My best cut ever

[anashine]

I am following 531 training program. I have been sick for the last few months, and feeling low on energy. I have maintained my training, but at the price of gaining weight. I have felt hungry most of the time, but especially after heavy workout sessions. I turned to food for energy, but it got out of control. I put on roughly 8kg in six months. I feel a bit devastated, as I was very close to being quite lean at the start of this year, but now that goal is a lot further away. On the plus side, my 1RMs have continued to climb up, and I know I have a lot of muscle. And I am a lot closer to doing unassisted chin ups than I was a few months ago, even with the extra weight I've put on.

Now I am hoping to make a mental switch and focus on a cut.

As I write this, I feel very tired. This is daunting. I need to find a way to push through tiredness and feeling mentally low, without relying on food.

So. Here I go. My best, most successful cut effort ever, starts today!

I will not fail!

[anashine]

Starting weight: 71.4kg
End goal weight: 57kg to 60kg - I'll reassess as I get closer to 60kg

Current goal: get to 68kg by mid September

Method for the next three days (Fri, Sat, Sun) - kick start the cut by going on an RFL CAT 2 style diet.

Daily protein goal: 127g
Carbs and fats goal: as low as possible - basically whatever is in eggs, green vegetables, milk and chicken on the way to 127g of protein
Supplements: 6g fish oil, vit D, magnesium, iron, coffee

EOD update:
Success! This is the first day this month that I've managed to stick to the plan.

Total calories 1077. 127g protein, 36g carbs, 45g fat (all from healthy sources). It's higher fat than a strict RFL diet. This works better for me.

Training: week 3 day 1 of 531 - military press (today's best 1RM 29kg), chin ups (12kg assistance 2 reps plus negative reps until I was exhausted), and finish with upright row.

[anashine]

That big, one off drop in weight on the second day is so motivating. Promising. Rewarding.

I'm down to 69.9kg this morning - a 1.5kg drop in one day.

Breakfast was a large bowl of eggs, egg whites, and shredded coleslaw vegetables all stir fried, with a slice of protein bread and cottage cheese.

I'm on the road most of today. I haven't prepared anything yet, except 3 serves of protein bread. I might do canned tuna and protein bread for lunch, and a protein shake to get me through to dinner. Dinner will be at home - either slow cooked pork or beef and broc****.

Training probably after dinner. Deadlifts today.

EOD update:
Total calories 1133. 129g protein 40g carbs 47g fats.

Deadlifts 64kgx5 73kgx3 80kgx3
Straight leg raises 3 sets - 20, 10, 10
Then did some lat pull downs, parallel bar walks, weighted walks and sled runs (40kg+).

Overall pretty happy with today. Appetite is under control so far.

[anashine]

69.5kg today. That's 2kg down in 2 days.

I am at risk of binging if I stay on low calories for much longer.

I'm thinking I should make sure I eat a lot of greens today, and aim for slightly higher calories. More fats today, from avocado and eggs. Aiming for about 1300 calories today.

There are so many carbs in the house. Raisin bread. Choc chip cookies. Nutella. I can only allow myself to smell them. If i have even a crumb, it will set off a ravenous binge. I just know. But for as long as i have nothing sweet, I'm fine, I have no physical cravings.

No lifting today. I went to a yoga class this morning. It left me exhausted, so I decided that's enough for today. Bench press can wait until tomorrow.

EOD update:
1217 calories. 130g protein 65 carbs 46 fats.

MFP reckons I have another 5 weeks of eating like this to get down to 65kg, to lose 4.5kg.

[anashine]

No change. 69.5kg.

I calculated my BMR today. It's around 1450 calories per day. I'm going to aim to eat that much today.

EOD update:
Today's total is anywhere between 1420 and 1550. I bought a small, 4cm dia, protein ball -and later found that in MFP there's a whole range of protein balls, from 60 to 200 cal. I went for 100 but who knows what was in it.

This evening I made apple berry protein cake. 180cal, 12g protein, 11g fat, 5g carbs per slice. With a tbsp of coconut yoghurt, it hit the spot. I felt full after that and could not eat more. This is unheard of with me and cake.

