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.

Monthly Progress Photos: February 2019

I'm trying something a little different this year because Weight Loss Wednesday posts started to become a pain in the ass. My dogs weren't cool with waiting for potty time each week while I weighed myself, measured my body fat, and changed into my bathing suit for progress photos. If I took them out first, I inevitably forgot to take measurements and/or photos, or started drinking coffee, which throws off measurements and photos. Now I do all that jazz on the first of the month. I weigh myself most mornings and take a simple progress photo that I store in MyFitnessPal.

These are many January 1 to February 1 comparison photos. I weighed 152.8 lbs on January 1 and 151.6 lbs a month later. My Omron recorded my body fat percentage as 23.9% on both days. I don't put much stock in that thing because it can be heavily impacted by hydration and sodium intake, but it's good for keeping an eye on trends.

My arms look bigger and my bed is made this month so I'm declaring this a win!