Thinking of cutting, not sure how to do it

[Littlemermaidklb]

This is probably better placed in the diet/nutrition thread, but I figured I'd come here first. I've been doing the NROL4W since January (a week behind the official challengers) and have seen nice strength gains so far and am pretty impressed with that aspect of things. However, I don't feel like I'm losing much fat around my new-found muscle. The way of eating that is outlined in the book is very close to what I've always done, though I had to work on getting more protein in and watching my grainy carbs. I had been eating between 1900 and 2200 cals which is right near maintainance for me. I tried dropping a few cals to around 1800 to 2000 cals and didn't see a change. I see a lot of talk on here about carb-cycling, and cutting and all that stuff and I'd like to try it but I'm unsure how to go about it. I don't have a lot of fat to lose, but I'd like to lose it before summer (aka bikini season) hits. I don't want it to hinder the strength progress I've made though. Right now I'm basically doing the NROL4W workouts on MWF, with rest days in-between. Maybe I should keep eating the way I've been eating but add HIIT on T,TH? Or do a "cutting" type eating plan for a while?
Any ideas, suggestions, helpful hints to get me started?
Thanks!

[Nikster]

Funny, I have heard so many terms on here that I had never heard before....."cutting" and "carb cycling" was one of them, so I can't really answer this for ya but wanted to get in on this thread to see some answers?? I am sure I will be corrected if this is wrong.....but

The very limited info I have is when I asked DH if I should do it, he said that is for body builders mostly and they are the ones that do more "cutting" before competitions....so I dropped it...besides, from what I understand, it is cutting your cals to cut fat around the muscle after a "feeding" and "building" stage of training.....and I wasn't sure I could cut my cals without getting very very hungry!!! haha I am already a BEAR without my carbs and sugar....so I figure with lower cals I would make my family want to throw me out!!! LOL!
But, I am curious if anyone else on this program has done this cycling thing??? Thanks for posting that question, because I had the same one

Nik~

[kfisherx]

cutting is generally a body building term and usually infers that you mean to get down to where abs show (usually around 10%) That said, it can also mean to just loose weight or fat if you will. My trainer says that cutting is an art form. It is easy to drop weigh ALA "biggest loser" style right? Just cut cals and do 5 hours a day of cardio. If you want to do this without loosing muscle though.. Now that is where the tricky part comes to play. I think NROLW is designed especially for the fat loss without muscle loss. If I remember correctly the book recommends that you continue to back down cals if you are not seeing good losses.

[Lost Dog]

It's not complicated. Just eat less and/or exercise more.

It takes not eating/burning off about 3500 calories to lose a pound. If you want to lose a pound a week, you need to come up with 500 calories a day.

Split it up however you want. Less food and some extra cardio will work well. It doesn't have to be 500 each day. -400 a day, in food, and 250 calories cardio three times a week, for instance equals 3550 calories.

You don't have to do a pound a week. 1/2 a pound could be good, at 250 calories a day.

[LaraT]

The book does state to cut calories down from maintenance (but no more than 300) if you are not seeing losses (either in lbs or inches).

I cut about 200 this past week because while I have been gaining strength and losing some inches, I want to speed up the losing inches/fat part because I have two big events coming up (yup call me vain). I weighed in today and lost a lb from my weigh in last Thursday.

Body builders do the real drastic cutting of really lowering cals/carbs and doing tons of cardio before a competition. IMO that is too extreme for most people who are not competing.

[Natalia]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

It's not complicated. Just eat less and/or exercise more.

that's what I did at one point and hit a plateau. Our bodies fight back hard when you are trying to get rid of the last of fat (and I understand Kara doesn't have a ton to lose). A lot of fine-tuning has to happen.

But for the more overweight individuals, I agree, it's a lot simpler.

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by Natalia

that's what I did at one point and hit a plateau. Our bodies fight back hard when you are trying to get rid of the last of fat (and I understand Kara doesn't have a ton to lose). A lot of fine-tuning has to happen.

You're freakin' lean, so you do you're special tricks and protocols!

Originally Posted by Natalia

But for the more overweight individuals, I agree, it's a lot simpler.

Right. We're all different. Some people can get pretty lean with simple dieting, over will hit that plateau and need your special tricks.

I say to start simple and get as lean as possible that way. Save the tricks for later.

[Littlemermaidklb]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I decided to keep eating where I'm at right now but to add HIIT on my "off days" at least 2x a week, so hopefully that will help me lose a little bit of the fat. I really don't want the scale to change that much... maybe 5 pounds total. I'm 5'4" and 135 right now, so 130, with some decent lean mass and less fat would be pretty ideal for me I would think. Thanks again!

[Bytsi]

I decided to keep eating where I'm at right now but to add HIIT on my "off days" at least 2x a week, so hopefully that will help me lose a little bit of the fat. I really don't want the scale to change that much... maybe 5 pounds total. I'm 5'4" and 135 right now, so 130, with some decent lean mass and less fat would be pretty ideal for me I would think. Thanks again!

Hey Kara,

FWIW, I was having similar questions and there is a thread about metabolically challenging workouts in the training section, as well as all the info from Natalia's "planning to quit the challenge" thread in this section that also address HIIT for fat loss vs steady state, etc etc... You probably already read them, but just in case...

[stingo]

Sadly enough, I don't think your cutting regimen will include Girl Scout Cookies.

[Littlemermaidklb]

Originally Posted by stingo

Sadly enough, I don't think your cutting regimen will include Girl Scout Cookies.

Haha, point taken Stingo

[_CQ]

Hey Kara,

I had the same question. I have decided that I will do my cutting phrase when stage 7 starts, and focus on completing stage 4-6 and having fun now. Right now I think of myself as "bulking"--gain muscle and strength. From what I understand, stage 7 is a fat-burning phrase, and I'm going to fine-tune my diet (right now I'm sort of eating crappily) to induce a calorie deficit (like 1,900 cals, or 1,800), and eat the protein I need to keep muscle. I think I will look pretty cut if I do that, and I will just be in time for bikini season too

[maggieandmommy]

That's sort of what I'm thinking, too, CQ.

[baffled111]

Me too, except that I think I'm going to skip stage 6 and jump from 5 to 7. I might do 6 afterwards, but I've added enough mass for now. I'm pretty jacked under my extra couple of bf% points.