Training was good this morning. Bench press of four different kinds, and a (very little) bit of triceps work. I had a lot of energy today. A complete opposite of yesterday. Fingers crossed high energy continues into tomorrow.

[anashine]

69.1kg

I'm feeling more positive about being able to stick to this. No cravings. No hunger. Enough energy to get things done.

Had a very strong legs session today.

Aiming for 1200 calories today, with lots of green vegetables. So far so good. Lunch was Apple Berry cake ❤

EOD:
1262 calories. 127g protein 59g fats 45g carbs. Feeling very full.

Fingers crossed I'm under 69 tomorrow.

[anashine]

68.7kg this morning.

I woke up with a cold. My nasal congestion and cough are back after a few days of respite. It is so very annoying. Sick of it.

But, I am feeling quite positive about being able to stick to this for a bit longer. My clothes felt more comfortable putting on this morning.

I started deload week of 531 which is a blessing. I've had a sore neck and tension headache since yesterday, and would have skipped today's workout otherwise. But I could handle a deload shoulders day. So it was a fairly quick but good session. 22 minutes all up. Deload weight on military press, and then onto chin ups. I decreased assistance to 10kg and managed same reps as four days ago with 12kg assistance. I'm really really really happy with that. Losing my own weight, there's less weight to pull up
I finished the workout with a few quick sets of upright row - 10x20kg, 8x22.5kg and 5x25kg.

I think I'll continue with 1200 calories as my target for today and tomorrow, and then go a bit higher on Friday.

EOD:
1142 calories. 106g protein, 50g carbs, 54g fats. I found myself at 850 calories at 8:30pm and had to force myself to eat more - coconut yoghurt with cherries and almonds. It wasn't intentional, just how today worked out. I was too busy for most of today to think about food much.

[Groo]

My tones probably going to come off rude in this but it's not meant to.

Please revisit the stickied articles regarding macros. You should be consuming much more than 1200 cals. You'd be surprised how much better a cut goes if you do it slowly.

Also it seems like your thinking about going into ketosis I.E under 50 grams of carbs a day. Some swear by it but personally I think it's a waste of time because my workouts tend to go like crap.

[anashine]

My tones probably going to come off rude in this but it's not meant to.

Please revisit the stickied articles regarding macros. You should be consuming much more than 1200 cals. You'd be surprised how much better a cut goes if you do it slowly.

Also it seems like your thinking about going into ketosis I.E under 50 grams of carbs a day. Some swear by it but personally I think it's a waste of time because my workouts tend to go like crap.

Hello! Don't worry about being straight with me - I appreciate it. TBH I just launched into this diet without thinking much about numbers, because I had to stop gaining so much and so fast. I just had to put a stop to it and start counting and being very strict. I haven't considered ketosis at all. If I am heading that way, it is unintentional. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I don't think I need or want ketosis. I don't hate carbs. And I love good strong heavy workouts full of good energy, and don't want to compromise that.

What I want to avoid is blow outs. I know I am at high risk of binging if I go too low for too long. And then all the work is undone in a day or two.

I've had a look at reverse dieting. I have a good metabolism at the moment, and I don't want to stuff that up. Maybe calorie cycling might work... a few low calorie days, then a high calorie day. That's how I used to eat when I was younger and never had any weight issues...

Having dropped a couple of kilos, I feel much better already, so it might be wise to cut slowly but surely.

[anashine]

My gosh. Seven days straight, no slip ups. Unheard of for me

68.7kg today. Same as yesterday.

Today has been another very busy day and I found myself in a similar position as yesterday - on around 950 calories at 9.30pm. So I ate just because. Right or wrong... doesn't matter really.

I'm finishing the day on 1183 calories. 87 protein, 74 carbs, 56 fats.

Still in deload week. Deadlifts day. On 531, deload is basically 3 warm up sets, and then repeat. That feels like no work for me, so I usually increase it a bit. Not too much. Hasn't come back to bite me so far. 40x5, 44x5, 50x5, 50x5, 60x15 (I love doing high reps with deadlifts, and it's deload, so why not), 50x5. Then two sets of 15 straight leg raises, and then some SLDLs. That was it. A 15 minute workout, if that.

