Amazing result from Mike on his 12-week diet cut. He came to me just over 3 months ago to help work out a plan for his diet. He wanted to go from 83kg to 76kg, to then build up strength to compete in the lower 74kg powerlifting class.
Previously he’d always done his dieting phases with a constant deficit. But after watching an MNU lecture on rapid fat loss, combined with other recent research on diet breaks I suggested we tried something a bit different – and he was happy to give a new strategy a go!
Just a note Mike was highly motivated, with a very clear goal. Also he was experienced in tracking, so didn’t need much help or education on that side. This makes him pretty much the ideal client.
The plan was for an intermittent energy restriction. As the total weight loss required was ~7kg we started with a hard deficit (~7700kcal per week, which equates to 1kg of fat). After doing that for the first two weeks we then alternated between a diet break week at maintenance, then back to a hard deficit for a week.
Protein was kept high throughout. Mike did his own training plan. Both of these were to keep performance high and to retain as much LBM and strength as possible. The “extra” calories during each diet break week would come primarily from carbs to increase leptin. Everything in the plan was to try and minimise metabolic adaptation as much as possible. “The strategy that Jo chose was perfectly in line for my likes/dislikes, dietary habits and goals. I can safely say this has been the easiest cut I’ve ever done👌🏻” – you can see his summary @mike_teamsft and read my full write-up on my website. The link is in my bio.
Read more here.
(Reposted summary from Instagram)
