What is a good daily diet for someone looking to get cut?

May 1, 2008 7:20 PM

What is a good daily diet for someone looking to get cut? I like routines so I don't care if it's the same for most of the week. In fact I'd rather it be the same so I don't have to really think about it.

Some background:
I've been going to the gym 3 days a week for almost 2 months.
So I know this is too early to expect results, but I can say that I feel them—my abbs have gotten harder and I see some body definition. Problem is there's still flab! I'm not fat, I weigh 190 and I'm 5'11. I want the flab gone! I want to see definition!



Currently this is what I eat:

bkfast.. rarely on time if I even have one.. usually vegetable omelet and ice tea (low sweet)

lunch: salad with dressing or if hot plate.. meet/potatoes/steamed veggies

dinner: meet/broccoli/mushroom stew.. (my own creation.. my fav)

supper: ah .. anything i can get my hands on in the fridge.. fruits/yogurt... sweets..


My ears are opened.. what do you guys suggest

posted by wildrain2008 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 comments total)

As the word "cut" implies, you need to remove fat. The bottom line being that you need to intake less calories than you use, so that your body turns to fat as a fuel source.

My two cents: First of all, start eating breakfast, and reduce carbohydrates. Add a cardio routine, assuming you're only doing weight training.
posted by knave at 7:33 PM on May 1

Use FitDay and be brutally honest with it. Each six times a day instead of 3-4.

What are you doing at the gym three days a week? Resistance training, cardio, both?

I have really enjoyed this routine. It is a gay(as in for the queer masses) fitness site so ignore the sexy men in the ads if that doesn't float your boat. But the routine is fantastic.
posted by munchingzombie at 7:41 PM on May 1

Eat breakfast -- skipping breakfast is associated with weight gain; you want the opposite result. Anecdotally, many will suggest eating six smaller meals rather than three larger ones. That doesn't work for me, but it's easy to try and see how your body reacts. You definitely want to be choosing nutritionally-dense foods at every meal, rather than empty calories and trash.

But as knave suggests, you fundamentally need to lower your body fat percentage to a really low number, while staying active, to look "cut." I'm taller than you are, and I have to be down to 185 before I start looking that way, and to really get the six pack abs going I need to be down below 180. (At that weight my abs look great but I'm hungry all the time and get cold really easy; my vanity is not worth the inconvenience.) What that exact number is for you will depend on your build, what kinds of activity you are doing, etc. It's honestly not a lot of fun, because you are basically starving yourself, by keeping up intense physical activity while not eating quite as much as you are craving -- it's counter to what your body will be demanding.

The easy way to do it is when it comes as an incidental result of your lifestyle. Spend a summer building wilderness trails and carrying heavy loads and choking down nasty camping food on the run, and at the end you will have an amazing physique. Getting the same body while working in a cubicle and eating at buffet restaurants and drinking lots of beer with your buddies is a lot harder, because the momentum of your life is in one direction, but your goal is in another, so you have to always be thinking about it and working towards it.
posted by Forktine at 7:47 PM on May 1 [1 favorite]

Check out the "anabolic diet". I used it for a short time and saw results, but I couldn't keep up with it. Imagine any low carb diet taken to the almost ridiculous extreme. If you can stay with the incredibly low levels of carbohydrates, and high protein and fat it requires for an extended time it will change you. I just couldn't handle the lack of beer and bread. If you try to adapt the diet to yourself it's a lot less likely to work and will probably add fat, but if you're willing to pay the increasing prices for meat, lots of meat, it's a very effective diet.
posted by Science! at 7:52 PM on May 1

Don't sweeten your beverages. That sneaks up on you and adds up over time. Clean up your diet drastically and keep lifting and you probably won't even have to do any cardio - though being in good shape aerobically has its own benefits besides being cut.

This assumes, of course, that you have a solid base of muscle development that being "cut" helps to show off. Too many guys read about "bulking" and "cutting" cycles on the internet and get obsessed with that sort of crap. To be honest, if cutting will leave you looking like an Olsen twin, don't bother. Its a lot easier to look good - hell, look normal - when you're muscular and carrying a small amount of excess fat than being fat-free but scrawny. How often do people see you with your shirt off anyway? My advice is just get serious about lifting (and cardio, if that sort of thing interests you) and let gradual improvements in your diet and burning off stored energy carry you the rest of the way.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:53 PM on May 1

a previous answer
posted by dawdle at 9:22 PM on May 1

I've suggested this book a lot on here. The Abs Diet worked well for me: I'm not necessarily "cut," nor is that really my goal, but I'm definitely looking muscle-y these days. And can see my abs.

The Abs Diet is all about routines: it's not actually a diet at all, it's more like a cheat-sheet for eating healthy foods that will help you lose weight in conjunction with working out (a program of exercises and suggested initial workout are included). In fact, the only reason it's called The Abs Diet is because it uses "Abs Diet Power" (cheesy or what?) as an acronym for 12 foods or types of foods you should be basing your diet on. It also contains some recipes that incorporate as many of those foods as they can throw in. They're okay.

So yeah: you don't constrict your intake to certain foods, only healthy ones, you don't count calories, and you basically don't have to think about it very hard. You just stick to the kinds of good foods you know you're supposed to be eating anyway and stop eating the bad stuff. Again, it very much worked for me. You might not get ripped, but it's hard not to see results. Good luck!
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 7:02 AM on May 2

Reduce the carbs, that will do it easily. Basically eat protein and fruits/veggies, but low-carb fruits and veggies (check out the glycemic index to find out which are best). I eat my carbs at breakfast and then no more except fruits and veggies for my other meals. Works wonders!
posted by kenzi23 at 8:59 AM on May 2