Still sick. Blocked nose makes me so tired - being unable to breathe properly. Using nasal spray helps me feel normal for a couple hours at a time.

I will eat more tomorrow. I have already planned a dinner of salmon and sweet potato and avocado and green vegetables. Other than that, I plan to be strict.

[anashine]

68.4kg

Still sick. A bit worse than yesterday.

Training: deload chest day. Added some triceps and biceps into it.

1350 calories. 108 protein 57 carbs 78 fats. Salmon avocado and chips did that.

No more from me today. Absolutely exhausted falling asleep writing this.

[anashine]

68.4kg (that's 3kg less than 8 days ago)

No gym today. The only free time slot I had, I wasn't up for it. Felt too dizy, high temp. Chose to rest in bed for the hour I would've had at the gym.

1420 calories. Really didn't have to have the last 130, and actually didn't really feel like it either even though it was the mmmmmcrunchypeanutbutter, but I'm trying not to go too low. It's an odd feeling for me, being relatively low on calories but not at all hungry, not actually wanting food. I had that spoon of PB because I was low on calories, but didn't feel like eating, so had something calorie dense. I am in two minds about this. Do I go with how I feel at the time, as in, not eat more than I feel like eating... Or do I try to eat more, so that I stay consistent and steady, and hopefully prevent blowouts... I'll see how I go over the next few days. If I am able to maintaing my energy levels (it's hard to tell where I'm at though because I'm sick), and manage appetite, then there's no reason to stuff around.

127 protein, 82 carbs, 71 fats.

Yesterday's numbers were the same as today, as in, 68.4kg on the scales. But today, no idea why, I feel heavier, more bloated, etc. Yesterday I felt 5kg ligher. Shrug. I'll keep going. I'm only half a kilo away from my mid September goal of 68, so it will be time to redefine goals soon. I'm thinking 2kg in the next three weeks would be good.

Very mentally demanding day ahead tomorrow.

[anashine]

68kg

Still sick but taking nasal spray regularly so functioning fine. Temp has dropped.

Last deload week session today - squats. Did squats 6 sets of 5 reps at light weight. Then:
Glute kickback machine: each leg 50kgx5, 65x5, 72.5x3, 75x4
Leg press: 120kgx8, 160x8, 160x8, 160x8, 120x10
Dumbbell standing one leg cobras: each leg 10kgx10, 10x10
Then a couple of sled runs with 45kg load.

Calories currently on 1044 and I will have to stuff myself to eat more. I will get them up to at least 1200. I might have to spread peanut butter on that bread, instead of cottage cheese. But I don't want to get into the habit of eating peanut butter every day again. It's so easy to have too much.

[anashine]

Didn't weigh myself today. Won't until Thursday.

Great training session, with half a banana as pre workout fuel. First session of new 5-3-1 cycle. Shoulders day.
Barbell shoulder press: 12.5x5 15x5 20x5 20x5 24x5 27x2
Assisted chin ups: 10kg assistance for all- 1st set 2 reps plus 4 negs, 2nd set 1 rep plus 4 negs, 3rd set 1 rep plus 2 negs. omg exhausting. Best workout.
Parallel bar straight leg raises: 15 reps
Barbell upright row: 25x8, 28x5, 30x3
Wide grip lat pulldown: 42.5x6 front of head, 35x10 back of head, 42.5x3 front


Calories around 1200. 120 protein 77 carbs 46 fats.

Still congested. Having a cup of miso soup loaded with five cloves of garlic, and then bed.
Deadlifts tomorrow yay

[anashine]

Didn't weigh in today.

Was quite psyched up for today's session, but by the time I could get to the gym... I did it, but it was hard going. Even an unleaded bar looked too heavy. But I did do everything as on program. Was hoping to get more reps on the AMRAP set. Nm.

Deadlifts: 40kgx5 45x5 54x5 60x5 68x5 77x5 60x10
Parallel bar straight leg raises: 5 sets of 10 reps
That's it.

