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What do you eat during a cut?


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I know what to do when It's time to bulk, but till then, I'm not sure what I should eat. I'll include protein powder, but I like my diet to be minimally processed and low in sodium, but it's hard to do this without either sacrificing protein, my deficit, or my veganism. On top of this, there is so many differing opinions on how much protein is enough, and if truth be told, too much can be bad for your health. I've heard everything from 27 grams a day, to 2.5 grams per pound of body weight. The most common, however, seem to be 1g/day per kilogram, 1g/day per pound of lean body mass, and simply 1g/day per pound. I've read that amino acids aren't needed to support body fat, so I'm inclined to believe I should get somewhere between 1g per kilogram of lean body mass, and 1g per pound of lean body mass. Still, that's a pretty big gap.

 

I would be most appreciative if I could see some of your cutting plans, I'm totally lost when I go to the grocery store these days.

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Personally I would try to aim for 1g/lb of LBM, but you will, of course, find many differing opinions. My body simply responds better to a higher protein diet, although as a vegan a high protein diet has been far too much work for me to put my efforts into....

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Personally I would try to aim for 1g/lb of LBM, but you will, of course, find many differing opinions. My body simply responds better to a higher protein diet, although as a vegan a high protein diet has been far too much work for me to put my efforts into....
I guess I'll aim for 1g/lb of LBM...

 

So, anyone wanna post what they eat during a cut?

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What I mean is eat healthy food. There isn't a magic formula of specific foods you need to eat.

 

If you want to hit your goal 1g/lb of LBM for protein, then you eat the rest of your calories from healthy sources of carbs and fats. People debate how much should be carbs vs. fat, but I think that's getting really bogged down by detail and you should do what feels best to you. Personally I feel better eating more carbs and less fat but other people on here eat higher fat and lower carb.

 

Good protein sources = tofu, tempeh, edamame, beans, lentils, protein powder

Fat = nuts, seeds (these have protein too), avocado, etc.

Carbs = starchy veggies, whole grains, fruit

 

And eats lots and lots of fibrous veggies such as greens, broccoli, etc.

 

Does that help?

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What I mean is eat healthy food. There isn't a magic formula of specific foods you need to eat.

 

If you want to hit your goal 1g/lb of LBM for protein, then you eat the rest of your calories from healthy sources of carbs and fats. People debate how much should be carbs vs. fat, but I think that's getting really bogged down by detail and you should do what feels best to you. Personally I feel better eating more carbs and less fat but other people on here eat higher fat and lower carb.

 

Good protein sources = tofu, tempeh, edamame, beans, lentils, protein powder

Fat = nuts, seeds (these have protein too), avocado, etc.

Carbs = starchy veggies, whole grains, fruit

 

And eats lots and lots of fibrous veggies such as greens, broccoli, etc.

 

Does that help?

Sorry for the confusion, but what I'm asking is for what you literally eat day to day, ie what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, pre-workout, post-workout, pre-bedtime, any meals inbetween, or whatever you label your meals(ie meals 1-10). I'm knowledgeable about what constitutes healthy food, I just don't know what to do with it to make it interesting without turning a potato into a french fry(ie turning a healthy food into an unhealthy food). I do have a few tricks of my own, but they apply mainly to high-carb foods, like sweet potatoes, than high-protein foods, like tempeh, tofu, and beans. The only way I know how to make tofu or tempeh interesting is to cover them in barbecue or A1 sauce, or a ridiculously high-sodium asian sauce(ie kung pao, black bean, both sauces that could give you a weeks worth of sodium in a single serving, not to mention all the empty calories).

 

What I do with sweet potatoes is either bake them in a small amount of oil, or nuke them and spread a little earth balance or smart balance on it while it's still hot, and then sprinkle a little pepper, and a fair bit of cinnamon. All the flavors compliment eachother really well, and it's pretty simple.

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Ah, gotcha.

 

I love plain baked sweet potaots, put some salt and pepper on there and I'm sold.

 

Veggie stir fries are super easy, add tofu and it's a great way to get veggies/protein.

 

I cook with beans a lot, you can make bean-veggie soups and chili. I like to make up a big batch and then freeze leftovers. Do you like curries? Curries are easy (and really cheap) to make with lentils and chickpeas and split peas.

