Right now I am guessing I'm sitting around 16% body fat (82kg). I used to be around 10% when I weighed around 70kg before I broke my hand, and probably around 12% when I started the routine (71kg).
For those that don't know what body fat percentages actually look like in real life, here's a run down (BEWARE: prepare yourself for bro-talk):
5-8% - Meth addict shredded: veins running through everywhere including lower abs (known as one of the most stubborn areas), striations popping whenever you move. Bodybuilder status.
9-11% - The lowest body fat % most people can get to without hard dieting. Striations everywhere except the 'stubborn' areas are visible at all times, lower abs are almost entirely uncovered, not quite 8-pack though. Not quite 'cut to ribbons' but most certainly 'shredded'.
12-14% Abs are almost entirely visible, and striations and veins are also visible in some places. Not the 'hard' look of a lower body fat, with more rounded edges and a softer overall appearance. What most people would call 'lean'.
15-18% Abs are covered, no real striations and veins visible unless flexed. Still considered to be lean, but not aesthetically appealing by any stretch. Gathering the beginnings of a spare tyre around the midsection, with fat accumulating around the hips and lower back.
Right now I'm in the latter section, with striations visible only in my forearms and chest, with upper abs almost covered and lack of veins overall. I want to cut down 6% of my body fat, which at my current weight means dropping around 4.5kg. Accounting for dropping water weight and general bloat from food and glycogen stores, I estimate I need to lose 6kg to be 10% body fat. Which would mean that I've gained almost 5kg of muscle in the past 4-5 months, which I'm happy with.
How am I planning to go about doing it?
Weight loss/gain = energy intake - energy expenditure.
I've done a bit of hunting around and discovered that my daily caloric needs are sitting around 2600-2800Kcals. That means that to lose 0.5-1kg a week I'll need to keep my calories each day to around 2200Kcals (500 calorie deficit a day, 3500 a week, with 3500Kcals equalling a kilogram). This wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't still concerned with adding to my lifts.
How do I operate on a caloric deficit and still gain strength?
As long as I give my muscles the stimulus to adapt (through training heavy), the protein needed to recover and rebuild them, the fats to keep my hormonal levels in check, and the carbs to stop me from feeling like a horse's ass (and get through my workouts without failing or collapsing), I should be ok. But that's a very difficult balancing act. But because I'm not an advanced trainee and still have a lot of improvement within me, I think I can do it.
Nutrition
Protein - The plan is to eat as many high protein foods for my calories as possible. This is important for 2 reasons. One, to make sure I don't lose muscle mass from my body eating away at my muscles (and so my muscles can even repair themselves from working out). And two, because protein is hard to break down and is therefore better than carbs and fat in terms of energy yield in the process of losing weight. I'll be aiming for 200g of protein a day. To put that in perspective, a small can of tuna has 20g of protein, an egg has 7g, a chicken breast has around 30-40g, and a 50g bag of beef jerky has 35g (dehydrator here I come).
Carbs - The less carbs the better, but obviously to replenish muscle glycogen and give me energy throughout the day, I do need to include them to a necessary level. I'll try and keep it to around 100-200g a day, with higher levels on workout days to keep energy high and to recover suitably.
Fats - I'm not even going to worry about my fat intake, as the common misconception is that fats lead to fat, but most of the time it is in fact simple sugars and other carbs that are the culprit. I won't be going out of my way to gulp down gravy, but a few nuts and trail mix here or there shouldn't be too much of an issue. And plus, I'll need fats to keep my hormones at a respectable level and to stop my metabolism from slowing to a snail pace.
What am I planning to eat?
To keep my calories down and my protein intake high, I'm going to be eating many foods day in, day out.
Breakfast: Eggs, whether they're hard boiled, poached, scrambled, or in an omelette. Probably will try and eat 4 every morning (300 cals, 30g protein).
Lunch: I'll be aiming to buy lots of Nando's chicken to supplement my protein needs, as well as choice leftovers and tuna (500-700 cals, 70-100g protein).
Dinner: My 'let loose' meal, where I will eat whatever with an eye on high protein meals. This will mean cutting out pasta etcetera where possible and trying to get more steak, roast and veg and the like in (800-1000cals, 70-100g protein).
So in general I'm going to be strict on my daylight hours intake, and try and eat well for dinners. If I'm sticking to my protein intake and not going overboard with the calories, I'll be happy.
How will my lifts be affected?
I am not too worried about my lifts going down, but I won't be expecting daily 2.5kg increases either. I'll still be aiming to be PRing week to week, but not workout to workout. In terms of losing strength/not gaining fast, here are the lifts I'm most concerned about:
1. Press (the lowest lift kg-wise, and the first one to drop in most cuts)
2. Bench (upper body lifts always suffer most on a cut)
3. Dips (losing BW should help me retain my numbers)
4. Squats (don't think I'll have a problem increasing these in all probability)
5. Deadlifts (judging from the speed of my reps I still have improvement to burn on this lift)
Should take around 2 months to get down to where I want to be, and from there I will probably up my carbs to stay the same weight and keep pushing the weekly progress. Let's do this
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