Calories once again on track for 1200 but might go to 1400. I'll see what my appetite is like.

I lifted my arms up and could see a strong ribs outline. Getting somewhere!

EOD calories 1300 - 121 protein 80 carbs 55 fats

[anashine]

Didn't check weight today.

Chest day. Good training session in terms of overall energy, but not if I look at numbers. I've stopped chasing 1RMs though. For now

Once again a very quick session because I'm very time poor at the moment. I'm basically getting an hour to get to gym and back and get changed twice in that time, so I have to be efficient. 5-3-1 works really well. When I have very little time, I do the core exercise and then as many others as I can fit in.

Barbell bench press: 6 sets
Dumbell incline bench press: 3 sets
Dumbbell one arm row: each arm 2 sets

Calories around 1300 mark.
I discovered today how low in calories pumpkin is. I never knew! I always thought it was like potato. But no. Much cheaper.

And I'm stiiiiiiiiiill sick.
So sick of being sick.

[anashine]

67.8kg today. That's 3.7kg in two weeks. Next weigh in will be on Tuesday.

I am on a mini holiday. No weight lifting. Workout will be mainly walking and bodyweight exercises, but I'm not going out of my way to include them. Today I played tennis (I've never really played before but loved it), and at a skate park we pretended we were skateboards and we ran up and down the steep ramps. Quite a workout for legs.

Also no calorie counting until Monday. I have given myself three rules about food for eating out:
- high protein meals with vegetables
- no gluten
- no added sugar
These eliminate most breads, cakes and alcohol. I'm finding it really easy so far.

[anashine]

Had a mini break from dieting and counting but mostly stuck to healthy foods. Except for yesterday - had a large scoop of icecream, a couple mini donuts and a little bit of a chocolate fondant.

I have no idea how many calories I ate. Activity levels so so.

Snuck a quick shoulders session in today. Basically a repeat of last Monday. I'm restarting the current 531 cycle so today was Day 1.

Curious to see what the scales will show in the morning. I'm all ready with my meals prepped to resume this cut tomorrow.

[anashine]

Up to 69.2kg this morning. That's about 1.5kg up since Thursday. Oops.

Today was a bit hard going. I finished the day on 1400 calories.

Deadlifts day. Only had half hour for gym.
Deadlifts: 40kgx5 45x5 54x5 60x5 70x5 77x5 80kgx3
Straight leg raises 15 + 10

That's it.

[anashine]

68.6kg. That's 3kg down in twenty days. I'm happy with that. And I seem to have a good grip on what I'm eating at the moment. It's all nutritious.

Today was a bit of a omfg how am I going to get through today kind of day. Less than 2 hours of sleep last night, between about 430 and 630am. Absolutely horrible. Nearly called in sick. But didn't. Pushed through. And worked right through lunch. And no time for training. Going out tonight. Can't even get an early night to catch up on sleep.

Calories currently on 1650. Could go up a bit more. But maybe not.

Finished on about 2000 calories today.

[anashine]

68.4kg

Relatively good day today but still tired from lack of sleep, even though last night was much better. I'll have an early night tonight.

No time for gym today. I could go in about half hour, but I'll be going for more sleep instead.

I have been winging this cut last few days without my staple weight loss foods, and it's been tricky. So I decided to get that back in order today, instead of going to gym.

I steamed a head of broc****, which together with slow cooked beef covers me for two lunches. And I just pulled protein bread out of the oven, to go with breakfast and lunch for the next five days.

Finishing today on just under 1800 calories, including a spoonful of Nutella, some packet chips and raisin bread.
I will aim for a bit less tomorrow - basically going back to completely clean again.

[anashine]

68.4kg

Having a relaxed eating day today, but will count what I can. Started with a large bowl of cereal for breakfast and heading to the market where there will be lots of delicious things. So, I'm having another day off. I'll restart on a strict cut tomorrow or Monday.

I feel fine/comfortable with my body so I'm quite happy to take my time getting down towards 60kg. No crash diets.

I'll have to make it to the gym today. Not happy about skipping it last three days. But life...

