was wondering if i can get opinions on a cutting diet. I haven't been real serious about cutting before, mostly bulking. I want to be around 8% bf by the end of june. right now i'm 185lbs, 5'10" and about 13%. I train 5 days a week for about an hour and include about 20-30 minutes of cardio with it. For my protein i'm using muscle milk low carb. i know it's not the leanest protein but it's one of the few i can drink every day multiple times
Let me know what you guys think. thanks in advance.
Meal 1
protein shake cut the shake, you've already got 2 more shakes in the day
1 cup oatmeal
1 banana cut this, replace w/ 4 eggs
Meal 2
6oz cottage cheese 2%
1/2 cup granola with nuts cut the granola, replace w/ a fatty nut
Meal 3
8oz grilled chix breast
greens salad
lentils
nuts
Meal 4
4 whole eggs replace w/ chicken breast and veggies w/olive oil
Meal 5
Pre-workout shake
Meal 6
2 cans tuna w/ olive oil
steamed vegs
if this is post-workout, you need more carbs and more protein. Steak or chicken w/potato or rice
Meal 7
1/2 protein shake
I didn't have time to figure out your kcals and macros from your diet, but it looks like
1) not enough protein
2) not enough kcals
3) not enough carbs at the right times
You don't need the banana, because it's a high GI carb, which will spike insulin. The same goes for granola. Granola is one of the most simplified sugars available, and should not be considered a health food by any means. It should be regulated to being a topping for ice cream and yogurt. I think you should eat another 8 oz of meat at least in addition to your 8 oz of chicken midday. I recommend getting up to 2 g per pound of body weight, so you're going to need the meat. The tuna isn't bad by any means, and you can keep that, but ultimately you'll get more protein with chicken or red meat.
As far as macros are concerned, different ratios work for different people. Typically, if you're more of an endomorph (holds fat easily) then you're going to want to go with a low carb/moderate fat/high protein ratio. You should try to keep most of the carb intake to post-workout meal.
For a cut cycle, you'll have to mess around with ratios to see what gives you the best results. I personally only use the CKD to cut (40/trace/60), but it doesn't work for everybody. Some common ratios are 40/40/20, 50/40/10, 40/25/35, read as protein/carbs/fat.
If you haven't done so already, you need to calculate your energy needs. You can use the Harris-benedict formula
Harris Benedict Calculator
Sorry I don't have more time to go into further detail about energy calculations.