Day One, Week One, of My Twelve Week Cut for My First Figure Competition.

Today I’m exactly 13 weeks out!

From everything I’ve heard and read you should be ready for your competition one week ahead of time.

That means, as far as “cutting” is concerned, I’m exactly 12 weeks out.

Cutting is code for dieting to lose fat in order to get down to a (body fat) percentage low enough that all the musculature you’ve worked so hard to put on can be easily seen and judged. 

You want the fat loss to be slow. The slower the fat loss the more chance you have of preserving that hard earned muscle. If you try to take off too much at once you’ll burn a lot of the muscle as well.

And from everything I’ve read, if you’re talking off more than 1 lb. per week, then you’re taking off more than just fat!

Therefore, in a cut, you want to figure out ~how much you should weigh at the body fat percentage you want to end up at. This will be a little different for each individual person but I am aiming for 9% based on everything I’ve read and people I’ve discussed it with. 

To find that final weight I searched the internet and found a couple of complicated calculations. Then I stumbled across this calculator. All you need is your starting weight and body fat percentage, and the body fat percent you want to get to, and it will spit out what your final weight should be. 

 

This  calculator says I should end up at 122 lbs. if I want to be at 9% body fat.

I’m at 133 lbs. now. So I need to lose 11 lbs. of fat in the next 12 weeks. 

I might be cutting it a little close for comfort at this point. But, I’m confident I can do it.

I’m going to take it two weeks at a time. After 2 weeks I will re-evaluate my progress. If I’m getting the results I want (~1 lb. of fat loss per week) I’ll continue on for another 2 weeks. If I’m not I’ll adjust my diet and/or exercise (maybe add a little cardio).

I’m starting today with 3:1 Carb Cycling. 

That’s 3 low carb days followed by 1 high carb day (a 4 day cycle). 

On my low carb days I will be in a 25% calorie deficit. And only 20% of my daily calorie intake will be from carbs.

On my high carb day I will be in a 10% calorie deficit. And 50% of my daily calorie intake will be from carbs.

I’m keeping my protein % higher than recommended because I believe I respond well to a higher protein diet.

Here is the calculator I used to calculate my calorie and macros.

Here is the breakdown of the amounts of calories and macros I’ll be eating for my high and low carb days. 

Low Carb Days:

High Carb Day:

As you can see there are a lot of ways I can adjust if I’m not getting the results I want. 

At 8 weeks out I’ll re-evaluate every single week. 

Also, for the next 13 weeks I’ll be weighing in daily. 

I want to keep track of as much as possible in case I ever decide to do this again and maybe you’ll find it helpful.

My diet will look similar to how it has looked since I started tracking in September. But, I’ll adjust for lower calories and carbs. Halo Top and Protein Bars may only make an appearance on high carb days. And, I WILL, be meal prepping every Sunday!

Workouts will stay the same. Maybe some minor adjustments here and there. 

My current workout schedule:

Monday: Group Power (teach)

Tuesday: Weight Training with Scarlet (lifting)

Wednesday: Group Power (teach)

Thursday: Weight Training with Scarlet (lifting)

Friday: Boxing

Saturday: Group Power (teach) or Indoor Cycling (teach) / Weight Training (lifting) + Posing Practice

Sunday: Weight Training (lifting) / HITT (during lifting workout)

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UGH, my legs and butt!  They’re obviously my most difficult areas. Most of the 7.5% body fat I need to lose will hopefully melt from those two spots! And I need to continue to build my upper body.

 Ready, set, go!