Shredding Cutting Method
An outstanding diet should be simple and clear.If a diet is hard to follow, requires a lot of time for cooking and is costly then you most probably won’t follow it.
On the contrary, if a diet is quite simple, genuine and beneficial then you most likely follow it till the end and even enjoy it.
In this chapter we're going to assist you with deciding how many calories you should be consuming daily and how to adapt a dieting scheme that fits your daily lifestyle
How much fat can you lose weekly?
Our diet scheme is designed so that you could burn between 1- 1.5 lbs (0.45-0.65 kg) of fat weekly. At this point it is the most constructive and safe mechanism of losing fat , you won't lose any muscle or strength, you're most probably going to gain some muscle. Some people try to lose 2-4 lbs of fat per week but sadly they end up being very skinny because they lose most of their muscle mass.
Please acknowledge that you may lose 4-5 lbs during the first week of dieting because you will lose plenty of water weight, that is a totally natural response from your body when you start following a diet/being on a caloric deficit. After the first week the level of your fat loss will be stabilized , which is 1-1.5 lbs per week.
when burning 1- 1.5 lbs of fat weekly , you caloric deficit should be around 500-700 calories. This is a balanced deficit but definitely convenient, specially when applying our dieting scheme/method.
Note
When your body fat gets below 10 % you should reduce the amount of fat you lose per week from 1-1.5 lbs to 0.5-1 lbs per week. Moreover, your caloric deficit should also be reduced from 500-700 calories to 350-500 calories.
Counting Your Macros
Phase 1 – Know Your Maintenance Calories
The most authentic approach we recommend for knowing your maintenance calories is to multiply your weight (using pounds "LBS") by 15
This is just a basic rule, you may change your maintenance calories based on your rate of fat loss. This basic calculation rule works with the vast majority of people but for some people this rule doesn't quite work that's why they should either increase or decrease some calories from their total maintenance calories
This is totally fine, you can easily add or reduce 200- 250 calories to/from your total maintenance calories to keep fat loss at 1-1.5 lbs weekly.
Pounds x 15 = Your Maintenance Calories
For example
200 lbs x 15 = 3000 calories
Phase 2 – Calorie Intake (Caloric Deficit)
After knowing your maintenance calories , you could easily adjust your fat loss calorie intake. We advise you a 20% calorie deficit. Calculate that by multiplying your weight (Pounds"LBS") by 12
Weight(LBS) x 12 = Your daily calories intake
(Your 20% caloric deficit is already included)
For example
Maintenance calories = 200 lbs x 15 = 3000 calories
Caloric deficit = 200 lbs x 12 = 2400 calories (20% caloric deficit)
Phase 3 – Protein Intake (Daily Intake)
Your daily protein intake should be composed of nearly 40% of your daily calories when being on a caloric deficit. This approach will keep you full most of the time and will keep your lean muscle mass in control.
While having some room for fats and carbs in your dieting scheme.
So if you’re consuming 2400 calories , you will have to multiply 2400 calories by 0.4
Example 2400 x 0.4 = 960 protein calories
0.4 means 4 calories per gram of protein. You will have to divide your protein calories by 4 to know the grams of protein you should be consuming per day.
Example 960/4 = 240 grams of protein daily
Phase 4 – Fat Intake
Fats should compose 30% of your total calories. To calculate the amount of fats that you will need , multiply your calories by 0.3 and you will have the total amount of calories that consist of fats. Divide the number you get by 9 to get the exact number of fats in the form of grams.
(1 gram of fat is composed of 9 calories)
For example
2400 calories x 0.3 = 720 calories that consist of fats
720/9 = 80 grams of fat daily
Phase 5 – Carbohydrates Intake
Carbohydrates should be composed of approximately 30% of your total calories. To calculate it you will have to multiply your calories by 0.3. You will get the calories that consist of carbohydrates.
Divide the number you get by 4 to get in the form of grams
For example
2400 calories x 0.3 = 720 calories that consist of carbs
720/4 = 180 grams of carbohydrates daily
Lets sum it up
Calories = 2400
Protein = 240 grams
Fats = 80 grams
Carbs = 180 grams
Developing your meal scheme
This is just an approximate calculation. On your 2nd/3rd week of dieting if you are losing more than 2 lbs weekly then you should increase your calories by 200-250 per day, but if you are losing less than 1 lbs weekly, you will have to decrease your caloric intake by 200/300 calories. We advice you not to change anything in your protein intake, you could change the amount of fats or carbs you consume.
Meal Scheme
Once you know your daily calorie,macro-nutrient intake you can set up your meal scheme. If you will be eating three meals then compose your first two main meals so that they be around 40% of your total calories for each meal. Your evening mini meal will make up around 20% of your total daily calories.
For example
Calories = 2400
Protein = 240 grams
Fats =80 grams
Carbs = 180 grams
Lunch or Dinner Meal Nutrients
|
960 calories (40% of daily calories) 95 grams protein (40% of daily protein) 30 grams of fat (40% of daily fat) 70 grams of carbohydrates (40% of daily carbs) |
Based on 2400 calories diet.
|
Example
450g of lean meat
310g of yams
1tsp of oil
Fibrous Vegetables
Notes
When eating lean meat we advise you having protein sources that have around 2-3g of protein per gram of fat. This includes beef or turkey, sirloin steak and salmon.
Example
You can elevate the amount of protein, carbs and fats to reach your macros for that meal. Moreover, keep things as simple as possible and do not concentrate onsmall details.
Evening Mini Meal
|
480 calories (20% of daily calories) 50g of protein (20% of daily protein) 15g of fat (20% of daily fat) 35g of carbs (20% of daily carbs) |
Based on 2400 calories diet.
|
You could have the "Mini Meal" either between lunch and dinner or after your dinner late at night.
