Calorie Deficit... minor adjustments

In my last post, I talked about working out calories and how much to cut from them. What I use for my plan is approximately 1750 calorie deficit as opposed to the 3500 calorie deficit usually pushed by mainstream diet media.

I like to lift weights 3 days a week.... I always leave one day completely for recovery. So I have 3 days for cardio. Cardio is either H.i.i.t training @ 18 minutes or else light-moderate steady state cardio/fitness @ 30 mins - each session usually works out at around 250 calories for a total of approximately 750 calories a week. This equates to around 42% of the calorie deficit I use to get my ass in shape and imagine we haven't even come to cutting calories from our food.... I think it's a serious factor that people tend to overlook when training for a cut, especially if your goal is to preserve muscle.

So what do we do with our food intake?

Surprisingly... very little.....

- a total of 1050 calories fo the week....

So technically your calorie deficit in week one could be approx 1750... but in week 2 it could be approx 2800... a minimal adjustment for minimal muscle loss. Continue this protocol for the duration of the cut. Unit your time frame has been exhausted or your goal has been reached.

Now subtracting this amount of calories for your total intake means your gonna have to be precise with your food intake. To do this I use an accurate Salter digital kitchen scales.

I choose this scales for the same reason why I use the same brand for weighing my bodyweight. It was a good price... it's uses easy to come by "aaa" batteries and also came with a 15-year factory warranty. It is worth investing in a decent kitchen scales because you want accuracy, and if you're like me... a little clumsy around the kitchen you want one that's gonna last, this one I can highly recommend.

The previous scales I owned was plastic and the first thing I dropped cracked the pan on it. The pan on the Salter scales is toughened glass and it definitely gets my approval (lol - survived a few major accidents already) At £14(17 euro) purchased on the net off amazon I think its a good investment.

It's very simple to weigh your food and work out the macronutrients and calories of what you are eating. eg. Check the nutritional value label on the back of the packet.

Then 50g divided by 23g = 2.17
2.17 x 100 = 217grams

Then 217 grams of raw chicken breast is what you need to weigh on your scales to get your target amount of 50 grams of protein. Apply this process to all macronutrients - Carbs, Protein and Fats while also adding up the total calories.
I usually tend to work with carbs and protein first, when I have those balanced if I have a deficit in fat then I will make it up with adding coconut oil, cod liver oil, olive oil etc to my meal plan. I eat foods like eggs, avocado, beef, milk, and cheese etc. So the deficit usually isn't that much. Be sure to rememebr when your working out your calories that each food may or may not contain one or all types of marconutrients.