Help designing cutting diet please? (new member!) :) :help:

[Viv2015]

Hi everyone!

I am a 25 year old female looking for some help redesigning my diet so that I can properly set myself up to build LBM and hopefully promote some fat loss. I have been training for over 5 years, I am 5'3 and weigh around 130 (give or take ) My body fat percentage is a little higher than I'd like to to be although I am not sure of an exact number. I have NO problem being strict about eating clean or putting in the work in the gym, but I feel as though my diet may benefit from some major tweaking. I welcome any knowledge that can be provided!! I had surgery on my pituitary about 5 years ago leaving me with only 1/2..so I really need to be on top of everything to even see the teeniest bit of results.

Sidenote: I just began a cycle of anavar taking 2.5 ED. In the coming week I am going to increase to 5mg in split doses.

A typical day for me goes something like this:

Breakfast:
2 whole eggs + 3 egg whites
cup of berries/or a piece of fruit

Lunch: Protein shake (1 banana, scoop of protein powder, cup and a half of unsweetened almond milk, teaspoon of pb)

Snack: 2 whole eggs + 3 egg whites

Dinner: Chicken breast + spinach salad (no dressing) OR Chicken breast + 1/2 cup of brown rice + steamed veggies OR equivalent meal with fish instead

Before bed: Sometimes I like to have 1/2 of a chocolate chip cookie dough quest bar (guilty pleasure!!)

THANK YOU in advance!!

 

[Megatron28]

Can you tell us how many calories you are consuming daily? And how many grams of protein, fat and carbohydrates you are consuming daily?

What does your training consist of?

 

[Viv2015]

I will try and run that through a calorie counter and get back to you asap. I train 6x week, usually one body part per day. I alternate between heavy sets and sets for reps. I also do cardio on each day usually for about 30 min. Sometimes its fasted steady-state first thing in the morning, others it's after my main lifting session and I do HIIT.

Thank you for the reply!

 

[Viv2015]

Here we go..I did my best but I am assuming this would be a rough estimate and not a perfect one...

Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
1,247 106g 43g 128g 440mg 1,363mg 38g 28g

Thank you again

 

[Megatron28]

I am not the diet expert here -- hopefully one will jump on -- but it looks to me like you are in a caloric deficit at only 1250 calories per day. It is really hard to gain muscle when you are in a caloric deficit (unless you are brand new to lifting which you are not). Have you been experiencing weight loss recently?

 

[Viv2015]

Honestly, I really haven't. At least not in the way I'd like if that makes sense? The weight doesn't bother me so much as I'd rather lose the fat in favor of putting on muscle. The whole pituitary things makes things especially tricky to try and figure out, since I typically do not see results as a normal person would expect. I never know if I should be in more of a deficit or if I'd experience much more favorable results adding calories. It can be very frustrating!

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

Your maintenance should be around 2,100 cals so it looks like your in a pretty strong deficit (40% or so) BUT I will confess that I have no idea how the pituitary surgery impacts this.
Do you have any bloodwork to show your overall hormonal levels since the surgery?

You also said that you want to build muscle and lose fat - which one do you want to do first?
Don't get me wrong, you can achieve both but it will be very difficult for anyone apart from beginners without a coach guiding you through it.

 

[Viv2015]

Thank you for the reply Mrrippedzilla

I do not have any recent blood work (which reminds me that I should get that checked out, so thank you!). I do remember having low HGH and low prolactin levels on my last bloodwork if that helps any. I used to take prescribed HGH but I haven't in a few years.

For now I guess my main objective it could go either way. Should I focus on gaining more muscle to aid in the eventual fat loss? Or should I focus on fat loss? I do have a good amount of muscle, It is just hiding a little bit more than I would like it to

At the end of the day, my goal is to be muscular but lean!

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

Low prolactin shouldn't have any effect on body composition as far as I'm aware but the low GH can be major issue depending on how low it really is - especially for muscle growth.
Whatever the case I HIGHLY recommend getting bloodwork first to see what impact, if any, your pituitary surgery has had on your hormones & body composition goals.

In terms of the most efficient approach, focusing completely on fat loss will help more than simply relying on muscle gains if the ultimate goals is a leaner, more defined look - which it sounds like it is

Over the last week how has your weight been? Are you maintaining, losing slowly, etc?

 

[Viv2015]

Leaner, more defined; I like the sound of that !

Over the last week I seemed to have lost some fat. My midsection, arms, legs, all feel a lot tighter but also more muscular. I think I may have to attribute that to the anavar though? I definitely feel as though I've tightened up however (i.e. fat loss).

My boyfriend is big into bodybuilding and he is always trying to get me to eat more (I tell him I can't keep up with him!) because he's convinced that it will accelerate my metabolism and aid in the fat loss. I trust his input but I think I trust the input of other women who lift a little bit more

 

[Megatron28]

He may be right. If you have been in that extreme caloric deficit for a long time you have probably slowed down your metabolism. You could see what your TSH is at with blood work and compare it to your Baseline.

 

[Viv2015]

I could see that being the case. I really do need to make it a point to get some recent bloodwork done. I guess in my head it just feels counterintuitive if that makes sense because I feel so full all the time already, and I haven't been seeing the results I'd like to. Tricky balance!

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

Leaner, more defined; I like the sound of that !

Over the last week I seemed to have lost some fat. My midsection, arms, legs, all feel a lot tighter but also more muscular. I think I may have to attribute that to the anavar though? I definitely feel as though I've tightened up however (i.e. fat loss).

My boyfriend is big into bodybuilding and he is always trying to get me to eat more (I tell him I can't keep up with him!) because he's convinced that it will accelerate my metabolism and aid in the fat loss. I trust his input but I think I trust the input of other women who lift a little bit more

For the next week I want you to get into the habit of tracking some basic measurements:
- Weight (obviously)
- Neck (from below hairline)
- Waist (from belly button)
- Hips

In general, you want your waist/hip ratio to improve with both measurements dropping while minimizing any loss in neck measurement.
Its a nice basic way of tracking whether your losing fat, gaining muscle, etc.

In terms of your BF's advice - he's right about higher calories accelerating metabolism but not so much in aiding fat loss...more calories is still more calories
How long have you been at 1250 with those macros? And has your cardio routine been the same through out?

 

[Viv2015]

I will go ahead and do those measurements and hopefully by the end of the week I will see a difference! And report back of course It is hard to say how long I've been at those specific macros..my guess is pretty recently as I used to consume a lot of cottage cheese, and that protein shake meal 2x a day instead of once. I dropped that in favor of the eggs. I don't think the dairy was doing me any favors, plus the extra fructose from having 2 bananas a day. Fasted cardio is a very recent addition as well. I only started doing that as of this past monday but I am liking how I've felt this week.

I really can't thank you enough for your kind input Mrripped!