Both choices are amazing and work pretty well. The time of having your mini meal is strictly based on your lifestyle.
What to have for this meal ?
We advice having something simple and easy on your stomach. 2% Cottage cheese or 2% plain greek yogurt, scrambled eggs (1-2 whole eggs and 1/2 cup of egg whites), or a protein shake with some nuts.
You should choose one of those meals and add some carbs to the meal of your choice , carbs like an apple , berries or 2-3 rice cakes. We recommend those meals for your mini meal because all of them are very slow in digestion. So if this meal is your last meal then you'll have amino acids in your body for 10-18 hours, which is of course great for muscle development and recovery.
Mini Meal Portion Instructions
Greek Yogurt / Cottage Cheese
420g of 2% cottage cheese or 2% plain Greek yogurt
+ 1 apple
Scrambled Eggs
Scrambled Eggs (1-2 whole eggs and 1/2 cup egg whites)
1 banana or a bowl of berries,strawberries
Protein Shake
40g of protein from whey protein
1 small banana
15g of almonds
Meal Scheme Example for 200- lb male
Breakfast – 1-2 cups of black coffee or black tea and lots of water
Lunch – 95 protein, 70g carbs, 30g fat
450g of lean meat
310g of potatoes or yams or 100g of rice/pasta/buckwheat
1 tbs of oil
Fibrous Vegetables
Dinner – 95g protein, 70g carbs, 30g fat
450g lean meat
310g of potatoes or yams or 100g of rice/pasta/buckwheat
3 teaspoons of oil
Fibrous Veggies
Small meal – 50g protein, 35g carbs, 15g fat
420g of 2% cottage cheese
+ 1 apple
Refeed Period
When being on a caloric deficit for a long time, your leptin level will start getting unbalanced. Leptin is a hormone that is responsible for your metabolic rate and appetite.
When leptin level decline, your metabolic rate decelerate and appetite level increases. Generally leptin is handled by your calorie intake.
When your body fat percentage decreases, your leptin rate gets reduced ,making it hard to continue burning fat or even maintaining a low body fat percentage. By using refeed days method you can increase your leptin levels considerably.
Moreover, refeed days also get your body into an anabolic state, which helps you develop muscle gains.
Carbohydrates should make up the most of your calories on your reefed days because carbohydrates have the most effect on leptin levels.
For you information, fats have nearly zero effect onyour leptin levels.
We advice you having 2 reefed days weekly, please do not make your reefed days two days after each other, reefed days should be separated by at least 2 days.
On reefed days we advice consuming 16 calories per pound of your weight. Protein should make up appropriately 30% of your total calories, fat should approximately be 25% of total calories and carbohydrates should be around 45% of your total calories.
Reefed day example for a 200lb male
200 lbs x 16 = 3200 calories
Protein = 3200 x 0.3 = 960 protein calories
960 / 4 = 240g of protein
Fat = 3200 x 0.25 = 800 fat calories
800 / 9 = 90g of fat
Carbs = 3200 x 0.45 = 1450 carb calories
1450 / 4 = 360g of carbs
Macros
Monday – Low calories (12 cals per pound)
Tuesday – High calories (16 cals per pound)
Wednesday – Low calories (12 cals per pound)
Thursday – Low calories (12 cals per pound)
Friday – Low calories (12 cals per pound)
Saturday – High calories (16 cals per pound)
Sunday – Low calories (12 cals per pound)
If you want to lose fat without gaining significant muscle mass, then we would advice you having only one reefed day weekly. This approach is the best if you have 15 or more lbs of fat to burn. If you have 5- 10 lbs of fat then we would recommend you to keep the 2 reefed days scheme.
A male who is 190 lbs and 20-25% body fat and wants to go down to 7-10% should use one reefed day method until he's down at about 13-15% body-fat.
When they go down to 175 lbs they’re incredibly happy with how they look, but sadly its going to be pretty hard to keep on going on a caloric deficit. Because after significant weight loss their body has less fat assets accessible . Therefore, their leptin levels will drop as a protection from starvation.
The smallest decrease in leptin is enough to boost your hunger rate. Therefore,making it very hard to follow a diet. Decrease in leptin will also slow down your metabolism rate, not massively but it will take
some time from you to lose fat.
That's why adding second reefed day is recommended. You’ll be in a better mood, have more strength and your training will be more energetic.
Getting below 10% body fat
When you’re at 10% body fat and want to get below 10 % percent body-fat , we advice you to focus on losing 1/2 a pound of fat per week. This level of fat loss will make things much easier for you, especially when you get to one digit body fat percentage.
Losing fat at a slow pace is quite easy. For example, if at this point you are losing 1 pound of fat weekly, then you’re on a 3500 caloric deficit. The easiest way to lose fat at a slow pace is to increase your caloric intake by half (1500-1750 calories). We strongly recommend that you keep your 1-2 reefed days as they are, add the extra calories to your caloric deficit days.
This means that you should add around 250-300 calories on each of your caloric deficit days. The boost in calories should mostly come from carbohydrates.
For example you’re consuming 2000 calories daily with 200g of protein, 65g of fat and 150g of carbs. So you should add around 75 extra grams of carbs, you will end up adding about 300 calories to your dieting scheme which means your daily calories intake will be at around 2300 calories per day. thus you will be having 225g of carbs.
Please acknowledge that you may gain 1- 2 lbs simply from the boost in your carbs intake . Don’t get fooled by this, the weight gain comes from water and muscle glycogen, but in reality you will look more leaner and jacked than ever before.