[anashine]

67kg

This weekend has been a rollercoaster.

Saturday was chest day. I felt so weak. Did the core exercise and one additional and left.
Sunday was squats/ legs. A fantastic session. First legs day in a while and left legs feeling like jelly. So good.

Didn't diet. Ate whatever I felt like both days and had wine each evening. But last night I had an awful gastro and didn't sleep at all. Nothing like a night of vomiting to drop 1.5kg overnight.

So here I am. About to face a day of work etc unsure if my stomach can handle anything yet and in desperate need of coffee to wake me up.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Keep at it, hopefully this week treats you well.

[anashine]

Keep at it, hopefully this week treats you well.

Thank you. Really appreciate this.

Feeling a bit low at the moment, but that's the lack of sleep. Hoping to bounce back up tomorrow.

[anashine]

68.x kg - can't remember exactly

Around 1600 calories today.
Deadlifts 40kgx5 45x5 54x5 62x3 74x3 82x4 60x8
Straight leg raises 3 sets of 15 reps

That was it today. Had only twenty minutes to squeeze a workout into, so that was it. Running on a couple of hours of sleep again. It's hard going. About to get a slightly earlier night. Very very tired.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Hopefully your schedule & amount of sleep improve. Hard to stay at your best that way.

[anashine]

Hopefully your schedule & amount of sleep improve. Hard to stay at your best that way.

Thank you!

My sleep has been better last few days. Haven't been too strict with food. I have maintained weight but not lost any. My strength is up though.

Today's workout was 531 week 3 day 1 - military press:

Military press work sets: 24kgx5, 27x3, 30x1. that 30kg is the heaviest I've ever done on that exercise, and it felt great.

Then I went and did another personal best- I'm down to 7.5kg assistance with chin ups.
Did one rep each with 7.5kg, 10kg and 12kg assistance, and a few neg reps.
That first rep with lowered assistance had zero elegance though. My whole body was fighting to get itself up. I couldn't stop laughing afterwards though. Much closer to goal.

And then Upright Row: 20kgx5, 25x5, 30x4

Calories? No idea.

Tomorrow is deadlifts and I'm meant to attempt to lift 86kg. Never done it before. Did 82x4 a few days ago. So I'll want to be strong for that session tomorrow. No cutting.

[anashine]

I did something wrong with military press yesterday. My lower back has been bad since yesterday's session. It hurts to sit or stand for longer than a few minutes. I have to keep stretching it.

Deadlifts were fine, though. No issues with my back until the very last rep.

Deadlifts today: 36kg x5 45x5 56x5 68x5 77x3 86x2
Then a few sets of straight leg raises.

Looking forward to deload week! Two more heavy days and then deload and serious cut.

[anashine]

Time to reset.

For three weeks or so I have maintained at 68kg, which I'm happy with. And I've stuck with 531 and lifted heavier than I've ever attempted, with usually only 20 to 30 minutes for gym.

Now I'm going to cut a bit more again. I have more flexible 2.5 weeks ahead. No excuses. It will be busy, but there should be more gym time possible. And more early nights. I seem to finally be over whatever bug I've had for weeks.

I've cut pretty hard today and will aim for about 1200 tomorrow, and then around 1800 on Saturday.

Haven't been to gym since Tuesday. I'll try to go tomorrow. Squats/ legs day. Then I get into deload week.

Thinking of switching from 531 and doing a flexible version of Allpro for a cycle, maybe two. I loved Allpro years ago. This last round of back pain hasn't been fun, and I think it's to do with military press being too heavy. With Allpro, I can go lower weight and higher reps.

So, I'm thinking about doing Allpro with accelerated cardio between some sets. Start with chin ups instead of squats, as that's my main fitness goal - to do them unassisted.
Dumbbell one arm row instead of bent over row. Goblet squats. Deadlifts and one legged cobras instead of SLDL. Seated military press. Finish with plank and stretching. 3 times a week. I'll set up the new program while I'm in 531 deload week and cutting. Should be doable but it is a stricter routine than 531.

New goal: 65kg by mid October.