, etc. Your success really depends on how you feel while dieting, so don’t just follow someone’s advice to drastically reduce fat or carbs(or do whatever) if you feel like shit the entire time.
Experiment with the approach that works best for you, ride it through, and success will follow. Something I enjoy doing is having at least one moderate protein, high fat, very low carb day during the week (think less than 50 grams). If this is something that appeals to you, you may want to look into carb cycling (many good articles on this site).
- A little tip: everyday when you wake up, drink 16 ounces of water right away (you may also want to mix in some freshly squeezed lemon juice to induce liver detox and increase fat burning potential - suggestion brought to you a la John Meadows) - this will help with appetite suppression so that you won’t be ravenous in the mornings. This may not even be a problem for you, but it really helps for me.
Anyways, I think I posted a large enough wall of text for you to sift through (lol). If you have any questions, let me know. Dieting is one of the most interesting and enjoyable aspects of this lifestyle, because there is so much information out there, and at the same time, so much of it is entirely dependent upon the individual. I’m sure others will chime in with good advice, but if you have any other questions, let me know!