Diet help needed keep cutting or bulk?

[jayjay11]

Hey there all, i need some urgent help with my diet and nutrition I've hit a big wall and carnt seem to get over it and hopefully you guys will have the answers i need.
In a nutshell 2 years ago i hit a peak of 18 stone and decided to do something about it, im now currently 12.8 and feeling great but struggling to take it to the next level.
I train 3 days on one day off, which consists of various splits with a 10-12 rep,4 sets,40 second rest between sets and 60/70% 1Mr. I also do hiit which is 5 mins Warm up,fast jogging 2 mins full sprint 1 mins, 8 sets (about 20 mins) 5 mins quick jog cooldown.

Im pretty sure its the diet letting me down as i struggle to eat due to work etc and need some opinions on what to do next being the weight i am and 6ft Tall i feel im losing muscle mass.
Diet is as follows be warned its Pritty poor.
Shake-2 scoops of phd diet whey
3/4 pieces of fruit. Orange,apple,banana.
Boiled egg,handful of mixed unsalted mixed nuts.
Few crackerbreads with peanut butter or houmous
A Usual Teatime meal is chicken Salad, beef stir fry veg etc always to pack in max protein minimal Carbs.
Then bed haha i drink 2/4ltrs of Water per day and currently started a ec stack. The problem being my arms,shoulders, legs look ripped but the mid section and back is still wobbly carnt seem to get it off, Shall i keep cutting? Il try and get pics up asap.
Looking forward to your advice!

 

[bluetwistedsteel67]

Not rearly enough food to bulk or cut so I'd start there for sure. Before designing a diet, you need to decide what your intent is, are you going to bulk or cut? This is a dilema people find themselves in; they never fully commit to either. They start to bulk and see in the mirror that they are not as lean as they once were and they panic and quit bulking. Or they start cutting and see in the mirror that they're losing size and they panic and quit cuting. Consequently, they make very little overall progress toward they're ultimate goal of looking the way they envision themselves looking. So, set a goal. If you have an image in your head (you need one) of what you are working toward, are you currently holding the muscle needed? If not, bulk and stick with it. If you're holding the muscle you need then cut and stick with the cut. The end result will likely not be exactly what you were hoping for (that's the bitch of this entire bodybuilding persuit) but you'll be closer and you'll have learned to stick to a diet. So, first thing is to determine if you're going to bulk or cut. After that, working up a diet is much easier. Currently, just looking at a snapshot of your diet, I'd say your getting less than 150grams of protein currently and depending on the portion size of your final meal, ikely closer to 100 grams.

 

[jayjay11]

Decided to keep cutting until im around 10%bf, then Lean bulk. Im gussing.im around 16 at the moment with ribcage and top abs showing them selfs a little. Also going to try and step up the protein and cals to as close to 1500 as possible just everything in the UK is so damn expensive right now! I know people are going to be Screaming at me to maintain muscle as its hard to get back but this.is a long term thing and a little muscle for 10 or sub 10% bodyfat will be viable imho. Any tips on cheap good foods?

 

[bluetwistedsteel67]

You can't cut on 1500 calories, that's not enough. You'll make some progress for a few weeks but your metabolism is going to slow to a crawl. Aim for 500 cals below maintenence. Maybe 250g protein, 200g carbs and 50g fats (from fish oil and flax seed mainly). That will put you at 2250 cals. Then each week cut 25 grams from the carbs until you reach that 10% you're shooting for. It's an easy diet to follow and it will get you to 10%. Now going from 10% to 6% or so is another story. Much tougher task for most. Best of luck. As for cheap foods, there really isn't such a thing especially when it comes to protein. Egg whites, chicken breast (tenderloins are cheaper than the whole breasts)and lean ground turkey are going to be staples and if you like beef, opt for lean cuts like eye of round or london broil. Carbs are cheap; brown rice and oats.