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you've been training for four years or so?

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ORIGINAL: Adil

Bro, No offense but why would you want to 'cut' right now?

If I was you i'd be bulking for at least another year or so, then concentrating on cutting when there is some mass to reveal

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ORIGINAL: Firearm

Agree with Adil

You seem like a decent lad, you try to help other members in the training section which is nice to see and all. But if memory serves me, you've been training for four years or so?

What have you achieved? I hate so sound cruel mate, but it looks like you're about a month into training.

By doing this 'cut' you're just going to waste more time IMO.

Stop piss arsing around with supplements, and get some heavy compounds on the go and eat like you mean it, or you're going to go round in circles. You're clued up, maybe start to practice what you preach eh fella?

Good luck, whatever you do next

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ORIGINAL: Ak_88

Tbh mate a 3% decrease in BF% isn't going to change much given the mass you have.

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ORIGINAL: Firearm

Agree with Adil

You seem like a decent lad, you try to help other members in the training section which is nice to see and all. But if memory serves me, you've been training for four years or so?

What have you achieved? I hate so sound cruel mate, but it looks like you're about a month into training.

By doing this 'cut' you're just going to waste more time IMO.

Stop piss arsing around with supplements, and get some heavy compounds on the go and eat like you mean it, or you're going to go round in circles. You're clued up, maybe start to practice what you preach eh fella?

Good luck, whatever you do next

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ORIGINAL: firest0rm

I'll relate my experience and maybe you can see the similarities between ourselves.

Cutting the begginning of my story short, I was under the impression it would be better to cut first, and then bulk. So I dropped my weight down to 11st 5lbs (which is incredibly small for someone my build), but my six pack still wasn't revealed. I found that the smaller I was the harder it was to actually get rid of fat. I used to get annoyed with people saying "diet" etc, because my diet at the time was perfect, even better than it is today, and I used to do very gruelling workouts. After slogging it out in the gym I began thinking of why I wasn't seeing the changes I wanted, and after some reading I surmised that muscle is more metabolically active than fat, therefore the more muscle you have the more calories you burn naturally. After some time I decided my best bet at achieving my goal would be to bulk and then cut.

I started at 11st 5lbs, in August 2006, and I slowly bulked over 1 and a half years. It was tough, because bulking ultimately means you add fat as well as muscle, and you have to put up with the "chubby face" comments etc. But I didn't sway from my goal, I didn't let the naysayers put me off and I kept at it. In December 2007 I had bulked to 14st 11lbs, bodyfat around 21%. In January this year I decided it was time to cut, and I planned to do it gradually, with July as my target. In January I managed to get my bodyfat down to approx 20% naturally, In February I ran Cissus-Drol (I think I ran that first), and then in March I ran MassFX MS. At the start of my current journal I got my bodyfat down to 17%, and in the 3 weeks I've been on my cycle I've dropped it by another %, to 16%.

The thing is I'm still tinkering with my diet, and finding the perfect balance. I think I was consuming too many carbs, therefore slowing down my fat loss. I'm still learning, adjusting, but one thing is for sure; fat loss is so much easier at 14 and a half stone, than it was at 11st.

The point I'm making is that we sometimes want something so badly we try to get it the wrong way. Patience literally is a virtue, and in my experience so is ignorance. If you're going to continue with your cut then go for it and don't stop, but I believe you will find it easier in the long run if you listened to Firearm and began bulking.

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ORIGINAL: firest0rm

Just something to think about... If you start gaining some muscle now, on a lean bulk, your bodyfat would naturally drop anyway

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ORIGINAL: Lord Monkcheese

A few observations from reading this.

There's a huge amount of information around what you're consuming but zero information about your training, other than you're planned training split. It would be more beneficial to see the exercises, weights used and progression made.

How are you measuring BF%? Do you think you'll be able to determine exactly when you've lost 3%? Or 4%? Ive calculated roughly how much of my weight = 1% bodyfat so i will that, i worked out that 1% = 1.82lbs in my case

If you've spent a few years training and you're 80kg with maybe 20% BF and not a huge amount of lean tissue, I'd suggest you have a look at what you're doing in the gym before getting too anal about what you're doing in the kitchen. Ok no problem i will post up exercises, sets etc, i will just edit it on my first page

What are your aims overall in training (long-term)?
Do you see yourself as a Brad Pitt from Fight Club size? Men's Health cover model size? BBer size? aim = cover model size atm, dont want to big huge like a BB but quite bulky

The answers to these may help you progress from here.

LMC

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ORIGINAL: Lord Monkcheese

In terms of BF% - how did you initially calculate the 18% reading?

Also BF% is not directly proportionate to weight gained or lost. 1.82lbs may = a loss of 1%, but 18.2lbs lighter on the scale certainly won't mean a 10% reduction in BF. By only going by scale weight you're making an assumption that every lb lost is a lb of fat rather than down to hydration levels or lean tissue.

I wouldn't get too fixated with the specifics of BF% but work on building some muscle rather than simply losing a lot of weight.