I’m starting a cut!

I’m always so hesitant to post things like this because:

• people take things out of context
• I personally don’t encourage people to diet and instead create healthy habits that will give them life long benefits
• people seem to “diet” all year round

However, I’m writing this because I think it’s important to share all aspects of my fitness journey and a cut every now and then is part of that. Below is what I will personally do, not what I would recommend for someone looking for slow and steady weight loss which is far more important!

How long will I be doing my cut for? 5 weeks, until mid February. I hate “dieting” because cutting my calories affects my performance in the gym and, who am I kidding, in life! My tolerance for others drops significantly and I’m defintely not as nice to be around as my focus is generally on, “when can I eat next”? This is my first real “diet” in 2 years. Normally I go between surplus and maintenance calories and cut back a little here and there if I want to lose a pound.

Why am I doing it? I’m not unhappy with my body. I’ve worked really hard to find beauty and strength in my body as it has changed these last couple of years. However, sometimes it’s nice to challenge yourself in different way. Reset. Uncover what muscle you’ve build and see what you’re physically and mentally capable of.

What foods am I cutting out? None. A lot of people say you have to cut out bread, rice, pasta, dairy, etc. to reach your goals. I personally don’t believe in cutting things out unless they are:

1. They have a negative effect on your body
2. You’re intolerant
3. You want to see if it’ll improve how you feel and your performance.

I will however be cutting back on the number of carbs I eat and increasing the amount of protein I eat. My macro ratios will change for the next 5 weeks, and no, I will not share them because what works for me will not necessary work for you.

Does this mean I’ll be having the odd pizza and burger? No. When you diet, calories become precious and fewer. This means that while I could technically still lose weight while eating both those things neither of them will keep me satiated/full long enough for it to be worth it.

How strict will I be with sticking to my calories/macros? Pretty darn strict. But this is always easier when you know it is temporary and the end isn’t too far away.

What about alcohol? I’m not a big drinker to begin with but I 100% will not be touching any alcohol during this time.

Will I eat out? In the beginning, yes. I will likely eat out 1 meal a week. But, I will definitely be ordering off menu and making special requests. Things like, no dressing, no carbs or less carbs, extra veggies, extra protein, no table bread, etc..

How much cardio will I do? As someone who doesn’t do regular cardio, beside conditioning (you can search #justgetfitconditioning later) I won’t be adding in crazy amounts. I’ll be adding about 20-30 minutes of cardio to each workout by replacing my rest time with 1 minute of cardio in the form of skipping, Bosu ball taps, or step ups.

How often will I work out? 6 days a week. I generally workout 5-6 days a week year round so this isn’t earth shattering. My workouts will still be weight based.

How will this effect my meal prepping? I’ll be simplifying my meal preps and cooking a lot more basic things. For example I’ll prep a bunch of chicken to make salads for lunch that I can eat with beans/rice or bread and fresh veggies. None of that those things need cooking. I may prep some overnight oats because they are easy to modify to hit my macros. I’ll also weigh the nuts and oatmeal I eat as well as the meat I prep which I don’t do anymore. I’ll be estimating the carbs for the initial part and will likely start to weigh those the last couple of weeks.

What kind of things will I eat to stay full? LOTS of veggies. Vegetables always add a lot of volume to your meal. They involve a lot of chewing and help you to feel satiated with less calories. I’ll be sticking to veggies lower in carbs so I can include more at every meal. But, remember the point of a diet is weight loss so not feeling “completely full” at the end of meals is also important and realistic. Dieting isn’t fun or comfortable. You are intentionally depriving your body of the calories it needs in order to lose weight, so feeling a bit hungry is perfectly normal. You should not however be starving!

How many calories will I be eating? I’ll be working my way down from 2500-1700 over the course of the diet. From there I will reverse diet and slowly increase my calories back up to 2500 and eventually 3000. The only reason the calorie cut is so drastic is because I am doing a very short diet. I do not recommend this for most people.

If you’re looking for a healthy and sustainable way to lose weight I suggest looking at this post.