Unfortunatly due to starting university earlier this year I have let myself get pretty out of shape. Initially I managed to stick with my training and nutrition and was sub 10% bodyfat for the first time in my life. My 21st, Christmas celebrations and general uni-ness messed things up a little.
Current stats: 21 year old male, 5’10", probably around 15% bodyfat now (need new test - I am making this evaluation purely on weight increase/appearance/what I can pinch and how I feel), about 86kg. I have been lifting on and off for about 5 years but would still put myself as a beginner-intermediate.
I was considering charging straight into heavy calorie restriction but tbh my metabolism feels shot after about 6 weeks of retarded eating/drinking/living and sleeping.
So I present to you my current plan:
Week 1: Weigh self, eat at maintenance to set eating habits in stone and to help ramp up metabolism.
Week 2: Continue as above.
Week 3: Weigh self and eat at new maintenance - metabolism should be improving by now and some water weight lost.
Week 4: Continue as above.
Week 5: Weigh self and set diet for cutting - perhaps dropping 500 calories.
Week 6: Continue as above
Week 7: Subtract 250 calories
Week 8: Continue as above
Week 9: Subtract 250 calories
Week 10: Continue as above
Week 11: Weigh self, calculate new maintenance, calculate difference between new maintenance and current intake, divide by 4 and increase by that amount over 4 weeks.
Week 12: As above
Week 13: As above
Week 14: As above
Week 15: Recalculate maintenance
Week 16: Eat at maintenance
Week 17: Recalculate maintenance
Week 18: Eat at maintenance
For the record my usual macro split is protein and fat dominant with 50g total carbs on non training days + an additional 50g PWO.
Is 6 weeks enough to trim down to circa 10% from an estimated 15%? Is my restriction harsh enough?
It seems like you have half of your battle won, by having a plan.
In my opinion, and considering that you have been off the wagon for a little bit, is to simply re-establish suitable eating patterns and a decent, progressive training programme.
By simply doing that you may lose a pound or two of water, maybe some fat, and then adjust as you need to.
One thing you may want to consider doing is during the xmas break from studying (you will likely have 3 - 4 weeks off from lectures) is to ramp up both your training volume and quality caloric intake - allowing a little wiggle room for xmas if needed - and then immediately post xmas, maintain the increased training volume but look to reduce your Kcalories.
The high activity levels will improve metabolism, the quality nutrients will facilitate recovery - and if you train progressively - you should build up a bit of muscle and make some decent strength gains too. When you cut back you should be able to do so from less of an agressive energy deficit and still maintain decent fat loss and training quality.
6 weeks maybe a bit short to reduce 5% BF, although that does depend on your metabolism.
You have a nice block of free time, I say make use of it.
While I like that you have a plan to get your shit back together; it’s useless (IMO) to plan things out so detailed because you won’t know how your body will react.
If your plan is to cut down; that’s fine. Let’s just keep it at that. Find your maintenance level and stay there for a while (4-8wks) and get your body to realize where it is.
From there, your body should be able to adapt better to cutting 250-500 calories every few weeks.
Keep the cutting of calories in that range and you’ll see losses but won’t really fall apart.
Also, find a consistent time of the day to weigh in. And use that as your scale only. If you don’t lose a pound or two every few weeks, drop the calories. This is where I think that planning how many calories on week 11 you’r going to drop isn’t a good idea…b/c you don’t know where you’ll be at.
All in all it’s good to see you have a good head on your shoulders. Good luck man!
This might sound like a stupid question, but how exactly do you find what your maintenance is? Do you use the ole’ BW x 12 (I think that’s the right number) method and adjust as necessary until you’re not really gaining or losing any scale weight over the course of a month? Then, when you’re on a calorie restriction, how do you recalculate it? I’m starting to learn how my body reacts to the different macronutrients, but I haven’t really got this diet thing hammered out yet.
Go to Mayoclinic.com, enter the numbers. Then calculate the required deficit (I use 500 cals/day). The figure how much protein you need, and then based on whether you naturally gain fat, figure how many carbs/fat you will break your daily numbers into (if you naturally pudge up eaily, keep the carbs lower, and from ‘good’ sources).
I fluctuate my own carb intake at the moment, while some days my carbs come in under 100g, other days, I’ll allow it to creep up to 250 or so, but still making sure my total cals are under my required amount, and I have gotten all the protein I needed at 2 hour intervals throughout the day.