Advice re carb/protein/fat intake

Hi.

I am an aspiring bodybuilder. I am 22 years old, 5ft 9in and weigh 11st 9lb. I am in a cutting phase and I am trying to lose body fat whilst retaining muscle. I have lost on average a pound a week for approximately 6 weeks.

What has worked for me is reducing my carb intake to around 130g a day, fats around 60g and protein high at 150g.

I have heard people say they do something called "carb cycling", which is one day eating high carbs/low fat and then the other day low carbs/high fat. I presume this is to keep the metabolism tick over. I have found eating a high carb meal on a weekend helps.

I literally have no idea what I should be doing. I am experimenting with the amounts I eat. I go cycling a lot which is my cardio.

Has anyone got a tried & tested method of losing weight (and by weight I mean fat, whilst maintaining muscle mass)?

Sorry if this is confusing!

Thanks.

If you are on a cut, you will lose some muscle....
There are things you can do to help preserve muscle during this time.
Lift Heavy
Eat adequate protein (I would say min. 1.0 gr / pound of body weight, maybe hit about 1.2 gr / pound of body weight)
Take BCAAs before and after workouts.

Carb cycling is an option, but to lose weight, all you need to be is in a caloric deficit.

If you have been at this for 6 weeks....then in another 2 to 4 weeks, I would plan a refeed for two days.
High Carbs, Low fat <20 gr for the two days, and same protein intake as usual.
But also depends on what your BF % is....if you are >15%, refeed may not be needed.

Your cycling I might would advise cutting back.....
Not a good idea to be a bodybuilder, doing a cut, and then cycling on top of it all....you are just asking for muscle loss then.

Shouldn't that be 1.0g per LBM, not bodyweight?

Carb cycling is used to keep your muscle glycogen stores replenished while following a low carb diet. The idea is that you eat very low carb throughout the week (typically a good bit lower than the 130g you're eating) and then once a week or bi-weekly you do a carb-up, where you keep fat very low and carbs very high, and usually you'll go higher on calories on your carb-up day. The idea is that your body will prefer to use the excess carbs for glycogen replenishment rather than fat storage. Of course, this assumes you're glycogen depleted going into the carb-up day, and that's why most carb cycling involves very low carb throughout the week paired with sufficiently rigorous exercise routines.

There are advantages to such a diet, but recognize it's also a lot more effort and is a lot more restrictive than your standard IIFYM diet and may not produce any recognizable improvement in your results.

You might want to check out the diet i've been following: LeanGains (http://www.leangains.com/)

also some really good resource/info at http://www.reddit.com/r/leangains

Hi.

I am an aspiring bodybuilder. I am 22 years old, 5ft 9in and weigh 11st 9lb. I am in a cutting phase and I am trying to lose body fat whilst retaining muscle. I have lost on average a pound a week for approximately 6 weeks.

What has worked for me is reducing my carb intake to around 130g a day, fats around 60g and protein high at 150g.

I have heard people say they do something called "carb cycling", which is one day eating high carbs/low fat and then the other day low carbs/high fat. I presume this is to keep the metabolism tick over. I have found eating a high carb meal on a weekend helps.

I literally have no idea what I should be doing. I am experimenting with the amounts I eat. I go cycling a lot which is my cardio.

Has anyone got a tried & tested method of losing weight (and by weight I mean fat, whilst maintaining muscle mass)?

Sorry if this is confusing!

Thanks.

If you are on a cut, you will lose some muscle....
There are things you can do to help preserve muscle during this time.
Lift Heavy
Eat adequate protein (I would say min. 1.0 gr / pound of body weight, maybe hit about 1.2 gr / pound of body weight)
Take BCAAs before and after workouts.

Carb cycling is an option, but to lose weight, all you need to be is in a caloric deficit.

If you have been at this for 6 weeks....then in another 2 to 4 weeks, I would plan a refeed for two days.
High Carbs, Low fat <20 gr for the two days, and same protein intake as usual.
But also depends on what your BF % is....if you are >15%, refeed may not be needed.

Your cycling I might would advise cutting back.....
Not a good idea to be a bodybuilder, doing a cut, and then cycling on top of it all....you are just asking for muscle loss then.

Shouldn't that be 1.0g per LBM, not bodyweight?

Do as you like....

Just my opinion....and you can have your money back if you don't like it.

Thanks for your advice. I know I will lose some muscle, just like I know I will gain fat on a bulk. It's all about minimising both.
I think cycling helps my metabolism, as I work in an office and don't really get any exercise in (apart from my lifting).

I haven't done a proper BF test but I used callipers on one area and it comes out at around 17%.

I feel I am consistently in a calorie deficit so hopefully in around 4 weeks I will be leaner (ready for holiday!).

I have some BCAA's just don't really use them. I've heard they work better before cardio on an empty stomach? I think my whey protein has these in anyway.

I suppose each person is different and has a different metabolism. I feel I need to hit the bike once or twice a week to help my weight loss. I would do more cycling but leg day makes it virtually impossible!

Thanks for your input.

If you are at 17% BF, then refeeds I would hold off on for a bit longer.

BCAAs will benefit you during weight lifting sessions also....
Any time there is a demand for energy from your body