Cutting After LP is Over

[Gene61]

Hi Geezers! I followed instructions and ate like a mad man for my first year of lifting and put on 30 lbs. Half of that was clearly fat, though wonderfully, the other half was muscle! My pants size went from a 35" waist to a 38" waist and my measured waist went up to 43". For the past 6 months, I've been very slowly dropping a bit of weight (5 lbs) while I continued to hit PRs on my lifts, although at a much slower ramp than during the first year. However, now its time to get back down into my 35" pants!

A lot of the guys on this forum encourage eating during LP and say "its easy to cut once you have topped out on your LP." Well, I'm going to find out. Here goes.

I'm using Jordan as a consultant in this endevour. I'll keep you posted here on how it goes.

Starting stats:
Weight: 214.1 lbs. (Hit 222 lbs at my max.)
Waist Measurement: 41" (Hit 43" at my max.)

Initial Macros:
Protein: 240 gr
Carbs: 150 gr
Fat: 100 gr
Calories: 2380

Workout routine:
2x lifting per week
2x HIIT per week
random sporting activities like biking, surfing, sailing, skiing, etc.

[Gene61]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I am 62 yo, turning 63 in March.

[Dave Klopp]

I'm interested to hear about your experience in reducing your waist size. What kind of lifting do you have planned? Do you feel you have finished LP?

[Gene61]

Hey keeptryn. Yep, I've been on an intermediate lifting program now for about 10 months after about 8 months of LP. My increases were getting so slow that I decided it was time to stop getting stronger and get rid of the bulge. When I get trim again, I'll see if I can restart my gains. In the mean time I'm going to see if I can eek out little tiny increases, but basically I just want to maintain while I cut. My program is 2x per week hitting each major lift once a week except the Squat which gets a heavy day and a light day. I use various intermediate programming approaches, varying the reps/sets and weight increases.

[pkelly54]

Good luck Gene. I hope to learn from your efforts. I wonder how you keep track of the macro-nutrients intake and keep some variety in your diet? I am waiting to buy Jordan's book so maybe there will be hints in there.

[Gene61]

I use my fitnesspal on my iphone and PC to track macros. It works great for simple meals, but if you are an elaborate cook, you are going to have to estimate stuff. Its spot on for packaged commercial foods as all of them are in the database, but I rarely eat that stuff.

There are dozens of vegetables out there that fill you up have lots of nutrients and are low in calories. Some yams, sweet potatoes and beets are OK. As for meat, man, go for it! Lots of variety there! Right now its crab season in CA. I eat a couple of crabs a week right now.

Just dump the pasta, bread, sugar and vegetable oil and its easy to reduce calories and still get lots of protein and nutrients and variety.

[TOBYWON]

I use my fitnesspal on my iphone and PC to track macros. It works great for simple meals, but if you are an elaborate cook, you are going to have to estimate stuff. Its spot on for packaged commercial foods as all of them are in the database, but I rarely eat that stuff.

There are dozens of vegetables out there that fill you up have lots of nutrients and are low in calories. Some yams, sweet potatoes and beets are OK. As for meat, man, go for it! Lots of variety there! Right now its crab season in CA. I eat a couple of crabs a week right now.

Just dump the pasta, bread, sugar and vegetable oil and its easy to reduce calories and still get lots of protein and nutrients and variety.

You sound pretty knowledgeable, Gene, no doubt by virtue of the knowledge trove on this site! I think you'll do well. And since I'm an almost 40-something, novice on the LP-train, looking to cut after a while, I'll be following ya! Hope you update us in this thread. God Bless ya!

-T.

[boot29342342]

I use my fitnesspal on my iphone and PC to track macros. It works great for simple meals, but if you are an elaborate cook, you are going to have to estimate stuff. Its spot on for packaged commercial foods as all of them are in the database, but I rarely eat that stuff.

There are dozens of vegetables out there that fill you up have lots of nutrients and are low in calories. Some yams, sweet potatoes and beets are OK. As for meat, man, go for it! Lots of variety there! Right now its crab season in CA. I eat a couple of crabs a week right now.

Just dump the pasta, bread, sugar and vegetable oil and its easy to reduce calories and still get lots of protein and nutrients and variety.

You can use MFP for home-cooked meals pretty easily, actually. Just construct a recipe in the "recipes" section, weigh your ingredients raw, and figure out how many portions you made. The database has gotten harder to use because there are lot of idiots who keep adding entries and creating duplicates, many of which are wrong. For raw ingredients, I usually search for "USDA", which at least allows me to check if things have been entered correctly. The USDA database has pretty much every imaginable food in it; this is usually where commercial labels get their information from--most of them do not burn their food in the calorimeter to find out the energy content.

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

[TOBYWON]

You can use MFP for home-cooked meals pretty easily, actually. Just construct a recipe in the "recipes" section, weigh your ingredients raw, and figure out how many portions you made. The database has gotten harder to use because there are lot of idiots who keep adding entries and creating duplicates, many of which are wrong. For raw ingredients, I usually search for "USDA", which at least allows me to check if things have been entered correctly. The USDA database has pretty much every imaginable food in it; this is usually where commercial labels get their information from--most of them do not burn their food in the calorimeter to find out the energy content.

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

I use MFP, as well, and tobo is right; custom recipes are the way to go. Also, when I'm adding ingredients online (as opposed to using the Android app), I make sure to check to see how many "Confirmations" that ingredient has. The more confirmations, the more likely the nutrients have been fact-checked.

-T.

Psalms 18:32 "It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure."

[Oldman]

You can use MFP for home-cooked meals pretty easily, actually. Just construct a recipe in the "recipes" section, weigh your ingredients raw, and figure out how many portions you made. The database has gotten harder to use because there are lot of idiots who keep adding entries and creating duplicates, many of which are wrong. For raw ingredients, I usually search for "USDA", which at least allows me to check if things have been entered correctly. The USDA database has pretty much every imaginable food in it; this is usually where commercial labels get their information from--most of them do not burn their food in the calorimeter to find out the energy content.

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

Tobo, thanks for this tip. VERY helpful. Gene, good luck with this! I am doing something similar, with numbers similar to yours, and I expect to learn a lot from this thread.