I have trouble cutting. I'm currently at 12% body fat. I was able to get it down to 10% one HST cycle, but it was really hard. I was grumpy, had low energy, low libido, and generally not nice to be around.
I've been reading here the advice that I should start the first couple weeks of the HST cycle at maintenance or slightly above; then reduce fat as far as possible; then start reducing the carbs. What I've not been able to find is how gradual this should be. For my cutting HST cycle, I just went from maintenance to a 500 kcal deficit per day. Too fast? How gradual is gradual?
More importantly, is there a way for me to reduce body fat without spending weeks in an energy black hole? I don't want to subject my family to another month or two of me in a lousy mood.
During the cycle, I'm eating about 2500 kcals per day for maintenance, (2000 for fat loss), and doing low intensity cardio for 30-50 minutes a day. For EFA, I eat about two to three tablespoons of flaxseed everyday for EFA; and a few times a week I have salmon.
I keep protein at about at 1g/lb bodyweight. Fat is at about 20% of total calories. Carbs make up the rest. Carbs are made up of oatmeal, veggies, fruit, skim milk. Maple syrup just before and after workouts for the high glycemic carbs.
Also I should mention that caffeine and ephedrine are not an option. Caffeine gives me headaches. Everytime I tried ephedrine, I got prostatitis.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I've been reading here the advice that I should start the first couple weeks of the HST cycle at maintenance or slightly above; then reduce fat as far as possible; then start reducing the carbs. What I've not been able to find is how gradual this should be. For my cutting HST cycle, I just went from maintenance to a 500 kcal deficit per day. Too fast? How gradual is gradual?
More importantly, is there a way for me to reduce body fat without spending weeks in an energy black hole? I don't want to subject my family to another month or two of me in a lousy mood.
During the cycle, I'm eating about 2500 kcals per day for maintenance, (2000 for fat loss), and doing low intensity cardio for 30-50 minutes a day. For EFA, I eat about two to three tablespoons of flaxseed everyday for EFA; and a few times a week I have salmon.
I keep protein at about at 1g/lb bodyweight. Fat is at about 20% of total calories. Carbs make up the rest. Carbs are made up of oatmeal, veggies, fruit, skim milk. Maple syrup just before and after workouts for the high glycemic carbs.
Also I should mention that caffeine and ephedrine are not an option. Caffeine gives me headaches. Everytime I tried ephedrine, I got prostatitis.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.