 

Check out the recipe section here, as well as sites like vegweb.com, fatfreevegan.com and theppk.com. Lots of public libraries have vegan cookbooks, so you might want to check that out. I really recommend Veganomicon (this book is great because the whole front section tells you how to cook various veggies/beans/grains/etc).

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Here's my new diet, a big part of the pursuit of "The Holy Grail of Bodybuilding" - losing fat while maintaining/gaining muscle. It's mostly organic and raw; vegan; and chock-full of nutrients (including incredibly bioavailable proteins) while limiting sugars that can cause glycation. I like to think long-term.

 

 

 

 

Meal 1 - Tier 1 Shake

 

 

 

 

Meal 2 - Tier 1 Bar; raw, low-GI veggies

 

 

 

 

Meal 3 - Main-dish salad with tempeh and hummus, dressed with basalmic vinegar

 

 

 

 

Meal 4 - Vega Shake

 

 

 

 

Meal 5 - Main-dish salad with tempeh and hummus, dressed with basalmic vinegar; 12 raw almonds

 

 

 

 

Meal 6 - Tier 1 Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will keep you posted on how it's working.

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I really recommend Veganomicon (this book is great because the whole front section tells you how to cook various veggies/beans/grains/etc).

 

I second this recommendation! I cook from this book 4-5 times a week and the rest of my meals are often from the co-others' other books. When you cook the beans/grains yourself you get to control how much salt and fat go into these foods, which can be beneficial if you're watching these things while cutting.

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Ah, gotcha.

 

I love plain baked sweet potaots, put some salt and pepper on there and I'm sold.

 

Veggie stir fries are super easy, add tofu and it's a great way to get veggies/protein.

 

I cook with beans a lot, you can make bean-veggie soups and chili. I like to make up a big batch and then freeze leftovers. Do you like curries? Curries are easy (and really cheap) to make with lentils and chickpeas and split peas.

 

Check out the recipe section here, as well as sites like vegweb.com, fatfreevegan.com and theppk.com. Lots of public libraries have vegan cookbooks, so you might want to check that out. I really recommend Veganomicon (this book is great because the whole front section tells you how to cook various veggies/beans/grains/etc).

Sounds good. I've had some kind of frozen curried rice dish from trader joe's, which was pretty good, but other than that, nope, no curries. Could you recommend me a good one to start with?

 

Btw, how much protein do beans have? Different online sources and the nutritional facts on the back of bagged beans seem to be in direct contrast to eachother. According to online sources, beans are around 18-26% protein, whereas according to the bags, they're about 40-50% protein. Are the online sources perhaps counting fiber as 4 calories per gram, despite fiber being indigestible?

 

 

Also, why do canned beans have less protein? Don't they just add calcium and sodium to preserve them?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Here's my new diet, a big part of the pursuit of "The Holy Grail of Bodybuilding" - losing fat while maintaining/gaining muscle. It's mostly organic and raw; vegan; and chock-full of nutrients (including incredibly bioavailable proteins) while limiting sugars that can cause glycation. I like to think long-term.

 

 

 

 

Meal 1 - Tier 1 Shake

 

 

 

 

Meal 2 - Tier 1 Bar; raw, low-GI veggies

 

 

 

 

Meal 3 - Main-dish salad with tempeh and hummus, dressed with basalmic vinegar

 

 

 

 

Meal 4 - Vega Shake

 

 

 

 

Meal 5 - Main-dish salad with tempeh and hummus, dressed with basalmic vinegar; 12 raw almonds

 

 

 

 

Meal 6 - Tier 1 Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will keep you posted on how it's working.

 

What is tier 1?

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I'm going for fat loss, cutting carbs drastically is key for me (the "eat healthy whole foods with high carbs and you'll lose fat" thing NEVER has worked for me), so it's a lot of protein and unsaturated fat with carbs usually kept at 200g or slightly less per day in such cases.

 

If I cut protein, I lose muscle and little fat and tend to get crappy results. When cutting, I keep protein higher (usually 180-220/day), fat at around 75-90g/day, carbs 200g or a less as noted above. I usually keep calories a little under maintenance, eating about 300-500 less than normal during that time. Unless, of course, I do more cardio work (usually low-intensity or short sprint-type cardio), then I keep calories closer to maintenance by only 100-300 under.

 

That's what has been good for me, but of course, everyone's different!

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