Monday Macros: Cutting Diet 2019

I started my cutting diet last week and I've lost 3 lbs. If you've read this blog for a minute, you probably know that I have struggled with my weight since I was a child. I subjected myself to many years of calorie restriction and over-exercising. In 2017, I committed to increasing my caloric intake and to gaining lean mass. It didn't work as well as I would have liked (injury, poor guidance, a lot more fat gain than intended), but I learned A LOT. I spent 2018 trying to find maintenance calories, lean out a little, and get stronger, which was much more successful. I finally feel ready to implement a cut. If you've been eating in a deficit for a long time and struggling to adhere to that deficit (lots of cheat/treat meals or days, whole months where you just say fuck it, periods of binging/heavy restriction), get yourself a nutrition coach and work on finding your maintenance calories. You will be happier in the long run.

My plan and tools for the cut:

• I lowered my macros to 135 P, 175 C, 55 F for a total of 1735 calories. I had been aiming for 2040 calories, so this is a manageable deficit.
• I try to hit my macro targets every day but the bottom line is total calories. I used to try to hit my protein goal no matter what, but that meant I was usually going over my total calories on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I can usually get 80 grams of protein without really trying so I'm not too concerned about my overall protein intake. This is probably my biggest change from how I normally track macros.
• I recently started intermittent fasting. I use the Zero app and I've been aiming for 14 hour fasts. I have managed a couple of 16 hours so far. I am waking up more easily and feel more focused in the mornings. I was waking up ravenous in December and January and NEEDED breakfast. Now I'm making it to lunch time pretty easily.
• I'm aiming for 800 grams of vegetables and fruit every day. This combined with intermittent fasting has been leaving me feeling FULL. I force fed myself dinner for 90 minutes tonight because there we so many vegetables. I never thought I could feel so satisfied on only 175 grams of carbs. Volume eating for the win. #800gchallenge
• I'm using Affinity Athletics Coach Delta to track my progress. I adjusted my macros because I know that I feel best when I'm eating 135 grams of protein. I know that this is not what Coach Delta recommends and I take full responsibility for the changes I made. My friends are the guys behind Affinity Athletics but I'm not paid/sponsored to promote their products. I bought this and I like it.
• I plan to eat in a deficit until my Strongman competition on March 30. We are going to the BVIs the week before so I probably won't be tracking. The resort sent us an email with instructions on how to order groceries for our villa because the only on-island grocery store was destroyed during the hurricane. I am going to try to order what I normally eat during the day and then enjoy dinner at restaurants. Alcohol is going to make or break that week. The CrossFit Open has started and I am adding an extra 80 grams of carbs to Fridays to fuel our Saturday morning Open workouts.
• I start training for my half marathon the week after the Strongman competition. I will readjust my goals based on my progress.

Here are some screenshots of my Coach Delta. I input my information into the blue cells and it populates the rest of the information. I added the column that says Weekly Avg. Calories so I can indicate if I was compliant or not. You can see that I lost 3 lbs even though I ate an average of 1911 calories last week.